Well then everything basically comes down to power - not necessarily metas. My friend is a pure f2p. And like most f2ps who got screwed over by the game - he didnt have mei for the longest time (he pulled a mei just two months ago) and he is around 95k - ish power . NOt once did he use a meta lineup - in fact he used a kisame (normal 5* version) , pakura / mei , windmain and kurenai to own around rank 98 in space time :)
Case in point - focus on power/init/tactics rather than metas