Are You a Master of Meta-Thinking?
In highschool and the first few years of university I played a strategy card game called Magic: The Gathering, or just “Magic” for short. Magic is a serious game and much like professional poker, there is also a professional tournament series that sees players compete for over six million dollars in cash prizes each year. The pro tour of Magic travels around the world and culminates in the once-a-year World Championships, where the winners walk away with over $50,000 in prize money.
Needless to say the competition is quite fierce and I took the game very seriously for a while, studying deck construction strategy and competing in tournaments around Australia and even overseas in Singapore, Japan, Toronto and once to the World Championships in Seattle.
With such a strong tournament scene a huge support network grew online with many websites available to help Magic players improve their game.
One of the interesting concepts that grew out of the tournament environment is what is known as the “meta-game“. The meta-game is the study of the game environment, what decks and cards should work given what decks and cards you expect others to play. It’s a unique way of strategizing, where you attempt to predict what an environment will be like and use certain cards that specifically counteract other cards.
If your strategy is wrong you will crash and burn since you won’t have the right cards to beat the other decks, but if you study the meta-game well you will come prepared with the specific foils necessary to beat other players.
I like the concept of the meta-game because it gives you a distinct advantage over people who do things blindly, without asking themselves why they are doing something. It’s the study of what motivates others to do something to give yourself an advantage.
