World champions don’t embrace the meta, they create it
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Yeah the horizontal meta is kind of his anyway, that’s why it looks meta. All the combos seem like his own, and most of the bangers too. Very minimal on hooks as well
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YES THANK YOU.
Someone finally said it. He uses very little meta which is surprising.
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When someone says, “He uses very little meta,” is that the same as saying, “He doesn’t use super trendy tricks.” ?
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Yeah pretty much. Certain tricks become popular competitively because they are known to click well
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Kind of. He uses some trendy tricks, but that’s usually because he started using them before they were trendy or because he started the trend.
His tech combos are pretty unique and different, and many of his hops and bangers are his own. He doesn’t use the standard tension hooks and hops that you see in most freestyles nowadays.
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So meta means tricks that are known to earn high scores with the current competition rules?
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Yes.
It’s like in gaming. The meta is the top characters and strategies
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Basically fads/trends that carry quantifiable value of some degree. The cutting edge of innovation.
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But that doesn’t necessarily mean it will click well. Look at this year’s World’s 4A…
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I think it’s a bit more than that - the “meta” tricks seem to come in nicely-sized blocks that are apparently easy to fit into a routine. Like, here’s all the slacks. now here’s the hooks. now the music changes and you do horizontal. etc. Kind of like constructing a pop song out of verse and chorus structures with well known chord progressions.
I should qualify this thought by saying it’s my perception as someone new-ish to yo-yoing and without any judging experience. And of course you can have a great routine with this structure.
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The meta is what’s high clicking but also relatively easy so yeah you’re right
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The meta has its benefits. It’s great for people who are new to competing especially at the regional level. At some point you got add something more to it though. Most top players manage to this but there are a few who don’t.
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Yeah that’s why world champion contenders create the meta. Following the textbook might get you to a regional or national level but worlds is another beast
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But meta doesn’t necessarily have to click well. For example, last year Evan started a new meta trend with his 1a championship routine: those really “big” over-the-head-360 degree full body rotation- hooks, and whips that EVERYONE who is someone has been adapting.
I could be wrong, but my understanding of meta is basically cutting edge/innovative trends. Which is one of the reasons that I have very little interest in 1a worlds level competitions, there is so little room for innovation because it is the division that is most popular. Most finals routines look so similar, there really isn’t a clear cut way for me [personally] to quantify how good a player actually is. They’re all so good and all do pretty much the same elements, because that’s where the meta is.
I’ll add that it’s pretty much the same with 1a unresponsive yoyo design. There’s very little room for actual innovation, so most new releases are just different renditions of the current design meta.
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Oh boi finals is where there’s more diversity.
If you think finals are the same you should watch wildcard and prelims, thats where everything really is basically the same 
front style speed combo, laceration combo, meta tech/slack combo, done. THATS the meta. Finals you start seeing the innovators rather than the followers. Gentry got his own stuff and his focus on performance and musicality. Yuki has the speed and crazy horizontal. Shion has the speedy tech.
If I had a shadow of those players you will know who is who. Wildcard and prelims it’s a lot harder because they are just point whoring but when you have to perform 3 minutes you gotta have something different to bring to the table
The meta is what everyone is doing. But if you’re doing what everyone else is doing, there’s no way you can be the best in the world. You have to go beyond those boundaries.
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I can stand corrected. But I guess my original point is that meta doesn’t necessarily have to click well. There are almost two sides to the meta coin: 1 is the actual innovation, 2 is the wake of innovation, or interpretation of innovation aka trends. Right?
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I disagree with this. World finals is very diverse. There is a big difference between various players, and I can often tell who did well and who didn’t. Tricksets vary a lot. There are a lot of meta tricks but world finals is where people start to expand on the meta.
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Yeah, I said I stood corrected. I honestly don’t have time to watch every routine, so my perspective is pretty limited.
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This can be a problem. You have to spend time watching to understand what’s happening.
You’re definitely good enough to understand, but watching competition freestyles at first can be confusing.
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