Below this article is a picture of myself, so you can identify me at Regionals, or any other wide-scale events. Keep in mind that I'll primarily be at Regionals in NY (my home state) and NJ. *notices that nobody cares* Oh well, just wanted to try out my new scanner. Every once in a while I'll do an article of my own choosing... this is one of them.
        What is a Metagame exactly? It's not a real word in the English Language (not that I know of, checked my home dictionary), so the only way to find the literal meaning of the word would be to break it down. The pre-fix "meta," outside of chemical science means "between." Based on this, one would assume that Metagame means "between game," right? "Between game" has no relevance to the way the word is used in TCG's though. I have no idea who came up with that word (most likely a MTG player), but my best guess is that it really means "Metamorphosing Game." That would make sense, since the game constantly changes as more sets are added, cards are banned, etc. I still haven't told you what the word means to the present-day TCG Player. This is my definition...

me•ta•game: all the decks played in a given area within a given time period

Those who knew that already know that Metagames vary from place to place, and constantly change based on time and how large the area is. In my mind, a Metagame is very similar to the way Western Philosophers (ex. if a tree falls in a forest and nobody's around to hear it, does it make a sound?) perceive reality and truth. Today's reality isn't necessarily yesterday's reality, and today's Metagame might not be yesterday's. Everybody has their own version of the truth, everybody has their own Metagame.

        How is a metagame determined? As stated above, the decks that are played, the given time frame, and the area size play a roll in a Metagame's existence. The deck types that are played depends 100% on the people around you. By observing, whether playing or literally watching games you can find a "popular" deck type and name your Metagame (deck name Heavy) . For the sake of this example, let's say your metagame is Chaos Heavy. Based on that, you can construct a side deck, main deck, or general strategy to counter it. The point of knowing your Metagame is to know how to play against it (and for if you enter a wide scale tournament within your area).
         The time frame isn't a huge factor, but it's important enough. Most players' time frame is the present, focusing on what is happening now. Others like me look at past Metagames to learn about how decks evolve, become obsolete, etc. Most people take into account the time frame subconsciously, so there's no need to label it "Presently Chaos Heavy." However, some people quit the game early then come back still living in "the old days" where F/S (Fiend/Spellcaster) Beatdown ruled and have no idea what's going around them. Set research along with Metagame research can fix that. Time does wonders to the world and the world of Yu-Gi-Oh is no exception. There are exceptions to this of course. Sometimes the popular deck type will continue to rule your metagame regardless of time/amount of sets released, causing a proverbial "Dark Age" until the players are awakened to a new idea.
         Area size is hugely important in determining a personal Metagame. Why? It depends on how much far the player travels to play and how often. Therefore, the size of a personal metagame will vary. When the player travels, he/she can take into account different decks types that are run. The more wide spread your dueling repertoire is, the better feel you'll have for how to play in wide-scale tournaments. I have played in many tournaments in New York myself, spanning to about upstate. With so many stores "under my belt" I can label the state of New York as I know it "Control Heavy." Of course, there are some people who are confined to a single store. They get a feel of their local metagame, but are lost in the sense that, unless a lot of outsiders visit your store you miss out on a lot of experience. And yet there are the few that use their friends' houses for their only dueling source, and claim to have a metagame. There is no casual Metagame. The concept only applies to tournament play. I don't encourage traveling to play unless it's convenient or you have time/money to burn.
         Once you have your Metagame figured out, what do you do with it? Before anything you should take into account your win/loss record against the players and their skill levels. Just because your Metagame is "Control Heavy" doesn't mean it's good Chaos. With that in mind, construct a side deck (Article 14) to counter it if you experience any difficulties. I'm rambling though, now I'll break out the fun of "Breaking the Metagame."

Breaking the Metagame

"Breaking the Metagame" means one of two things (1) You make a deck suited to counter an entire metagame (2) You construct and Archetype that is so good that the concept (or the whole deck for that matter) is used/copied. Breaking your Metagame takes a great deal of skill, both in deck building and actual gameplay. This is due to the fact that your main deck alone can counter most, if not all of the decks played around you. With this, I'd like to talk about 2 very viable, but often overlooked concepts/strategies that 2 very talented players have used which are capable of Breaking a Metagame. One player is Sand Trap, who uses/used King Tiger Wanghu to counter numerous cards.

King Tiger Wanghu
EARTH
Level IV
Effect/Beast

1700/1000

As long as this card remains face-up on the field, all monsters with an ATK equal to 1400 or less that are Normal Summoned or Special Summoned (excluding Flip Summon) are automatically destroyed.

It has a well supported Sub-Type (Beast) and an ok Main-Type (it can bring out Giagantes but eh... maybe post-ban). 1700 ATK runs over most control monsters and also can get rid of most defense position monsters played in Control/Beatdown (including D.D. Warrior Lady, which Breaker and Tribe can't break through). 1000 DEF makes it searchable which is always a plus. Its effect is where it really shines- destroying a monster as soon as it touches the field is a very unique effect. Though Flip Summons are not included, it's still a very powerful effect. It stops Don Zaloog, Marauding Captain, Yata-Garasu, etc. by its effect alone. By attacking it can run over Breaker, Tribe, and the control monsters I already mentioned if they already were on the field. The mini searchers (Shining Angel, Mystic Tomato) also get shut down by this. Unless they special summon a DDWL, the monster is gone. If it’s a tomato, there's a chance that they will Special Summon a Main Searcher and get an auto search. There is one deck type it completely kills- Magical Scientist FTKO. No Gilasaurus, no Scientist, no Turtle, etc. The only thing in that deck that could save them would be a Dark Hole, DMoC, or some type of monster manipulation (Snatch Steal).

This card is great in a Beast Deck (Beastdown) vs. Control. Why? They are forced (monster wise) to set their monsters and get them trampled by Enraged Battle Ox and friends, summon it and get it killed, pick off King Tiger with a stronger monster (which most likely can be taken care of by a Berserk Gorilla later), or just leave it in their hand and hope they can stop your with a M/T. I've seen it been used effectively, but since it’s a "foreign" idea people won't try it right away.

Outside of Beast Decks, this card is still effective. When you are hand a monster advantage, this is a great card to run. Tribe-Infecting Virus can kill your field advantage, especially if you run themed decks. The ingenious part about running this card in a non-beast themed deck is that it shuts down Tribe, even though its not under or equal to 1400 ATK. Let's say you run a Fiend Deck with King Tiger as a TeCh against Tribe and other stuff. You have a slight field advantage (2 Fiend Monsters) and a KTW in your hand. Due to a Forceful Sentry, you know they have a Tribe waiting. You decided to get rid of their Chaos Emperor Dragon though. You summon KTW and attack with all 3 but alas, your opponent uses Waboku. They draw, summon Tribe and use its effect to call Fiends. King Tiger, being an "odd suit" (sub-type) doesn't get destroyed and is superior to Tribe in terms of attack points. They'll either have to keep Tribe on the field and lose more field advantage or discard a 2nd card just to kill Tiger. Less cards means less options for your opponent, which is better for you. KTW is a very versatile card, but its underrated. Though it does have an ATK of 1700 (which is good mind you), it doesn't stand up to Kycoo's, 1900ers, and Berserk Gorilla (along with all 2000+ Level IV's) which is why most people don't use it. Timing is key in playing this card.

The second player to be mentioned in this article is Outrider. The card that I'm going to tie to him is Cold Wave. Outrider doesn't just use this card, he uses a whole deck built around it. If that's not commendable originality then I don't know what is. (Actually I do, so read Article 1. In the first three I kept on forgetting to use the <br> code to start a new paragraph ^_^;).

Cold Wave
Spell

This card can only be activated at the start of Main Phase 1. Until your next turn, neither you nor your opponent can play or Set any Magic or Trap cards.

This is yet another card that has a unique effect that most players overlook, mainly due to the fact that you can't play or set M/T's either. With that in mind, its most effective when you have field advantage. It's NOT a card you'll want to when see you're losing, unless its paired with a flip effect monster. Speaking of flip effect monsters, this card combo's with Fiber Jar, especially if you are losing. Activate Cold Wave, set Fiber. They attack, most of the time setting it off. If they summoned a monster, they'll have an open field since they are unable to play an M/T's. If they didn't and summon a monster, it makes little difference since their battle phase is ends when Fiber is flipped. When your turn begins you get to use your M/T's. With that combo, you basically create a Neko Mane King like effect where they end their turn since they (most likely) summoned a monster and can't play anything else. After the bans, this will be a dead combo but it's a good one. Cold Wave does wonders against a lucky Mirage of Nightmare player. You'll have to wait for times like these though, or times when it's convenient or won't hurt you.

Some people call this a TeCh card, which is very ignorant. Not stupid, ignorant. Its uses are too broad for it to be considered TeCh. Spells and Traps are weaknesses for every deck, but the point of a TeCh card is to counter something in a way that it won't be coming back or leave you without an advantage over your opponent. In a deck outside of Wave Control, Cold Wave just slows down game play on both sides.

Normally I don't do deck reviews/overviews, but this one is worth my time. Notice that even though the name is "Wave Control," the deck isn't 100% dependent on Cold Wave. The point of a deck like this is to control which Spells and Traps your opponent uses, then use cards to devastate the monsters they have. Lesser Fiend is a card that a most players label as "Not Worth It," but in this deck it works like a Charm. You kill monsters and make sure they stay dead, which adds to the control factor of the deck. Lesser Fiend is one of the level 5 monsters that can be Metamorphed into Dark Balter the Terrible, the ultimate control card. Magical Scientist can bring out Ryu Senshi to stop Traps too, which is as important as Dark Balter in a deck like this. Sonic Jammer isn't a card that I'd recommend, but its effective. I say that because if an Airknight or something hits the field, it doesn't matter if they can use S/T or not (unless they play Metamorphosis too). The 3 Berserk Gorilla's in this deck can cover the Airknight weakness, along with most level 4's. The Trap setup is very interesting, since it not only adds to the theme but is effective on its own as well. Magic Drains do half of Cold Wave's job and are very powerful if you both find yourselves topdecking somehow. The deck can be very effective in the hands of a great player.

         This deck and KTW both are Metagame Breaking. Their versatility and effectiveness is only overshadowed by more popular cards due to the fact that people don't want to try new things. If we can get rid of the "I'm not going to try anything unless it I see someone else use it" train of thought, you'll start to see a lot more deck types. And remember, the game is just beginning... the way players around you think should not discourage you from being creative.

Questions? Comments? E-mail at Suicune@optonline.net.