The problem with that entire post is that it's purely dogmatic garbage and the fact you're so certain of it is exactly why everybody complains about the meta. The fact of the matter is, if you were to watch a ton of higher level games, especially Asian teams, the teams have no qualms breaking the meta and games are much more interesting for it. However, everybody who doesn't have a great understanding of game mechanics spews exactly that same dogma, and refuse to do something that will work because of it.
Possibly my favorite comp that completely shatters the meta is something like what those guys with jungledimer did a week or so ago. One guy who scales crazy hard like Olaf top, and four great pushers mid, like Cait and Heim. Your precious meta has no way to deal with it. Hell, most pros have no idea what to do.
Err... No. There was a specific reason that worked.
I wrote a huge post about why it worked. You can't just magically pick Heimerdinger jungle and win by pushing mid. It was based around countering the enemy team HARD. Now, it was against the meta, but the reason it worked are several, but here's a list, unspoiled since if you haven't seen it, it's been posted for a while.
- Shen enemy top
- Ezreal and Sona enemy bot
- Olaf top with Teleport
- TF mid
- Caitlyn and Blitzcrank bot
- Blue side, so they can't figure out the comp while picking
- Heimerdinger jungle
- Less important, Kha'Zix mid
This worked for these reasons. Shen has horrible early pushing power. Ezreal has horrible early pushing power. Sona has horrible pushing power. TF, Caitlyn, Olaf have straight line pushing abilities. TF and Heimerdinger have stuns. Blitzcrank and Heimerdinger zone hard. Caitlyn has high range. Caitlyn, TF, and Heimerdinger have lots of poke. Four mid removed jungle support to counter Olaf's lane, so Shen gets destroyed. Olaf starts with blue, for infinite harassing power against Shen as well as an early level. Olaf teleports bot to push that out once he's thoroughly pushed top. Caitlyn and TF both scale well with money, which they get for towers. Everyone bought Doran's items for health and AP/AD.
Like... You don't just say it destroys the meta. It doesn't. It counters the team comp. If they had had a different enemy team, say, Graves bot or Orianna mid or Jax top, they would have lost. No joke. They put thought and effort into that team comp to counter THAT SPECIFIC TEAM COMP.
The fact is the meta IS safer. Not because it's easier. The reason people FOLLOW it is because it's easier to follow a plan than to not. Higher level play messes around with the meta because they grasp the mechanics and reasoning behind the meta. Just as Tyg13 said. There's reasoning behind the meta. If I play Kassadin jungle, then I better hope I understand the concept behind a jungler. Why do I even play jungler? Why not duo-top? Why not tri-bot? Why not quint-mid? If no one understands the reasons FOR the meta, then the enemy team will lose more often.
The meta is not the best way to play. If it were, deviations from it would always fail, since they'd be worse. The meta is the easiest way to play. That's all it is. Pros use it because it's efficient and deviating from it requires specific circumstances. However, just the influx of 1v2 tops in the recent tournaments is a shift from the meta.
You put the ap mid because they scale with levels and can push - only AD assassins have started crushing traditional ap mids in s3.
You put the AD carry bot - unless you put him and the support top 1v2 to deny the enemy toplaner if you're certain yours can handle a 2v1. Or you run a kill lane and compensate with the other lanes. Or you run AD in the jungle, because you're not a pro-player and below high diamond/low plat the meta is a framework at best.
Nice attempt, but I think your argument - meta is best - is fundamentally flawed. Not to mention that Korean teams who have been known occasionally to absolutely demolish every single NA team and the great majority of the EU ones - often run teamcomps completely contrary to this meta.
edit : Oh wow I got both the prominent leader AND friendliness [or whatever the deep green ribbon is] at the same time! Man I'm so god damn positive.
Meta is best. At least, in soloqueue. There's a plan to follow. People need a plan. Otherwise, how will they have any idea what to do? Sure, you might have a plan that works well, but that involves micromanaging, which is difficult to do with random strangers. Random strangers have unknown skills, unknown play styles, and unknown attitudes. The meta is an accepted strategy by all. They know that is works, even if they don't know why.
Sure, when you're playing with your friends, it might work. You can communicate. So, in this case, easiest might seem like the right description, but best is actually better. Without that plan you've pre-agreed to, you better hope your comrades can think on their feet. That's not a skill you can just assume they have. Not everyone needs a plan, but some do. Without that plan, they screw up. Make mistakes. Lose sight.
Now, if you ask your teammates, then it can work out pretty well. You don't have to follow the meta, but if they want to, you're going to have problems.
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Topic: League of Legends - Patch 7.22 - Runes Reforged (Read 1287045 times)