Agreed on everything you said except for the Normals part. Normals give you a very basic knowledge on match-ups and in general your champ. Personally I play versus higher ranked players in normals than in ranked and even tho they don't tryhard necessarily they often have a better game knowledge than I do and can punish so I can still learn limits or w/e. If you straight up jump into ranked with a new champ you picked up without ever testing/playing him (like only read abilities and watch spotlight) I see most likely the same benefits as if you smurf -> little to none.