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.