From the first use of the word “metagame” in Nigel Howard’s Cold War variation of the Prisoner’s Dilemma in 1956, to Richard Garfield’s definitions and modern day usage in competitive games, the term has accompanied games and game-theory alike, shifting and adding to its definition over the years. This workshop focuses an empiric approach to “reading” metagames in the competitive sense, by showcasing and analysing a historic meta of the acclaimed TCG “Magic the Gathering”. Attendees will be challenged to navigate this subspace, before comparing their decisions to the actual development and evolution of said particular format.