Understanding What A Metagame Is

Who out there wishes they could make the be all that ends all WOW deck? I am talking about the deck that will beat every deck and wont even break a sweat and there is time for lunch between rounds. Well thankfully there is not one(unlike Magic usually), and I am grateful for this. When I usually get ready for a tournament or am thinking of a deck I think of what the deck can beat and what other players are playing. This is called metagaming. In my opinion there are three stages of metagaming. They are Internet, location, and rogue.

First and foremost the internet is a valuable tool when checking the metagame in any tournament. How many times have you gone to a tournament and seen a exact copy of a deck from last weeks regional? I know I have and you can use this to your advantage. Whenever there are decklists from a regional on the internet look at them closly and ask yourself two questions... what type of decks are in the top 8(control or rush)? how many people were at the tournament? If there is a lot of control decks in the top 8 then look at the ways they control how the game goes.

There are multiple ways to control the game: hand disruption, ally kill, card drawing engine.... the list can go on and on but that is where it comes down to you to check and see if that certain type of control can beat your current deck. Also, there is rush or aggro decks that put out a lot of threats and try and end the game quick with low cost damage abilities and allies. Usually with these decks one or two key sideboard cards can help out alot with your 2 for 1 or 3 for 1 capabilities. For example, with the current deck I am playing I have marnie moonlight in my sideboard for this match up. She has decent stats ( 4 cost for a 2/5) and she has an insane exhaust ability( exhaust to gain 5 life from target ally or hero). I know this will not stop rush decks in their tracks but she will sure make it harder to go in for the finish. Also, how many people at a tournament can tell you a lot about the decks you are looking at. If there were thirty plus people at a regional then that regional has alot more diversity than a fifteen person regional. The reason for this is most people that play any card game have friends or a team that they practice and go to tournaments with and they usually play the same kind of deck because they think it is the best choice. If a five person team goes to a regional and there is only fifteen people in total then one third of the participants are playing the same deck or something similar.

Location is important because you have to know where and what kind of player is playing. I am sure if you compare a regional from a major city to a smaller one you will see more consistent less extravagent decks in the major city. The reason for this is there is probably more teams and better players in the bigger cities. I take this into consideration whenever I travel to a regional, continental, or a DMF. A good example of this is the up coming Continentals in Indianapolis. A couple of friends and I have been racking our brains on what is going to be the best deck to play and what kind of match ups it will have against certain decks. We think we have made the best choices on our decks but there is always a chance that we play the deck we have never seen or thought of before. The reason for this is no matter how hard someone tries it is hard to metagame a 200 person plus tournament. There is always the chance you run into the deck that is complete junk but some how is beats the pants off you. This type of deck is called Rogue.

Rogue decks are always a pain to play against and I dont mean the class. When I say rouge I mean the person who made a deck that resembles his character online or just plays with random cards that no one would ever play with but when they are played against you you have to read the card twice and ask yourself why is this card being played. A good instance of this is from the Knoxville, TN regional I went to last week. I was weary at first when I saw his hero Sharpshooter Nally. I took the card and read the flip ability it was ok, then I looked and the talents and there is was Marksmenship. So I knew I was in for a world of hurt with Aimed Shots and Fury but then when I saw the deck in action I was at a lost for words. I did not get a deck list but the only cards I saw were Trueshot Aura, Bakaar, Aimed Shot and Fel Iron Hatchet out of both games we played. In this instance he got dreamcrushed but sometimes these types of decks do really well because of a act of god or other supernatural force. This rarely ever happens but when it does it seems too often but hey lets face it we are here to have fun and play cards.