Metagame: What It Is and How You Can Utilise It

Introduction

First and foremost, exploiting the metagame is a rather advanced strategy that you should employ only after you are comfortable with your own builds and should not be a cornerstone to winning a game. This is because on ladder, there is almost no ‘metagame’ so to speak, especially in lower leagues (Platinum and below). If you are in a league above that though, always keep this article in mind when you are playing an opponent.

Liquipedia defines metagame as: “Using information and strategies from outside of the game's rule set to affect your opponent's in-game decisions”. Simply put, it is the act of gathering any information you have about the opponent (e.g. his playstyle, favourite strategies) or even yourself to gain an advantage in game. For example, the opponent may know of your most used strategies and decide to go with the build to counter that. You can use this information and use another strategy that can catch him off guard!

The 2 Sides of Metagame: Specific and General

The key to success here is knowing the general metagame pro players are using in both ladder and tournaments. This is because your opponents (and yourself!) tend to mimic pro player builds and strategies that they see on streams. A great example of this is when the GSL (or now WCS Korea) comes to an end (i.e. the Semi Finals / Finals stage) where the ladder will be full of people trying to copy Rain’s / Maru’s builds. This is where you can exploit the metagame to its fullest potential. This is an example of exploiting the ‘general’ metagame that can be seen in ladder.

Ever noticed how many players on ladder ALWAYS use the same strategy over and over again? Since you have a clear idea on what your opponent is going to do, you can concoct a counter build order / strategy and try to metagame him! This is the ‘specific’ type of metagaming that I mentioned.

Another good use of using the ‘specific’ metagame is when you are in a BoX (best of X) format playing the same opponent (especially in a tournament setting). As you play more and more games with the same player you will notice his quirks and habits that you can use against them. A metagame move I like to use is to move out my initial four marines if I notice that a Protoss is overly greedy (e.g. going for Nexus first).

Evolution of the Metagame

Strategies and builds come and go, especially in a game as complex as StarCraft where players race to find new and more optimal strategies to best the old ones. The metagame in the early Beta days of Wings of Liberty and today are so different that there is close to no similarities between them.

MarineKingPrime chose his name due to his preferred method of massing Marines and controlling them expertly back in Wings of Liberty. But as time goes by even he experimented with Mech, the composition that ignores the Marine completely.

Even today, the metagame is constantly changing, and each region evolves at their own respective pace. For example, many argue that NA and EU players have inherently different playstyles. One is more Korean-esque (more macro oriented), while the other leans toward the aggressive side. This goes without saying, but KR players generally have the most refined and optimal builds in the current metagame and thus players from other regions try to copy KR players the most. If you want to stay ahead of the metagame, I suggest you study top KR streamers!

Conclusion

Metagaming an opponent is hard, but as you learn more about them it becomes exponentially easier as you notice their specific behaviours toward the game. Employing the use of this can really differentiate the excellent from the good and it can easily win you games with just a bit of luck.

In the end, it is all about mind games. “Metagaming” an opponent is basically outplaying him in the strategy stage, which is very important the higher the league you are in. Once you get into Masters, this concept can be used much more effectively!