Hello everyone!

After reading through and posting in this thread, I thought sharing tips and strategies on how you maintain your playgroup meta would be helpful. I found Command Zone's video on this topic extremely helpful and strongly recommend watching it.

So, what are some things you do to maintain your playgroup meta?

(Note: For reference, my playgroup consists of 7 members of varying experience - 3 people have been playing for 10 years, 2 have just started MTG this year, and 2 are returning players. As a result, our personal collections differ greatly.)

To start, I believe these elements are very important when encouraging a healthy meta:

• Communication: Discussing anything, big or small, is essential to keeping a healthy dynamic. I like to ask my friends if they've made any changes to their decks (sometimes, we'll switch/buy cards even if we just saw each other the previous night), and I'll also let them know if I've altered anything in mine. Asking more experienced players for advice on deck changes or on how to correct misplays is a good idea too. Something we do that I really love is offering to pick up cards at our LGS' for each other since we go often and our playgroup is fairly large (7 members). Communication really helps with the next 2 points:

• Arms Race: I believe strong communication helps manage expectations within your playgroup, and an important topic is deck power level. The majority of my group has decks ranging from "jank" to "focused" (using The Commander Quarter's power ranking), and our budget is typically very reasonable (I personally love foils/promo cards, so the bulk of my budget is spent on that over strong cards -> ex: full-art [[Damnation]] promo). We are all aware of potential arms racing, but we've discussed how most of us prefer thematic decks over competitive ones, so this hasn't been a problem. Addressing this as soon as possible, and whenever you add new members to the playgroup is a good way to manage group expectations and meta.

• Identifying Player Styles: We have one definite "Spike" (win by any means) player, who openly mentions this - fortunately, he also plays janky decks that are easy to counter; he also often holds his win conditions to give everyone else a chance. We have many "Timmy's" (big boys; creatures galore) and one Boros (Red & White) player. As mentioned in Command Zone's video, every playstyle should be respected, and you should never expect someone to conform to your playing style. While I personally do not like solitaire-style decks (ex: our [[Slimefoot, the Stowaway]] in the group has minimal interaction (besides indirect damage), and can often win when ignored and allowed to build up the Communicating and understanding each player's style is helpful in predicting their motivations and win condition(s), the latter of which is the next point:

• Alternative "Win" Conditions: MTG is a game and should be fun. Winning is a great feeling, but I think a healthy strategy is to have other personal "win" or "success" conditions. Focusing on winning (being a "Spike) too much can run the risk of starting an arms race and/or cause feelings of saltiness, especially if you never win. (I have a [[Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive]] and a [[Yargle, Glutton of Urborg]] (the later taken directly from The Commander Quarter's Super Budget decklist, with a [[Bojuka Bog]] added in) deck, both of which have never won - partly because I become Archenemy if my engine starts to form or the moment I remove a player. As a result, I play those decks with a different mentality compared to my other ones - I try to eliminate a player with those two decks, and I might add "kill someone with infect," or "kill someone with Commander damage." If I can achieve that, I consider my deck to be a success that game. I also pick those decks if I want to encourage a faster game since I play them very aggressively. For my [[Mikaeus, the Lunarch]] deck, I have won with it a handful of times, but I also play it as a great equaliser against Timmy's since I have around 12 board wipes. I could remove them to further focus my deck, but I am content with playing it as is.

• Countering the Meta: Tying all of these elements together, I think communication and understanding each player's playstyle helps you build and tune your deck to counter one another. I think a fun and important element is to brew ways to "have answers" to decks in your playgroup. Something I am still guilty of is hyper-focusing on the mechanics of my own deck while ignoring other player's. For example, if you are always losing to a player that is using mill, consider adding something like [[Elixir of Immortality]] to alleviate some of the damage. Many decks in my playgroup have recursion and graveyard interaction, so I've swapped in cards like [[Crook of Condemnation]] and [[Relic of Progenitus]] to address this.

• Threat Assessment and Becoming Archenemy: It can be difficult not to collectively target a player who is more experienced (or has won 2-3 times in a row already) despite what is on their board, and I think this is where communication is important. While it can feel awful to be targeted by the entire table, I think a healthy way to address threat assessment is to be ready to lose. Something I love in my playgroup is everyone's willingness to be open and helpful about the state of the board - part of why we try to stick to 4-player EDH is because someone will often be ignored if we are playing with any more than that and they can sneak a win due to superior board state. We will frequently tell the table "you should try to eliminate me because I can win soon," or that we're close to achieving a win-condition combo piece. Another example is if someone plays a single-target removal card, we will discuss which is the best option, and usually say to target ourselves if our board state is significantly ahead of everyone else. I strongly believe a playgroup's meta is as healthy as their politicking and social game. A key here is to address the board state only if you are significantly ahead (otherwise, continue to politic your way to the win).

• To Infinite and Beyond: Infinite combos - to include or not include? I'll continue emphasising that communication is critical in managing playgroup expectations. We do not have competitive decks or "turn < 5-win combos," but many members still have infinite combos that guarantee a win if not stopped. Something I've noticed people do that I appreciate is mention things like "I am very close to going infinite," so we have a chance of winning. I think almost every, if not all, infinite combos in our playgroup can be interacted with - so it does not feel like all hope is lost. In my [[Niv-Mizzet, Parun]] deck, I have a handful of near-infinite (my ceiling is the # of cards remaining in deck; ex: [[Tandem Lookout]]) combo cards, but my playgroup understands that they all need Niv to be out to work. I'll also let them know I have a combo piece or choose to win a different way. Since I've won many times with Niv, I also use that deck the least - typically, I will bring it out if I really want to win or feel I need to counter someone else's powerful deck.

• What Happens in EDH Stays in EDH: Salt is a natural part of any game, and I think remembering this is important because it can suck when someone is aggressively targeting you because of something you did in the previous game. Nobody wants to play with chronic dealbreakers, but I think using loopholes should be encouraged and accepted - ex: "I won't attack you with creatures," is very different from "I won't attack you," so if told me the former and then dealt indirect or instant/sorcery damage I wouldn't consider that a dealbreaker. At the worst (since EDH can get extremely heated), I would try to keep grudges within a play session - reset all saltiness the next time you meet.

• The Golden Rule: PLAY EACH OTHER'S DECKS!: I think it is a powerful bonding strategy to play each other's decks because it allows you to experience MTG from a different perspective. I mentioned I do not like solitaire-style decks, but when I played my friend's Slimefoot deck I gained a deep appreciation for the mental gymnastics he had to do - there were so many triggers to remember that my friend had to help me constantly. In helping me, my friend also discovered a new interaction/combo in his deck. When my experienced friend played my Niv deck, I laughed and commented "so this is what it feels like to be on the other side." To test how oppressive your deck is, have someone else try it. This can help a lot with tuning your decks or powering them down. It is also a very nice feeling to see your deck win when played by someone else.