Staying Relevant

[Smmenen]

Obviously, I believe that the articles I write every week for SCG are relevant.  I try to mix up themes from tournament reports, to metagame analysis, to deck primers, to matchup testing, etc. 

But for some reason, I get the feeling that more and more of my audience is basically vintage newcomers (i.e. started vintage in the last year or two).   That's fine, I welcome every reader.  I'm happy to talk about Vintage.

And I know that my articles are premium, and that's a pretty big barrier to reading them - many of you don't want to pay to read basically just my articles.  That's completely understandable. 

I think a big lure for people who don't necessarily want to read my articles for "tech" is the quarterly set reviews and, more importantly, my bimonthly/quarterly metagame analysis where I do a breakdown of all of the top performing decks and calculate top 8 percentages for the entire metagame. 

I also stay relevant by remaining on the cutting edge and by actually playing in tournaments on a regular basis. 

But what I'd like to know is: is there something I'm NOT doing that I could be?  Is there some way that I could be more relevant?  This isn't to say that I'm going to follow the advice given, but I'm wondering if I'm missing something obvious or not.   

I'm excited about the plans I've got for the next few weeks, but I'm just checking in with the community to reconnect a little bit more.

Speak.

Stephen

[ErkBek]

I lost some interest in your articles right around the Invitational series. My view was, congrats to you for getting the invite, but I don't care to read about it 2, 3, and 4 weeks after the tournaments were complete. I think I would have kept my interest if you had a daily column that week rather than spread it out over a months time; then took a couple week break and return fresh (I know that's easier said than done).

Lately, you've been back to what most of use want to read about. Tournament reports and new decks your working on. Since Gush has been unrestricted it seems like all you've done is talk about GAT. It's been nice seeing you talk about and work on other decks lately.

One thing I'd like to see more of is for you to discuss your views on other decks in the format outside of the deck you are currently playing in tournaments. It seems like you have to be paired up against a particular deck for you to address it much of the time. Maybe this would best fit into your metagame analysis, I'm not sure.

We keep hearing "Golden Age" but it seemed like all you talked about was GAT. I think your recent articles have been a step in the right direction now that you've started working on Tog and MUD.

Keep up the good work and ignore the haters.

[Crankster]

Your articles are the the only reason for me to have premium.
As Eric said, keep up the good work.

[Fubar]

  The detailed matchup analysis series was the best reason for premium for me.  ie. showing specific interactions.  Thats comming from a 'vintage newcommer'

[zeus-online]

Well, i probably shouldn't comment since i don't have premium and can't really read the articles....but...

I'd like another article about the restrict list, since it seems that the dci might actually listen and read it.

That said, i was very tempted to get premium with your last article about psychatog.

/Zeus

[Sextiger]

I think it would be interesting if you visited like a deck per week and go over the deck's origins, its performance in the meta, card choices, how to play it and maybe run it through like a gauntlet against some other popular decks.  With a deck per week, you could cover most of the major decks quickly and the readers can get a good view of the meta as a whole.

[Smmenen]

Thank you for your feedback.   I always appreciate hearing what people have to say about my efforts.

I'd like to go a bit deeper though.  I'm not really looking for article topics or themes (got plenty to write about right now).   

I'm trying to figure out if there is anything I could do to reach more people or pique their interest.   If you don't have premium and you have no interest in getting it, what sort of approach would get you to purchase it, if any?   

I'm not trying to sell SCG Premium, but I think the answer to that question will answer the question I care about, which is: is there something I'm not doing? 

[LotusHead]

Thank you for your feedback.   I always appreciate hearing what people have to say about my efforts.

I'm trying to figure out if there is anything I could do to reach more people or pique their interest.   If you don't have premium and you have no interest in getting it, what sort of approach would get you to purchase it, if any?   

Many of us on TMD would ONLY read Premium Articles for the Vintage Articles (namely yours.).
We just don't want to fork over $30 for that.  If SCG figured out how to make a $10 Vintage Only account (so we aren't paying for Standard articles and so forth), we might just go Vintage Premium.

I think it would be interesting if you visited like a deck per week and go over the deck's origins, its performance in the meta, card choices, how to play it and maybe run it through like a gauntlet against some other popular decks. 

Even if I only read it 3 months after the fact, I would like to read up on deck and their origins

[SyntheticAngel]

I do have premium and tend to read your articles every week at work. One thing I think you have done particularly well is appeal to new players by pulling in examples from past tournaments for example your article on Tog you pull in Carl Winter's victory at the first Vintage worlds champs. This helps new comers to better understand your card choices for the deck. Your breakdowns for card choices are also well thought out. Great articles, and keep up the great work on decks and articles.

Brennen

[zeus-online]

Thank you for your feedback.   I always appreciate hearing what people have to say about my efforts.

I'm trying to figure out if there is anything I could do to reach more people or pique their interest.   If you don't have premium and you have no interest in getting it, what sort of approach would get you to purchase it, if any?   

Many of us on TMD would ONLY read Premium Articles for the Vintage Articles (namely yours.).
We just don't want to fork over $30 for that.  If SCG figured out how to make a $10 Vintage Only account (so we aren't paying for Standard articles and so forth), we might just go Vintage Premium.

I agree, that would really sell the idea...

For me it's probably just a matter of which decks and themes you're writing about....For example i'm not really all that interested in reading about MUD or Long, while i'd love to read about drain decks...However, you can't possible limit yourself to that or you'd loose those people who enjoy other archetypes.

As i said, the last article about psychatog was very tempting, and if it would have cost 10$/year to read your articles i think i would have payed!

/Zeus

[Smmenen]

At risk of turning this into a "premium" or not thread, you can pay as low as $10 to read premium for 3 months....

[Anusien]

Aren't you strongly involved in the Meandeck Opens that get run at The Soldiery?  Talking about that aspect of things might be worthwhile.  You could even get guest spots by Ray or Dan.

I remember at one point one of your earlier articles was about how to run a 5proxy Vintage event.  That sort of topic might be worth revisiting, re-geared towards your audience.