League Of Legends

It is safe because it has been played this way for a long time and hasn't been nerfed in any way (and is therefore still a powerful pick). But safety doesn't make you win as shown by Karthus vs Lee Sin not long ago, this is a perfect example of what I am explaining since the beginning.

Now, you have many other options giving similar or better results but that would involve learning them, mastering them and so on. Because of this, said similar/better options cannot hatch after some time and also won't reach their climax for a while.

If you keep playing the same thing endlessly while other people have spent the efforts and time on new, better things, you won't keep winning. But that's stating the obvious. Playing safe doesn't make you win, you need to move the risk/reward ratio in order to keep winning.

Example:

You play Katarina because she's a very solid pick, as you have been doing for a long while now. Suddenly, you fall on a pre-nerf Diana only a few weeks after her release. What happens? It's the same example as Froggen's Lee against idon'trememberwho Karthus.

That's what I'm referring to. It happened after the last tournament but people have figured out better mids than Katarina, it's as simple as that. Then, logic will tell you that in the future power creep will keep this up.

But once again, I'm merely stating the obvious.

This does not mean that Katarina is weak or whatever, she is cancer incarnate, but there are stronger cancers out there that can also be very solid picks in tournaments. That is all.

to your argument i can name 5 hardcore counter picks to katarina
(leblanc, akali, rumble, chogath, soraka -yes you just have to time your silence and heals-) what makes kat dangerous is her team fighting ability not her laning ability. if the team has map awareness and mid calls mia's wards giving vision to river at a minimum will prevent a kat from snowballing at all until laning phase is over. Every champion has mechanics that counter their fighting ability, and kat has 4 mechanics that shut her down (snares, silence, knockbacks, taunts) what ever can stop her from casting makes her useless at that point. why crowd control is very important in team compositions.

this^
and
forgot blitzcrank too.

You can't counterpick a champion that has no real bad matchups.

eh blitz goes mid lane? o.O
i wish i could play blitz even as support on ranked v.v

considering i jungle the majority of the time as hecarim i never had that issue using my charge on her when she ults. but usually there is one other champ with any of the 4 crowd control effects that stop her casting. its really all about communication and fast execution, if my team cant then i will >.>

what makes kat dangerous is her team fighting ability not her laning ability.

you can actually

Exactly, and her passive plays a huge role. The combo passive/W/ult should be tonned down a bit.

How do you counter pick what cannot be countered?

Making sense is important, you know.

You probably won't find this much at your current elo but from what I've seen and in ranked teams 5v5
the counter picking is done with with team comps and the player's individual skill.
a lot of AP mids can be shutdown in lane. Its up to you and the rest of the team to stop her from roaming.
The whole game is a team effort.
Sure leblanc, kass, fizz,diana, etc can shutdown her in lane.
but your jungler, top, and duo bot need to be aware if she roams.
If she can't farm lane and if she can't get kills from roaming she just becomes useless and really easily to kill.

you ever see a roaming TF or LB destroy people? or even a lux,ahri,cass,brand?
All the AP champs can become like kat in terms of team fighting potential.

Its just up to you and YOUR TEAM to prevent their team from getting out of hand like that.