I concur with that. However, I'm not sure with people keeping their fire counters alive when Rain teams are so dominant on the ladder these days. Obviously, it depends on what your opponent does. They do just take the risk of countering your team, and risk actually meeting a proper Rain team and possbily getting obliterated. It's probably an option to use around in tournaments where people don't expect it though.
I totally agree, they dont usually keep thier fire counters the first few times you play, but when they know your strategy they start playing you better because they know the whole of your team. They change the way they play, which in essence was the reason that we were catching them out in the first place (relying on them sacrificing their checks first)
Actually it might be good idea to play a mixed team and a pure rain team on the ladder and switch between matches to really baffle opponents. Especially if you start in the same way.