GP coverage suggestions

[Dozer]

At GP Lille, the Hasbro Europe representative agreed to sponsor me for a trial run as coverage reporter for magicthegathering.com at the next GP, which is on the last weekend of January in Hasselt (Belgium). Now, I want to do that well to get into the coverage rotation for MTG.com, so I will be preparing myself. Part of this is finding out what readers want, so: What do you love to read in GP coverages? (The GP will be Sealed, btw). What have you been missing in past coverages, and what would you like to see? I will be working with Craig Jones, and he will obviously be in charge, but I will try to work in as many suggestions as I can. Use this thread or shoot a PM my way to get your say!

Oh yeah, this is about text coverage only. Podcasts and video coverage are unlikely to happen at this point. Those two are likely to be the most sought after improvements, but I fear I can't help there.

Fire away!

[Machinus]

Congratulations!

The best thing about coverage is when they have accurate description of the games, and the worst thing is when they fail at this. Sometimes the coverage is good, but sometimes they say stuff like "he opened with mongrel, and then the opponent wrathed," which is painful to read since it is basically leaving out the entire game. At a limited GP this isn't really a concern, but that's one thing I care about in reading tournament coverage.

Good luck at the tournament.

[Kasuras]

It would be really nice if you can keep track of the lifetotals and mention them in the coverage, just 2 little lines at the end of a game:

Dozer: 20,17,10,6,3,0
Kasuras: 20, 24, 28, 19, 23 (win)

Also, most coverage I like is accurate (mentioning the facts), has humor and most importantly: insight. I am not that much of a good player myself and limit myself to vintage as well, so knowing why someone made a particular play is nice to know. Much of a wishlist: but I know you can do it!

[Matt]

I always like to see the players' take on the format - which points they think to stress, what colors are good, what dexk X needs to win, etc.

[Klep]

I would like to see less of Craig Jones.  His anti-control bias is always really annoying.

[Machinus]

I would like to see less of Craig Jones.  His anti-control bias is always really annoying.

I completely agree. I love reading about and watching control decks, especially when they are playing each other. This new emphasis on "the stack is boring! let's attack instead" really blows, and hard. I can't stand it when the reporters act like instants are so incredibly complicated that they have to just make a joke and gloss over it.

[kirdape3]

You horrible Vintage players and your bias against creatures.  Meddling Mage is going to destroy you for this.

Attacking 4L.

[Godder]

You horrible Vintage players and your bias against creatures.  Meddling Mage is going to destroy you for this.

Attacking 4L.

Heh, what he said . I thought Jones' coverage wasn't that bad, and hey, you try covering 937 players and see how well you manage to cover the intricacies of control mirror matches. Even in the playoffs, it was just him, so I can't blame him for taking a few shortcuts. For PT coverage, I'd expect more, but for a lone hand at a GP, I'd rather have more general coverage.

[Klep]

Heh, what he said . I thought Jones' coverage wasn't that bad, and hey, you try covering 937 players and see how well you manage to cover the intricacies of control mirror matches. Even in the playoffs, it was just him, so I can't blame him for taking a few shortcuts. For PT coverage, I'd expect more, but for a lone hand at a GP, I'd rather have more general coverage.

It wasn't the depth of his coverage that bothered me (more would have been nice, but I realize the restrictions on his resources).  It's that ridiculous distaste of control he has.  It seems he takes every chance he can get to say  "HURR HURR CONTROL IS SLOW!" or somesuch.  It's very annoying and I want it to stop.

[Godder]

That's a reasonable point - a small amount of bias helps personalise the writing, but too much is definitely bad, whatever the archetype the bias is against (or for, for that matter).

[Dozer]

I would like to see less of Craig Jones.  His anti-control bias is always really annoying.

Your wish should be granted. Craig is breaking in two new reporters, me and a Dane, and it is likely that Euro GP coverage will be shared among us three, so you will see less of Craig. On the other hand, Craig is working with the Dane (I should know his name, but don't *shame* -- edit: his name is Jörg Hajek) at GP Hasselt and with me at GP Dortmund, so expect him for the next two GPs at least. (Note that most upcoming GP's are Sealed anyway. Also, I think Craig has a very good style, so not all is bad in the land of aggro matchups.)

In other news, keep those suggestions coming. Due to a very heavy workload, I will not go to Hasselt but instead Dortmund two weeks later (Feb 18-19). For those who noticed, the workload is the reason I haven't been very active in the past months. Expect this to get much better after March. I will be preparing for my exams in History instead of doing seminar work, and should have much more available time. Sorry to the Dutchies I hoped to meet in Hasselt! Maybe some of you will come to Dortmund, too?

Dozer