♟️ Outside-game tactics ♟️ To use outside tactics

metagame

1 8.5

Strategies and knowledge from outside the game's rules that affect how people play

noun
/ˈmɛtəˌɡeɪm/

Jargon

: metajuego

Understanding the current metagame can help players choose the best cards for their decks in competitive play.

Examples

I don't think there's anything wrong if a metagame revolves around something specific, so long as there are numerous, viable ways of addressing the issue.

Blog text (1)
Also, like the finals, the higher seed will decide the metagame for the first game.

Blog text (10)
I think that's at least one possible path out of this stale metagame.

Blog text (13)
That said, no sideboard is perfect; it needs to be customized to your local metagame.

Blog text (1)
I am kind of hoping that the metagame adjusts to hate out the top decks, but that's been slow in coming.

Blog text (13)
With a fairly predictable, boring metagame right now, jumping into the fray with this kind of control should produce interesting results.

Blog text (1)
Players often analyze the tournament metagame to predict which strategies will be most effective against their opponents.
In chess, a player's metagame involves knowing popular openings and common tactics to outsmart their opponents.

Synonyms

How Influential

metagame

Jargon

1 8.5

strategy

∞ 3.7

tactic

516 3.0

to play

∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

metagame singular

metagames plural

Morphology

metagame = game (semi-transparent) = meta + game

The structure meta + game is clear, but the gaming-specific sense of strategies outside the formal rules is specialized jargon.

Etymology

Metagame comes from the prefix meta- meaning 'beyond' or 'about' and the word game, so it literally suggests 'a game about the game'. This helps you remember that a metagame is the set of strategies or trends from outside the basic rules that change how people play.