Erm, maybe we should do something productive and innovative? [A Modest Proposal]

[Mehmani]

I've been thinking - I used to be very active here about half a year ago or so. And in that short time, I've lost all comprehension of the current metagame (to a certain extent). I barely understand the commonly used decks and how they work, let alone what new packs will be released and such. One thing that I recall regularly are the occasional "Tier List" threads we get cluttering the damn section. And then I thought - how about making these threads more productive? And make it a regular thing. I've seen various TCG blogs that some of the regular contributors write and they're interesting and cleverly written, but not that accessible to someone who's either new to the game (not me), stupid (probably me), or gone on hiatus (my excuse for not being up-to-date).

This could be a regular kind of project that someone posts after every new banlist. The community here could perhaps elect someone to write it each new list. I've seen "Idiot's Guide to playing Reptiliannes"-style threads here before, why not a "Crash Course in the Current Metagame" thread that explains commonly played "decks-of-the-now" and maybe has a list of recommended decklists or tech cards? It's a pretty simple idea and a coherent, good article (by YCM standards, of course) of this stuff could be written up in a hour or so. And the knock-on effects would be good for the rest of the community too - we wouldn't get idiots being idiots as much as the information needed to be a good contributor is right in front of them, for free.

And as I am a moderator in Realistic Cards (although I have been inactive as of late due to revision for important exams), the knock-on effect there could be a good thing too. I have always held firm to the belief that if we could get TCG contributors to emigrate to, or at least contribute on the side to Realistic then the quality of Card-Making (the finest art since Classical Sculpture, or rather the closest the internet comes to fine art) and more importantly; criticism and reviewing, would shoot up dramatically. Medical Science improved dramatically with the addition of Peer-Reviewed journals and organizations like the Cochrane Collaboration, so why couldn't the same hypothesis be applied to a children's card game forum?

Discuss, perhaps?

[Azuh]

The problem is that the meta (especially varied ones) constantly change throughout the format. It wasn't until recently where the top 3 decks (Inzektors, Dino Rabbit, Wind-Ups) are classified as the best decks (even though the popularity of Wind-Ups has decreased)

[Mehmani]

[quote name='Azuh' timestamp='1334499609' post='5914433']
The problem is that the meta (especially varied ones) constantly change throughout the format. It wasn't until recently where the top 3 decks (Inzektors, Dino Rabbit, Wind-Ups) are classified as the best decks (even though the popularity of Wind-Ups has decreased)
[/quote]

Compromises would have to be made, so maybe it could be scheduled for a new explanation thread to go up every month or every two months?

[Lonk]

I thought you were going to insist that we sell babies as food.

While showing inexperienced players what is the format could work, it could end in a travesty for reasons including:

1) TCG section has been known to shoo away inexperienced players on the basis of involving pride or impatience with the ignorant, which scares away the said group. Of course, there will always be some straglers who are willing to stay even after witnessing the tough love of TCG section.

2) Inexperienced players, in general, would not understand the explanation of the format unless if given a crash course against said decks of the format. How could a person who thinks that Random Dragons.dek is best deck understand how a deck like Dino Rabbit, Inzektors or Wind-Ups win oftenly if they don't see with their own eyes how they win? Just explaining it would not do justice, but rather showing them something like a video of their playstyle would actually help them understand.

This is how, at least, I see it. If you are talking about the ones who understand how the game works but want to understand the format, then disregard this argument.

[Blake]

When we have them, Pika either locks them or be 100% perfect. Byakk does this once a format or w/e and did it like 2-4 weeks ago.

[Althemia]

[quote name='Yuzuru Otonashi' timestamp='1334514324' post='5914695']
When we have them, Pika either locks them or be 100% perfect. Byakk does this once a format or w/e and did it like 2-4 weeks ago.
[/quote]

This. With a moderator like TCG has now, there's no way any of us can get any better.

[Mehmani]

Yes, because this section has a moderator who shares the attitude that Koloktos was talking about. This is still a huge work in progress and still hasn't got off the ground yet, but the current blueprint for this article is as follows:

A number of top meta decks are explained, videos of them winning can be used to provide further explanation
An explanation of the current banlist and how it affects previously and currently used decks
An explanation of the "In" cards of the format and how and why they are used/teched

EDIT: The fact that someone spotted the Swiftian reference makes me have faith in YCM again.

[This Account is Unplayable]

Jack already does these every now and again, see if you can dig up the thread if you want to read it, I believe his last one wasn't too long ago.

And meta discussion hardly ever works out with a certain moderator locking most of the topics that would generate discussion on it.