Know Your Meta! A Guide to Deck Creation on the Local Scene

Most of us have been guilty of this before (I know I have been): 

"Seriously? Wolves just beat my
Delver Deck?  But How?!"

You log onto StarCityGames.com on a Sunday afternoon, desperate to find the top decklists of the week on the Open Series circuit.  You’re always looking for the latest tech to beat up on your mates at FNM, and you instantly sleeve up the decklist of the winning deck, card for card, and expect to crush on Friday.  After all, it’s clearly the best deck right now!

Fast-Forward to round 4 of FNM.  You’re 1-2, and you’re about to lose round 4 to some deck you didn’t even see take top 32.  “How am I losing to this?” you wonder, as your opponent slams their third Immerwolf and swings for a lethal dose of pain.  “This deck isn’t even a contender!”  

You sign your match slip, feeling a rather high amount of angst as you leave the table.  Part of you knows that guy just got lucky.  Part of you thinks that it was just a fluke.  Part of you wants to throw your deck into a box and never see it again.

Part of you doesn’t understand your Local Meta.

The Local Meta is one of the best parts of any local, non-competitive tournament (when I say non-competitive, I mean a tournament that isn’t run at Competitive Rules Enforcement Level – REL).  It’s constantly shifting, and it’s harder to expect than, say, the top decks on the StarCityGames Open Series Circuit.  A Local Meta can feature decks that are completely out of left field, completely unlike the usual Delver and Naya Pod decks you've come to expect from the competitive scene.  Today, I want to explain to you how to approach deck selection and deck creation on the local scene, so you can succeed more in your next FNM or other local tournament.

The Problem with “Net-Decking” at FNM

First, let’s talk about “net-decks.”  You know, those 75-card lists you love to take note of after StarCityGames Opens or a Grand Prix.  A common misconception among local players is that if you play one of these decks, you’re bound to succeed more at FNM or other local events.  In part, you would be correct – these are the decks that are more prone to succeed on a grand scale – but newer players picking up 75 cards that won a major tournament the week before tend to not understand a key point about net-decks that succeed: They are built to fight an expected metagame. 

Not always the best idea
 When deckbuilding...

What’s an expected metagame?  It’s the selection of decks and deck-building choices that someone makes against an expected, general field of contenders.  Take Standard, for instance: the expected metagame (at the time of this writing) consists of a lot of UW Delver decks, probably some Zombie decks, some RG or Naya Aggro decks, and some number of decks containing Birthing Pod.  I could elaborate further, but you get the idea.  These are the decks that are talked about the most in Magic articles, and are the “best” decks in the format.  Week after week, these decks are being tuned to fight the biggest threats in the expected metagame, looking to take advantage of the deck-choices from yester week.  They are tested constantly against any number of these expected decks, and are tuned to have better match-ups against this field.  These are not the types of decks you are going to see consistently at FNM!
Now, I will concede that you will see some players using these decks at your FNM or local weekend shindig at the comic shop – Hell, I’m one of them; if I have a playset of Snapcaster Mage or Bonfire of the Damned, I’m going to use them.  But you can’t expect to walk into a room of players at FNM with 75 cards meant to beat Delver and Zombies and crush a random control deck.  Could it happen?  Sure.  But the deck is not necessarily primed for that particular matchup.

Solution #1 – INNOVATE!

In order to create a greater chance of success against your local meta, you need to realize that net-decking isn’t the answer!  Take that with a grain of salt, though – looking at the top decks in the format is a great way to see what synergies, combos, etc. work well in the current format.  For instance, I learned really quickly that Thragtusk and Restoration Angel, when working together, create a lot of tough situations for my opponents.  In essence, learn the strategy, not the decklist.  Doing so will make your 75 cards that much stronger.  

Once you figure out a strategy you like, take a look at what your local players actually play.  This can take some time.  Scout some tables – see what they’re doing.  If you see that only 5% of your players play Delver decks (for me, 5% represents 1 of 20 decks at the tournament), you may want to consider focusing on other matchups.  Your 75-card net-deck is expecting around 33% of the field to be playing Delver – of course they want to be ready for it!  If you use that same 75, some of your cards are naturally going to be weaker in your local meta.  This is when you have to put on your thinking caps and determine the best plan of attack!   

Imagination!

Here’s an example: Johnny took a winning UW Delver list that ran a full playset of Gut Shot to his FNM, where he quickly saw that about half of the folks there were playing Zombies.  Johnny knows that Gut Shot does next-to-nothing against Gravecrawler and Geralf’s Messenger, so he decides to replace Gut Shot with some exile effects – perhaps Tormod’s Crypt or Celestial Purge, prepping Gut Shot in the sideboard in case he sees a need for them.  Would a deck at a SCG Open ever do this?  No!  Gut Shot is awesome against Delver and mana dorks.  But, if you’re not seeing those cards, why devote slots in your deck to beating it. 

Here’s one more example – this actually happens at my LGS, and I’m so tempted to take advantage:  You’ve probably seen pro players say that UG Delver is bad against the current metagame.  They’re right – Quirion Dryad folds over to Vapor Snag, and it kills a lot of what UG would have going for it. 
It might be one of the best choices to play at my FNM this week. 
The reason?  Hardly any deck that I have played against in the last month has had a Vapor Snag in it…most were Zombies or other Aggro builds!  It’s pretty easy for me to take advantage of this development in our local meta, and build a deck that uses this information to my advantage.  If Quirion Dryad doesn’t leave the board, I usually would win a match-up; it gets really strong, really fast.  In short, learn what your local group plays, and gain value from this information.  This probably changes over time, but you can still learn a trend and have a plan of attack ready for whatever you may see.  Ultimately, innovation is a key to your success at FNM.  Like it or not, you’ll have to think a bit outside the box to improve your success rate!

Solution #2: Go Rogue!

“Man, that Trading Post looks AWESOME!”
-Brad Nelson (probably paraphrased)

Maybe you’re just getting tired of playing a deck, and want to try something fresh, something fun, and something out there.  That’s the joy of FNM, at least where I play – we love playing fresh brews that are fun.  Far too many players think that the only fun part of FNM is when you win.  Where I play, new brews are actively encouraged.  Want to see if that UB Trading Post deck would succeed?  Brew it and play it!  Got 4 Bonfires and want to burn some folks?  Do it!  You don’t need to play Naya Aggro to use those Bonfires.  Want to play a tribal deck?  More power to you – that’s the fun of FNM.  Here’s the best part: when you brew something out of the ordinary, few players know how to reliably battle you.  You can take advantage of the fact that you created something from scratch – where only you really know the strategy initially – and clean house using the knowledge of what everyone typically plays, while you are building something fresh, fun, and surprisingly competitive. 

 

Be creative, and this could be you!

“But, what if my deck doesn’t do well?  What then, smart guy?!” 
Then try something different!  I’ve seen a ton of articles online saying that (paraphrased) the best deck ideas evolve from stupid ideas that happened to work.  If you think your idea has potential, put it to the test!  FNM is a perfect place to try out new things without being criticized for your deck-building choices.  I encourage you all to take a chance on an idea you’ve been thinking about, and make that idea a reality.  Maybe you only go 1-3, or 2-2…so what!  You tried an idea, and had fun doing it…one of these times, you’re bound to build something that works really, really well.  Personally, I get a lot more out of these successes than when using a net-deck (even when I tweak it) to do well.

The Moral of the Story is…You Can’t Trust the System!

This Magic lesson brought to you
by Andy Samberg...

Yeah, you got me…the Lonely Island is going to teach you something about Magic here, folks.  At FNM, you really can’t trust the system…you’re going to see the unexpected, play the decks you thought unplayable, and get beat by decks that you just don’t see coming.  That happens – and it’s okay!  What I hope you get out of this is that you have to take a closer look at your local metagame in order to find the right tools to win.  You can’t just use an expected metagame full of Delver, RG, Naya, and Zombies to combat that Mono White Good Stuff deck that Jon plays with every week.  You have to learn to innovate as a deck creator in order to succeed.  A huge step in your growth as a Magic player is going to be made by learning how to tweak ideas, come up with strategies, and exploit them to succeed.  Using Gerry Thompson’s exact 75 might get you some wins, but the deck won’t be optimized to fight the 20 people you see every week at the comic shop.  Keep that in mind the next time you sleeve up your 75 on a Friday night.

Until next time, create, innovate, and annihilate.  Good luck at FNM!

-tom
Twitter: @wingmanmtg
Reddit: wingman2011