Mook_of_Boon
05-09-2010, 11:24 AM
This is the Konami Format
article by Mook of Boon.
We’ve all heard the terms, Metagame, Top Tier, and Top Format and so on, but what does it Really Constitute? In the Eyes of Konami, How do you go about controlling it and deciding its future? And what does all this mean for the average competitive duellist?
We know the terms by Definition mean Top of the Game, Most Popular and Best Chance of Success at Tournaments etc. For this, a Deck has to be able to perform consistently, efficiently and still maintain a degree of adaptability. When these conditions are met, the deck becomes popularised and immediately begins getting tested by many players who will through sheer playtime and experience, dilute the decks weaknesses and add twists and strategies of their own into it. Once a suitable build has come forth, one that maintains the highest performance value, It is on its way to becoming a Meta deck.
However, as of late, Konami has taken a different approach to Meta and Format Gaming. Rather than releasing cards with the intention of letting these Meta decks occur, they opt to release “archetypes” with the specific intention of becoming top tier. These archetypes will usually consist of a series of named cards that are designed to work to each others effects, and play off one another. The best archetypes will not only have named monsters, Spells and trap cards, but a range of supporting “boss” monsters or Synchro-Monsters to go with them. In doing this, Konami have made an excellent way of controlling the Top Format. As new archetypes are released, old archetypes fall out of fashion and what once was top tier has suddenly dropped off the radar in a matter of a single set being released. For an Archetype to become popular it needs 3 things:
• Speed / Draw Power
in the form of rapid search and special summon, or a powerful draw or mill engine.
• Control
the ability to maintain presence on the field, in the hand and in the graveyard.
• Win Condition
game-ending cards and big pushers
When an archetype is released that meets these three conditions, it will immediately take off into the competitive scene. Like normal decks, there will be many versions of an archetype deck before a successful one is found. But unlike a normal deck, the entire deck recipe has been set out in front of you and all you need to do is pick out the correct amount of ingredients.
The advantage to archetype Meta gaming is that less experienced deck builders have a clear cut shot of making a consistent deck that will perform above average at tournaments.
However, much more importantly, the downside to this is Konami ends up with a lot of control over the format, and can decide at whim to end a format and begin a new format, in doing so forcing a lot of duellists to try and make new versions of their archetype decks with old cards, something which can be very tricky to do since archetype cards mainly work best with other cards from the same archetype.
The alternative to this is buying new sets and creating brand new archetype decks to keep up with the progressing Meta. Now, this isn’t necessarily always a bad thing. Sometimes the format goes stale, tournaments are full of mirror matches and it is definitely time for some progress. But Konami being a business, their main priority is to make money from card sales, and the best way to do this is to frequently change the format of the game, forcing the average duellist to adapt or succumb to purchasing.
This isn’t always done by releasing archetype either, on a much bigger scale; the addition of Synchro Monsters was such a leap. Sure, they have some snazzy effects and support potential, but was the addition of Synchro monsters a fundamentally better game-play mechanic?
My Opinion leans towards no. Synchro monsters have definitely changed the way the format looks, and it is now almost an impossibility to achieve tournament success without them, as decks that do not use them will generally be at a disadvantage from the get go. Of course there are exceptions to this, as there will always be with anything, but popularity wise, most tournament duellists will opt for Synchro monsters over anything else.
So, why were Synchro monsters added as a game play mechanic? They weren’t implemented to fix any particular problem or issue. They don’t have effects that could not have been replicated into archetype monsters or fusion monsters. They were added by Konami as what I like to call a Mandatory Format Change. A Meta Change so important that if you don’t fork out for them, you will probably never do very well at Current Format Gaming ever again. Of course this doesn’t mean Konami will stop releasing support for Ritual monsters or fusion monsters, but they will certainly be releasing a lot less support.
This situation is starting to replicate itself into Archetypes. Konami have discovered that they can implement this kind of Mandatory Format Change into Regular Monsters as well, by producing archetypes significantly stronger than other archetypes of formats past and adding less support for those existing formats, forcing duellists to change decks.
This wouldn’t be such a bad thing if it were implemented much more gradually, but the speed of which new archetypes are being released these days is ridiculous. Some people will have only just gotten their past format deck complete after spending a lot of money and time building it, only to find that in a week it will be redundant by new cards with better effects. But I guess such is the nature of a Business such as Konami, and the Nature of Meta-gaming in general.
Somebody asks you what the Definition of Meta-gaming is? It’s definitely not the best constructed deck or the most popular deck. Meta-Gaming is using the strongest produced archetype.
Of-course, as with all villains, there are heroes. There are those few among the duellist community who strive to make original content, and give Konami the Old Sucker Punch. Original decks that become top tier don’t have the advantage of working with a pre-existing success recipe. Their entire deck has to be flawlessly designed from scratch to work and to be able to compete with existing archetypes. This is not a challenge taken on lightly, only the creme’ of the crop make it to top tier and format gaming. Such Decks like these do exist, and when they surface they generally do very well as nobody expects them, nobody side-decks for them and nobody knows what tricks the deck may hold up its sleeves. When decks like these surface, Konami is faced with a problem, an unexpected guest to the format dinner party they are hosting. It was uninvited, but now that it’s here they can hardly turn it away. So decks like these persist against Konami’s Format Control.
Now in no way do these decks have to be Anti-Meta. They can be anything, the difference is they aren’t pre-meditated Meta from Konami. And thus, have better chances of staying around longer until Konami can eventually advance the Meta ahead of it.
So what does this mean? This means if you want to spend money once, and enjoy a deck for a long time, do not go for an Archetype. At this rate, Konami will surely release a much better archetype next set, so don’t waste your time on it.
Go for an Original Deck, You don’t have to make it, you can wait for such an original deck to surface, and even further down the line when that original deck becomes obsolete, atleast you aren’t stuck with a bunch of dead archetype cards that only work well with themselves.
when the choice comes down for it, I’d pick a deck like that over an archetype any day.
Stick it to Konami.
Mook.
article by Mook of Boon.
We’ve all heard the terms, Metagame, Top Tier, and Top Format and so on, but what does it Really Constitute? In the Eyes of Konami, How do you go about controlling it and deciding its future? And what does all this mean for the average competitive duellist?
We know the terms by Definition mean Top of the Game, Most Popular and Best Chance of Success at Tournaments etc. For this, a Deck has to be able to perform consistently, efficiently and still maintain a degree of adaptability. When these conditions are met, the deck becomes popularised and immediately begins getting tested by many players who will through sheer playtime and experience, dilute the decks weaknesses and add twists and strategies of their own into it. Once a suitable build has come forth, one that maintains the highest performance value, It is on its way to becoming a Meta deck.
However, as of late, Konami has taken a different approach to Meta and Format Gaming. Rather than releasing cards with the intention of letting these Meta decks occur, they opt to release “archetypes” with the specific intention of becoming top tier. These archetypes will usually consist of a series of named cards that are designed to work to each others effects, and play off one another. The best archetypes will not only have named monsters, Spells and trap cards, but a range of supporting “boss” monsters or Synchro-Monsters to go with them. In doing this, Konami have made an excellent way of controlling the Top Format. As new archetypes are released, old archetypes fall out of fashion and what once was top tier has suddenly dropped off the radar in a matter of a single set being released. For an Archetype to become popular it needs 3 things:
• Speed / Draw Power
in the form of rapid search and special summon, or a powerful draw or mill engine.
• Control
the ability to maintain presence on the field, in the hand and in the graveyard.
• Win Condition
game-ending cards and big pushers
When an archetype is released that meets these three conditions, it will immediately take off into the competitive scene. Like normal decks, there will be many versions of an archetype deck before a successful one is found. But unlike a normal deck, the entire deck recipe has been set out in front of you and all you need to do is pick out the correct amount of ingredients.
The advantage to archetype Meta gaming is that less experienced deck builders have a clear cut shot of making a consistent deck that will perform above average at tournaments.
However, much more importantly, the downside to this is Konami ends up with a lot of control over the format, and can decide at whim to end a format and begin a new format, in doing so forcing a lot of duellists to try and make new versions of their archetype decks with old cards, something which can be very tricky to do since archetype cards mainly work best with other cards from the same archetype.
The alternative to this is buying new sets and creating brand new archetype decks to keep up with the progressing Meta. Now, this isn’t necessarily always a bad thing. Sometimes the format goes stale, tournaments are full of mirror matches and it is definitely time for some progress. But Konami being a business, their main priority is to make money from card sales, and the best way to do this is to frequently change the format of the game, forcing the average duellist to adapt or succumb to purchasing.
This isn’t always done by releasing archetype either, on a much bigger scale; the addition of Synchro Monsters was such a leap. Sure, they have some snazzy effects and support potential, but was the addition of Synchro monsters a fundamentally better game-play mechanic?
My Opinion leans towards no. Synchro monsters have definitely changed the way the format looks, and it is now almost an impossibility to achieve tournament success without them, as decks that do not use them will generally be at a disadvantage from the get go. Of course there are exceptions to this, as there will always be with anything, but popularity wise, most tournament duellists will opt for Synchro monsters over anything else.
So, why were Synchro monsters added as a game play mechanic? They weren’t implemented to fix any particular problem or issue. They don’t have effects that could not have been replicated into archetype monsters or fusion monsters. They were added by Konami as what I like to call a Mandatory Format Change. A Meta Change so important that if you don’t fork out for them, you will probably never do very well at Current Format Gaming ever again. Of course this doesn’t mean Konami will stop releasing support for Ritual monsters or fusion monsters, but they will certainly be releasing a lot less support.
This situation is starting to replicate itself into Archetypes. Konami have discovered that they can implement this kind of Mandatory Format Change into Regular Monsters as well, by producing archetypes significantly stronger than other archetypes of formats past and adding less support for those existing formats, forcing duellists to change decks.
This wouldn’t be such a bad thing if it were implemented much more gradually, but the speed of which new archetypes are being released these days is ridiculous. Some people will have only just gotten their past format deck complete after spending a lot of money and time building it, only to find that in a week it will be redundant by new cards with better effects. But I guess such is the nature of a Business such as Konami, and the Nature of Meta-gaming in general.
Somebody asks you what the Definition of Meta-gaming is? It’s definitely not the best constructed deck or the most popular deck. Meta-Gaming is using the strongest produced archetype.
Of-course, as with all villains, there are heroes. There are those few among the duellist community who strive to make original content, and give Konami the Old Sucker Punch. Original decks that become top tier don’t have the advantage of working with a pre-existing success recipe. Their entire deck has to be flawlessly designed from scratch to work and to be able to compete with existing archetypes. This is not a challenge taken on lightly, only the creme’ of the crop make it to top tier and format gaming. Such Decks like these do exist, and when they surface they generally do very well as nobody expects them, nobody side-decks for them and nobody knows what tricks the deck may hold up its sleeves. When decks like these surface, Konami is faced with a problem, an unexpected guest to the format dinner party they are hosting. It was uninvited, but now that it’s here they can hardly turn it away. So decks like these persist against Konami’s Format Control.
Now in no way do these decks have to be Anti-Meta. They can be anything, the difference is they aren’t pre-meditated Meta from Konami. And thus, have better chances of staying around longer until Konami can eventually advance the Meta ahead of it.
So what does this mean? This means if you want to spend money once, and enjoy a deck for a long time, do not go for an Archetype. At this rate, Konami will surely release a much better archetype next set, so don’t waste your time on it.
Go for an Original Deck, You don’t have to make it, you can wait for such an original deck to surface, and even further down the line when that original deck becomes obsolete, atleast you aren’t stuck with a bunch of dead archetype cards that only work well with themselves.
when the choice comes down for it, I’d pick a deck like that over an archetype any day.
Stick it to Konami.
Mook.