This is true In power ranks however in the higher ranks it you don’t go tig lacia neon and the other team does then you lose

It's your own personal gaming skills, intelligence and experience that bypasses META characters in a game. However, in certain situations META characters do help carry the novices or new players to a great extent. Then again, with META alone you won't be able to surpass others if you don't have the other 3 traits as well. Also, coordination & cooperation among teammates are vital in all team based PvP games ~

I actually don’t know about meta status in T3 arena, but all I know for sure is: Neon, Tigris, Hua, Iris, Gloria, Daimon, Fade, Jabali, Ono, Lacia, Vincent, Diggy, (Sombra like flanker, idk her name), are used a lot in my Elo; Diamond. Pretty much 50% of the champ pool 🙃

I wont go as far as saying that meta doesn't matter, because that's literally the point of the term (it provides the best possible chance of success, so I get why people want to go that direction) but instead I'll say that it doesn't matter AS MUCH if the enemy team isn't following meta, doesn't have game sense to use meta characters correctly, or don't have team synergy. People freak out, because they expect everyone to have the same reason of playing that they do without actually knowing that. (e.g. I play heroes for more competitive team centric gameplay, while my wife picks characters because they are cute and not because they actually make sense in our current comp....)