- What is the META?
- Why the need to understand the META?
- How to recognise the META?
- How to react to the META?
- Where to find help?
I was looking through some posts and ‘realised’ that the answer to some of the problems may lies in the above. Since I am not an expert on the topic above, I like to present it to the community to share your knowledge.
(below my feeble attempt)
-
META is your (game) world. A world where you can meet alot of a certain deck type. (aggro, control, combo, etc) When we have many people combining their world, it forms the overall META.
-
It can help your game. If you understand the META, you can work with the flow or against the flow.
-
META can change. Thus, data collection helps to identity the META. e.g. What classes are you seeing most? what archetypes? etc.
-
From the data collected, the player can decide to,
- work with the flow or
- against the flow.
However, players may not know how to use and analyse the data collected, as such becomes useless data or attempt to use it.
- a) data collection tool,
- personal - deck tracker that allows data collection of games played
- overall - various sites, reports, etc of the said topic
b) ask more experience players
*note: As stated. The META for you can be different from mine. Yesterday’s META can be different with today’s. Learn to differentiate and filter information that can apply to your situation.
3 Likes
What is the meta: The meta is defined by the common decks (my breakpoint is usually 5%) that form the ecosystem of the card game. This ecosystem can usually be defined by precise decks if one is dominant (i.e. ShamanStone, Razakus, Huntertaker, etc.) or by a general duality of the meta (i.e. Pirates vs. Reno)
Why the need to understand the meta: If you are building decks it is crucial to understand the meta as the meta will be defined by the fast deck you must survive through (the aggressive deck) and the Control deck that you must either be able to out-value or kill before they reach their win condition. Once you understand these boundaries you can then either decide to play within these rules (usually advisable) or understand what aggressive or control deck you must be better than at their game
How to recognize the meta: Tougher question. Early on you just recognize it more by feel and observation. Usually, one to two months into an expansion the meta can be defined through data. You’ll want to look at playrate data as what defines the meta the most is the frequency of decks you are facing. For example, while for much of Boomsday Even Shaman was a top-3 deck you’d never describe that Standard meta with Even Shaman because it’s playrate tended to stay around 2.5%
How to react to the meta:: See two bullet points above for how I tend to react to the meta… by building decks to leverage against it. In general though understanding the meta is key as it either tells you what the best decks are to play or helps you to identify what off-meta decks are under-the-radar powerful in the meta such as Even Shaman in Boomsday or Secret Paladin in RR. Both of which were WELL underplayed in Standard based on their winrate data.
Where to find help: In order of how I use it when I am looking to build:
- Vicious Syndicate (starting with their second report on the meta… usually 3 to 4 weeks after expansion
- Hearthstone Replay to look at individual deck lists. This was a lot better when I paid for the subscription as I could look at decks at only r5 - legend. It still has some value but not as much without the subscription
- Competitive HS Reddit is a good resource if you don’t mind sifting through the posts
6 Likes
Most
Effective
Tactic
Available
2 Likes
+1 someone who actually gets it.
One of the question players may have is “Why does my deck perform differently this season from last season?”
One of the factor could be the META had changed, and will continue to change?
Thus, the original deck is poorer equip to react to that change.
As such people whom understands and changes accordingly, can adept better.
Do you agree with the above, or do you have additional views?
1 Like