A bit of a rant/blog post on something.
"Why would you ever pick ____ in ranked?" - People that say that and why they are wrong.
Usually this happens when I pick Pudge sometimes in ranked, but I've seen it happen with other heroes too. Someone will say "Well that hero is shit and you should never pick them in ranked." It's really annoying, and usually they are absolutely wrong, and here is why.
1. Pub != Pro
Even in ranked mode, at 5k MMR, Pub meta, skill level, and coordination are not the same as they are in pro games. Most of the time these are 5 dudes that just met up on a team and picking whatever the hell they want if it's all pick, or the captain coming up with some strat of their own in Captains Mode and Captains Draft. On top of that, despite MMRs, skill level is all over the place, and everyone's ideas differ. I personally like to pick Pudge and do my thing, and it works quite frequently. People will tell me "Pudge isn't a viable hero in ranked." and I usually prove them wrong. Usually people get these ideas from the fact that these heroes are almost never picked in pro games. This includes heroes like Pudge, Anti-Mage, PA, Drow, and more.
2. Because pub meta and skill level is different, new strats are viable
I know I've ran a Pudge with pocket NP a few times and it works wonders. It's a great strat, one that would be impossible to execute without picking Pudge in the first place. I've even done a support Viper in a trilane before, and it's actually worked! Things like Medusa ancient jungling, people usually scoff at, but they don't realize that if you are against a team that can't really stop you efficiently, or you have a team that's extremely good at protecting you, it's quite viable in pubs! Sure, in most higher level games it's bad (and Medusa in general doesn't work in most games), but in uncoordinated pubs you can pull it off playing it smartly.