I have often heard that the popularization of the "meta" term came as shorthand for the "metagame" of Magic:the Gathering in the late 90s, when the big tourname

I have often heard that the popularization of the "meta" term came as shorthand for the "metagame" of Magic:the Gathering in the late 90s, when the big tournaments like the Pro Tour came about. I do recall first coming across the term then, but I wouldn't care to make any definite claims about the actual etymology. Quick explanation for those not familiar: at an extremely simplified high level, MTG tournaments are a rock-paper-scissors game (with many more options). To some extent, part of the ability to play a tournament well is external to your ability to play MTG, and consists of your ability to predict the distribution of rocks/papers/scissors/etc in the field of players, and picking the appropriate countermeasure.