Anyone who is aware of the competitive scene in Yu-Gi-Oh! knows that tournaments at any given time tend to have players running primarily a handful of deck types. These handful of decks are typically referred to as "meta" decks. Which decks considered meta frequently changes with the release of new cards and banlists and are usually so popular because they do very well. In the top 32 places of any Yu-Gi-Oh! tournament you will typically see 25-30 of the places being held by meta decks depending on the current state of the game and where the tournament was held. This has led to a lot of gripes from players who feel that it means you just have to fork over the money for a meta deck, which can be prohibitively expensive sometimes, if you want to do well in tournament play. However, I feel that while it is true that meta decks are typically easier to win with they are not necessary to do so and in fact are good for Yu-Gi-Oh! as a whole. It is true that meta decks frequently cost in the hundreds of dollars, quite a hefty entrance fee for someone who is new to the game to try and get a good deck for tournaments. Additionally, as new cards are released or as the quarterly ban list updates come out the meta decks are subject to change, requiring you to acquire a whole new meta deck if you want to stay "on top". However, I think that both the high cost of the meta deck components from vendors and the fluctuating decks are good for the game as a whole. When cards like Nekroz of Brionac (pictured below) hit peak prices of $100-120 it can easily be more worth it to just buy several of the packs that the card comes in and get other cards with it. This encourages players to buy packs rather than buying single cards from secondhand vendors in turn helping the company who makes the cards and encouraging the development of the game. The changing of which decks are considered meta also allows the game to evolve over time. If the game was focused solely on balancing as many different deck types/archetypes as possible then people would have no reason to branch out from decks that they have had for a long time and the game would get stale. As new good decks get released and the older decks have their over powered combos limited through the ban list the game evolves and the play style changes. This makes the game as a whole much more interesting and gives players a valid reason for continuing to invest in it. If I am going to keep buying packs I want to be continuing to gain enjoyment out of the game.
On top of all of this it is also definitely possible to do well in a tournament setting without a meta deck, though I will admit that it can be harder. I am an example, I placed at a regional tournament with a deck that cost slightly more than a nice meal depending on how much you cared if the cards were holographic or not. I assessed that the meta decks at the time had no good way of removing the primary monster card in the Battlin' Boxer archetype and made a deck centered around that monster and trap cards that locked down the popular decks. The popularity of meta decks in and of itself adds another layer of strategy to the game that players with non-meta decks can take advantage of. This allows players who are informed of the game to make good decks and do well in tournaments without necessarily needed a top of the line deck. So in conclusion, meta decks are good for the competitive Yu-Gi-Oh! scene because their shifting nature and popularity allow the game to change over time while still encouraging players to remain invested without necessarily drawing strategy out of the equation. Therefore you should ignore anything Zach has to say on this matter.
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NicI'll write about science, philosophy, shows and video games. The first two frequently in regards to the latter two. Archives
March 2016
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