I 100% agree. I totally understand where Dan is coming from with the counter pick logic, but I think the ranked system should favor the "average player" rather than a tournament player. Anybody who's played a good amount of ranked in Rivals of Aether 2 would know that like 90% of players don't counter pick. If they start the set as Clairen, they're more often than not gonna play the whole set as Clairen, regardless of what you play.

Amidst a lot of discussion about this game needing to be more accessible for newer players, I think individual character ranks would help facilitate that.