Magic the Gathering Metagame Strategy

Magic the Gathering, or Magic for short, is an interesting game not just because of its fantasy theme and balanced gameplay. Another thing that makes Magic interesting is the metagame. The metagame is the whole collection decks in any given Magic tournament. The metagame is your competition. The metagame are the decks you except to play against. The metagame depends on location, players, and the newest developments in high profile tournaments. For example, a couple weeks ago, I played in the Dallas, Texas Regionals tournament. This tournament had over 200 players. Most of the decks were aggressive, or aggro, creature decks. These aggro decks defined the metagame. To do well in this metagame, you had to play a deck that could handle aggro decks. Many of the good players adapted to the metagame well. For example, one of my friends played 4 Wrath of God and 4 Aven Riftwatcher in his Blue/White/Red Reveillark combo deck. Those two cards are very good against aggro decks. He faced mostly creature decks and he did very well - almost making the top 8 of the tournament.

How do predict the metagame?

For a local metagame like Friday Night Magic (FNM), it's not too hard to predict the metagame. Simply go regularly to FNM and you'll figure out which decks players like to play. Usually players will play the same type of deck week in and week out. You'll have your aggro, control, and combo players at most FNMs. As you attend FNM consistently and observe the decks being played, you'll have a good idea of the local metagame.

Most importantly, make sure to bring a deck that beats the top decks in the metagame. Often in FNM, the same people do well and win the prizes. If you don't do well in an FNM, stay around to see which decks are winning. Then, come back next week to bring a deck that has a good matchup against those winning decks.

For a bigger metagame like Regionals or a Pro Tour Qualifier (PTQ), it's a good idea to go to different stores in the region and find out which decks are doing well.

Having a network of friends who play a lot of Magic tournaments is a great asset. I just got back into the game right before I played at Regionals so I didn't have much knowledge of the metagame. However, I asked some players who had played awhile in the Dallas area. Based on their tournament experience in the region, they told me that the Dallas Regionals would be filled with mostly aggro decks.

Also, for these bigger tournaments, many players will "net deck". Netdecking is simply building and playing a winning deck from a big tournament. This is usually done my going on the internet and scouring through winning decklists from around the world.

Here are some popular netdecking sites:

deckcheck.net
starcitygames.com
magicthegathering (in the tournament center section)

If a certain deck is doing well around the world in big tournaments, you can be sure that you will probably face that deck at a PTQ especially in the later rounds. Most good players in my experience will netdeck so you often see the same decks doing well.

Finally, how can you take advantage of your metagame information?

Now that you have a good idea of what kind of decks to expect, you can try to build a deck that will beats those decks. This is easier said than done so many players will go with alternative of simply finding a netdeck that will do well in their metagame. For example, if your metagame is filled with many Faeries decks, you should find a winning Red Burn deck on the net and play it. Red Burn decks have the advantage against Faerie decks.

But even if you do play a netdeck, make sure to practice against the decks in your metagame. Remember, even if a deck theoretically has an advantage over another deck, you still have to know how to play the matchup to give yourself a much better chance of winning.