To be or not to be Anti-Meta, that is the question.

Anti-Meta (noun) [an-tie meh-duh]:Any form of main strategy that serves to counter the top-tier meta.

Quote :

Oh look at that, Gravekeepers have always been Anti-Meta! Thank you D.D., how can we ever play without you?

We often have problems when enjoying playing the game because of the constant beatdown of the top-tier meta, or you are just tired of being apart of the top-tier yourself. What people do is either make their own deck that is either apart of a lower tier, or they make anti-meta decks. How do we spot out an Anti-Meta deck? Well, if you implement anti-meta strategies such as not allowing your opponent to use their graveyard, take Dimensional Fissure/Macro Cosmos/Banisher for example, as one of your theme strategies, then it is classified as anti-meta.

What if the anti-meta deck is top tier? Is it still considered anti-meta since it is one of the best of the format? Of coarse the deck is considered anti-meta still, just so as long as the deck still has the following characteristics:

• Strategies involve prevention of your opponents monsters summoning at consistent rates
  
• Strategies involve prevention of your opponent's usage of search, draw effects, etc
  
• Strategies involve massive, consistent control over your opponent throughout the duel (field, hand, graveyard, RFG pile)
  
• Strategies involve consistent forms of stalling
  

So long as any of these characteristics are involved, your deck, even cards are considered Anti-Meta.

Because your deck packs an anti-meta card it is not an anti-meta deck. I play oppression in sabers and that's an anti meta card but my deck is not anti meta.

If an anti-meta deck takes the biggest part of the meta (which gks did on many occassions) unless it counters itself it is not anti-meta. So if a deck has 50% of the meta as it does not counter itself and it cannot counter the entirety of the rest 50% it is not anti meta as it antis too little in the meta-game. If I just counter machines by maining 3 cydras I am not anti-meta because of the small percentage of the meta machines take up.

The current meta mainly consists of tengu decks, ranging from junk doppel to T.G. but because of the way such decks are built they are not hit as much by necrovalley and can play around it unless it is a full lonefire shennanigan centered deck where honeslty it would be better off without tengu, usually if its tengu in there its small control, caius etc. with the added ability to explode. So when it comes down to the top tier matchups there gks are using valley for small control and it is mainly a regulard battle of control and card presence which certainly does not qualify it as anti-meta.

If we are talking not about the rl game but the online game and wars, gk is a bad matchup for certain decks but not an anti deck for most, that is because after gks all switched to the safe choices of control, so yeah, your valley stops my GEC but it is simply a hinderance as annoying as it is, I will play around it, and most top tier decks online are like that, you get it once you count through what is used in wars. If your 1 card simply puts a small obstacle it does not make the deck anti-meta, you need either more cards or more uses.

digidigi wrote:

Of coarse the deck is considered anti-meta still, just so as long as the deck still has the following characteristics:
Strategies involve prevention of your opponents monsters summoning at consistent rates
Strategies involve prevention of your opponent's usage of search, draw effects, etc
Strategies involve massive, consistent control over your opponent throughout the duel (field, hand, graveyard, RFG pile)
Strategies involve consistent forms of stalling

If the meta does not involve searching or drawing in most top tier decks (can happen) then the deck which prevents that much is not considered anti-meta, as the definition of anti-meta is dependant on the meta, not on countering of all characteristics we consider meta-worthy throughout the times.

Example: If I make a deck which counters ojamas then it's not anti-meta, however if ojamas go tier 0 with xyz spam etc. then my deck which counters ojama is anti-meta.