Whats on your mind?

[Kerz]

Hey everyone- as most of you know, for March I did some extensive metagame work in my article, found here: http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=15851 .

After writing this and getting the feedback I did, I really want to start writing articles on a monthy basis, for TMD only (take THAT starcity). Being pretty new in this business, I don't have a lot of stored article topics I can draw from, leaving me without many ideas I can expound on to an entire article length or depth.

I am interested in what is on TMDers minds at the moment... what you want to hear, what you want to know, what you want to see explained further. I am not looking for article topics per se (although I wouldn't stop you from suggesting them), but for ideas from where I can get article starts from.

Thanks guys,

Aaron Kerzner

[iamfishman]

how about...i direct comparison of deck subtypes...control slavery cs workshop slave...or gro vs hulk smash

[Arrg]

I rather liked the metagame article. Maybe you could do a monthly metagame article, that adds new decks while updating and removing the old deck.

[Kerz]

Both great ideas:

@iamfishman: This is one of the ones I had in the back of my head. It sounds like a good article, but it would be my first "Highlight Deck X" article, so that would be all new grounds for me.

@arrg: I don't like those types of articles are monthly, because it will be mostly copy/paste. I could do an update mini-article, but nothing to the extremes the March one was to. The strategies of the decks dont really change, you know?

Jacob 0rlove: what about local metagame profiles?
Jacob 0rlove: talking to people about what has and does show up in different places

What do you guys think of that?

[Arrg]

I could do an update mini-article

That would work. Maybe at the end just update all the deck list or something.

[Diakonov]

I think a well-structured analysis of important Top-8's would be interesting to read.  It's tough to surf around on magic sites looking for random Top 8 lists from around the country/world, and if we had them here at the tips of our fingers we could probably make more progress.  With a large compilation it would be easy to figure out which builds are working and which aren't, or possibly the volume of decktypes that are being played.

[JuJu]

Not bad, except metagames are so differed. European tourney results don't even have Strips wtf! Not to mention bad decks win like WW and Mono-Green.

[Edgar 2.0]

I agree with Diaknonov.  I would like to know who and what is winning where.

[jpmeyer]

Dr. Sylvan kind of handles that for you...

[Dr. Sylvan]

Dr. Sylvan kind of handles that for you...

Kekekeke. :D

Kerz: Despite everything Smmenen does, we still don't have many articles discussing specific matchups and how they usually go in the eyes of a top team. (Steve's better focusing on primer-type things and the format as a whole anyway.) If that were a direction you were interested in, I'm sure we'd give you massive <3-age.

[mrieff]

I'd also be very interested in a metagame analysis, similar to the March one.

[Kerz]

Keep the ideas coming people, I want every TMD'ers thoughts down here- after going over some of the thoughts, I'll probably announce what my next article will be in a week or so.

[Methuselahn]

Doc Sylvan has the right idea.   There needs to be discussion on something like Tog vs. Control Slavery or other such popular deck types.  Having people respond with how they attempt to play the match, decklist tweaks, and everything else involved would be informative.

Listing and discussing local metas would be a great idea.  This type of topic could motivate people to understand and build decks to foil local trends.  For example, in MN, we don't regularly host proxy tournaments.  Ergo, the meta tends to be aggro based.  In the NE where control is king because of 5 proxy, you have to have a totally different approach.

Please stay away from illusionary metagame articles.  If MTG were not a collectable card game and tournaments allowed full proxies then it would be much easier to examine which is the best deck in such a scientific lab type setting.   Fortunately, or unfortunately, this will never happen (or at least any time soon).  The difference between the Ohio and Minnesota metas, for example, indicates what you should be prepared for.  Given the swingy nature of Type 1, you cannot simply deny the non-optimal decks even if you are playing what the general online community deems the best.  Besides, nobody wins power or prizes online where this general meta flourishes.

Great idea tho Kerz, I look forward to seeing what is in store.

[SpencerForHire]

I know some people have already said these but these are the types of articles I enjoy most.

Metagame Articles (locational based, perhaps based on the rarity of certain cards in certain regions etc.. what makes them that way.)

Deck comparisons; WS Slaver vs. Control Slaver,  Hulk vs. GAT, etc..

Single card studies; Standstill, Skullclamp, Pernicious Deed, etc..

Theres my input.

[Jhaggs]

Kerz,

  I have yet to read an article that has described & explained what is arguably the best thing to happen to the vintage format today; The enormous explosion of type 1 tournaments in 2004.  Maybe its just me, but I have been noticing a flood of tournaments (mostly in the east coast) during this new year.  I would really love an article that attempted to explain why this is happening, where it came from, what this means, and how can we contiue this trend.  In the article you could touch on these issue:

*History of sanctioned tourny's in t1

*The start of proxy tournys and why they came about.

*Why t1 has become so much more popular in the past 2 years than in years previous

*Why 2004 has had so many huge tournaments.

*What impact this format attention has been having on Wizards.

*Wizards has started to print new t1 cards, will they continue to look at our format.

*If there is this huge surge in t1 popularity can this be parlayed into a Pro t1 circuit?

*What role has tmd.com played in this format's renewed status over the past 3 years.

*How the increase in tournaments has led to an increase in card prices.

This is just something that I have been discussing with some people.  Personally, I think this would make for a great read because although it isn't "game-play" related, it is still an important topic and an interesting one.

EDIT:  You could even interview some tournament organizers (iamfishman) to get their thoughts on why they've been able to foster bigger and bigger tournaments.