eSports and eCelebs have driven metas in almost every single gamr by popularizing the tactics THEY like. Depending on the genre, certain subsets are gravitated towards (hitscan and/or speed).
"meta play" often represents less than 10% of all the game has to offer. Significant amount of maps, items, game mode, and characters are never played for being rules inferior. "top players" perform the exsxt same plays and counterplays over and over and over again. The moment someone with any talent comes in and uses something non meta, tbey clean house because the "top players" are conditioned to only respond to their bubble. An "objectively inferior" character by numbers can still win if the opponent lacks the know how on how to respond to that character.
The worst part is, the moment something like this happens? The in group at the top doesn't adapt like a "top player" should. They whine and moan and move to ban the character or thing that bested them.
I used to be a top level competitive player back in the day. The character had some crazy tanky stall mechanics that nobody used because it wasn't popular. In one season, I did a showcase match prep. Every match they kept bamming my weapon sets. After banning every weapon, I was still able to pull off the tactics - - the coordinators got so frustrated they ended up changing the map and game modes themselves. That I understand, that particular game has since been retired and has not beem played to this day in any league