Metagame
Metagame (Greek: μέτα = “about”, “beyond”), literally "a game outside the game," is a prediction of how others will make decisions in a game based on their personality or their previous decisions.[1] A metagame can exist in any game in which the opposition is human or portrays some sort of artificial intelligence and the competitors make choices.[2]
The Magic metagame
In Magic, "Metagame" commonly refers to the popularity of decks, and sometimes specific cards. Simply put: "what everyone else is playing."[3][4][5] The decisions the players make in what decks they play and what cards they put into those decks in acknowledgement of their predictions about what potential opponents might choose themselves is what is called 'playing the metagame'.[6] The practice of tuning a deck or adding sideboard cards in order to have a better chance to defeat the most popular decks is called metagaming. The term “metagame” is also used to describe the game around the game, including the Organized Play system, online resources, a library of material, and numerous communities.[7][8]
Example
Metagaming is often cyclical. One example from Magic is the card Shatter, which says "destroy target artifact." Shatter is very powerful, and so to avoid it, most people have stopped playing artifacts. These people are metagaming because they have changed their decisions in anticipation of people playing Shatter. Then, people notice that nobody is playing artifacts, so they take Shatter out of their decks since it is worthless without artifacts to target. This is another example of metagaming because the players have changed their decisions in anticipation of their opponent's decisions. Then, people notice that shatter has become uncommon, so they begin to play artifacts again. This, yet again, is metagaming. This cycle can continue indefinitely.
In Standard
Metagames are like living puzzles that try to solve themselves. The decks in a metagame will never be perfectly balanced. Within the first week of a set's release, the player-base as a whole will have put far more collective hours into finding the best deck for Standard than R&D can during the entire development period. The strategy the developers have for creating metagames that don't solve themselves within the first few weeks is making cards that are, as a whole, well balanced, but also do enough different powerful things that all of the decks in the metagame have room to shift as time moves on.[9][10][11][12] One example of this is Oko, Thief of Crowns. This is an example because since so many Simic decks are running it, it has become very expensive, and, as a result, more decks are running copies of Noxious Grasp and Veil of Summer.
Rogue decks
Rogue deck is a term that can mean two similar but different types of Magic deck.
Meaning A
Rogue Deck is most commonly used to refer to a deck that does not seem to follow the trends of a particular metagame.
Rogue decks are often attributed to Johnny players, and are generally not believed to be able to compete with the more popular decks in the metagame. Such decks are usually classified as being below Tier 1 decks in any given metagame, but are often just relevant or common enough to warrant discussion.
This does not mean that such decks are bad as such, and indeed many of them are designed specifically to beat a dominant deck, but this almost always comes at the cost of being less effective against the rest of the field. In this case, players piloting such decks at tournaments will often be a gamble that a certain deck (that they have a very favorable match-up against) will show up enough for them to prey on it.
Meaning B
Alternatively, Rogue Deck can mean a deck that is developed secretly in the run-up to a tournament and so arrives on the day completely unknown to the opponents, giving the pilot the element of surprise.
In this case, such decks are designed to beat an entire metagame normally through the use of cards or strategies that are not currently being used in the high-level metagame and are flying under the radar. Decks of this type are often very powerful, but sometimes also fragile enough that the metagame may adapt to suppress them.
However, when these decks are less disruptive and gain some longevity, they frequently become some of the most powerful decks and may even end up warping the metagame around themselves. This kind of rogue deck, if successful, will normally be referred to as a format breaker, sweeping every other deck before it during the period when no deck has the tools to beat it (and even when the tools are ubiquitous, they continue to be of tier 1 power). When this happens, the Rogue deck evolves to be a part of the meta and is then considered a Meta deck.
Challenges on building a Rogue deck
The building of Rogue decks, or of decks in general, is called brewing.
Brewing a successful rogue deck is highly coveted and is generally considered to be an important achievement for any deck builder.
Regardless of which meaning for "Rogue deck" one uses, it is trying to attack the meta from a different angle. Some of the challenges consist of:
- working on an idea that few have considered
- adequately testing it against as many types of decks as possible
- making it tournament-ready in every aspect (including the sideboard)
Due to the variety of a meta in any given format, making a strategy consistent and strong enough to take on multiple strategies is a hard task. Although it is not impossible, as many of the most famous decks in history began as completely unknown rogue decks, performed well at a PT or GP, and proliferated into part of the metagame later on.
See also
References
- ↑ Reid Duke (June 1, 2015). "The Metagame". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2019-05-19.
- ↑ Richard Garfield (June 21, 2010). "Lost in the Shuffle: Games Within Games". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Jeff Cunningham (January 06, 2007). "What is the Metagame?". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2020-09-22.
- ↑ Jeff Cunningham (June 23, 2007). "Metagame Workshop". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2020-09-22.
- ↑ Wizards of the Coast (November, 2008). "Ask Wizards - November 2008". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2021-03-03.
- ↑ Mike Flores (July 14, 2014). "Metagame". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2014-07-17.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (June 05, 2006). "As Good As It Gets". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mike Flores (June 01, 2009). "I Never Metagame I Didn't Like: The History of the Magic Metagame". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2020-11-12.
- ↑ Sam Stoddard (April 12, 2013). "Room to Grow". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2021-03-03.
- ↑ Sam Stoddard (October 16, 2015). "Puzzling Environments". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2020-11-25.
- ↑ Gavin Verhey (November 2, 2017). "Breaking Rock-Paper-Scissors". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2017-11-05.
- ↑ Melissa DeTora (December 8, 2017). "Designing a Diverse Standard Metagame". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2017-12-12.