The College Metagame

[TopSecret]

So, I was studying for college exams today, and it finally hit me.

There's only one viable strategy: working one's ass off.

Seriously, this metagame sucks.
Does anyone else feel the same way?

I mean, sure, there's lots of skill involved,
but I still only have one choice for my strategy.

I'm tired of working my ass off.
I want books to be restricted so that things can go back to the
elementry school metagame, where there was format diversity.
Playing tag, hop-skotch, and eating rocks were all viable.

When I go pro, and join the work force, will the metagame improve?

[Moxlotus]

When I go pro, and join the work force, will the metagame improve?

If you want to succeed--no.  Welcome to the real world.

[LotusHead]

So, I was studying for college exams today, and it finally hit me.

There's only one viable strategy: working one's ass off.

I worked at a comic book store at "the mall" for a few years, so in this public place, I ran across people who I would have otherwise lost track of.

One of them was Monty.

He randomly showed up, recognized me (we did "College Engineering Physics Math" kinda classes together, and the lot of us did whatever it took to get through those times.)

He came up to me and thanked me for how I helped him in college. (we were peers. Sure, I knew my math, but I was lost as far as applying it to real world models. I could only tell if the math was right, not if our "model" or "situation" or "equation" was right.)

Anyway, he thanked me, and I asked why.

He said, that the one thing I really taught him, was that in order to "Pass" or "know" or "continue", you just...

are you ready for this?

How to succeed in College?

How to pass Physics, Calculus, etc?


"You just have to do the WORK".

No osmosis. (ozmosis?). No freebee lucksacking Shop Trinisphere, Tinker Colossus, Island Jet Flash GG.  You just have to DO WHAT YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO DO.

Crazy, I know.

I see this barrier every day. My students struggle with a problem, and they ask "What do I do?"
I say: Step 1. Write the original problem down, onto your sheet of paper. Maybe draw a diagram if appropriate. Read the problem.

Step 2: (or alternate plan 1). THINK! Be smarter than the calculator.

[Moxlotus]

Some more stuff I thought of.

So out of all of the cards out there, you only have so many.  Most of them are usually commons and stuff that most people already have.  But you can pick up more cards that can separate your deck from everyone else's--giving you a better chance.  But you also have to figure out what cards to get.  You don't necessarily want to be all over the place or your deck won't function as you want it to, but it can't be too compeltely linear either.  One thing that works best is to find a few strategies that compliment each other to both give you a strong deck and increase your ability to pull out the win since you can get in there from multiple angles.

Yeah, I'm actually talking about real life in there

[TopSecret]

Some more stuff I thought of.

So out of all of the cards out there, you only have so many.  Most of them are usually commons and stuff that most people already have.  But you can pick up more cards that can separate your deck from everyone else's--giving you a better chance.  But you also have to figure out what cards to get.  You don't necessarily want to be all over the place or your deck won't function as you want it to, but it can't be too compeltely linear either.  One thing that works best is to find a few strategies that compliment each other to both give you a strong deck and increase your ability to pull out the win since you can get in there from multiple angles.

Yeah, I'm actually talking about real life in there

Actually, that makes a lot of sense.

Up until this point, I've been playing 5-Color Highlander, both in Vintage and in real life.
I don't take the time to thoroughly test my Vintage deck.
I just theorize about the metagame, tweak my deck on what I think I'll see, and then I go to a tourney.
Once in a while, I top 8, but if I don't, I don't really care.
I'm content as long as I finish in the top half of the pack while doing my thing.

However, I think it's getting to the point where I can't just theorize about the metagame,
not play the best cards, and not test my deck. It's not that I need to top 8 neccesarily,
but the cutoff for day 2 is there, and if I don't finish in the money I can't afford to pay for the plane ride back.
I can't afford to scrub out anymore, and the competition is only going to get tougher the closer I get to making top 8.

I hate to say it, but I might have to start playing GAT.

[Matt]

There's a real myopia in college, and especially in engineering colleges, where the range of jobs that are considered "real jobs" is very very narrow. You would be surprised at what people will actually pay you money to do. When I was in college, especially my first couple semesters, I grew seriously depressed, feeling like the big decisions in my life were being railroaded along one preset course.

I do advise you to work hard and get through what you're doing now, but also to try to realize that the world is much wider than it is deep.