What is a “metagame”?  There are probably several definitions, but right now I’d like to talk about Magic: the Gathering.

In Magic, players construct decks.  Each game of Magic features two players, each with one deck, each attempting to defeat the other.  (There are variations, of course, but we’ll stick with this for now.)

One interesting thing about Magic is that decks can be constructed to take advantage of different strategies.  A deck can attempt to cast enough creatures and attack with them to cause damage; that’s usually called an “Aggro” (for “aggressive”) strategy.  A “Control” deck would neutralize all enemy threats, then field one threat that the opponent could not answer.  A “Combo” deck attempts to assemble a series of cards in play (a “combo”) that combine to create an effect that cannot be stopped.

Of course, these strategies work better or worse against opposing strategies.  For example, an Aggro deck fighting a Combo deck would most likely cause enough damage to win the game before the combo could be assembled.  However, Control decks are built to neutralize Aggro threats.  (There is sort of an RPS relationship here, but the real Magic environment is quite a bit more complicated than my summary; these are only the broadest categories, there are many archetypes and sub-archetypes of deck designs.  For purposes of illustration only!)

Now, every few months a new Magic set is released, changing the mix of cards available to deckbuilders.

The Standard format uses only the newest sets the game has to offer. The current block, the block that was released the previous October, and the most recent core set are all legal to play in a Standard deck. As you can tell from the name, Standard is the most commonly played format.

—“Sanctioned Formats” at wizards.com

So, when new sets are released, older cards are no longer available to play and newer cards enter the mix.  (Of course, there are tournaments where older cards can be played; see the Sanctioned Formats page for more information.)  With each different mix of cards, new card interactions are found and the strategies change.  Deck Type A may lose some core cards, while Deck Type B gains a really efficient card; it’s impossible to just accumulate “the best cards”.  People spend a lot of time figuring out which new cards are good and, more important, which cards work well together.

All that is fine, but what IS this metagame thing anyway?

Yeah, that was all just kind of background.

Imagine yourself in the place of someone who wants to attend a Magic tournament.  And, of course, you wish to win.  But what sort of deck should you bring?  At the tournament you’ll be matched up against several other randomly chosen people and their decks.  So it might help to figure out what other people are playing.

Let’s say that recent tournament scouting reports show 40% of people playing Deck A, 30% Deck B, 20% Deck C and 10% random other stuff (“rogue decks”).  So, if Deck C is good against Deck A, you might construct your own variant of C to bring.

But what if, in this particular area, more people play B than the average?  Is your deck good against B?  What if everyone ELSE comes to the same conclusion and brings C—How will you deal with the “mirror match” against another variant of C?  What if you’re matched up against a completely random rogue deck?

“The metagame” usually refers to the state of Magic decks.  It encompasses the currently-in-fashion deck types and variants, along with the frequencies at which they’re played.  People playing in real tournaments often spend a lot of time figuring out the metagame and trying to prepare for it.

When does a metagame appear?

Other games can have metagames.  I’ve tried to puzzle out the conditions that might lead to a metagame arising.

• Different strategies exist.
• There are no completely dominant strategies.  In other words, there is no “best” strategy.
• An environment is made up of recently successful strategies.
• Some strategies are better in some environments.
• Strategies are tested multiple times, with time to adjust between.
• Something happens on a regular basis to change the mix of strategies.

The one point I want to make here is…It’s easy to think of a metagame as being composed of “matches” at “tournaments”.  However, with my definition of “environment” above, we can apply the definition to other games.  Perhaps the game appears to be single player, but each successful strategy is entered into a “pool of recent winners”, which later players must face.  Something to think about, anyway.

(Also see my next entry, Metagames: Part 2!)