What Should I Play In My Metagame?

This is now the official thread for this type of discussions. Do not create separate threads. - Nihil Credo

One of the most fundamental questions when playing a Constructed format is: "What deck should I play?" or more accurately "Which deck gives me the highest chance of winning?"

A high winning percentage can mostly be achieved when your deck strategically trumps a majority of the field. So in order to find the "Tinker" deck for your metagame, you have to know your metagame.
I think this aspect of the game is as important as tweaking your maindeck or sideboard, and doesn't get the attention it deserves.

Now, the purpose of this thread is to describe your metagame as good as possible and afterwards the other Sourcers try to help finding the deck that trumps your metagame.


For example, in my metagame Landstill is very successful and "obscure" combo decks like Belcher and Breakfast are also quite popular (strangely no Tendrils). The Landstill versions range from two-color to 4-color versions. There is also a smattering of various Aggro decks (too many to list them all), although they mostly populate the lower tables, so I think they're not that important.

What deck would be the optimal choice in a metagame like this?

No counterbalance? Landstill the only blue deck?

Play storm combo. TES, FT, Solidarity. Adjust the sideboards for the opposing combo decks (e. g. by playing Echoing Truth in FT and Solidarity) and you're good.

Yeah, almost no Counterbalance and Threshold. Also, no Ichorid, Stax and very little Goblins. Strange metagame indeed.
I don't know if Storm is the way to go, because there are quite a few decks packing Duress and Hymn.

This thread is not just for my particular metagame, feel free to describe your own metagame so that other Sourcers can help you.

You can play FT and deny easily that others combo decks with FOW and Orim's Chant. Echoing Truth maindeck would make this matchs much better.

Vs Aggro and Landstill you can simply Goldfish them in 2nd-3rd turn.

Duress and Hymn would be a little more hard, but Disupt, Divert and Spell Snare could help.

My Meta is mostly random aggro decks, a bunch of landstill/control decks with top and CB, a few combo decks, and soon a bunch of prison/stax decks. No thresh... but goblins has shown its ugly face once in a while. Edit: also a few BW hand disruption decks.

The metagame at my local card shop is mostly Landstill/Threshold decks. Lots of Countertop, lots of Force of Wills, etc. There are no storm decks, and very few Ichorids. There is also only one vial Goblins deck.

What should I be playing?

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Originally Posted by madcow305

The metagame at my local card shop is mostly Landstill/Threshold decks. Lots of Countertop, lots of Force of Wills, etc. There are no storm decks, and very few Ichorids. There is also only one vial Goblins deck.

What should I be playing?

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Aggro Loam. You beat Threshold, Landstill, Countertop, and you can just board shit in against Ichorid. Also, Vial Goblins is a bye for you, no joke.

RGB Survival. 7-8 discard spells, 2+ Magus of the Moon, recursion, and a versatile wishboard are both bad news for blue based control. Goblins is about even preboard, and gets better post board. Ichorid can be heavily boarded for to improve games 2 and 3.

Stompy decks. None of those decks could stand up to their affordable might.

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Originally Posted by Citrus-God

Aggro Loam. You beat Threshold, Landstill, Countertop, and you can just board shit in against Ichorid. Also, Vial Goblins is a bye for you, no joke.

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Second. Aggro loam will run those blue decks down.

Third. Aggro-loam. Each creature attack is like getting hit by a bus with Tarmogoyf usually being the tiniest. Play chalice MD for increase sad faces...it does absolutely nothing to your deck but shuts down multiple cards of theirs at 1.

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Originally Posted by Jaynel

RGB Survival. 7-8 discard spells, 2+ Magus of the Moon, recursion, and a versatile wishboard are both bad news for blue based control. Goblins is about even preboard, and gets better post board. Ichorid can be heavily boarded for to improve games 2 and 3.

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Seconded. You can also tailor the deck as the metagame adjusts.

Dragon Stompy would also be a good choice, although it's nowhere near as consistent as Survival.

Dragon Stompy. Every deck you listed is favorable.

Imperial Painter's also a good choice. Just keep a decent Ichorid board.

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Originally Posted by jazzykat

Third. Aggro-loam. Each creature attack is like getting hit by a bus with Tarmogoyf usually being the tiniest. Play chalice MD for increase sad faces...it does absolutely nothing to your deck but shuts down multiple cards of theirs at 1.

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Aaaand fourthing the Loam option. Worm Harvest is surprisingly good against control, so having one in the board is a good idea. Running Eternal Witnesses somewhere also helps get back things that get countered.

Just be careful about graveyard hate like Leyline.

I put another vote into agro loam, as you will molest that metagame with it.

agroloam with raven's crime its brutal on blue control.

AggroLoam or RGB Survival. Actually, I'm surprised no one has mentioned Ichorid either. Ichorid is the easiest of the three to hate, and will have the hardest time against Goblins, but the easiest time against Thresh and Landstill. It's also probably the cheapest of the decks. Am I missing something obvious about the Ichorid matchups?

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Originally Posted by AngryTroll

Actually, I'm surprised no one has mentioned Ichorid either. Am I missing something obvious about the Ichorid matchups?

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This.

Actually, what on earth does

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This.

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mean? That slang, clearly showing how cool and internet-savvy you are, has not yet reached the mere internet mortals on this coast.

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Originally Posted by AngryTroll

Actually, what on earth does



mean? That slang, clearly showing how cool and internet-savvy you are, has not yet reached the mere internet mortals on this coast.

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It means he agrees with you. As in, "this is what I would say, also". It also serves to add emphasis to your prior statement.

You seriously didn't know that?

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Originally Posted by Pinder

You seriously didn't know that?

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This.

LoL at the "this" responses :tongue: .

Thanks for the responses, guys. I'll check the Ichorid and AggroLoam deck threads to find a good build. I appreciate it.

EDIT: By the way, Ichorid would be the cheapest of the suggested decks to build, correct?

Hi everyone !
I joined a shop near mine where the MU is mainly composed by black-based decks (read: mono black "hard way", eva green, the Rock, WB Pox), a few thresholds, 1 landstill and other non-strong decks ( at least, this is what I saw so far).
I brought a Merfolk deck (don't laugh), and top8ed; in spite of this, I felt somehow "impotent " against all those black discarders /removals, paired with undercosted beaters (tarmogoyf and others) and card draw ( confidant).
So, the question I wanna ask you is obvious, but I can't really get it out: which deck should have favorable MUs against those typologies of decks (the black ones, i mean), and still have decent possibilities to fight with the thresh-ish others ? I can't come to a conclusion.. I 'd like to carry on the "blue-denial " plan, but I can do very few when my hand gets torn on turn 2 and they begin to beat me with angry, fat creatures..
Any suggestions?
Thanks !

EDIT: and , Yes, there also 2-3 counterbalance.dec. , including the threshes.

Ichorid seems like a very strong choice for that metagame.

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Originally Posted by nitewolf9

Ichorid seems like a very strong choice for that metagame.

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This.

In addition to Ichorid, 43Lands.dec should also be very strong.

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Originally Posted by nitewolf9

Ichorid seems like a very strong choice for that metagame.

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This.

Aggro Loam. Seriously, isn't that always the answer to Metagame questions?

With 3 Devestating Dreams, 4 Wishes, Chalice for 1, and if you really want, Solitary Confinements, you should beat Suicide and crush the blue decks. Although it won't be as onesided against Suicide as Ichorid, it should still beat them, be more fun to play, and be more resilient to sideboard hate.



Actually Ichorid and AggroLoam seem to be the deck to play in, well, any metagame.

Goyf Sligh would be really strong in a meta like that.

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Originally Posted by J.V.

Goyf Sligh would be really strong in a meta like that.

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Goyf Sligh
AggroLoam

Both allow you to SB Compost which pwns heavy black decks.

Burn should be able to outrace Sui-Black.

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Originally Posted by heroicraptor

Burn should be able to outrace Sui-Black.

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Or Bolt Negator if they play it. It's kinda like a Time Walk(or two) depending on when it was dropped.

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Originally Posted by chokin

Or Bolt Negator if they play it. It's kinda like a Time Walk(or two) depending on when it was dropped.

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Back in the day, when I was a scrub still, I used to play burn... and the first deck I ever played against was a sui-black deck, who went first turn negator, second turn sinkhole into my lightning bolt which swept his negator and two lands... Priceless... I will never forget that, ever!


Also, My meta has been pretty straight forward, I think that agro-loam would molest my meta, but right now I need too many cards for it (wishes and crushers), so I am just playing storm combo...

The meta is primarily blue based control decks, black based agro-control decks, and red/green/white based agro decks...

My meta shifts so drastically that it is almost sickening... although I can always rely on rattling 1-2 wins off of scrubs/kevin trombely :cool:

Hey guys :smile:

I live somewhere in the world where Legacy is unplayed, where it's considered as the most useless and un-interesting format of MtG, where people barely know what eternal is....

France.

We don't have such things as "metagames". I'll take this for an example:

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Originally Posted by Last random midly-big tournament

3 Stax (2 U-Stax + 1 Ur Stax)
2 Boros
2 Burn
2 Counter Slivo
2 Elves
2 Goblins (1 Rw Goblins + 1 Rb Goblins)
2 Madness
2 Mono Black (1 MBC + 1 MBA)
2 Rock
2 Thresh (1 Ugw Thresh + 1 Ugb Thresh)
2 Wenny White
1 Belcher
1 Big Blue
1 Dragon Stompy
1 DreadStill
1 Enchanteresse
1 Faeries
1 FashLess Hulk
1 Landstill
1 MRA
1 Painter
1 Pikula
1 Poxless
1 Réanimator
1 Rogue
1 Stuffy Doll
1 Survival
1 Taiga
1 Togless
1 UW Control
1 Zoo

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Knowing that f I went there, there would be another archetype on the list (Faerie Stompy btw). Yeah it's awful. Yeah some archetypes seem to be useless and awful (Stuffy Doll mainly). It looks like top 8 is predefined. But now take a look at it:

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Originally Posted by Top 8

VILLANI Etienne (Zoo)
DE SAUZA Guillaume (Burn)
CLAPERON Romain (U-Stax)
COLOMB Damien (DreadStill)
GILLES Maxime (Flashless Hulk)
PEIRANI Jean Michel (Togless)
SCHMITT Romain (Goblin)
GARROS Roland (Poxless)
THEVENET Quentin (U-Stax)

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...

I won't say anything about it and just ask:

What in the WHOLE DAMN WORLD would you play in this kind of metagame?

Ichorid if people don't metagame against it; ThreshThreshThreshThreshThreshThreshThreshThresh for the general consistency or possibly GoyfSligh since there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of combo or Bigbeater.dec.

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Originally Posted by Infinitium

Ichorid if people don't metagame against it.

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I'd run Ichorid if ppl aren't prepared for it. Big job until they are blue in the face. Generally, in wide open metas, I'd prefer to run aggressive decks. Goyf Sligh may be a good choice, but I'd be wary of the Stax decks.

For now, my best results in this year in a french Legacy tourney this last months had been :

2nd/20 with Ichorid
(facing Ugb Threshold, random Zoo, Belcher and other random decks)
1st/18 with Eva Green
(opposition was Pikula, Death&Taxes, Belcher, Goblins among other random decks)
36/209 with Eva Green
(going 5-2-1 vs Rb Goblin twice, Rock, Affinity, and other random decks)
1st/16 with ANT
(running into Zoo, Goblin, Ugr Thresh and other random deck)
10/106 with Ugr Dreadstill
(5-2 playing against UW Landstill, FEB, Ugr Thresh, Solidarity, Life, Death&Taxes and Boros//Zoo)

I've never found a french tournament with a defined 'French' Metagame. Still, in big events you always found a good part of Threshold, Goblins and LandStill variants.

Combo is underPlayed, and if played, you usually face Belcher...

In your case (Reims or MagicCorp meta ?!), with that many Stax, (Dread//Land)-Still, Ug(w//b)Thresh or black.decks I think combo might not been the way to go.

As said above, Ichorid is a good call for an unprepared meta, still graveyard hate is rampant in any competitive build.

I'ld say : go with It's the Fear//TogLess if you're accustomed to control decks.
That or either GoyfSligh or DreadStill. In a random meta they are good to do what they're supposed to do : Run smoothly and win (if you're a good pilot, that I'm not).

[EDIT]
Speaking of French Metagame :
You'll find below the decks which have the best results and appearance//win ratio in 16+ players French Legacy tournaments, but only piloted by frenchies (it's a unOfficial french league sort-of).

The bigger the event was, the more points the deck scored for its performance. So some decks only shows once but perform well in a big event (see 4c Fish), so their ranking is a bit flawed :

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Rank // Deck Name // Points // Appearance(Performances)
1  Threshold Ugr 71 Pts (10 Perf.)
2  CounterSlivers 59 Pts (4 Perf.)
3  Tarmo Sligh 54 Pts (4 Perf.)
4  Fish 4c 42 Pts (1 Perf.)
5  Aggro Loam 40 Pts (9 Perf.)
6  Togless 37 Pts (6 Perf.)
7  Goblins 35 Pts (6 Perf.)
8  Burn 32 Pts (5 Perf.)
9  Dreaded Fish 32 Pts (4 Perf.)
10  Eternal Life 31 Pts (3 Perf.)
11  Dreadstill 27 Pts (6 Perf.)
12  Threshold Ugw 25 Pts (2 Perf.)
13  Faerie Stompy 18 Pts (2 Perf.)
14  Zoo 17 Pts (1 Perf.)
15  Rock GBw 17 Pts (6 Perf.)
16  Multicombo Cannon Vault 17 Pts (1 Perf.)
17  Blue Stax 15 Pts (3 Perf.)
18  Eternal Garden 14 Pts (3 Perf.)
19  Pox 13 Pts (3 Perf.)
20  MBC 13 Pts (2 Perf.)
21  Predator Stompy 12 Pts (2 Perf.)
22  Ichorid 11 Pts (3 Perf.)
23  Dragon Stompy 8 Pts (1 Perf.)
24  Boros 8 Pts (1 Perf.)
25  Belcher 8 Pts (3 Perf.)
26  Ad nauseam 8 Pts (1 Perf.)
27  MBA 7 Pts (1 Perf.)
28  Affinity 7 Pts (3 Perf.)
29  Landstill Uwx 6 Pts (2 Perf.)
30  Faeries 5 Pts (2 Perf.)
31  Landstill UW 4 Pts (1 Perf.)
32  Flashless Hulk 4 Pts (1 Perf.)
33  U/W Control 3 Pts (3 Perf.)
34  Trinket Painter 3 Pts (2 Perf.)
35  Enchanteresse 3 Pts (1 Perf.)
36  Big Blue 3 Pts (2 Perf.)
37  Baseruption 3 Pts (2 Perf.)
38  Aluren 3 Pts (1 Perf.)
39  Zoo Sligh 2 Pts (1 Perf.)
40  Terraguedon 2 Pts (1 Perf.)
41  Elves 2 Pts (2 Perf.)
42  Dragon Storm 2 Pts (1 Perf.)
43  Fish Ubw 1 Pts (1 Perf.)
44  White Stax 1 Pts (1 Perf.)
45  Taiga 1 Pts (1 Perf.)
46  Rogue 1 Pts (1 Perf.)
47  Rock GB 1 Pts (1 Perf.)
48  Pikula 1 Pts (1 Perf.)

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Source

In big tournaments, there's rarely a defined metagame compared to a local shop.

There could be a majority of players playing a certain deck, but in large tournaments, there's no guarantee at all that you'll face those decks. In a local shop, the top few players will always show up at the top table. Also, in local tournaments, there's a game every week, so decks don't change as much. Even from month to month the decks will change a lot more often.

In these situations, you're probably best playing a deck that has solid matchups against everything. I would play blue based aggro like FS because FS has solid MUs against most everything and destroys scrub aggro.

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46 Rogue 1 Pts (1 Perf.)

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... the French aren't much for rogue decking, apparently.

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Originally Posted by Spardantevil

I live somewhere in the world where Legacy is unplayed, where it's considered as the most useless and un-interesting format of MtG, where people barely know what eternal is....

France.

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Checking Deckcheck.net I found this:
10/19 Paris: 119 players.
10/08 Bourgoin Jallieu: 44 players
Legacy Championship France: 19. Sep 2008: 202 players(!)
...