Since SCG has a large legacy tournament just about every weekend, they've sort of developed their own metagame that is currently in this rug vs. uw with some random stuff sprinkled in stage. Now, I know metagames vary by location, but I'm curious as to how SCG's metagame is reflective of the legacy metagame as a whole.
RUG was under-represented in the most recent SCG event. It wins because it's strong, not because it's the metagame.
Blue is stronger at SCG than it is at a local, smaller event. Blue is a general answer. If you're playing locally, you can stay in a non-blue deck and use specific answers to your anticipated metagame.
(Blue is still the strongest color in either scenario).
RUG was under-represented in the most recent SCG event. It wins because it's strong, not because it's the metagame.
Blue is stronger at SCG than it is at a local, smaller event. Blue is a general answer. If you're playing locally, you can stay in a non-blue deck and use specific answers to your anticipated metagame.
(Blue is still the strongest color in either scenario).
this is true for the most part. You also have to take into account than an area has a general meta, not just a store etc. Las vegas had a ton of combo because the meta for that region is combo based. as the SCG moves from city to city you will see slight changes in what is represented simply because they are in a different part of the country.
How come Punishing Fire decks hasn't popped up to answer it? I know GerryT brought some to the last Legacy Tournament, but it really crushes both U/W (especially) and RUG.
The deck's a little clunky. The combo itself is a little clunky. 3 mana for a recurring 2 burn is nice, but it's not blow-your-mind amazing. The deck that runs it (usually with counter balance) is a worse version of Tempo RUG with a better mirror match. Usually I want the other side of that trade. This is especially true in a deck that was still being under-represented for its power.
How come Punishing Fire decks hasn't popped up to answer it? I know GerryT brought some to the last Legacy Tournament, but it really crushes both U/W (especially) and RUG.
There was some Punishing Fire in Las Vegas's tournament. It didn't top8 but it came in 14th.
Blue is the best color in a tournament filled with people who are haves. That meaning, if every card is available to everyone in a tournament (essentially true for a large money tournament) blue becomes stronger. In a local tournament with an underdeveloped metagame where not everyone can afford or have access to every card, rogue decks and non-blue colors become more relevant.
I'd agree with that to a point. On the other hand, once your field is full of haves, well planned meta decks can take them down. I remember dragon stompy once doing that pretty well.
Since SCG has a large legacy tournament just about every weekend, they've sort of developed their own metagame that is currently in this rug vs. uw with some random stuff sprinkled in stage. Now, I know metagames vary by location, but I'm curious as to how SCG's metagame is reflective of the legacy metagame as a whole.
A few things to consider...
SCG is a large-scale event meant to draw super competitive players. I am unaware of the average length of a SCG offhand, but we can say the T8 play for roughly a day straight (waking hours, not 24 straight hours).
Like all mid-size to large-scale events that are a minimum of 7 rounds, there's a natural bias toward playing a deck that doesn't take "forever". Same can be said for a deck's complexity (with arguments for/against what constitutes "hard"). Let's also remember SCG is honestly a very diverse metagame to make it to the T16.
How does traditional control fare in attendance? How does something like DDFT play out? What could be said about decks that are extremely pricey in real life (lands.dec as a marquee example). We also need to factor in time to travel, finances to travel, and the desire to play such a large event. Before anyone is even playing, you're going to undoubtedly warp the "natural metagame" of the time.
Making things even harder for bias to weed out are those "top players". Should we expect no less from Bertoncini or GerryT? Some players are capable of grinding all day through an event while others get mentally fatigued. I'm not exaggerating this situation: the average player's 4, 5, or 6 round event is nowhere near the 12+ needed to finish off a SCG.
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As of today, SCG has shown a few decks rising to the top in what I call the Post-Mental Misstep era of legacy. For all the RUG, Maverick, Reanimator, and U-based aggro control decks, we're seeing an obvious pattern for large-scale events. The greater the sample showing similar results, the stronger the case builds for what "works" in the SCG environment. However, I think SCG has created a variety of problems for players who fail to see these events are not the be-all end-all of representation in Legacy. Go to Europe and you'll see different decks doing well. The strength of SCG influencing the internet is unmatched for Magic, but it also creates a ton of hype and false-panic.
So to answer your question, I would conclude that SCG does a damn good job representing large-scale events. However, these events are NOT indicative of the entire metagame. Brick and Mortar stores hosting much smaller events with different players + the Internet + Europe/World are all factors that should add to a better "global view" of what's hot at the moment.
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I mean, hell, we're all on a forum for something that most people would describe as a "children's card game"...do what makes you happy. You are never too old to enjoy yourself.
Modern already axed brainstorm oh wait it never had it so go play modern. I hear the winter PTQ season is going to be modern so you better prepare for it with brainstormless decks.
Nonblue decks can compete. Aggro loam can munch up blue decks as well as creature based strategies. Same with maverick. Same with goblins. Same with any vial based strategy. You just refuse to adapt.
But usually metagames vary by region. SCG tournaments have generally a blue heavy metagame because people follow the circuit and tend to bring blue decks to the table. But most metagames vary from region to region.
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The problem with this question is you assume there's such a thing as "the" Legacy metagame
All Constructed formats tend to fragment a bit into regional/local metas, but Legacy... kinda goes to eleven on that (it's arguable, even, that Legacy in the US and Legacy in Europe aren't the same format). If you're planning on playing local events, then, it's much better to look at what things are like in your area; SCG events tend to have a bit more consistency simply because they're attracting a lot of the same high-level players each event.
And that's without getting into the fact that a deck that rolls through the Swiss may roll over and die in the top 8, since that's a whole 'nother metagame unto itself. I've played in SCG events, for example, where I faced Natural Order three rounds in a row late in the tournament, and then not a one of 'em made top 8. And I've seen, while judging, a lot of events where the top 8, or even top 16, weren't even close to representative of the field during the Swiss rounds.
IMHO, the SCG tournament metagame is pretty much what any Legacy metagame would look like if everyone just played what they thought was the absolute best and most consistent deck without any regard for other factors.
However, for a variety of reasons this philosophy doesn't carry over into local metagames quite as much.
There's still a good number of people in any local metagame that will play what is currently thought of as the "deck to beat" from SCG events because they are not under any kind of financial restrictions and believe it to be the best and most competitive deck they could play. But most local metagames are influenced by 2 other primary factors not present in the top lists of SCG events.
#1 : Budget
Local metagames will likely be populated by far more people playing "budget" decks such as Burn, Dredge, Affinity, Pox, and a variety of more inexpensive rogue decks that aren't seen in great numbers at SCG events. There are a very large number of Legacy players who just want to enjoy some moderately competitive games at their LGS and might not be able to (or might not want to) sink a large amount of money into their hobby. In short, local metagames will usually be diversified by the financial restrictions of their players.
#2 : People playing what they enjoy the most
The second primary factor that differentiates local metagames from the SCG tournament metagame is that a very large number players in local metagames will most often play the deck they enjoy playing the most, rather than the deck that they think is currently the best. For instance, perhaps a local metagame has someone (lets call him "Steve") who really likes playing Goblins. When Survival of the Fittest was the best deck in the format, Steve played Goblins. When blue was dominating everything with Mental Misstep, Steve was still playing Goblins. And now that RUG and U/W decks are being considered the best and most competitive decks in the format, guess what Steve is playing? Goblins.
Local metagames are filled with people like Steve who play whatever deck they happen to enjoy playing the most regardless of what the best decks in the format are and how well or poorly their deck is positioned against the best decks.
This has been my experience so far with the differences between my local metagame and that of the SCG events.
Blue is stronger at SCG than it is at a local, smaller event. Blue is a general answer. If you're playing locally, you can stay in a non-blue deck and use specific answers to your anticipated metagame.
(Blue is still the strongest color in either scenario).
this is true for the most part. You also have to take into account than an area has a general meta, not just a store etc. Las vegas had a ton of combo because the meta for that region is combo based. as the SCG moves from city to city you will see slight changes in what is represented simply because they are in a different part of the country.
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There was some Punishing Fire in Las Vegas's tournament. It didn't top8 but it came in 14th.
This is a really good point.
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A few things to consider...
SCG is a large-scale event meant to draw super competitive players. I am unaware of the average length of a SCG offhand, but we can say the T8 play for roughly a day straight (waking hours, not 24 straight hours).
Like all mid-size to large-scale events that are a minimum of 7 rounds, there's a natural bias toward playing a deck that doesn't take "forever". Same can be said for a deck's complexity (with arguments for/against what constitutes "hard"). Let's also remember SCG is honestly a very diverse metagame to make it to the T16.
How does traditional control fare in attendance? How does something like DDFT play out? What could be said about decks that are extremely pricey in real life (lands.dec as a marquee example). We also need to factor in time to travel, finances to travel, and the desire to play such a large event. Before anyone is even playing, you're going to undoubtedly warp the "natural metagame" of the time.
Making things even harder for bias to weed out are those "top players". Should we expect no less from Bertoncini or GerryT? Some players are capable of grinding all day through an event while others get mentally fatigued. I'm not exaggerating this situation: the average player's 4, 5, or 6 round event is nowhere near the 12+ needed to finish off a SCG.
-----------
As of today, SCG has shown a few decks rising to the top in what I call the Post-Mental Misstep era of legacy. For all the RUG, Maverick, Reanimator, and U-based aggro control decks, we're seeing an obvious pattern for large-scale events. The greater the sample showing similar results, the stronger the case builds for what "works" in the SCG environment. However, I think SCG has created a variety of problems for players who fail to see these events are not the be-all end-all of representation in Legacy. Go to Europe and you'll see different decks doing well. The strength of SCG influencing the internet is unmatched for Magic, but it also creates a ton of hype and false-panic.
So to answer your question, I would conclude that SCG does a damn good job representing large-scale events. However, these events are NOT indicative of the entire metagame. Brick and Mortar stores hosting much smaller events with different players + the Internet + Europe/World are all factors that should add to a better "global view" of what's hot at the moment.
10th at SCG: Syracuse (2014), GP:NJ Last-Chance Grinder Winner (2014):: Former Legacy Mod
Modern already axed brainstorm oh wait it never had it so go play modern. I hear the winter PTQ season is going to be modern so you better prepare for it with brainstormless decks.
Nonblue decks can compete. Aggro loam can munch up blue decks as well as creature based strategies. Same with maverick. Same with goblins. Same with any vial based strategy. You just refuse to adapt.
But usually metagames vary by region. SCG tournaments have generally a blue heavy metagame because people follow the circuit and tend to bring blue decks to the table. But most metagames vary from region to region.
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All Constructed formats tend to fragment a bit into regional/local metas, but Legacy... kinda goes to eleven on that (it's arguable, even, that Legacy in the US and Legacy in Europe aren't the same format). If you're planning on playing local events, then, it's much better to look at what things are like in your area; SCG events tend to have a bit more consistency simply because they're attracting a lot of the same high-level players each event.
And that's without getting into the fact that a deck that rolls through the Swiss may roll over and die in the top 8, since that's a whole 'nother metagame unto itself. I've played in SCG events, for example, where I faced Natural Order three rounds in a row late in the tournament, and then not a one of 'em made top 8. And I've seen, while judging, a lot of events where the top 8, or even top 16, weren't even close to representative of the field during the Swiss rounds.
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Lightning Bolts don't kill creatures. State-based actions kill creatures.
However, for a variety of reasons this philosophy doesn't carry over into local metagames quite as much.
There's still a good number of people in any local metagame that will play what is currently thought of as the "deck to beat" from SCG events because they are not under any kind of financial restrictions and believe it to be the best and most competitive deck they could play. But most local metagames are influenced by 2 other primary factors not present in the top lists of SCG events.
#1 : Budget
Local metagames will likely be populated by far more people playing "budget" decks such as Burn, Dredge, Affinity, Pox, and a variety of more inexpensive rogue decks that aren't seen in great numbers at SCG events. There are a very large number of Legacy players who just want to enjoy some moderately competitive games at their LGS and might not be able to (or might not want to) sink a large amount of money into their hobby. In short, local metagames will usually be diversified by the financial restrictions of their players.
#2 : People playing what they enjoy the most
The second primary factor that differentiates local metagames from the SCG tournament metagame is that a very large number players in local metagames will most often play the deck they enjoy playing the most, rather than the deck that they think is currently the best. For instance, perhaps a local metagame has someone (lets call him "Steve") who really likes playing Goblins. When Survival of the Fittest was the best deck in the format, Steve played Goblins. When blue was dominating everything with Mental Misstep, Steve was still playing Goblins. And now that RUG and U/W decks are being considered the best and most competitive decks in the format, guess what Steve is playing? Goblins.
Local metagames are filled with people like Steve who play whatever deck they happen to enjoy playing the most regardless of what the best decks in the format are and how well or poorly their deck is positioned against the best decks.
This has been my experience so far with the differences between my local metagame and that of the SCG events.
Blue decks such as Bant, RUG, and UW can't be easily hated out and played everywhere.