Learning to Embrace META While Managing Imposter Syndrome
By Siren
Hello everyone it's Siren! I am back with another article for you guys! This time I want to talk about something I've struggled with for a long time in our game. This is impostor syndrome, now while Dan did talk about this a while back (make sure to read that article if you haven't https://www.undefeatedatlocals.com/articles/regional-recap-swiss-champ-pony) I wanted to talk about another part of it. That part is playing meta! Now I have exclusively played rogue decks in my time playing Universus, never playing the major contenders like TOT, Devil Jin, Rodan, and the focus of this article, Pony! Now as I'm sure you know, The Cabal have played a lot of pony but I never did, why is that? Well it's because she reminded me of one of my favorite characters of all time Mikasa 1. This caused my enjoyment with pony to be diminished as I found her much less interesting and I wasn't able to be techy and make the deck my own as it was very set in stone. I've always enjoyed putting my own unique spin on decks so having this locked in decklist was unenticing to me on top of the other issue I listed.
Now onto the main topic of today, I took the Pony Tsunotori my team had made to the local championships at Final Round Game Shop (Check them out if you haven't) this past weekend and piloted the deck to 5th and then 3rd Saturday and Sunday respectively. This was a major milestone for me as well as I swiss champed the LC on Sunday which was my first swiss champ ever. This experience helped quell my impostor syndrome a bit and made me realize that meta doesn't have to mean stale or unimaginative. The way a person plays influences how a deck looks/plays more than it appears on the surface. It showcases your skill when 2 players play decks that are equal power against each other and truly does become perfect Universus in my opinion.
All in all I think this is a good article and I hope you enjoyed it! I wanted to touch on this topic specifically as it's something I've always struggled with in our game. Playing meta doesn't have to mean you gave up on rogue or need the better deck because you lack skill. It's more akin to having better gear for a sport that allows you to perform better. Understanding this is helpful because it lets you perform better in my opinion and helps you to reach new heights with your Universus journey. Anywho I've gotta go test and practice for Dallas so catch y'all later!
