Off-meta vs. Trolling

Edit: Title should be "Off-meta vs. Troll picks"

The "meta" is composed of the strongest champions by patch, and is generally determined by item or champion changes.

Currently, Nidalee is not in the meta. Specifically, Nidalee jungle is off-meta. She is not one of the strongest options. She is actually one of the weakest options and has been for quite some time. However, it is her intended role. Picking Nidalee jungle is off-meta because it is a weak pick. But her ability's most recent iterations were intended for the jungle.

Contrastly, Azir jungle is a troll pick. His kit was not designed for the jungle. Even more so than anyone else in the game, it actually hinders attempts to clear camps (since his soldiers don't apply red buff). Anyone who actually intends to win the game will not pick Azir for the jungle. And no, ignorance of this fact does not excuse the person. The same person might argue that they didn't know running down mid wasn't a legitimate strategy.

Of course, since the meta changes champions may find themselves as part of the meta in an unintended role. Currently, Ezreal jungle is meta. It has been proven to work with his current strength. It's up to the balance team to decide whether or it will stay this way. However, this works both ways. Back in season 3, Nidalee was powerful both at mid and in the jungle. Now, she stands almost no chance against the mid lane lineup.

That's the difference between an off-meta pick and a troll pick, for anyone who gets confused about it. But before you comment that technically it isn't against the rules, neither is intentionally feeding unless you can prove via the chat that they said they were inting. Otherwise they have the argument that they didn't know running down mid was a bad strategy, like my fictional 0/15/0 Azir would say he didn't know Azir wasn't a jungler.

And remember, whether a person's pick was off-meta or troll only matters when it was a key factor in loss. If they did it well and won, then good on them. They'll have shown that it works in that particular matchup against that particular player as an opponent-- most likely a lagging or disconnected opponent if it's a troll pick. But if they fed as expected of playing a champion in a role they were not designed to play with items they were not designed to buy, then they should have known better.