I will say this; i've played a lot of game system over the years.

since the internet has grown over last decade it makes is easier to build strong squads/teams/decks, people will just simply google "what is winning in [Insert System here]" and use that.

which is fine; some people don't like building or have spare time to play lots of games in a day to do the tweeking required.

With the freedom of information "Metas" spread faster than they did before, this is important to note, **** this forum is a good example of how "metas" spread

I've played competitive games for two decades, often at a very high level. Across that spread of time I've seen some very healthy metagames and some very poor metagames, often within the same system.

I think the current X-Wing metagame is quite a good match for some of the worst Magic and WoWTCG metagames that were strongly pushing mechanics that many players hated. I've always found most players care more about their game being dynamic and interesting than they did about whether there was a wide variety of top tier options. You can have a pretty narrow top tier of the metagame and if it's producing a lot of good games players are happy.

A good example of that is randomly the video game Pro Evo Soccer 2008 when I worked with Konami on coverage of their PESleague (Americans: think Madden for soccer). The best players knew what they needed - strong attackers with high close control, and fast defenders. About 90% of players took either Barcelona, Inter Milan or Chelsea so the variety of teams on show was very low, but as the games were often thrilling nobody cared at all.

I think my favourite metagame of all time is Tempest/Stronghold/Exodus block constructed from 1998 Magic. Pretty much any strategy could be viable: you had mad aggro rush decks like Sligh, White Weenie, Suicide Black. You had some utter ballbreaking slow control decks like Counterphoenix or TradeAwaken. You had a range of fantastic combo decks like Living Death, Portcullis or Workhorse, and you had strong tempo aggro/control like Fish. That's still my dream format, 20 years later.

Pre-Cryptozoic WoWTCG was similar in having a huge variety of routes to victory, although it's probably fair the Mage was borderline too good for how annoying it was to play against. It didn't necessarily dominate and wasn't always the best deck, but people HATED that it stopped you from playing the game and turned you into a spectator.

Post-Cryptozoic WoWTCG was just garbage though. The game narrowed and dumbed down as power creepwent mental. The frustrating Shaman exhausting deck was one thing but at least it was tough to play, but faceroll Pally deck was just mindless 'hey my faction got all the power creep recently eat my ****'. The games were dull to play, dull to watch.

I play 40k, Battle Tech, Armada, Flames of War, Bolt Action, and Attack Wing. They are all perfect and have no issues. In fact I don't know why I keep playing X-Wing. FFG has brainwashed me. It's the fluoride in the water! Soylent Green is people! Chem trails!

16 hours ago, Favoritism Flight Games said:

My analysis of what is OP in a given meta:

1.) If you compare a ship to other similar ships, is it objectively better? Compare the TIE Punisher to the Scurrg (two different heavy bombers). The Scurrg is objectively better in every way. Better dial, better upgrade bar, better stats, better pilot abilites, better upgrades for the faction, just BETTER. Answer: Yes.

2.) Is said ship dominating higher levels of play? 4 Nationals won with Nym in them. Answer: Yes.

3.) Is said ship easy to fly? Is ship immune to punishment for flying badly? In Nym's case, he's EZ mode. Dial comparable to an E-Wing, barrel roll, easy to get to PS10, Adv. Sensors = getting to move with perfect knowledge of the game state = easy to fly. Due to ease of flying, skill floor is low- this is an easy ship to pick up and have quick success with. Ceiling is high as the movement options give you so many choices. Lastly, you don't get punished for bad flying. Bump? Still get to drop bomblet. Land on debris/asteroid? Still get to drop bomblet. Ion'd? Still get to drop bomblet. Stressed? Still get to drop bomblet. And then the cherry on the cake is that you never take damage from your own bombs. What could be easier? Answer: Yes, Yes.

You can do this for lots of ships, and if your answer for all 3 of these metrics is 'YES' then you are looking at an OP ship. Try it for yourself! Plug in any ship you want, try and evaluate it objectively answering the above questions.

The meta is not rocket science or witchcraft.

So Nym gets just two yes and is thus not OP? Afterall he dies in a single turn when he messes up his movement. Two Cruise Missiles or getting into arc of even just a mini-swarm is usually enough for our Captain to die.

5 hours ago, Stay On The Leader said:

I've played competitive games for two decades, often at a very high level. Across that spread of time I've seen some very healthy metagames and some very poor metagames, often within the same system.

I think the current X-Wing metagame is quite a good match for some of the worst Magic and WoWTCG metagames that were strongly pushing mechanics that many players hated. I've always found most players care more about their game being dynamic and interesting than they did about whether there was a wide variety of top tier options. You can have a pretty narrow top tier of the metagame and if it's producing a lot of good games players are happy.

A good example of that is randomly the video game Pro Evo Soccer 2008 when I worked with Konami on coverage of their PESleague (Americans: think Madden for soccer). The best players knew what they needed - strong attackers with high close control, and fast defenders. About 90% of players took either Barcelona, Inter Milan or Chelsea so the variety of teams on show was very low, but as the games were often thrilling nobody cared at all.

I think my favourite metagame of all time is Tempest/Stronghold/Exodus block constructed from 1998 Magic. Pretty much any strategy could be viable: you had mad aggro rush decks like Sligh, White Weenie, Suicide Black. You had some utter ballbreaking slow control decks like Counterphoenix or TradeAwaken. You had a range of fantastic combo decks like Living Death, Portcullis or Workhorse, and you had strong tempo aggro/control like Fish. That's still my dream format, 20 years later.

Pre-Cryptozoic WoWTCG was similar in having a huge variety of routes to victory, although it's probably fair the Mage was borderline too good for how annoying it was to play against. It didn't necessarily dominate and wasn't always the best deck, but people HATED that it stopped you from playing the game and turned you into a spectator.

Post-Cryptozoic WoWTCG was just garbage though. The game narrowed and dumbed down as power creepwent mental. The frustrating Shaman exhausting deck was one thing but at least it was tough to play, but faceroll Pally deck was just mindless 'hey my faction got all the power creep recently eat my ****'. The games were dull to play, dull to watch.

You worked for konami during the upper deck fiasco?! Hats off to you sir.

40 minutes ago, FlyingAnchors said:

You worked for konami during the upper deck fiasco?! Hats off to you sir.

Not only did I work for Konami at that time (on PES) I was also working for Upper Deck (on WoWTCG)!

I never touched YGO though.

9 hours ago, SEApocalypse said:

So Nym gets just two yes and is thus not OP? Afterall he dies in a single turn when he messes up his movement. Two Cruise Missiles or getting into arc of even just a mini-swarm is usually enough for our Captain to die.

Why/how would Nym let himself be shot by two speed 4-5 Cruises or a mini-swarm? He'd just arc-dodge it all and laugh. My 4 year old could figure that maneuver out, flying Nym is so EZ mode. Also, two 4 speed cruises couldn't kill Nym in one volley, even if he did get hit. Two 5 speed, maybe he dies, if you have guidance chips, rolled perfectly on both carriers, and designed the entire list around alpha striking Nym. But again, why, with his amazing movement would he ever allow that. Even assuming he really messed up and dialed in the wrong manuver, he can just barrel roll or boost pre or post move. Honestly, just because 1 'stars-must-allign' failure mode exists for this pilot doesn't mean he gets punished for flying badly. God you must love OP Nym, you defend him on nearly every thread. I really wish you could see why he's toxic for the game, I really do.

1 hour ago, Favoritism Flight Games said:

My 4 year old could figure that maneuver out,

Guess your 4 year old is smarter than Nicolas Durand. Send him to worlds, see how it goes.