deck's good! tournament's good! i love you all! if you want to see more about the deck see the list this was a variant of. anyway, onto the main event...

Pronoun Meta Review - UK Nationals

All data contained in this article is available to view here.

UK Nationals, or "Sheffield Megacity", was relatively tame with regards to the pronoun meta, with a few stand-out examples. The dominance of he/him as the set of choice in larger tournaments is yet to be challenged, with over 60% of the field (and 68% of the cut) opting for this. A few variants on this have been explored - he/they and he/any being notable examples, exploring the meta space whilst not quite yet retaining the winrate. A total of 14 different pronoun sets made an appearance across the event, with 9 of these seeing 2 or less players opting for them, and the top 2 "classic" options (he/him and she/her) making up almost 72% of the standings.

Tech

With the dominance of he/him, many players are seeking the best options against it. The standout options that saw success here were any, it, and he/none, although each of these saw only one or two pilots. These options also fared well into the meta as a whole, all reaching at least a 50% winrate, with it being the set with the highest overall winrate. Similar options also fared well - they/any, a variant on any, boasting a 57% winrate and a 53% rate against he/him.

Tech against other options could be considered - it and any, while both strong options, appear to have very different matchup spreads, so a meta call that counters both of these would be very well placed.

Cut Conversion

The top cut was even more heavily dominated by he/him than swiss, as discussed above, though the Queen of Swiss (she/her) did opt out of the cut, slightly skewing these metrics. Multiple solo pilots saw a subsequent 100% cut conversion (it, he/any), while he/him's conversion was among the lowest at around 20%. Despite this, he/him was the only pronoun set to see more than 2 appearances at the cut, eventually taking the top spot.

Recommendations

The meta is far from stale - while he/him remains the primary contender and shows solid performance at many events, alternative options are becoming more and more popular. Dedicated testing could absolutely reveal a previously unseen choice that takes the top spot, and while I would be pleasantly surprised to see he/him unseated as the most common choice at a tournament of this size, I could certainly see it coming within the next year. if you're looking for a change, there's no time like right now.

In Review

The lack of diversity in the current pronoun meta makes this analysis a little challenging. With very few pilots of certain pronoun sets present, one could propose that pronoun matchups take a backseat to individual skill, and that such small sample sizes for less classical pronoun sets prevents meaningful insights. While I do see the merit of these points, this work remains mysterious and important regardless, and my data collection will expand.

The prevailing winrate of he/him could be attributed to the history of the meta - many players have seen high performance with it, so many new players opt for it, and alternative options are pushed to the side. A more balanced meta would show more variety especially at the top of the standings, and while I don't see a banlist coming any time soon, there are certainly things that the playerbase can do to make that happen.

Want to improve these statistics? If you don't use he/him - talk to me, I'll help you! If you do - talk to me. I'll help you.