The concept of "Anti-Meta"

Today, we'll be talking about the schematics of an 'Anti-Meta' deck. Generally speaking, an anti-meta deck consists of cards to shut mainstream and top tier decks down consistently by revolving around constant negation. Anti-Meta decks usually revolve around a few ideas:

• A constant flow of monsters
• Quick 1 for 1 monster destruction
• Easy protection

With the exception of the Machina version, basic Gadget decks revolve around these concepts. Gadget decks have a consistent flow of 6 monsters; I say 6 because--generally--2 copies of each gadget are used. They run heavy monster destruction such as Smashing Ground, Fissure, and Lightning Vortex. However, people commonly ask the question: Can I run an Anti-Meta deck without gadgets? Let's look at a few cards that benefit this deck type:



These cards are all very key into building a successful anti-meta deck. As you can see, a lot of anti-meta decks have a lot of special summoning control. It's very important in the current meta to negate special summons as much as possible, seeing as how every top tier deck can't function without special summoning. By shutting that aspect of a players deck down, it puts more pressure of them to make risky plays and waste valuable resources on cards you have replacements for.

In an anti-meta deck, your main goal is consistently have an answer for each of your opponents plays, and constantly bring back reoccurring problems that they have. For example: If I have Thunder King on board with a lot of protection in my back row, I'll force my opponent to negative himself either -1 or -2 in card advantage to get rid of my monster in order for them to special summon. However, by that time, I will already be able to further negate special summons with cards like Royal Oppression or Fossil Dyna. I've seen plenty of players become frustrated and lose the game as a result because they can't get rid of my constant obstacles.



This card is very key in an anti-meta deck because of it's ability to keep your back rows alive, and should be ran at 1 or 2 at all times. Since the average anti-meta player runs 16-18 monsters, your back rows become extremely important to winning each game.

Here's a few things do and to STAY AWAY from when playing an anti-meta deck:

- Do not run cards that conflict with your theme. If you're running a lot of special-summon-negation, don't too many cards that require a special summon. I've seen many players run in to this problem.

- Keep your negation general. Don't run specific themed anti-meta cards like Consecrated Light, Light Imprisoning Mirror, System Down, Swallow Flip, etc.

- Keep your card count low. 40 cards is generally a solid number; this will keep your draws consistent. 42 is not that bad of an option either, but I'd suggest checking out Jae Kim's video about probabilities: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cv7NCkGcViY&hd=1
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In concluding, anti-meta decks have the potential to wreck any top tier deck. Obviously, it will never be a tier 1 decks because it's purpose it to kill top tier decks. It will always be a tier 1.5. I will post my anti-meta deck very soon. Stay tuned for many more blogs. Thanks for reading. PLEASE SUBSCRIBE!! Also, check out my Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/TyL3N0Lpm