tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2356636870170518862024-03-18T02:47:47.375-07:00Sperling GroveA Magic: The Gathering Blog by Matt SperlingMatt Sperlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09068116459532701291noreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-235663687017051886.post-27864263736244848912023-11-29T10:21:00.000-08:002023-11-29T10:21:59.301-08:00How to Get a Real Job After Magic [archived version]<p> </p><header class="entry-header ast-no-thumbnail" style="background-color: white; color: #3a3a3a; font-family: Lato, sans-serif;"><div class="ast-single-post-order"><h1 class="entry-title" itemprop="headline" style="text-transform: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">[Note: this article was originally published by ChannelFireball but is no longer hosted there, and is reproduced here in order to archive the content]</span></h1><h1 class="entry-title" itemprop="headline" style="font-size: 2.33333rem; text-transform: inherit;">How to Get a Real Job After Magic</h1><div class="entry-meta" style="color: #444444; font-size: 0.85em; font-weight: 600; line-height: 2; text-transform: uppercase;">BY <span class="posted-by vcard author" itemprop="author" itemscope="itemscope" itemtype="https://schema.org/Person" style="line-height: 1.45;"><a class="url fn n" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210303144954/https://strategy.channelfireball.com/all-strategy/author/matt-sperling/" itemprop="url" rel="author" style="color: #332222; line-height: 1.45;" title="View all posts by Matt Sperling"><span class="author-name" itemprop="name" style="color: #ef962b; line-height: 1.45;">MATT SPERLING</span> </a></span>/ <span class="posted-on" style="line-height: 1.45;"><span class="published" itemprop="datePublished" style="line-height: 1.45;">JULY 13, 2018</span><span class="updated" itemprop="dateModified" style="line-height: 1.45;"> </span></span></div></div></header><div class="entry-content clear" itemprop="text" style="background-color: white; color: #3a3a3a; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><p>The ancient wisdom about being a professional gamer or poker player is, “Grow up and get a job.” This ancient thinking is rude, unfair, and ignorant about what can constitute a “job.” But that doesn’t mean that it’s always bad advice.</p><p>https://twitter.com/sickofit/status/1015296610023059456</p><p>In response to that tweet, someone asked me to write this article and share some of what I’ve learned.</p><p>Several years ago, I took a year off from being a lawyer to try poker, and I have more friends than I can count who have at some point done the same with Magic, poker, or something similar. This article isn’t about that decision and the pros and cons of trying something like that. This article is about what to do when you’ve tried something different and it didn’t work for you, for whatever reason.</p><p>I’ll try below to offer some general wisdom, if I can find it. But mostly, I’ll offer tactical, specific advice for what to do next, and how to put together a resume and pitch that explains those “wasted years” and why that “gap” wasn’t actually a waste. I’ll start with where to look for work, and then discuss putting together a resume and nailing the interview. Lastly, I’ll discuss some good habits that you can start forming even before you land a 9-to-5, as they say.</p><p>These are just my two cents. If you’re reading any of this and you disagree with the advice I give, say why in the comments below. I think readers will benefit from different perspectives and there is absolutely more than one way to approach all of these challenges. What has worked for me or my friends may or may not work for you, and a comment below questioning or supplementing my advice might have the wisdom that will work for you.</p><h1 style="font-size: 2.8rem; text-transform: inherit;">Where to Find Jobs You Might Be Interested In</h1><p>The two biggest assets you have entering the job market as a gamer are 1) the analytical, problem solving mind and skills that allowed you to excel at gaming, and 2) the network of people you met along the way.</p><p>That second asset, the network of players you have access to, is huge. It’s probably both literally huge in size, and also huge in the advantage it gives you over anybody else who just, for example, graduated college and started looking for a job. I got my job through a friend I made playing Magic (after interviewing at multiple places that I also got plugged into through different people who I met through Magic). I then hired three more people I know because they play Magic. And my story is far from unique.</p><p>Do not be afraid to post on social media where other Magic players will see it. “Is anyone hiring entry level ______ (something you’re interested in)?” You might know someone who has a job that you wish you had. See if you can set up a Skype chat with that person or grab lunch if you’re local.</p><p>I know that “let’s grab lunch” type of thing might not be a natural conversation for those of you who whose time away from the working world means that the social aspects of it are outside of your comfort zone. My advice here is to be honest about what you’re looking for and don’t overthink it. Short and sweet, with an honest encapsulation of what you’re looking for. Example: “Hey Marcus, we met at GP Pittsburgh a few years back, and you might not remember me. I’m looking to scale back on Magic and reenter the workforce, and I noticed that you work for Amazon, which is a company I’m really interested in. I was wondering if I could pick your brain for 15 or 30 minutes about your experience there.”</p><p>One thing that might be surprising to you is that referral bonuses at companies large and small are pretty common. So Marcus or Maria, who you email about their company, might actually be <i>financially</i> motivated to help you, at no cost to you. Even if not, Marcus and Maria probably both had someone help them get the job, show them the ropes, or otherwise mentor them. They should be happy to pay it forward. I know I am when I get an email like this.</p><p>And at the risk of offering something that sounds like pickup artist advice… the worst that can happen really is someone goes Patrick Swayze on your email and never responds. The full Casper. The Geist of St. DRAFT FOLDER, so to speak. So what? Tell yourself the person was busy and move on.</p><p>What about that analytical brain I mentioned as another asset? Here, you will have opportunities to think creatively about what you might qualify for, but also go grab some new or additional training if you need it. There are coding boot camps, online courses and community colleges, self-study resources, etc. that you can use to get yourself some skills in an area that sounds interesting. Popular choices are coding, data analysis, or financial analysis/trading. My advice isn’t to follow the crowd at all costs, but it does help to locate an intersection where analytical skills and logic meet high-demand in the marketplace for jobs. Right now, tech is the best example but that isn’t the only one.</p><p>For my readers who have no idea what they could do or what they want to do, that’s okay. You’re not alone in feeling that way when reentering the workforce, I promise. One thing to keep in mind is that you can start with a job—you don’t have to start with a career. For example, if you have no idea what you want to do and you’ve never had a “real” job before, you might check job boards in your area for things that are entry level, grab whatever pops up that provides a livable wage for you, and start there. Even if you’re a host at a local restaurant and you end up wanting to work at a tech company, you can work that job, do some online/self-study that awards a certificate or e-certificate of some kind, and you’re on your way. You will meet more people, see more normal jobs in action that you wouldn’t have otherwise, and be a better entry-level candidate down the road if you do decide to pivot in 6, 12, or 18 months’ time.</p><p>Think outside the box if you have to, and never underestimate the network of players that might be out there with advice to give or introductions to help you on your way:</p><p>https://twitter.com/Vaughan212/status/1015335801398484992</p><h1 style="font-size: 2.8rem; text-transform: inherit;">Get That Resumè Together</h1><p>Whether you end up blasting it out “cold” or handing it to a friend who has a “warm” lead and will pass it along to her recruiting team, you will likely be in need of an updated resume or CV. If you remember only one thing from this section it should be this: let your friends and family members who have been working a while help review your resume. They can find typos, tell you if something is worded in a confusing way, or help you fix formatting if things simply don’t look aesthetically pleasing and professional. If you’ve asked two friends and relatives for their help and they’ve said no, send it to me and I will help you.</p><p>But the first draft should be your own, since you are the one who knows the most about what you’re looking for and what skills and experience you have.</p><p>Here is a made-up, sample resume I put together that you can use to get started, or at least to start thinking about this stuff:</p><p><b>Spike Emptypockets</b> <b> </b><b>sampleemail@gmail.com</b></p><p>999 Glendora Ave., Apt. 8 (805) 123-4553</p><p>Long Beach, CA 90803</p><p><b>Summary</b></p><p>Analytical thinker and problem solver seeking full-time, entry-level employment as a programmer or data analyst. Extremely fast learner who has completed online coursework in Python programming and MySQL. Deep background in high-level competitive strategic gaming; looking to transform the skill and discipline used in competitive gaming into the next chapter of my life.</p><p><b>Education</b></p><p><b>California State University, Long Beach</b>, Long Beach, CA</p><p>B.A., Communications, 2011</p><p><b>Skills & Certifications</b></p><ul><li>Certificate of Proficiency in <b>Python Programming</b> from samplecodingwebsite.com</li><li>Microsoft Word, <b>Excel</b>, & PowerPoint</li><li><b>MySQL</b></li></ul><p><b>Experience</b></p><p><b>Self-Employed Gamer and Strategy Article Author</b></p><p>Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour, 2015–Present</p><ul><li>Compete in the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour and Grand Prix circuit, earning Top 16 and Top 32 finishes among fields of hundreds or thousands of the world’s best players.</li><li>Preparation for each event is a collaborative effort (in groups of 3-15 players) to make complex, strategic choices in a limited amount of time.</li><li>Competition requires both composure and sound decision-making in contexts of uncertainty, hidden information, and high-stakes outcomes.</li><li>Write Magic: The Gathering strategy articles for a major trading card game retail website.</li></ul><p><b>Pizza Delivery Driver</b>, Irvine, CA</p><p>Dominos Pizza, 2012–2014</p><ul><li>Employee of the month, June 2013</li></ul><p><b>Interests</b></p><ul><li>Soccer, strategy games, trivia</li></ul><p>This made-up example is thin on directly “relevant” experience and thus provides a good starting point whether your resume is similarly thin or if you’ll be adding things to it to flesh it out more. But even with this basic resume, you’ve gotten over a major psychological hurdle by putting it together. You’ve kept the fear and anxiety at bay and made something tangible as a first step in the job hunt. This required you to admit that you were ready to start looking seriously, and it required you to examine how you’ll make lemonade out of your work history (or lack of it), rather than dwell on the negatives.</p><p>The items I have highlighted under Magic PT experience deserve another look and some discussion:</p><ul><li>Compete in the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour and Grand Prix circuit, earning Top 16 and Top 32 finishes among fields of hundreds or thousands of the world’s best players.</li></ul><p>Magic is really hard. You’re good at it. People will be impressed by this, and the weird stigma around gaming is not what it might have been 25 years ago. Don’t run from it—embrace it here.</p><ul><li>Preparation for each event is a collaborative effort (in groups of 3-15 players) to make complex, strategic choices in a limited amount of time.</li></ul><p>I’ve led meetings on PT testing teams. I’ve put together and moderated group discussions. I’ve worked on spreadsheets and models for organizing information about our preparation. These tasks are not so different from valuable tasks employees need to perform in “the real world.” In fact, some of them are quite a bit more valuable than college coursework, if you are competing against a recent college grad for a position.</p><ul><li>Competition requires both composure and sound decision-making in contexts of uncertainty, hidden information, and high-stakes outcomes.</li></ul><p>Convert the challenges and tasks of Magic preparation and play into abstract challenges and tasks that people can relate to regardless of experience with Magic. You didn’t “figure out the best sideboard for Merfolk,” you “developed strategies and counter-strategies to outwit the other competitors.” You don’t want to make it sound like you cured cancer, but you also don’t need to use any jargon or downplay it.</p><p>Creativity counts too. I haven’t used it here but you can probably come up with a narrative about how deckbuilding, for example, requires creativity and outside-the-box thinking.</p><ul><li>Write Magic: The Gathering strategy articles for a major trading card game retail website.</li></ul><p>Think about what you’ve done on the periphery, not just the core of winning matches. “What problems have your teams faced over the years, and how did you solve them?” is one exercise in coming up with ideas. “How did I pay the bills besides winnings?” is another.</p><h1 style="font-size: 2.8rem; text-transform: inherit;">Nailing the Interview</h1><p>First of all, if you end up interviewing for a technical role involving anything that sounds like coding or is data-based, you should read online about how to prepare for those interviews. There is a ton of good information out there.</p><p>The non-technical parts of the interview are critical as well. You are not starting at square one, you’re starting at square zero sometimes where you have to both explain a gap or nontraditional background, then explain why you’re the right person for the job.</p><p>When we worked on the resume, we already prepared some highlights and talking points about the “gap” that represents our pro gaming experience. For the interview, develop a highlight or two and a story or two that are not on the resume so that you can have something to go to. For example, you might prepare to discuss how you organized and led the team Facebook group in case they ask you about the Magic prep generally or just “tell me a time when _____” and that kind of group task fits the bill. You might also prepare a story of the time they changed the format of the tournament just two weeks before the event and you had to start from scratch, but your team was able to work faster than the other teams and you quickly updated your model for what was most effective and why.</p><p>But the interview won’t just be about Magic. Research what the company does, what they sell, how they describe the team or culture on the website, etc. This might be new to you. One tip is to research who the founders of the company are/were and you can often use that as a lens into why the company exists, how it grew, what type of personality is at the helm, etc.</p><p>You’ll want to read up on and follow general interview advice, like preparing thoughtful questions, etc. I like to ask questions that get people to talk about their experiences, not just the company generally. Example: “Tell me about the company culture” is a bad question. It makes the interviewer feel like they are on the spot <i>and</i> the answer won’t be very helpful. But “What is something you’ve seen the company improve on while you’ve been here?” is a good question. You’ll get useful information more often, but more importantly it gets the person thinking about and speaking about their experience, or something they actually noticed, not the values on the company website. Just try to think of some examples, and since this is prep work, use your friends and family to help you brainstorm and narrow down your list.</p><p>Everyone has something (likely more than one) that makes them nervous or question themselves about interviewing. I’m bad with eye contact and posture. But whatever it is you’re most nervous about, practice can help some, and the rest you just have to muster the courage to power through. None of us will ever give the perfect interview, but most of us can land a job we want.</p><p>If you don’t get a job, remember that it may just mean a more experienced candidate came in and got it, or even a candidate with better timing or better connections. Try not to internalize the outcome, though I know for many of us it is unavoidable. It really is a numbers game where you might have to interview several times to get one offer, but there is no grand scorecard or judgment day coming for you if it takes five interviews, or ten. It takes what it takes and at multiple points in my career I’ve been turned away and then found something better. “Thank goodness I didn’t get the job at _____” is also a common part of the process, once you get a little further along and get that perspective.</p><h1 style="font-size: 2.8rem; text-transform: inherit;">Habits to Start Working On</h1><p>I have a friend who has played poker for a living for so long—playing cash games that go all night, with no scheduling responsibilities—that he gets anxiety if he has to take his daughter to an appointment at 2 p.m. on Tuesday because he is afraid he will sleep through his alarm. For a 2 p.m. appointment.</p><p>I can give my friend a hard time about his schedule, but at the end of the day we all develop different routines, habits, comfort zones, etc. based on our situation. And being a professional gamer doesn’t involve the same routines, doesn’t form the same habits, and doesn’t lead to comfort in the same areas or anxiety in the same areas. My friend’s anxiety about sleeping through a 2 p.m. appointment is real.</p><p>Working on your sleeping schedule is something I do recommend, but different people will need to find different paths with this stuff. For me, I’m more likely to apply for jobs and get some exercise at 10 a.m. than I am at 2 a.m., even if my sleep schedule has shifted. Something about my likelihood to actually do what I need to do is inexorably linked to the time of the day. But more generally, that phone interview you get won’t be at 11 p.m. The on-site interview you land won’t be from 7 p.m.–midnight. So it’s probably wise to work on this.</p><p>One skill that’s easy to start picking up and is more valuable than you might realize is using a calendar to organize your time and manage your to-do list. Google offers Google Calendar for free as part of its Gmail suite of apps. This is as easy a tool to sign up for and use as you will find. Many of you already have it (because if you have an @gmail.com email, it’s included). Open up a browser tab with calendar.google.com open and install the app on your phone. These two will always be in sync if you sign into your account on both devices, and this will help you start to put things on the calendar wherever you are.</p><p>What do I mean by “organize your time and manage your to-do list” on a calendar? I mean a few different things. The most useful is that if you have a call with someone, a lunch you set up, or a doctor’s appointment, you can put it on the calendar and know when you are available or unavailable, and get important reminders. You can also decide that you want to spend an hour tomorrow working on your resume, and instead of just hoping that you both remember and find the time, you can block the time on your calendar and again get a nice reminder that it’s time to get that done.</p><p>This might seem so elementary or so basic that it sounds silly, but I’m trying to shift your mindset and approach based on what I’ve seen my friends struggle with—going from a world with relatively few competing demands on your time to one where you want to have habits that make you reliable and give you predictability.</p><h1 style="font-size: 2.8rem; text-transform: inherit;">What About Jobs in Gaming?</h1><p>This one is going to be somewhat controversial, but that’s fine. There is room for different vantage points on this topic.</p><p>Plenty of people have pursued gaming jobs and found happiness. I absolutely can’t tell you it won’t work for you or not to try it under any circumstances. But please be careful with <em>any</em> field where there is more supply of talent than there is demand. My wife used to work in the entertainment industry and it is as clear to her about that industry as it is to me about gaming: if you’re working for a diva, are grossly underpaid, and/or treated as if you’re replaceable, you are not in your dream field.</p><p>So my advice is very much to <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210303144954/https://a16z.com/2015/05/28/some-career-advice-for-all-you-recent-graduates/" style="color: #008888;"><strong>not</strong> follow your passion</a>.</p><p>By “not follow your passion,” I mean find something where you can add value and where that value is appreciated and rewarded. Happiness follows that, not from the subject matter of the field, necessarily. Again, this isn’t something everyone agrees with. If you can find the job in gaming where you can add value and that value is appreciated and rewarded, that might be the best of both worlds. But my two cents is that you’re better off avoiding jobs at WotC, mobile gaming, fantasy sports, whatever, unless you have an inside track or some other compelling reason to try.</p><p>Wait a minute. The guy who said to go be a host at a restaurant if you have to is saying not to apply to gaming jobs? Like I said, do whatever you want, but in my experience there is value in doing some different and knowing that you are less likely to get stuck in it. But I’m not really saying don’t apply. Just be aware of this other side of the “dream job” equation.</p><h1 style="font-size: 2.8rem; text-transform: inherit;">Final Thoughts</h1><p>There is a real sense in which Magic, poker, and the like have been massive drains on the productivity of our generations. Some of the very smartest people I know spent years or decades trying to get better outcomes inside a fake game system instead of applying that logic, creativity, and passion to a pursuit that has productive outputs. It’s not just that a few thousand random people stopped building brick walls and started working on winning prizes, it’s that specifically obsessive, highly intelligent people are the kinds that got sucked away. These are the same types that can have transformative impact in other industries.</p><p>But as I said at the top, this article isn’t really about crying over that spilled milk. I just want those of you who get to the place where you want something different to know that you can find something different. It might be really rewarding for you to do so, not just financially (I love my job, as an example), and the things that you feel are blocking you from getting there are things <i>tons </i>of people in the job market are working through too.</p><p>Looking for a job sucks, so people tend to avoid doing it. And to make matters worse, Magic and poker have addictive elements—both the games and the lifestyles—which create even more inertia than normal. But your friends can help.</p><p>Let’s continue to pick each other up when someone says that they need a hand with something or are looking for something new, as I’ve seen so many times already over the years. The other networks I’m a part of—university alumni networks, networks of similar professionals, etc.—these don’t hold a candle to the pro Magic network.</p><p>Good luck, and don’t sell yourself short.</p></div>Matt Sperlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09068116459532701291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-235663687017051886.post-19041662900571134322023-01-25T08:13:00.003-08:002023-01-25T08:13:14.656-08:00"What would happen if you could travel back 10 years and tell yourself one thing about Magic?"<img alt="" src="http://imgur.com/4tjUc.png" title="Hosted by imgur.com" />
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----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">17 year old Matt:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.reactiongifs.us/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/tired_george_michael_arrested_development.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="243" data-original-width="500" height="243" src="https://www.reactiongifs.us/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/tired_george_michael_arrested_development.gif" width="500" /></a></div>Matt Sperlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09068116459532701291noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-235663687017051886.post-10701731383982002612021-08-31T21:06:00.004-07:002021-08-31T21:15:13.436-07:00The Psychographics (Player Types) of the Magic ONLINE COMMUNITY<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTfHZpeuiHSmFZXWeFuL1ZwpydPwBCkn3zHYo6yAXA5QrKZTMXgXVQ0Wq6SAs_g2rwIJrBICERwSD9xjJTmA0RwtLe69FtMluh0o3GHUPHACu9g-PchEUqewo4b6gOqZD3Nvo-RJF5vkY/s936/de.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="936" data-original-width="672" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTfHZpeuiHSmFZXWeFuL1ZwpydPwBCkn3zHYo6yAXA5QrKZTMXgXVQ0Wq6SAs_g2rwIJrBICERwSD9xjJTmA0RwtLe69FtMluh0o3GHUPHACu9g-PchEUqewo4b6gOqZD3Nvo-RJF5vkY/s320/de.jpg" width="230" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Goofing around this week, I tweeted, “You and I are not
addicted to the drama, we're just Vorthos re the community metagame. Community
Spikes/Timmys will ask you to move on, ignore the drama, tweet about something
else. Sorry, that's not my psychographic. Don't yuck my yum.”</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The more I thought about the concept of player types applied not to how we enjoy the game, but how we enjoy the online community experience, the more it felt like
an interesting thought experiment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So here goes, let me
break down the Online Community Psychographics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>(Note: before you think this exercise involves passing judgment on some
of the players I’ll describe below, remember that this exercise is actually the
opposite of passing judgment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Psychographics
are labels we can use to describe
different people’s different, <i>but equally valid</i>, utility functions.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Not familiar with the overall concept of psychographics and
what each of the commonly used ones are?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Start here <a href="https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/timmy-johnny-and-spike-2013-12-03">https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/timmy-johnny-and-spike-2013-12-03</a>
and here <a href="https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Player_type">https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Player_type</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u>Spike</u></b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Spike of the MTG Online Community is the content creator.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The folks monetizing and otherwise thriving
off the “like, follow, and subscribe” or the Patreon or the viewer
donation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is the one that feels
like the best fit and most useful description.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Useful in the sense that once we identify that some of the Spike
behaviors feel different to non-Spikes than they do to Spikes, we understand some key disconnects and can empathize with either side of an exchange.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you’re a Timmy/Tammy, Spike’s Twitch
jargon and donation call-outs feel transactional, maybe even invasive (“it used
to just be people trying to have fun in their spare time”). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But to the Spike, as is true of all Spikes,
the successful pursuit of the measurables is actually fun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It actually gets them feeling good, into
flow, etc. when the fans/viewers/subs are having a good time and getting what
they came for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And if it means fewer
hours at the 9-to-5 slog, that’s a win-win for those at the top of the ecosystem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> To the Johnny/Jenny, the Spike's content plays it way too safe and way too repetitive. But Spike is playing a longer game than Johnny/Jenny and values having positive engagements with members of the community 5 or 6 days a week, not just every once in a while. </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u>Timmy/Tammy<o:p></o:p></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This community member loves hanging out online with friends,
whether those friendships are virtual or IRL in origin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The person doing the liking, subscribing,
donating – likely a Timmy/Tammy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
person who likes 90% of LSV or Kibler or Professor tweets they see – likely a
Timmy/Tammy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Spike understands the online
stage, and the Timmy/Tammy understands the fun of being in the audience or part
of a low-stakes conversation about their hobbies and interests.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Johnny/Jenny doesn’t think Timmy/Tammy has
anything interesting to add, and Spike views Timmy/Tammy in a commodified way, even
though it didn’t start out that way 2 years ago when they first started
streaming.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Timmy/Tammy is able to smile while looking at their feed, something non-Timmy/Tammys can kinda remember doing back in the day, but couldn't say when. </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u>Johnny/Jenny<o:p></o:p></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The MTG Online Community members who enjoy the self-expression
and creativity from which a hot take or good joke or new decklist springs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While Timmy/Tammy is perfectly content to RT
a prominent take and leave it at that, and while Spike locates the take (consciously
or subconsciously) that will resonate most with who they view as their target
audience, Johnny/Jenny wants to Tweet the take or joke that the prominent
community members didn’t think of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
Spike and the Timmy/Tammy think that Johnny/Jenny are just being contrarian
(Timmy doesn’t understand why they aren’t going with the existing takes), or attention
grabbing (Spike understands how different/controversial can be monetized, and assumes
that’s what’s going on here, even if that’s not what’s actually motivating Johnny/Jenny).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u>Mel (Melvin/Melanie)<o:p></o:p></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Mel is interested in the mechanisms of the community itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(This post you’re reading now is a Mel’s
dream).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you’ve never submitted to a
content creator program but you know the name of one or more people at WotC who
content creators had to curry favor with at one point to get the inside track
on program resources or spoiler cards, you might be a Mel (did Matt just slip
into a Foxworthy pre-meme meme format? the Mels all ask in unison).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While Johnny is willing to take a side on
community drama, Mel stays “Above the fray” and speaks to or about both sides of a
debate, finding the commonalities in the positions or the features of the platform that led to
the prominence of the discussion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Mel can tell you what types of content or sub-communities thrive on Discord vs. Reddit vs. FB groups, while Spike struggles to understand why the folks on one platform aren't as receptive to the same content as the folks on a different platform. </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u>Vorthos</u></b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The MTG Online Community <i>drama </i>is what keeps Vorthos
from deleting their Twitter account.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
black belts among the proverbial Underground Dojo Keyboard Cagefighters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is a Twitter Mob forming (Johnny/Jenny spotted
something and made the first tweet, but others picked up the signal)?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Vorthos is glued to The Website today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Vorthos will click through 8 threads and open
2 incognito tabs to get to the source Tweet(s).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Vorthos hates spoiler season on Reddit because the new card posts make
it harder to find the community drama posts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Non-Vorthos community members will think Vorthos is wasting way too much
time on these pursuits, but to Vorthos what are time & a platform really
for if not the juicy drama?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>Matt Sperlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09068116459532701291noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-235663687017051886.post-76680629798789144062018-08-21T10:33:00.001-07:002018-08-21T10:53:27.263-07:00Lee Shi Tian & Seth Manfield are getting my Vote<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMGtt19osRkbi73NUlmcfUY-PMe7hPrjPzpOZQYAK8AhO049Xdy7C0MY9G-TSg_rlKRX8iYu2-FRflqbO-s1RXOMF0eNQ3pCCFNuWVrOl8LHHy6cQfsBP-S_yGXCDawGGn6qu-LsPGD7Y/s1600/2018-08-21+10_32_25-hall+of+fame+magic+-+Google+Search.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="110" data-original-width="331" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMGtt19osRkbi73NUlmcfUY-PMe7hPrjPzpOZQYAK8AhO049Xdy7C0MY9G-TSg_rlKRX8iYu2-FRflqbO-s1RXOMF0eNQ3pCCFNuWVrOl8LHHy6cQfsBP-S_yGXCDawGGn6qu-LsPGD7Y/s400/2018-08-21+10_32_25-hall+of+fame+magic+-+Google+Search.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />
<i>Topics: Magic Pro Tour Hall of Fame 2018 Voting, accusations of cheating, impact of implicit (and overt) bias</i><br />
<br />
The Hall of Fame chatter this cycle has been equal parts amusing and exhausting. And I'm sure the candidates themselves are feeling that the balance is not so equal - they must be extremely exhausted and frustrated.<br />
<br />
What might have been <i>whisper</i> campaigns about shady conduct in past years were <i>shouting</i> campaigns this year.<br />
<br />
Very early in the cycle, we saw Onrej Strasky raise concerns about Seth Manfield:<br />
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
My side of the <a href="https://twitter.com/SethManfield?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SethManfield</a> story up on my blog. Click here to read ----> <a href="https://t.co/x3x3bP22IL">https://t.co/x3x3bP22IL</a></div>
— Ondřej Stráský (@OndrejStrasky) <a href="https://twitter.com/OndrejStrasky/status/1030251442383319041?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 17, 2018</a></blockquote>
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and CalebD raised concerns about Lee Shi Tian:<br />
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<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
Not voting for Lee Shi Tian in this HoF ballet. I believe he's an opportunistic cheater, and as such I don't know how many of his finishes can be trusted. (continued)</div>
— Calebdmtg (@CalebDMTG) <a href="https://twitter.com/CalebDMTG/status/1030152097944268800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2018</a></blockquote>
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I had initial reactions to all this, but I want to write more today about where I ended up after a lot of deliberation and consultation with other voters (not all of whom agree with me, but all of whom have insights I can learn from nonetheless)</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Lee Shi Tian:</b></div>
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<br /></div>
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The "8 minutes to sideboard" thing seems to have been debunked as not actually 8 minutes of match clock used. Look at the reply tweets and I've heard from others that the judge was keeping a separate clock and this wasn't Lee Shi Tian extending an unreasonable amount to try and draw. [EDIT: there is some disagreement I'm receiving from players close to the action about game clock vs. not game clock, as there was <i>not </i>a feature match hold, but the max it could have been can be determined from the video and comes in under 6 minutes, not the 8 that Caleb tweeted out.] </div>
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Aside from that though, I feel the need to comment on implicit racial and cultural bias. In corporate training sessions, in casual discussions, in activist workshops, whatever the context, you often hear a plea for people to be "aware of their biases." I have learned in doing this type of work that you never really want to stop the analysis or action plan at mere "awareness." What we <i>do</i> with that awareness might make all the difference. </div>
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<br /></div>
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When I train and/or collaborate with people on reducing bias, I emphasize that knowing <i>when to go slow</i> and <i>when to go fast</i> is a huge part of what to do about bias. Moving fast often means being anchored to your first impression, refusing to dig deeper, and refusing to zoom out and look not just at this case but also similar cases (such as accusations against friends or even plays you have made yourself that looked shady but were not). </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So, in order to practice what I preach I had no choice but to slow down and think about implicit bias and how Lee Shi Tian was being treated regarding some player accusations that shady things were happening, even though judges and cameras didn't uncover all that much (he plays an extra land here, a summoning sick creature is tapped there - things to be concerned about certainly but not exactly pocket Flings and Hornet Queens). When you slow down and reflect, you also notice and consider the mistakes that you yourself have made. This last weekend playing my UW Delver deck in Legacy I tried to Snapcaster + Surgical someone despite my own Grafdigger's Cage in play. I just forgot. Now, if that's Lee Shi Tian on camera next week people are going to say "It's <i>his</i> Cage, of course he knows what it does!" etc. and there's nothing he can do to rebut this. Same goes for playing two lands. We have to track this stuff and see how it adds up, and I have not seen a mountain of evidence against Lee Shi Tian, especially for a player who has played a ton on and off camera at the highest levels.</div>
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<br /></div>
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And there is absolutely a snap-judgment willingness on the part of Americans and others to assume a player who isn't from the U.S. or Canada is cheating when mistakes do happen. An important footnote is that I don't think this in any way absolves people who do cheat and happen to be from another region (anti-bias mindset does not mean putting a blindfold on), but when there isn't much to go on, we <i>should </i>resolve uncertainly about players for whom there is some evidence (but not a mountain) in favor of those players' reputations, and we should do so whether they are American or not. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Lee Shi Tian also has accomplished more than I would have accomplished if I was in the same region he is in, and had the skills he has (I don't). What I mean by that is that he has sacrificed a lot to travel and form community from the APAC region (non-Japan where much of the infrastructure for this would have already existed). That is meaningful to me, and the testimonials on this did move the needle for me. </div>
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<b>Seth Manfield:</b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
Despite Ondrej's tweets and some agreement, there is even less to go on with Seth than there is with LST in terms of concerning anecdotes. Here, implicit bias shows up for me as viewing Seth as an outsider to my friend group and play group. I often find myself rooting against Seth because my friends and teammates are among the people he is playing against (and often defeating) in the feature match and top 8 area. So I had an initial gut reaction of "I don't want to vote for Seth." <b>We don't have to be <i>proud</i> of our initial reactions, but we have to look them in the eye and do the work of digging deeper to arrive at a less biased conclusion. </b> When I did that work and looked at Seth's accomplishments and the accusations of shady play, I emerged with a clear Yes vote. </div>
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My HoF ballot this year will include both Lee Shi Tian and Seth Manfield, two of the most qualified players that in my opinion have more than earned a vote. </div>
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<div>
I am considering other players who have 4 or more top8s still (I reviewed those with less than 4 and didn't see a compelling candidate there that I had not considered at length in years past)., but I wanted to share this info above while timely, as I consider the rest of my ballot.<br />
<br />
Best,<br />
Matt Sperling </div>
Matt Sperlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09068116459532701291noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-235663687017051886.post-8175632770356556282018-06-11T11:21:00.000-07:002018-06-11T11:33:12.761-07:00Banned and Restricted Announcement - June 11, 2018<img alt="Image result for goblin chainwhirler" height="360" src="https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--S_kXtOCD--/c_fill,fl_progressive,g_center,h_900,q_80,w_1600/hbfyp85afskxjiovmypg.png" width="640" /><br />
<br />
By Errant Foresight<br />
<br />
<b>STANDARD: No changes</b><br />
<br />
You read that correctly. Goblin Chainwhirler remains Standard-legal, and that will be the case until Dominaria rotates. We simply cannot keep banning cards every few months just because the internet has allowed the competitive Magic community to distill a format to its most cold-blooded essence in record-breaking time. Banning kills consumer confidence and creates a general feeling of uncertainty and paranoia, even if it does make Standard reasonable for a few weeks until you all break it again.<br />
<br />
In this particular instance, well...Dominaria has the makings of a classic set. The cards are fun, powerful, and appealing, and the draft format may legitimately be the best of all time. We don't want a blemish on what we hoped would be our signature offering for years to come.<br />
<br />
That's why we're asking for your help. We believe--and we think everyone would agree--that everything would be a lot better if you just...chose not to play Goblin Chainwhirler in your Standard decks. Please? The card has fostered an unhealthy homogeneity in deckbuilding and created negative net fun for everyone who plays our most popular format. <a href="https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/why-leaks-hurt-2015-12-16" target="_blank">If you all could reach a mutual agreement to leave it out of your decks without us actually having to ban it, everyone wins</a>.<br />
<br />
We're not decreeing that you can't keep playing the Chainwhirler deck--and don't kid yourself, there's only one actual deck there. But what does it say about you if you continue to play it in light of the damage it causes? I can't speak for anyone else, but I know I wouldn't sleep well at night if I were contributing to a poor experience for Magic players the world over. The "win at all costs" mentality has deleterious effects on others and on yourselves.<br />
<br />
Furthermore, isn't the card what some would call "training wheels"? Are you really so bereft of talent that you need some undercosted development failure to do your heavy lifting? Are you incapable of winning two rounds at FNM without freerolling your opponents' Llanowar Elves and Glint-Sleeve Siphoners? You don't actually want to play Magic; you just want the automatic wins. Luis Scott-Vargas himself has gone on record that he looks down upon this play pattern. Maybe you don't need Chainwhirlers--maybe what you really need is practice.<br />
<br />
If you insist on continuing to ruin everyone's fun because you suck at Magic, I challenge you to the following: the next time a young mage shows up to your LGS with a Saproling deck, I want you to look his or her parents in the eyes and tell them that YOU'RE the reason their kid will be having a horrible time this evening. Tell them it's more important for you to win a couple of boosters than for their son or daughter to find fulfillment in expressing themselves creatively. If you can bear to do that, by all means, keep whirling those chains. But the least you can do is take a little responsibility for your behavior.<br />
<br />
Now, we understand that not everyone will be amenable to this line of thinking, because not everyone is as smart and reasonable as we're hoping you'll be. If your friends or someone else at your LGS continue to play Goblin Chainwhirlers, we're giving you the green light to ridicule them. If we're all being honest, some of you don't like this sanitized, kumbaya environment we've been trying to foster, and you've got a lot of pent-up hostility. This is your ticket to berate a host of people consequence-free. If the Chainwhirler stalwarts in question are your friends, it might be time for some serious soul-searching. Why would you want to associate with someone who's willing to win at the cost of literally killing the game you love? Stop inviting them to your group outings until they put the goblins down. They'll come around.<br />
<br />
We are also changing the way we report winning decklists from the Magic Online metagame. Standard League decklists will continue to be curated in a way that ensures that a diverse array of decks is shown, and to make that even more effective, any deck that manages to win with multiple one-toughness creatures in it will be displayed at the top of the list and will be displayed the following week as well. This is not intended to "trick" you into playing one of these decks, but rather to show you the possibilities that are unlocked when the players who insist on playing Goblin Chainwhirler (who we refer to internally using the "SpikeWhirlers" psychographic) decide to embrace their inner "Richie/Rachelle" (psychographic for players who are insensitive to entry fee losses).<br />
<br />
So to reiterate, Goblin Chainwhirler is NOT banned. But we'd really prefer if you didn't play it.<br />
<br />
<b>MODERN: Mox Opal, Scalding Tarn, and Cavern of Souls added to Reserve List</b><br />
<br />
Not every Spike is what we would call a Spike-Richie or Spike-Rachelle. With increasing frequency, a new player looking to join in on the Modern format fun faces a significant and difficult investment decision. Some Modern decks now cost what Legacy decks cost just a few years back. That investment requires trust in Wizards and for some it requires putting money they might need later in life into a Magic collection. In order to protect that investment, we are adding Mox Opal, Scalding Tarn, and Cavern of Souls to our Reserve List.<br />
<br />
This ensures that Modern remains an accessible format by protecting the investments new and existing players make when buying into decks like Affinity, Lantern (a popular entry-level choice), Storm, Humans, and others. What makes Modern great is _____ [Note to editor: please ask around and find someone who knows the answer, nobody on our floor had it], and we think these Reserve List additions will give more players access to that experience without having to risk financial ruin if we reprint their cards.<br />
<br />
There is one more detail here I need to mention quickly. Our Reserve List commitment is to protect not only valuable cards as the stated intent might suggest, but also random cards that are not yet valuable, but could someday become valuable by virtue of being on the Reserve List. Would we structure our promise this way if making it today? No we wouldn't, but it is the promise we made. So we are also adding Gideon's Phalanx; Chandra, Bold Pyromancer; and Rimefeather Owl from Modern to the Reserve List.Matt Sperlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09068116459532701291noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-235663687017051886.post-40973949202924964562018-02-21T17:36:00.005-08:002018-02-21T18:27:36.181-08:00That wasn't even the worst question...(GDS3)Mark Rosewater revealed the answer key to the Great Designer Search 3's multiple choice test about a week ago and some interesting discussion has followed. <a href="https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/make-choice-part-1-2018-02-12">https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/make-choice-part-1-2018-02-12</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii5fBQl2HYUwOfR1Sr-U1YCGfAs9tpjL222LoiExrhnB5gCl_JnRYgLWjSCl_ZoIcPg2FC8gjun2eeLlFHbqLrEL3yFq8sXbhM7Vjg1YJTu6VtfDg18ly2G8ChdDOi6pyamEYaxEznca0/s1600/look+at+me+im+the+test+maker.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="769" data-original-width="1557" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii5fBQl2HYUwOfR1Sr-U1YCGfAs9tpjL222LoiExrhnB5gCl_JnRYgLWjSCl_ZoIcPg2FC8gjun2eeLlFHbqLrEL3yFq8sXbhM7Vjg1YJTu6VtfDg18ly2G8ChdDOi6pyamEYaxEznca0/s400/look+at+me+im+the+test+maker.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Even those of us who weren't involved in GDS3 directly took interest, most notably PVDDR:<br />
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<span style="color: #14171a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #14171a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">The answer to this question is baffling to me. It just seems... false. 4/4 flying vigilance is simply more likely to be an UW card than a BG card. Like, it could literally show up next set as UW, but not as BG. <a href="https://t.co/fSN2dyTmRH">pic.twitter.com/fSN2dyTmRH</a></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #14171a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">— Paulo Vitor (@PVDDR) <a href="https://twitter.com/PVDDR/status/963631779633561603?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 14, 2018</a></span></span></blockquote>
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Thus began a long Twitter discussion over whether that 4/4 flyer question was sloppily worded or downright incorrectly worded, or something else. </div>
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I thought the question was so poorly worded that if the test actually mattered, and I was in charge, I would throw it out. But today I'd like to point out that this wasn't even the worst offender on that same test! If I could only throw out one question, I would throw this one out:</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
<blockquote>
<b>32. You've designed a card, and you want the Play Design team to like it. How should you choose your casting cost? </b></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<b>a. Ask someone from the Play Design team to choose the casting cost.</b><br />
b. Find a similar card as a basis for the casting cost and then make it one cheaper.<br />
c. It doesn't matter; they'll fix the cost if you get it wrong.<br />
d. Pick the strongest cost that isn't broken.<br />
e. Use your intuition.</blockquote>
Here is Mark Rosewater's notes in the answer key:<br />
<blockquote>
Making Magic is a collaborative process. To best accomplish this, you need to learn to let people play to their strengths. Could I cost a card? Sure, but I won't do it as well as a play designer who was hired specifically for their ability to judge power level. By asking them first, I lessen the chance that playtesting gets affected because of poor costing. Also, if your goal is to get Play Design (or anyone, really) to sign off on something, it helps to involve them in the process.</blockquote>
I don't think MaRo's answer is the best <i>or even the second best</i> answer among the choices given.<br />
<br />
The biggest problem with this answer is that asking another team for help is absolutely part of a healthy exchange of ideas and part of solving complex problems in a collaborative way, but it's a very dangerous hammer if even routine daily tasks such as picking a casting cost for a card you want spikes to like start to look like nails. <br />
<br />
"Who should write the first draft?" is an important question in many contexts. "Who should review that first draft and help improve it?" is a separate and equally important concern. But the answer to these challenges is certainly not to collapse them into one question or one step. It's fine if Play Design has early and frequent input into the design of casting costs, and it's even fine if there is an exceptional circumstance in which they do get first crack at it (if the card has "Emrakul" in it's name for example, maybe we can shortcut right to Play Design input), but the question's only parameter here is that the designer wants Play Design to like the card. That's way too broad a category of designs to be going out to a team whose primary job isn't design and asking them to do the <i>initial </i>design work.<br />
<br />
One answer (not my favorite) that is still better than MaRo's top choice is "Pick the strongest cost that isn't broken." This isn't an ideal starting point since you won't always be right about what is broken, you might not even have enough context to know what broken means in the world the card will be released into, and not every cost should be near the maximum power level anyway, but your best guess at strongest not-broken cost is a better starting point for Play Design to work with than no starting point at all ("you pick it"), especially if you just interpret "isn't broken" conservatively. So if you're using this sparingly (which you better be - see above) then "strong but not broken" plus your intuition (hmm, what's that?) about where that line is, applied conservatively, leaves you at least actually attempting to do your job before handing it off to QA.<br />
<br />
Because the other answers are all deeply flawed, "Use your intuition" is the best answer among those presented, even though it's a weird answer in the context of multiple choice. You don't think your best designers can create casting costs that please the Play Design team within the boundaries of fair power level, even as a first draft that will get additional testing? That's a depressingly low bar for design. And if you're thinking, "'Intuition' is just too ill-defined to scale properly or be consistent designer to designer" or something like that, my response is, "If intuition wasn't involved in a big way, they'd be tweaking algorithms instead of interviewing humans for the design roles." Let me get this straight, intuition is something we all know is a major asset your strongest designers have, but incoming designers are scored INCORRECT if they say they intend to use their intuition to design a card?<br />
<br />
I"ll end with this: The Legal team (my team) where I work often reviews marketing materials before they are released, to check for claims that might not be well supported, IP issues like use of trade names & media, trade secret/confidentiality concerns about the level of detail in any description, among other issues. If I'm interviewing a marketing candidate and I ask them, "How would you make sure that marketing descriptions of, say, certain security features are satisfactory to the Legal team?" the answer, "I'd use my intuition about what Legal is looking for, then have Legal review a draft before it goes out" is a pretty good answer (not quite as good as actually unpacking what the issues might be or how to find out, but pretty good). On the other hand, "I'd ask Legal to draft the content for me" would be a horrible answer. </div>
Matt Sperlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09068116459532701291noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-235663687017051886.post-15126026440135668592017-11-28T12:45:00.003-08:002017-11-28T13:07:26.732-08:00The Pros' Open Letter: A Case Study in Allies Missing the Point<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
I’ll join the chorus of applause for the empathy and good
intentions on display in “<a href="https://www.channelfireball.com/home/an-open-letter-to-the-magic-community/" target="_blank">An Open Letter to the Magic Community By VariousMagic Pros</a>”. Moving a step or two beyond intentions, into the
ideas and action plans these allies have presented, I will be holding my
applause. </div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>You Almost Never
Solve a Problem without Locating It First<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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I saw at least one screenshot of an MTGHeadquarters tweet about Christine
Sprankle that I found deeply troubling. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs-TjA8gbaaHDyPcFqy1UYau1qxqNmqe5FbA_s2_raiNmV7qWk6NYKccA7o0ZvYIM6DLQbUKEzQGLiph72fa4C8PC1tVPb6FovtUG58h9oktyGYok7-ihYSnU5d28zBpc9YSUdi5lDBug/s1600/2017-11-28+12_00_07-MidWestly+on+Twitter_+_I+liked+a+%2540YouTube+video+https___t.co_NhBHUagRfg+Playset+.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="779" data-original-width="609" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs-TjA8gbaaHDyPcFqy1UYau1qxqNmqe5FbA_s2_raiNmV7qWk6NYKccA7o0ZvYIM6DLQbUKEzQGLiph72fa4C8PC1tVPb6FovtUG58h9oktyGYok7-ihYSnU5d28zBpc9YSUdi5lDBug/s320/2017-11-28+12_00_07-MidWestly+on+Twitter_+_I+liked+a+%2540YouTube+video+https___t.co_NhBHUagRfg+Playset+.png" width="250" /></a></div>
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(h/t to Drew Levin who when asked for evidence of abuse showed
how easy it was to find it). <o:p></o:p></div>
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The video has been taken down, but I don’t think it’s hard
to see how tagging someone @[theirhandle] into a discussion about cosplayers
being raped with the intention of annoying/trolling that person crossed the
line into online harassment and bullying.
I won’t be contorting myself to defend this, and if I could snap my
fingers and have this never happen again, I would. People asked, and are still asking, “Was this
actually a big deal?” And I think it
was.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The Pros’ letter states, <o:p></o:p></div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“The online harassment she has been receiving is
demeaning to her as a cosplayer, content producer, and member of the Magic
community. Unfortunately, Christine is one of many people whose enthusiasm for
Magic has been negatively impacted by <b>pervasive
cynicism and bullying</b>.” (emphasis mine)</blockquote>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Wait a minute. “Pervasive
cynicism and bullying?” Those aren’t
close to the same thing. The Professor
understood this, and in his video was clear and deliberate in identifying
himself as a critic and saying he was speaking out about bullying, not about
criticism. What The Professor was wise
to articulate, the Pros completely missed.
<o:p></o:p></div>
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A bit further down, the Pros offer, <o:p></o:p></div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“Everyone should be able to engage with the game however
they see fit—whether that’s playing casually with friends at home,
competitively at Grand Prix and Pro Tours, judging tournaments, cosplaying as
their favorite characters, streaming on Twitch, or any of the million other
ways people enjoy this great game. <b>These
are all equally valid.</b><o:p> </o:p><b>It is unacceptable
to treat any of these interests as below yours</b>.” (emphasis mine).</blockquote>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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This is now a full bait-and-switch. People said the issue wasn’t that serious, this
group of Pros and others on Twitter responded (and I believe demonstrated) that
it <i>was</i> serious, and now when it’s
time to propose a solution we are talking about elitism and rudeness regarding
cosplay and commander as inferior hobbies?
<o:p></o:p></div>
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The implication here is that Christine Sprankle stormed
off upset that her interests weren’t being treated seriously enough. In fact, she left the community because she
was being insulted, personally and professionally, and harassed. If you aren’t speaking to what she actually
faced, you aren’t supporting her, and you minimize abuse whenever you put it in
the same bucket as ordinary criticism/elitism/fandom. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I was pretty surprised to see the <i>press release</i> about a new coalition against bullying not even wait
3 paragraphs before treating cynicism and elitism as bullying. Usually people wait until at least the second
article to make it clear that they don’t understand what they ought to be
targeting, don’t have a real solution to the issues they need to target, and
are left with a plan that is ineffective where you need it and problematic
where you don’t. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The players here have good intentions. But allies need to be reminded over and over
again that good intentions aren’t enough.
This group of Pros didn’t even speak to the underlying ideology and
culture that led to the bullying Sprankle faced. Worse yet, they pointed to an ideology of
gaming elitism which I believe distracts us from the deplorable conduct of MTG
Headquarters that was not motivated by that kind of fandom-elitism stuff. <o:p></o:p></div>
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If you’re being harassed at an event, there is a judge
and event staff already there to help you, and they are much, much easier to
identify than even top pros like Immanuel Gerschenson. <b>Judges and Staff may even be trained on how to properly respond - go to them.</b> With this letter, the Pros add to volumes of
other work by well-intentioned allies producing content that doesn’t understand or
speak to the issues that matter. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Specifics of What the Pros Decided Not to Speak To <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Jeremy at MTG Headquarters / Unsleeved Media holds regressive
and hateful views towards women evidenced by the way he discussed cosplay and
its fans, up to and including a discussion of rape where he tagged a subject of
that discussion (see screenshot, above). He uses the terminology
and the thinking of the internet alt-right, and this thinking is toxic
(specifically, it is a bunch of immature people more interested in trolling and
being un-PC than in finding a better path forward for the societies we live
in - the people not even trying). <o:p></o:p></div>
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Jeremy was willing to name his target. The Pros were willing to name her too. We should be willing to name Jeremy too. And to name what he has done, not create some
sugar-coated approximation about which hobbies someone treats with equal
regard. We should speak out not about “cynicism” generally, but about the kind of unproductive
and immature swarm of negativity this era of online trolls is infamous for <i>personally</i> aiming at vulnerable targets. And if we have solutions to propose while invoking the name of an online harassment victim, they ought to be solutions that address what her harasser did, what motivated him, and/or what control we have over whether he can do it again tomorrow. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Matt Sperlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09068116459532701291noreply@blogger.com47tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-235663687017051886.post-40642777852719811892017-10-27T11:55:00.003-07:002017-10-27T12:02:09.971-07:00The Search for Useful Metrics & Fair Discussion<div class="MsoNormal">
Imagine that there
are 10 high schools in a school district and nearly everyone suspects that one
school (Acme High School, the one in the poorest neighborhood) has inferior football equipment compared to the rest of the schools.
<o:p></o:p></div>
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Concerned parent David Francis writes an op ed in the local
paper stating that something has to change.
He lays out some pretty convincing evidence that Acme is underfunded
when it comes to equipment. He also
points out that they have never even been to a state championship quarterfinals
in football (which everyone agrees is true).
“For me,” David writes, “The ultimate metric of quality equipment is
whether a team is ever represented in even the quarterfinal round of the state
championship.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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Another parent, Mark Smith, responds in the comments that
although everyone knows Acme has worse equipment, if we use state championship
qualification to measure status or progress, we 1) won’t know whether the
equipment is improving at all, and 2) are asking the kids to prove, by winning,
that they are properly supported. Can’t
we find a different way to measure the equipment, or at least an effect of
having good equipment that is closer to the cause (and therefore more reliable,
with fewer confounding variables)?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Parents at Acme (and their supporters) can’t believe Mark
doesn’t care about these kids getting better equipment! Mark responds that he does care about the
kids, and points out that the teams that make it to the state championship
playoff level have 100 advantages other than equipment over Acme High. Kids move to play at those schools. The best coaches coach there. They have every advantage you can think of
that comes with caring deeply about winning at football and being in a position
to help yourself do it. Importantly, <i>even with the exact same equipment</i>, Acme
will not be making the playoffs in the next 5 or 10 years. <o:p></o:p></div>
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“So, you don’t think we should even improve the equipment?” Mark didn’t say that. In fact he said more than once that we <i>should </i>improve the equipment. They accuse Mark of simply playing a
semantics game. What exact game and
which semantics it is that got unfairly twisted, they never quite say.
David wrote that there is something important and we ought to track our
progress, everyone agreed, and then Mark pointed out that the way David
suggests we do so simply <i>won’t work</i>. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Finally, David adds that “Well, whatever the total
circumstances are that keep Acme High out of the state championships, we need
to remedy them all. Stop being a dick.” But Mark points out that Acme spends its
discretionary budget on afterschool programs and SAT training and that those
programs might suffer if funds were redirected to football. In other words, Acme has made different
choices than schools that go all out for football championships. Mark believes we can search for ways to improve the
equipment without demanding a state championship. <o:p></o:p></div>
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_____________</div>
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This is where we find ourselves whenever someone suggests
that we measure our progress in creating a welcoming environment for women and
girls by checking in with the Pro Tour and seeing how many women are succeeding
there. Most recently, this article <a href="http://manadeprived.com/men-magic-building-community/">http://manadeprived.com/men-magic-building-community/</a>
offered Pro Tour participation as not just one thing to check in on, but as “the
ultimate metric of success for all efforts meant to make Magic more welcoming.” There isn’t a way to read that with any
amount of fairness and not conclude that Daniel believes that’s where you look
to investigate our progress.<o:p></o:p></div>
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But although we do need to measure our progress in inclusiveness, this metric <i>doesn’t work</i>. The end result of looking there is not a significant increase in understanding what has happened over the last 1 year, 5 years, or 10 years. </div>
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I wrote on
twitter that:</div>
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A
big unspoken truth is that you don't get to PT/HS regional playing a
healthy amount of MTG/HS. You get there through
obsession/addiction.</div>
— Matt Sperling (@sickofit) <a href="https://twitter.com/sickofit/status/923931191228620802?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October
27, 2017</a></blockquote>
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><o:p></o:p></div>
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The factors that I believe contribute to women not showing
up on the Pro Tour are (in no order since I don’t know enough to come close to
ranking anything): sexism and discrimination denying them opportunities and
resources, personal choices about how to
spend their time and energy, personal choices about what a successful and
healthy hobby is, the competitive advantage men have accrued over years of
having fewer barriers and more interest (whether that interest is caused by a
toxic community or not, the gap that accumulates is there), the fact that
Wizards of the Coast has hired the most promising players and role models off
of the Pro Tour into jobs that prohibit them from competing, and other
factors. <o:p></o:p></div>
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My relationship to this hobby was the most negative in my
life when I was trying the hardest to qualify for the Pro Tour. I put in hours and hours and got little
tangible benefit in return. Yes I made
friends along the way, but that’s the kind of thing people say whenever they do
something stupid for a long time and happen to make a friend out of someone else walking that same misguided path. Was I financial rewarded? Was I emotionally rewarded in a way that let
me find balance in my life (eventually, yes, but not until over a decade of financially and emotionally draining choices). <i>I don’t want to fall into the
familiar trap of measuring women’s progress using men’s goals.</i> And there is an overwhelming amount of
evidence that men and women do not choose to spend their time the same way or
pursue the same goals, for a multitude of reasons. (This is an article about the research which
I found informative on the topic: <a href="http://slatestarcodex.com/2017/08/07/contra-grant-on-exaggerated-differences/">http://slatestarcodex.com/2017/08/07/contra-grant-on-exaggerated-differences/</a>) <o:p></o:p></div>
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If you go survey women at local game stores and try to
measure inclusion that way, there will be confounding variables too (selection
bias unless you somehow find all the ones that stopped showing up comes to mind),
but does anyone doubt that that survey is closer to the source of what we are
trying to measure? There are countless
numbers of ways to check in with how we’re doing as a community when it comes
to inclusiveness. Stop focusing on the
one with the most confounding variables, the one that hasn’t moved whether
things have gotten worse or better over the years. If you want to measure how you’re doing on
something, get close to the damn thing and measure it fairly.</div>
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Lastly, if we want to measure diversity on the Pro Tour, let's measure it. In that case, we are close to what we intend to measure in the same way we can always claim "Acme High isn't very competitive in football" and make a case. What gets us in trouble is making a claim of one type, and a measurement of a very different type. The trouble we get into can be described as a severed feedback loop, total blindness, about our progress towards an important goal (and lack of clarity about what that goal is). <o:p></o:p></div>
Matt Sperlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09068116459532701291noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-235663687017051886.post-42185744357521350842016-10-18T11:22:00.000-07:002016-10-18T11:22:25.902-07:00The Lifestyle of the Professional Magic: The Gathering Player<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<o:p>by Anonymous Pro </o:p></div>
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<o:p>[The Pro Tour player who wrote this asked me to share it without his name attached. Please respect the author's anonymity by not sharing guesses or context clues about who may have written this piece.] </o:p></div>
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Many articles have been written about the lifestyle of a
pro. They are all lying, of course. The first rule of the Pro Club is that you
don't talk about it. Nobody ever tells the truth because it just doesn't sell.
You are a consumer.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Staring at the bottom of your glass, you reflect upon yet
another weekend. Yet another city that looks the same as the last one, yet
another airport, yet another convention center, yet another hotel. This is your
life, and it's ending one minute at a time. <o:p></o:p></div>
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If the tournament is a success, you drink to celebrate. A
failure and you drink to commiserate. Either way, the alcohol dulls the extreme
emotions of victory and defeat. This tournament might be one of the lucky ones,
where you make the early-morning trip home with some hardware jammed into your
backpack, a phone full of notifications, and some weariness lifted from your
heart. But most of the time, you are simply hungover and empty, passing your
documents to the official before boarding your plane home.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Why would anyone want to live this life? One might also
ask why someone would become a heroin addict. Cardboard crack is just as
addictive as its cousin, and it has even been said that "nobody ever
really leaves Magic, they just take breaks." Magic, the little scratch on
the roof of your mouth that would heal if only you could stop tonguing it, but
you can't.<o:p></o:p></div>
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As a young person seeking escape from a grime and lonely
existence, Magic was the perfect vessel. It slowly changed from an escape to
something more, as you became more and more competitive and began to reach
higher and higher tiers of play. Attempts to play FNM or casual games of
Commander couldn't get the juices going anymore, you now require a higher
dosage of the drug only available at high-stakes tournaments. <o:p></o:p></div>
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You are awake late at night, unable to sleep, too many
thoughts caught swirling around in your mind. With insomnia, nothing's real.
Everything's far away. You're never really asleep, and you're never really
awake. You head downstairs to the couch, turn on the television. A late night
talk show host is going on about some debate. You haven't really been following
the election. You shift over and knock a stack of cards over, and frantically
drop to the floor to gather them all back up into a stack.<o:p></o:p></div>
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You wake up to the sound of your alarm clock. Somehow you
had dragged yourself back into bed and slept for 7 hours. Its already 2pm, and
your flight is leaving in a couple hours. You check your phone to see where you
are off to this time. Providence, RI. What format is that again? You check your
luggage. No cards packed, it must be a limited event. You wake up at O'Hare
airport. Your last memory was checking your bags before leaving your house. <o:p></o:p></div>
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"I pass the turn. Go ahead." Your head bobs up.
You have 5 cards in your hand. 3 lands in play. Your opponent has 5 creatures
and your life-pad says you are on 3 life. Doesn't seem like you are winning
this one.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Another round. You see your opponent signing the match
slip, carefully check to see that its 2-1 in your favor. Good thing you got
that one. What round is it again? The slip says 12. You always communicate in
algebraic notation, only the losses matter, the number of wins changes yet
remains irrelevant. You've already accumulated three losses, and in a tournament
of this size your chances of top 8 are precisely zero. You simply have to grind
out the last few rounds for pro points and cash. The money means nothing to
you, it’s simply a number on a computer screen as your online account registers
your input of cash, and as you pay bills, the numbers go up and down, up and
down. As long as the number never reaches zero, it doesn't matter what it is.
You remember a time when the number was so close to zero, and few of the
changes were upwards, when earning $250 at a Grand Prix meant something to you.
Now you flip coins in the parking lot for thousands of dollars, having started
for smaller stakes, but kept on going up and up when flipping for $20 no longer
gave you that rush you craved. Just like playing Magic for $250 no longer
matters to you. You've dropped from events you could have won a single round in
to cash.<o:p></o:p></div>
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You wake up to the sounds of your stomach growling. Home.
You check your phone. It says you got 3 pro points in Providence. Good work.
Heading downstairs, you open the fridge. There's some bread in the freezer, but
the fridge is empty besides a bottle of ketchup, some half-rotten lettuce, an
old jar of strawberry jam, and what looks like a couple spoons full of peanut
butter. How embarrassing, a house full
of condiments but no food. You close the fridge and drop to your knees on the
ground, laying your head on the cool marble countertop, purchased from an Ikea
catalog. You've just slept for 13 hours, yet you still feel exhausted. That’s
what a weekend of mental exertion with little sleep and a couple of flights
will do to you.<o:p></o:p></div>
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People say you are lucky. That you are living the dream.
Everywhere you go, they are all the same. Lawyers, Engineers, Teachers.
"Do you have another job? How do you make enough money?" are
constantly asked. The players you encounter commend you for your skill, and ask for advice you
know will ultimately not help them at all. None of them ask questions worth
asking. They only want to know what is the next deck to buy, what cards to
bring in against this matchup, what is your secret shortcut to being so good.
They don't want to know the truth, that success requires deep introspection,
self-analysis and extreme dedication. They don't want to be told that even if
they tried their hardest and did everything right, they simply aren't smart
enough to succeed. "But at least you do what you love," you are told.<o:p></o:p></div>
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This story ends with you on a plane, sitting next to a
man in a dark grey suit, sipping on a vodka tonic. Like others, he asked you
what you did for a living out of habit, but when he found out his fake interest
became real. You look at his briefcase and thousand-dollar watch and wonder if
his lifestyle makes him happy, or if he also feels the same melancholy you do.
You take out your laptop and begin to slowly drudge out yet another article.<o:p></o:p></div>
Matt Sperlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09068116459532701291noreply@blogger.com70tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-235663687017051886.post-3789967567612320452016-07-19T17:49:00.001-07:002016-07-19T17:49:54.591-07:00My 2016 Magic Pro Tour Hall of Fame BallotI would describe this year in two ways: no quantitative slam dunks, and 2 qualitative slam dunks (Owen Turtenwald and Yuuya Watanabe). <br />
<br />
I am not a statistician who was given a vote solely for my quantitative skills, so I can't ignore the qualitative feel, but I also want to cast not just a reactive ballot but an informed ballot. So I find myself narrowed to two ballots that align with my general approach: 1) [Ballot Intentionally Left Blank], and 2) Owen & Yuuya.<br />
<br />
Voting someone who doesn't belong is a bigger mistake than not voting someone who belongs, but when I think about Owen and Yuuya I just don't believe the risk of these being players who don't belong is very high. Playing at or near the top (not top LEVEL but straight top) of the world for years and years is something that Hall of Famers are made of. Leave all that "he loves the game!" crap behind, these two were some of the toughest opponents in multiple years, multiple formats, and multiple ways. Even on a bad day, these guys didn't give you much you had to go take it. My A Game never matched their A Game and their C Game, well, I probably couldn't even tell it apart from their A Game. <br />
<br />
Notes on others: Heezy - I love the guy but if Arnost Zidek or Mitamura had his career I wouldn't think twice here and I owe it to everyone to try and be somewhat objective. 4 top 8s with a win is nice but if it was that simple the requirements would be hard-coded. Can't do it. <br />
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Floch/Seth - Gotta stretch results out a bit, prove you can do it for an extended period of time. They might enough for a Rich Hagon e-book though.<br />
<br />
Justin Gary/Scott Johns/Saito etc: No need to have same discussions year after year when the crowd has spoken and the resumes have not changed. The hall is too big to accommodate people who don't make an impression their first couple times on the ballot if nothing changes, unless they were very close and you never took a hard look the first time. If people were dicks or angle shooters or whatever I won't be the most qualified to opine but I see no need to revisit every single year.<br />
<br />
Marin Light Beer - See Herberholz above. Where the stats are borderline and Zac Hill writes about how the person was a master I'm a mortal lock to not vote for them. Hipster-master != actual master.Matt Sperlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09068116459532701291noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-235663687017051886.post-72954395021342459112016-04-25T04:50:00.001-07:002016-04-25T04:50:14.392-07:00Platinum Pro Club Changes, Corporate Greed or Legal Mandate? (Both?)<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Wizards of the Coast, a Hasbro subsidiary, announced last
week that the benefits awarded to its Pro Players Club members would be cut for
the 2016-2017 season. One of the most
critical benefits (critical at least to those players trying to live up to the “Pro”
in the “Pro Tour” name) was a $3,000 cash appearance fee at each of the four
Pro Tour stops for Platinum players.
This appearance fee was slashed by $2,750 and is now a
$250 reminder of the good ol’ days. A replica
(not to scale) of a Platinum Player Appearance Fee.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
I am in some ways qualified to discuss this from the
impacted player viewpoint, and in some ways not. I am currently one of about 30 players
enjoying the $3,000 Platinum appearance fee, but I am not tracking very closely
towards Platinum again for the 2016-2017, and perhaps most importantly, Magic
is not my day job as it is for several of my friends and colleagues in the
Platinum player’s club. (By the way, the Hall of
Fame appearance fee of $1,500 per Pro Tour is also being reduced – it will now
occur at a single Pro Tour each year, not every Pro Tour).<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
I want to first discuss my conspiracy theory (of which I’ve
convinced myself, but that’s the easy part), then the decision to cut benefits
itself, then the timing of the decision, with an aside on legal action
against Wizards of the Coast, a Hasbro subsidiary. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKE4F2fXog9sUsChohUI5VIHz0lWXD_RzKrrpa3ecgKs5QCnAcUqnHRdPSrqICLMDZp1frHSf7HFyav4LZ3Jq4zlzWgWDSxgkRV-HFD3XKROpZRvNrQvcClYohSQ-CLTJPGbdPpFLyNIQ/s1600/StartledAWoke.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKE4F2fXog9sUsChohUI5VIHz0lWXD_RzKrrpa3ecgKs5QCnAcUqnHRdPSrqICLMDZp1frHSf7HFyav4LZ3Jq4zlzWgWDSxgkRV-HFD3XKROpZRvNrQvcClYohSQ-CLTJPGbdPpFLyNIQ/s320/StartledAWoke.png" width="230" /></a></div>
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<b>Is this All
Motivated by a Desire to Undermine the Claim that (Some) Players Are Employees?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
I don’t think it puts too much tinfoil on my head to note
that the timing of this announcement relative to the lawsuit claiming Magic
<i>judges </i>are employees of Wizards of the Coast, a Hasbro subsidiary, is
interesting. Also, the announcement
itself focused on shifting the goals away from trying to support professional
Magic players, who presumably would then be acting in many ways at the
direction of Wizards of the Coast, a Hasbro subsidiary, in order to earn a
living. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
It is possible that because of the judges’ suit, an
employment/labor attorney was forced to come in and look at not just judges but
other 1099 independent contractors and they said, “Uh oh, here we have a
program with not only the function but even the stated intent of creating
professional, full time players. Who
decided the company wanted to do this and what is his or her phone
number?” If that kind of analysis is
what led to the decision, a change has to be made and announced, but you can’t
announce that you’re attempting to reduce future liability for wages &
benefits where you might have past or present liability … so what do you
announce? <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Maybe you announce that “The appearance fees we awarded
for Platinum pros were meant to assist in maintaining the professional Magic
player’s lifestyle; upon scrupulous evaluation, we believe that the program is
not succeeding at this goal, and have made the decision to decrease appearance
fees.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Instead, we will be increasing the amount of prize money
awarded at our biggest tournament of the year: The World Championship.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
You revise the Worlds payout structure to create both a
positive smokescreen and a sensible use of the available funds. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
The HOF appearance fee reduction doesn't fit neatly into this story, but that's exactly what they wanted you to think when they came up with it. Okay, I should probably go to sleep - will write the rest in the morning. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b>The Decision to
Reduce Appearance Fees<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Wizards of the Coast, a Hasbro subsidiary, is the
embodiment of everything I hate about corporations. It has become not just interested in
quarterly earnings, but myopically focused on the trailing few quarters and the
targets for the next few. It is the
owner and supposed warden of an important part of my life and culture, but it
is constantly willing and able to make trade-offs against my interests in favor
of its own. As KFC has protected the
institution of wholesome dinner for working families, Wizards of the Coast, a
Hasbro subsidiary, has looked over trading card gaming for competitive
players. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
This analogy runs fairly deep. Nobody <i>has to</i> enter a Magic tournament or eat
a bucket of fried chicken, and indeed, each year, more evidence emerges that doing
neither is a good idea. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The great bridge in corporate strategy between Wizards of
the Coast, a Hasbro subsidiary, and the rest of the worst of corporate free
trade is the <b>shortcut</b>. Why scale
tournament prizes to keep pace with profits when you can just keep them flat
and show a bigger margin in the short term?
Ask the Colonel: if they keep buying the chicken with the cheap ingredients, why use the
healthy version? Why fund a headline
grabbing (by 2001 standards I guess) prize pool in the World Championships by
increasing the total budget for organized play when you can just cut some
benefits elsewhere? Shortcuts. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Wizards of the Coast, a Hasbro subsidiary, claims that
the appearance fee was intended to support players making a living off the Pro
Tour, but that it wasn’t accomplishing that goal. It must be the goal that has changed, since
nothing in the announced changes helps professional players earn a living from
year to year with any consistency.
Wizards of the Coast, a Hasbro subsidiary, is free to change its
organized play goals, but all the evidence suggests that they barely know what
they want to accomplish with organized play, let alone how to achieve it. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
I keep going back to that in my mind: Wizards of the
Coast, a Hasbro subsidiary, barely knows what it wants to accomplish with
organized play, let alone how to achieve it.
If the goal is to scale viewership and community on Twitch, hire a real
team to produce that content and don’t let Blizzard hire Brian Kibler to commentate
every major event for your primary competitor.
If the goal is to allow aspiring competitive players to rationalize
spending way too much money and an unhealthy amount of time on your products,
build trust with those players instead of constantly undermining it (see timing
section below for more). If the goal is
to grab a few headlines when major tournaments happen, then try to hold those
tournaments on the same scale, relative to your sales levels, as the gaming
tournaments it competes with for headlines. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Wizards of the Coast, a Hasbro subsidiary, has always
been, and likely always will be, a group of talented game designers plagued by
visionless leadership, incompetent and overly risk-averse legal strategy (of
course with blind spots where it really might matter like whether Judges are
employees – being conservative doesn’t guarantee conservation), sister and
parent offerings that lose money (preventing proper reinvestment into what’s
working – Magic), and a corporate culture of hindsight bias and myopia that observes
growing sales but doesn’t even start evaluating how much <i>more </i>they could have been growing until a competitor comes along
and punches them awake. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
When measuring the progress of Magic as a product in Q1
2016, don’t be content to compare to Magic in Q4 2015, show me how you’re
tracking against Q1-2016-Alternate-Universe-A -B and -C in which the game isn't inhibited by a failing online version, isn't held back by weak organized play support that doesn't scale with the growth of the game, and/or doesn't advertise via an embarrassing offering on Twitch. What
Magic earns Hasbro is a fraction of what it could earn them, what it should earn
them. Blizzard filling some of the gaps was supposed to wake these people up, but maybe this wasn’t an “asleep at the
wheel” situation but a “doesn’t know how to drive” situation.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Long story short, the decision to gut support for the career player itself did not surprise
me. They are entitled to try different
incentive structures for their players in the competitive gaming landscape, and
they will in fact try new ones. And they will do
it in the same old frustrating way, as an industry laggard on everything but the product itself holding back a leading (and
still best) product. They will continue to succeed, at an immeasurably fractional rate relative to their potential, despite themselves, and they will call it an obvious success.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b>The Timing of the
Decision to Cut Appearance Fees<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Even though I got to enjoy $3,000 appearance fee checks
in 2016, I earned them in 2015. The
players who earned them in 2016 have had the rug pulled from under them since
their investments of time and money in 2016 are unrecoverable and (for now) it
looks like the payoff has been nerfed.
PokerStars recently did the same thing to its players, and the backlash
there was something Wizards of the Coast, a Hasbro subsidiary, probably didn’t
consider or understand.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Here is how it <i>should </i>work: when a company says, “Do X in
period 0 and we’ll give you Y in period 1,” the company should budget for Y in
period 0 and then keep their promise in period 1. Maybe accounting rules say you <i>can </i>put Y in
the 2016 budget. Maybe the law says you
<i>can </i>break the promise (see below), but this isn’t the way a mature company
worthy of trust from its customers should act, if it cares about preserving that trust and continuing
to appear mature. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
These players deserve the money they earned. I don’t care if it helps them survive as a
professional player or pay taxes on 2016 earnings they used to get by, or if
they use it to figure out what to do next with their life, or if they give it
to charity like Jon Finkel probably does.
They earned it, it’s their money.
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
For the players’ part, when a company acts in an
untrustworthy and immature manner, you have to simultaneously adjust your
expectations and withhold your full support. Ask the PokerStars pros if they hold that company in the same regard, provide it with their full support, or feel comfortable tying their livelihood to its existence and success.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b>Quick Aside: Legal
Analysis of Whether Players Could Successfully Sue Wizards of the Coast, a
Hasbro subsidiary for Breach of Contract or Promissory Estoppel<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Every Reddit thread on any change a company makes will
inevitably include a claim that the company can be or should be sued. I’m sure on /r/SoupCanCollecting when
Campbell’s changes the shade of red on its soup cans someone posts “IANAL, but
can’t collectors just sue them?” <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
I already said above that a labor & employment case on behalf of Pros is possible, but costly and not even likely to succeed. A case against Wizards of the Coast, a Hasbro subsidiary,
for breach of contract or promissory estoppel (a fancy term for essentially breaking a promise you made that you knew or should
have known others would reasonably rely on), has several issues that in my view
are fatal to the players’ cause.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
For as long as I can remember, descriptions of the
Players Club benefits have been accompanied by a reservation of rights, the
right to change or revoke the benefits at any time. This language makes it difficult to claim
that the promise of these benefits a few lines of text away could be reasonably
relied upon in an actionable way, whether contract or quasi-contractual theories are invoked. Wizards legal is bad, but they did repeatedly pepper us with the right disclaimer in the right place on this issue. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Few things in law are truly open and shut, so of course
there is a chance it could be found the other way, but it would have to be
litigated to find out and when the class of potential plaintiffs is ~30 people
and the dollar amount per claim is $11k or whatever, that dog just won’t
hunt. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpC5SoQTH68tIL2GPhd-81YMh3dbygdqJ69Pqdp1n21Hy38bAfYjGi-t9epEjw3apVuZ12G4rIN_cCleThbNuCgTWzlpJtzeMWQtbaO-UQfz7KlZK4gtRCAfa6E5RIerREOgPtFoIhKZk/s1600/brooks.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpC5SoQTH68tIL2GPhd-81YMh3dbygdqJ69Pqdp1n21Hy38bAfYjGi-t9epEjw3apVuZ12G4rIN_cCleThbNuCgTWzlpJtzeMWQtbaO-UQfz7KlZK4gtRCAfa6E5RIerREOgPtFoIhKZk/s200/brooks.gif" width="186" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
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<b>Where Do the Pro Players
Go from Here?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Somewhere else perhaps. But even if we learned that Wizards of the Coast, a Hasbro subsidiary doesn't need us, some of <i>us </i>may need <i>it</i>. The game is fun, the community is great (the ecosystem of many communities actually, fuck off with that Community Super League appropriation), and only 30 of us were platinum anyway. Maybe this is getting a little overblown, I respect that take. And I
suspect Wizards of the Coast, a Hasbro subsidiary, will back off the timing
component of the decision and make the new benefits effective 2017-2018. I suspect this because the backlash has been
much larger than the dollar amounts are.
As described above, Wizards of the Coast, a Hasbro subsidiary, is a
greedy hellscape of myopic corporate pragmatism, and I predict they do the now
seemingly pragmatic thing on the timing issue.<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
If they don’t back off the timing of the change, I suggest all current Platinum Pros,
myself included, coordinate in order to boycott PT Sydney and to prepare and present counter-programming against its broadcast that weekend on Twitch by having top Magic pros learning and streaming other TCGs. For me, at 28 points with a few GPs coming up, there
is a very good chance that skipping Sydney would cost me Gold (and a shot at
extending my last-PT-of-the-year top 8 streak and making Platinum, which used
to be different than Gold by the way). As a
community of top players, we don’t have many high-powered tools to push back with and
we have no such tools which involve zero personal sacrifice.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
However, assuming things go as predicted and this is
walked back to a 2017-2018 change, that gives professional players a couple
years to figure out how to downshift into “hobbyist who pursues the World
Championship but not at the expense of everything else” or find something else
entirely to spend time and money on (Hearthstone, HexTCG, or even, gasp,
personal or professional pursuits outside of gaming). <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Attempting to unionize or sue for back pay on a,
based on my best guess, fairly thin but not entirely unprecedented definition
of “employee” seems likely to kill the Pro Tour at the same time it consumes a
bunch of time, energy, and money of the players involved. But if the players who did attempt to make a
living at Magic feel entitled to unionize or to seek back pay I would support
their efforts. Nothing in this post
shall be construed as an admission or waiver, express or implied, of any of the
author’s rights under the NLRA, WA or CA state law, or otherwise. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The one thing none of us should do for several years is
trust Wizards of the Coast, a Hasbro subsidiary, to act with integrity or
respect towards the community of entrenched competitive players. Some individuals working there certainly want
to do right by the players and support them, but if you’ll allow me to return
to my favorite analogy, people at KFC merely wanting you to stay healthy
doesn’t get it done in a corporate culture that either renders them powerless
or incentivizes them to do the opposite while keeping up appearances. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Aaron Forsythe recently tweeted that Greg Leeds, who resigned as President of
Wizards of the Coast, a Hasbro subsidiary, “went out on top.” On top of what, a steaming pile of shit? Now we have received an indication of where to set our expectations for new President Chris Cocks. I wish him luck in stopping the hemorrhaging
of market share to Blizzard’s Hearthstone.
Unfortunately, Magic’s organized play won’t be helping the cause. Not with this approach or at this scale. <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
Take care,<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Matt Sperling. <br />
<br />
Twitter @mtg_law_etc is a better place to converse than the comments below if you want me to read and maybe respond. Someone should also post this on Reddit so we get the free expert legal advice that's easy to find there. </div>
Matt Sperlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09068116459532701291noreply@blogger.com66tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-235663687017051886.post-54728813140461617702016-01-15T18:32:00.000-08:002016-01-15T18:42:40.790-08:00The Underlying Sin of Proxygate and Leakgate: Using the WPN and DCI as Hit Men<div style="text-align: left;">
<span id="goog_110085272"></span><span id="goog_110085273"></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisG04naZN6aFUgwClXh3rBH4MFT04l69XQ3OiW2Li5v8z_npoSrW5X_YYEI0hzNmILYDpv1PwACOc23_pxa7wtDSXRS2Pzxwbr8reVQSLC8T5wgPxlkSVbw9snIpBf-WPjkdVqxEqYDiw/s1600/BS.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisG04naZN6aFUgwClXh3rBH4MFT04l69XQ3OiW2Li5v8z_npoSrW5X_YYEI0hzNmILYDpv1PwACOc23_pxa7wtDSXRS2Pzxwbr8reVQSLC8T5wgPxlkSVbw9snIpBf-WPjkdVqxEqYDiw/s320/BS.png" width="223" /></a></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
In separate clarifications/apologies, Wizards of the Coast
has walked back a little bit from its initial position on both Sharpie-on-card
= <strike>proxy</strike> [edit: Counterfeit, we all agree they are proxies] & the penalties issued to those judges that knew or could have
known about spoiler leaks but didn’t tell Wizards about it. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
Neither clarification/apology backs down from the most
troubling aspects of the issues though: Wizards’ willingness to use the WPN and the DCI to enforce corporate policy very loosely related to the mandate of those organizations, and its legal team’s repeated failures to
locate the balance between protecting
IP and not harming marketing and business interests. The lawyers don’t understand or can’t
work within the nuance that exists in both the market and the legal landscape, and the mouthpieces outside the legal team like Trick
Jarrett, Helene Bergeot, and Elaine Chaise are able to sort-of find the mark, but only after they are able to review a swath of negative public reactions to their initial remarks in order to locate exactly
where and how badly they missed. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
All together, this group has inspired so much fear in our
community that I have people messaging me saying essentially, “Maybe you should
avoid poking that bear with negative commentary or jokes, their legal team
could fly off the handle at any time and their business team clearly can’t stop
them.” I can’t go public with the detailed examples of how the public discourse
has been impacted by a fear of Wizards’ next overreaction, but you can trust me
I’m not making this shit up. Multiple
people, multiple times, have expressed concern to me about where and when the
shoe will fall next. It is shaping behavior and discourse for the worse. It sucks.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
Here’s my take on the two recent issues that brought these
issues into pretty sharp focus: <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[endif]--> <b><u>The new Proxies Policy</u></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
Wizards recently announced to its WPN store locations that
they may not run unsanctioned events with proxies, and later clarified that
marker-on-card = a counterfeit card in their view. Their explanation made little sense. “Counterfeits” no one would mistake for real
cards simply aren’t counterfeits. That's what the word means. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
You can call a black spell “Devoid’ and say that makes it
colorless. It isn’t a good idea, it
makes for a shitty set, but you can do it if you want. You control the definition of the word Devoid
in the game engine. But you don’t
control the definition of the word Counterfeit in the secondary card
market. You can’t just say cards no one
would mistake for the original are counterfeits. This type of overreach is typical of Wizards. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
I presume they would never actually sue someone for writing
on their own toys with a Sharpie (unless they felt like lighting some money on
fire), so they use the network of game stores (the Wizards Play Network or WPN),
comprised mostly of struggling or very modestly profitable businesses, to exert their
influence over a problem that wasn’t an actual problem. Well done Wizards, some fantasy your bad
lawyers dreamed up about a culture of counterfeiting being encouraged by
proxies, or who knows what else, is now negatively impacting the entry point
for older formats, an issue you claim to care about in countless Reserve List
and Modern Masters articles. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
I wish the WPN, a part of the infrastructure of Organized
Play, wasn’t the stage for Wizards to act out these fantasies, which leads me
to….<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<b><u>Banning people from competitive play for leaking
Magic cards or not reporting leaks</u></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
The DCI shouldn’t be whacking people for Wizards like it’s a
corrupt police officer with bad coke and gambling debts.
The DCI is a governing body for competitive play among hobbyists, not an intellectual
property protection service. Wizards, if someone violated
your Nondisclosure Agreement and leaked your IP, take legal action and/or restrict that
person’s access to information in the future. Do your own dirty work within the frameworks that were set up to govern how the flow of corporate information is controlled.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
Before you all get in the comments and shout “Playing Magic
is a privilege, not a right!’ or “They are a private org, they can ban whoever
they want,” just because you <i>can</i> do
something doesn’t mean you <i>should</i>. Just because you have leverage over people by
virtue of controlling their hobbyist club, doesn’t mean it’s ethical to say
“you can’t engage in your hobby anymore in this club because you didn’t inform
on your friend when he violated a confidentiality promise you never made.” That’s again, an overreach. These are the actions of an entity that is armed only with a vague idea about which pieces of IP it needs to protect, and repeatedly burns the stables down to
prevent anyone from stealing the horses. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
They have successfully disincentivized leaks by acting like
Soviet Russia. “Inform on your friends and you might be spared” was explicit in the first round of announcements about the punishments and still very present even in the most recent Elaine Chase statement. “Our Olympic athletes will do what is good
for Mother Russia at all times, or they will not play.” “Fear will keep them in line.” I believe that last one was Grand Czar
Tarkin, and I assume someone had to talk Trick Jarrett out of quoting it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
Learning about something confidential shouldn’t be a
violation of anything within 10,000 miles of the DCI, especially if the person in question had no direct obligation to breach. Being in a Facebook group where
you have access to posts but don’t participate in the dissemination of
information is “Possession of stolen property?”
Get real. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
The message here is that if they don’t like what you’re
doing, they will use the WPN or DCI to put pressure on you. I’d love to read an updated WPN or DCI mission
statement that lines up with this role as mob enforcer. </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
Again, the apologies they have issued (following outcry in
the community) are statements to the effect of, “That guy/proxy-method didn’t
deserve to get whacked I guess,” but they lack the realization that whacking
people with your OP networks is a bad idea in the first place. <o:p></o:p></div>
Matt Sperlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09068116459532701291noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-235663687017051886.post-546254423450846332015-02-20T14:15:00.000-08:002015-02-20T15:36:06.500-08:00On the Envelope ProblemA continuation of a discussion from Facebook, with hopefully enough context that others can catch up using this post. (or pose questions in the comments that I can respond to).<br />
<br />
<img src="http://weddingrepublic.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Yellow-envelope-filled-with-cash460x300.jpg" /><br />
<br />
The Envelope Problem:<br />
<br />
Omega (who never lies) walks up to you and states "these envelopes contain the values X and 2X" He then SHUFFLES them up [this informs us our subsequent switching strategy should be irrelevant], slides one over to you. He states "I have given you an envelope containing either X or 2X. You can open it, and then decide whether you'd like to switch for the other envelope." You open it up, see a $100 bill. Do you switch? Some decision theory has to take you from probabilistic knowledge about the world to an action you should take, if you care about acting (VNM) rationally.<br />
<br />
Premises and Conclusion of EV Calculus Using the Same EV Calculus Rules We Normally Use:<br />
<br />
1) Your envelope contains $100.<br />
2) the other envelope contains $50 with .5 probability, and $200 with .5 probability<br />
3) Half the time, switching costs me $50. Half the time, switching gains me $100<br />
4) therefore, I stand to gain an average of $25 by switching.<br />
<br />
Which numbered part do you think is false?<br />
<br />
If you think it's 2) because the state of the world is already fixed by Omega, rather than variable, then I offer this: when something has a fixed state, but your knowledge of it is probabilistic, ev calculus treats it as if it is not determined but will be at the stated probabilities. If you disagree, then your next task is to explain how we calculate the odds of being dealt an ace from a shuffled but now fixed-state deck of playing cards.<br />
<br />
We can solve this using logic other than EV calculus, namely an observation that since the envelopes were shuffled and fixed, switching can't change our actual EV unless we know something new about the other envelope, and we do not. We know as much as we did before our envelope was opened. But why are steps 1-4 above so persuasive under the same logic we correctly apply to cards being dealt from a shuffled deck, despite leading to the wrong conclusion (that switching is +ev)? <br />
<br />
"When we switch we stand to finish with 1.5x, if we don't switch, we stand to finish with 1.5x" is incomplete work. You observe $100 in your envelope. So at the very least you should be able to redo your math and get us an actual dollar amount EV. It has to be $100 since your premise is switching doesn't matter. That means X = $66.66 in the earlier formulation of "we are guaranteed 1.5x." Well, if X = $66.66, your envelope must contain either $66.66 or $123.33 by reference to the rules of the game. So your solution is not well formed, it is not coherent. <br />
<br />
[EDIT 1 Below]<br />
<br />
Stolzman is arguing that EV calculus doesn't apply here, but that's not an issue. Well, it's a major issue if EV calculus gives you neither the correct answer nor an indication as you work through steps 1-4 that you shouldn't be using this method. In other words, it doesn't just fail to return an answer, it returns the wrong answer! Only because we have access to other logic do we even realize it has failed. This is a big problem.<br />
<br />
[EDIT 2 Below]<br />
<br />
Well, I correctly predicted Step 2 is where the action is, but people don't seem to agree with my note on it above. Yes, the state of the universe is fixed. No, your knowledge about the state of the universe does not therefore use only 1 and 0 as probabilities. If a coin is biased (unfair) but you do not know in which direction, your probability estimates of heads and tails are each .5. Probability is in the mind. <a href="http://lesswrong.com/lw/oj/probability_is_in_the_mind/">http://lesswrong.com/lw/oj/probability_is_in_the_mind/</a><br />
<br />
Omega may have filled the envelopes with $50 and $100 because his son was born in the galaxy his people call "50zba100". Or he may have filled them with $100 and $200 for any other whismsical reason. We do not have access to his algorithm. But since he has not given any hints as to which he picked, why should you not switch? Why should you not act under P(50) = .5 and P(100) = .5, which most closely approximates your state of knowledge? Furthermore, NOT switching is implying that $50&$100 is LESS likely than $100&$200 (otherwise you're a fool). That is your implied conclusion when you do not switch, having seen $100. How did you arrive there with such confidence?Matt Sperlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09068116459532701291noreply@blogger.com66tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-235663687017051886.post-63193439167450317602015-02-05T15:13:00.000-08:002015-02-05T15:13:10.932-08:00Introducing: Team Work!For Magic: The Gathering's Pro Tour Fate Reforged, a few players who don't have the time to show up early and test on-site decided to test online and communicate via Facebook. The men and women who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as "Team Work." This is their story.<br />
<br />
Not all were able to attend the Pro Tour or were qualified, but they still helped prepare the team.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><u><b>Team Work:</b></u></span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Bob Maher</span></b><br />
<br />
<img 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mO/pIGNrnsBuSMureteW0bUFKrEg3D3losbQyDsWRTx0XPMnYncGN65oc7uVHH1lOd0TUeyhm+AhUlMsKYiW2T4rM7Ie5KxZadvIwgbzme0rtqEVh8OuZjze8qXE5KgYSd40SQqqa1HOLRQeGJEVWHXJ5SNrzfcblpA6slakrxuOpSsxqdrBouoUmWWxFlQZPCcA64s3TI9SdlEzF52SLR5Zp8WiOY22ntMMlax31mkjuNkyTHwiPaJ4dolhYSaY/OSkaSIFcYSbPEkjXEeDp233qLdKUtSfe5YWHm0BmerIdCZVleVkVoDzZLjgPabexWqD7JFU4jhzbpWmwWgy2mLMHb370mWwNnjxXimbXxIeJTecO+FGuM6Tffh+PyaeD7j9TRqeRzCXtF8PhdhWds+dSm3UirrxLNVKSsyQdPDI0NILN43arfq18JWpZanZKkYVISutSNaVyFRKM+yXkrjR0puU56k8YKwsyo6VG4DHAe0MDZHgd/oWhsqg6ldIrV5OESVroC5dpiaWdaFKjNJ6ke6Ajcs90JxLOeMim8YtJZ9PINCx0Z7WuxD2E+haVPuEUX2iqmjdk8Au6G3t703MT6gPkins67opWZBzgQAQfBduSoOJPcHNqSOHJuLetwda/YoKnEkjqtRxt7Z3+q6QE2DQMQNsycs0K9hM2o74NVLjdp1HtTeDHy1LRBJcKZO5XaBqJhG3wrEje0kC/RbUqa1okDnd2G1OLR25x1zf4RzJv2Ki3qSRJXYrrtcOg37iFdwrumQVlqP3GymdkMSGVYzEM75XIzI3dSgbuyS2h44V8pG18SHiU3nDvhRrjekv/oh+PyaeB7rNKpW3bK0alosOwlVtlxzQnFcSWrpJM6u/0h/IEu1YNRgv4HYfXM/5EDosNcSaPEYAKwk2WfANhPQU7dy5CZkTPB9lsbzuyH5rodiUcqdRozsa02oodsrs81pLF9qzIZUVZWHjJGuV6E4VCFxlEr3C+g/aIZY2C72APj63sF7d4uO9F1ewJviZ3sqpu3L0KCcbO5chK45p5A1xDvBJBPNBHejMSJIn9jwweCxrDrmG55prSYOLWontbg3DjEpBc7rJsLaYW6BLLRDU+ZKUdKGNFhn81FYVskoG6KWBHJilbTtdhxNzsM9470VZSIEhCoqo2C7nsaB9pwHvKr2b4D72GmxtuRGbAxxNx4ViGuF/qk62uPSp6N4sbU1RbOTVzLcgzBJWc13YfcjIkDkeLlbRXNr4kPEpvOHfCiXFdJvvw/H5NLBd1+posUhY4ObqPQeorFwmIlQnmiWpwUo2Y/fXRSf5jCDbIjP2hdE9pYXER/uqzKqoVIO8WRj9CuWlbPoXYjaJ4BVqlUUXqTuLHsdSzetKliqXiivKnInKfCIhuDs/Sumo5I0brxMyd3PUIIGHQpip0Zaj3KSI+vrBCbZE2BviAAvewJcRnkTYfmpNzCGtxudyI0bWdiLublmS0h/ZkxxP/KbFq456oqXCGlbT1TXtsI58TgLghsgI5RgsSNSD3qepFNaBSlZ6i/7I17tehV+BcRObNoMGhuky3By0JGoYDa6SRFcBrrlJcUfU7LqenEhqOxWtpxftJMscp5PE5jgcZDHsdZwc1rtOu1rJ9SJEpEa3YxuMLoyTobNBcNxbikvZQOK4XHNgjZcjrWe2/hC2Fr25XxZyXGSSMIwdxW9LFl2XtqdrQJXxPtlcBofYf9MhuewK2q0eBDkZNxVhkBsMi0nEAcOWoz0I6CnvUaeOlZRCbXxIeJTecO+FEuJ6Tffh+PyaWC7r9TQn6LnqdnJXLo4qoQ3EQMsQA6LFoWzjMLGNNziiCnUb0Y2n8ErHUXcsQtdDLCpLlm6DCMndqpKWs0hk5JRuWatjOFrRuAXZ1qclSUUY9OSzNsaGMtBccgASSdwAzKrww9S5NKcSoV73SSWte3OeLgZm1wSchYBrVLNSbstbDNEDGMDnzDAwt8CNjg6xeCG5gkDRx13KTJKKuN04ERwugc6gjdYh0UwIP8sjD+bQVaw13HtEctHoVzZ/CctAD8rb0+VO5LCrzLfsrhSxw1VaUZIlzpj5u2BK7DGb21I07FDJscrExQMJspKcGxk5pIjuGPCQUzORiP8AGcNR/ptOWInc7oHer8YWRTlJtla4D7XZG90MrsLJHNIedGyNORcesZXSuAFjkiwSyPls37LRvadzOrCMPUHXVDWMnKRMuAzzDHPd4UpIHW365HUTZvpUDbtccgI4A+zMIaW+Gcy5xLgAANL5ge8pYRzMGXmhhMUJa7U4nEa2JGncAFfzeBXauePgrhWNq4kPEpfOHfCjXF9Jvvw/H5NPBd1+poZGS52mm5JFxkxFGcGF2F1s7HULuKMEqOSbUjOk7yutBtK1uArIxMKSg7cSzFyzDEYVzruWe1ccUjml7QOkK3s+DliIpkFVNQbJuapaDmu/qV4w0ZQjTk0MdpS8ozA0gZg36bEGxBByNk1YuFh25kVaeGRjiWQiQXuQxzGucRnnitfPPLeo95F8GPyO2pGS7Y5QuvCTd18Li27TYDDbIi1tD09aM3hxCwnwykcaJrXjC9zw7BdmIxsBtk36ouBfqVun3SJ8TMqqnPhNHaOtPjIRoNQBxdmcLd+7/cpKiutB0NDSuDFEcINi1vWOc7r6gq25u9SV1CS4S8JGUceGOxlcOYPs/wAxVmMUiByuZbUVbiS5zi5zsy45kkqSw24nBKka0sBceDnCcstFU3kh3EjE+Lrbfwh1G6ilBS4jrsvI2cZAyRro5BYcnKczYXINhlcdFu5QVNPAdFic2zDcmzMTgQXAOvdwzOtr79FFFpMky3RZo+dHf+X8s7q3GKlqQt20PGl1ZK5tfEh4lN5w74Ua4vpN9+H4/JpYLuP1NDOi52m8srl21x7G9hcJC+xGrDqTbcunpVsPL+852a8Cm4ySyWGMjjhK5+pVlKb10LcIq6GN0lrFqyHuxxeZnf7lp7KSeIRWxelMkK65eVsYtSlU0K1JpRCiB1iej0paWFlYJVEFpaci7nZAal2QG8kkq5Tw8noQTqme8LeHsLZHfsTGvkthdUOF2ZfYYfDtnzj071oQoqKsyu5sqexKx8s0ks7y8257nm+Wd79A7FNotENQvR0zJXHknXjBsSQQe6/vTMpJmLLQbNjYRhYMt5zPpKWwtyV2ptZtPCXHcN3sA60iQ1sy+tr3yvdI/MuPoG4BSJWGXGxeUoBmOzTWA/glTWhyLLwY4Sy0rrN50ZPOjOh62n6rutMlFPiKabRV0dVFykBuBq36zSM7OH5qtUo+KHxnYkKMnA8Hde1+sKSk2tBKljx0rhVNr4kPEpvOHfCjXGdJvvw/H5NLBdx+poi5ounMYSbAXJ07lYoUZ1nliNlJRV2A7MFRZXGVmOja40jhJVuFFyJ3NIldjU1pAT0H3Lc2XhlCqmUcXO8R7PK1pPStWtUhGZXhGTQw2ptRkcMkspwxMaS62riQQGt6SSp6DcxlVKJjPCjhrPVjkx/CgAsImnwgNOUdq49WivxjYrN3KuniEhQA4Tcc3Jz75DCPBB7TfLqSMUs3BqsMnKXsbEWs3C3TMBIORYGOsEg4o/CbavLSYWnmM063b3fkE4YyGJQIC0oAUaUlwQvE9A4csem2FuSmytrSQPD4nlpHeCOhw3jqTbCmmbA4URVDSBaKcg3YfAecNuYT7tUxxE8Dy6rRAbXxI+JTecO+FEuL6S/fh+PyaWB7j9TSaSmMhIBAI6dCs3AYFYm+trE9WrkVx5R0D2PxOsA0HO/UtnBbLnhpupJ6WIKteM42RHRrm6slvWy2NnT2OSs7+y0J1G482LKTKOw+5aeyaspV7MrYuFoh6xpLyFpzpZqmpFGVomccb21SHxUjTzWNEktt73eAD2AE/wDctqhTUI6GfUldmcqcYGaMx2hAErXU4jYI8y4OxDowG1vmkHFj2HZsbQNM/aTmkYqCcJtqcmzA02e8G9tzd57TolQrZSkowElAB2hABwkFFGuQwFmuSCiolSWAcQzkJGgM3UtyE2viQ8Sl84d8KNcX0l/9EPx+TSwPdfqaH/etlz9KpOGsS44prUcUxc9wY57sJvlfoC2MFXrV3u5ydiCrGMI5khs0rIrxUZtIsN+I1nbzkRehPF6D/YUX8UHt9y1tjyXWEVcZK8CVrjGwOe/RjXPJ6mi59y7DJHOZrk7Hmra20X1M0kz/AApHFxGtr6NHYLDuVu1iBjVKAtRRYntHSQL9Z0/JIKia2sLuEltBhd7dfagVkvSOENOMeQDbnp6bd6BxUKupdI4vebk/2AEDGIgpRAQEAKAoFBugA4KBQwckA4OQAqxxzKAKKlIja+JHxKXzh3wo1xnSb78Px+TSwPdZpVG5gLsbS4WGgvZVtk7vXPG6Jq+ayyuw6ZJTsu5hJdbIZ69hWu3g8OnOPEg/uz7MuAxgiJXL7qVWTf8AJbcrIPVU4ABU+Jwu7gmhKdS7C0FTaVg67J2y+ziIsWvC8GRfGttLkKKQfWnIib2HN59A9q7uEO1cynLsmEK1cjuckAfUsfOaBqBi77391kCos1SGu1zEmG3aTn8+9NHETwmr8TuTacm5u63dHclEZCJRoGiADD0IAMCgA4QKGJQAUlKAdiaAu02v2JAKKnEZtfEj4lN5w74US4zpN9+H4/JpYLutmnbOlLOVcBezRkeolR7GqZIyaH4hZmkx0Z4nsDnsAJJGl8x1rYlXoVaWapEgyTjPKmNmyALn5VoQehas2NaqQuBCo1cTKo7MlpwsxhC6zmnoIPtUuGlaqmWKqvFlP48q7FUU8QOTInPI3YpHAA+hntXolN3imjnmZqFINBbqL6b+zegUkdnuzx9Dsxvsd3vCBUSVZWckwDeHExjqwZH2g9yQW5XXHPPPr3lKIACgQEZoANdABglANdIKcSgDgEAKtCQUUBSCFHTiM2viR8Sm84d8KNcZ0m+/D8fk0sF3X6mk002F1w0kWs8DPIqhsqpKE3ZXXiTVYpx4j5whe0NY/DYk2ORv2FdFUjh61LInlKqc4vVXI1julcZXTUmrl/KAohXwGUjOdYaE5K3Q1krEy7upmHGnUY9oyj7DY2ehgP5r0egrU0YE+JUwphh10CkhS5C32hbsKBRvV1JeRfRowj2oAQQIAgA6ABugA4SgBdIAKVAGYEjFFQEgocRFIDKOnERtfEj4lN5w74US4zpN9+H4/JpYHuP1NKjrOTJLAMwLgrL2fjZ4eTsrk8qSnox7U1MRDcbM3NxAgf2V02IxWHUFvI8UVYU6l3Z8COgIF7jsXF1rZnYuu9gG2vmo9RzTtoA5gc9tukK7gFeskJdqLuYjw1lx19U7/wDVw/DzfyXpMFZGNJ3ZCp4hzNUAheR+WHryQDEEAASgAzUAGQBwCAAe4pQBYUgB7IAVjKBRw0poo92dS8q9rB9YgHqGrj3C6hrVVCNySEczM5AVixXNr4kPE5fOHfCiXF9Jvvw/H5NDB9x25mmRSRtJxtxNIGgvZZ+zMTRpN75XuTThUktHYduihmtgdYgWA326LLoKlPC4xWg+CIIzqUuKI+nt9ZcbWhlm0i1K4Vlr56JngPd7DimaOVbbRaOy45q8SGo2oM87bTlxzSuP1pZHfieSvRo8DMGzinCMGBDBAEoAAoAEIAMgDigAUAEclAFpSAKBACzSkFFmuRcUuPAfZxIfO4ZWLY+v7Tvy9K5va+K7SpR5r/po4Sl2W2YsumuZNzbeI1t6OXzh3wo1xXSd2rQ/H5NHBu0H6mkzwBoXMRkyzGd9BWiitKw9IPuWxsaX9+xHXleFhClhDh3rOxcmqrHym1ax0cN3EKFy0HOTSuBXTCnimm3RxPd3huXtst3YFPPWzcivWqXjY85jr/sru0Z4V6cDDXsLJQQAKBTgkEDIAEIAAlAAoAIUoBmpADFyNQBaSkF4E9wb2I6qfvDARjfuA+yP5is3H46GHg14lmhQc2afHC1jMLRYBtgBoAAuLdR1Kqk+aNnJkg0eZ16OcybbxHNJopbeUO+FEuL6T/fh+PyaGDayP1NGe129cyrFtNCtKS17S7QX9y0dm16dKtmkR1UpRshKFrrZaKpiZRlUbRI3HxOax1+tQu1gcole4yqsxbOeDrM9sY7PCd7Grsuj9JKDkijiJJvQxVdOVgjkXEYLktxApKADAIFDIA5KABQAYBIKEcECBgEl0LZjqjo3ym0bHPP8oJ/2UM8TThxY9UpS8C17G4DPdZ1QQxv2Gm7z2nRqxcXtuCWWnxLtHBXd2XylpmRtDI2hrRoBp2rl61edWV5u5pwgoKyDyaHsPuTKXfXqhZcGeY16YcubjxEuAopb+UO+FEuM6SxzYmnH+Pku4Zdhk1W8YsDTM11PPhhkMb3gxEXxOAIBcDngcnQ6OxcFPMJvXFk/tPbEMTg188bCbWa97Q43FxluWatjV8zyrQsRqwWrIfaHCiOCaGF5NpW4xMHsETQS4AuJ1HN1HStHD7DU4Ny0YVK8b6D2GtxgPZIHtOjmOuDbd25hZOIwU6DtNFyG7mtBttWiZUta2cY2tOJoJNgSLX9F/SpaGOq0I5YMc8NTZF/ulSfcj0u+an+rYjmJ1WnyO/dGj+5Hpd80fV8RzDqlM790qP7kel3zR9XxHMOq0zv3So/uW+l3zR9XxHMOq0+R37pUn3I9Lvmj6tiPML1WnyOPBOj+5b6XfNH1bEeYOq0+Rx4JUn3I9Lvmj6viOYdVp8jhwRo/uR6XfNH1bEeYOq0+QP7qUn3LfS75o+rYjmHVafIEcFaT7hveXfNI9q4nzCdVp8hzDsCmZm2CMHpwgn2qKW0K8uMmPVCC8CQawAWAAHQBb3KtKrOXFseoxXBAqIecgAkmh7D7lJS78fVDZcGeZF6YcubZxH+JS+cH4US4/pDZYqnfl8mjg+4xltHglVukqi2ncXPmL4X44w0N5SRxxAu3hzbXG4rZpY2goK8iu6TbJTbuxKl1RUSCLleXpmxYmujyk5OMOc8OIyuw6dSkhtDDu9mI6M1o0EGwaiOWhfyPKCCFzZAx8fhEy2AxEA+G0pY4yi33hd1IkeBGy5KakEczQ1+NzsIIORYwDFY5HmlYG2q9Oo0os0sFCUVqTiwdEX0CUCHIFOSAAgDkACgDkAAgAQgQ5IBxS3FORcDkthOLORYULJoew+5Pp99eqGy4M8xr0w5c2ziQ8Sl84d8KJcd0iV8TTX8fJo4PuMdfv05stXHI2MCITchk4Ynxvwta7PO49y0o7KoTgmROu0yR2HwjM1MyaWN7nulfG1tNC95JaGWvmQ3wtXEBQYnYqk1u9CWnimu8M9scLWilfNTZuZM2J7ZmEYS5ryRk6x8A5gp2H2Oqcnn1QtTF34aD6HhFA7lrmSMwMa+Zr4yCAbZtsTfMjLXMKGvsR57wejJqeNSjqGouEEEjwwcq1xjMrQ+IjHG1pdibZxGjTrbRRvYUl4i9fXIQo+FdNIYg0yjliWxOdFZrnAgWuHHe5vpSVNiSjG9xYY1SdrE2sCUcrsXk7oBMFOQKdZKByQQ5AAJRQQgDkghyUAQgUabSqTGzELXuBn1rR2dhFiauRsgr1MkboYU21JHuscIyJyYT73hdDX6O04K6kU6OLlMcuqnXAJBxHD4GHUHO/KHo6Fn1NmxpLNfl/wBLTqXPOK66xzptnEh4lLr4w74US5DpEn1mDXL5NLB91omaLgS3lp5J3B4fOJ42saRhIdKcL73xD+I3T7KtfWacIpJMY8M27jWHgfPHSQwNqQCyZ0klhM1krXBgDH4SDlhPSOcp1tmk/BidWY2dwHf+yzQCaMGSdkrSI5AxrWMkbgte/wBcW6gnfV6XJi9UbHr+CpL6wmYYamNrG2jeSwtwZuBIuOZuKa9r0uTFWEkBsjgw6FwLnU9hC+IGOB/KOc+NzMbnudzfC0AOiV7YpW4MXqkhzwf2AKeGKOQRyvjc9zZOTPNxFp5uLMZtB7lm47aUp23XAs0MNl4kxYrBkpN3Zf0R2H+7JMjC6OwlGRi3R2EoyPkF0BZJlYXQNkZWF0BZLlYXR1kZWF0dZGVhdHFJlYXR1ktmGg3ro7huVwHAkWvlY7rH3LR2ZVVKtmehDWSasICNo0YR1htvdEuoltGlLvMqwouPALK0ktsHZOBN72sAelg6t6p4rF0p07RfL/o+ztqecwF0VjEsOaXac0QLYpZGAm5DJHtBNrXIB1yCjlThLvJP/QKTXAW+nqrymf10n6k3cUvKvZC55czvp2q8pn9dJ80bil5V7IM8uYH05U+UT+tk+aNzT8q9kGeXMD6bqfKJvWyfNG4p+VeyDPLmD9OVPlE/rpPmjcUvKvZBnlzYP07VeUz+uk+aNxT8q9kLvJ82d9O1XlM/rpPmjcUvKvZBvJ837nfT1V5TP66T5o6vS8q9kG8nzZ307VeUz+uk+aNxS8q9kG8nzfud9PVXlM/rpPmjcUvKvZBvJ837nfT1V5TP66T5o6vS8q9kG8nzfud9PVXlM/rpPmk6vS8q9kG8nzfuD9P1XlM/rpP1I6vS8q9kG8nzfud9P1XlNR66T9SOr0vKvZBvJ837nfT9V5TP66T9SOr0vKvZBvJ837nfT9V5TUeuk/Ujq9Lyr2QbyfN+537wVXlNR66T9SOr0vKvZBvJ837nfvBVeU1HrpP1I6vS8q9kG8nzfuD+8NX5VUevl/Ul3FLyr2QbyfN+4H7wVflNR66T9SNxS8q9kG8nzZHXUow//9k=" /><br />
Pro Tour Hall of Fame<br />
Pro Tour Champion<br />
Slightly outplayed Brian Davis once<br />
Immortalized as a blob on Modern Masters Dark Confidant<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Ben Stark</span></b><br />
<br />
<img height="320" src="http://archive.wizards.com/mtg/images/daily/events/wc13/Ben-Stark_portrait_2013.jpg" width="189" /><br />
Pro Tour Hall of Fame<br />
Pro Tour Champion<br />
Fashion consultant for Men's Denim Cut-Offs magazine<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Paul Rietzl</b></span><br />
<br />
<img height="320" src="http://archive.wizards.com/mtg/images/daily/events/ptgtc13/rietzl_draft.jpg" width="212" /><br />
Pro Tour Hall of Fame<br />
Pro Tour Champion<br />
Dice Roll Angling National Champion 2006 & 2009<br />
Portuguese Vendetta Holder, 2011 - present<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Sam Black</b></span><br />
<br />
<img height="320" src="http://archive.wizards.com/mtg/images/daily/events/worlds11/diverseApproach%20Sam_Black.jpg" width="212" /><br />
Platinum Pro<br />
Pro Tour Top 8 Competitor<br />
Designed a deck good enough to win Tom Martell a Pro Tour<br />
Tells interesting stories<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Matt Sperling</b></span><br />
<br />
<img height="240" src="http://archive.wizards.com/mtg/images/daily/events/usnat09/FM5_Sperling.jpg" width="320" /><br />
Gold Pro<br />
Pro Tour Top 8 Competitor<br />
One SCG Open Top 8<br />
Author of this blog post and most underrated player in the world<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>David Williams</b></span><br />
<br />
<img height="320" src="http://media.cardplayer.com/assets/photos/000/018/644/large_DavidWilliamsWins2_Large_.jpg" width="213" /><br />
Pro Tour Top 8 Competitor<br />
World Series of Poker Bracelet Winner<br />
Broke People Vendetta Holder, 2004 - present<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Gary Wise</b></span><br />
<br />
<img 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" /><br />
Pro Tour Hall of Fame<br />
Pro Tour Champion<br />
Almost All of You Had No Idea About the Above Two Facts<br />
Always knows what to Shock<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Lucas Siow</b></span><br />
<br />
<img src="http://archive.wizards.com/mtg/images/daily/events/gpchi12/quick-lucas-siow.jpg" /><br />
GP Top 8 Competitor<br />
Canadian<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Andrew Baeckstrom</b></span><br />
<br />
<img 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" /><br />
U.S. National Team Member<br />
GP Top 8 Competitor<br />
Solid Internet Connection<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Orrin Beasley</b></span><br />
<br />
<img src="https://media.licdn.com/mpr/mpr/shrink_200_200/p/6/000/23d/020/20981fc.jpg" /><br />
GP Top 8 Competitor<br />
Team's Best Mustache and Google+ Profile Image<br />
Working his way up to Team Manager<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Justin Cohen</b></span><br />
<br />
<img height="320" src="https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/521802_4802600872891_270469514_n.jpg?oh=fe14066a384ec9bf84c3010b72769299&oe=554DEA2A" width="320" /><br />
PTQ Champion<br />
Here's a name you already recognize (assuming Justin himself is reading this)<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Matt Severa</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<img 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" /><br />
Grand Prix Top 8 Competitor<br />
Does Jazz Hands above his cards each turn for good luck<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>David Heineman</b></span><br />
<br />
<img height="213" src="http://media.wizards.com/images/magic/daily/twtw/twtw235_heineman.jpg" width="320" /><br />
PTQ Champion<br />
Looks like one of the guys who invented fantasy baseball<br />
<br />
Keep an eye on those up and comers from Madison (Justin and Severa and David)<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Ben Rasmussen</b></span><br />
<br />
<img src="http://archive.wizards.com/sideboard/images/gpind08/top8-ben-rasmussen.jpg" /><br />
GP Top 8 Competitor<br />
Is that a leather polo??<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Adrian Sullivan</span></b><br />
<br />
<img height="320" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1199553557/me_onlooky.jpg" width="224" /><br />
Top 20 Deckbuilder All Time (Next Level Deckbuilding)<br />
GP Top 8 Competitor<br />
Plays his cards upside down<br />
(I pulled the image from Tinder)<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Brian Kowal</span></b><br />
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<img 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YS8rswaxba/b5iVK51gsIlZOg1Kg8qnkwxceUUNDI1KmScFtnDMMwuoD915Vh7iD6GucZtK0oJFxZiRlYH2is8ZCDwqe+EeyALlt0LCRnRlkeEjUVj40zQc37wGizHU8fCvRjb1xFw4e4yFpW0CcpdoGi8CSQKiMfap+7d9UxCXGEi3LgfiUdz/dB9KLOS2M4/Z1yzca2+UOhhgHRgDzEgxI4HxpU9i4Z2YiJJMDQCaVdaDQexVnKmHDtL25TMvJTGXUcwdNfDxqTYxS3Blklv4eZ4+B1oQ73Jm4G4BWJ+ITMaHUxx9Kew6MtyIXuniSPz/zlVZpSf0olF0vqDFixl7uYyTOoIAHMk8PnR20EIGa7b0Gk3F16czApWcDm1nhzEGPMcxTzYFV/ercA5OrFrRHmQcp8CRQeJjckR7xK3Ld7DsFdSA/ZuCcrQp1HGDkmRqI6VYF2pim7rW3cj7VsQfUZWHtlFBRh7dtw6wvIkdDzB6jQ+YFFcNtt9ARb7QEqy3BCMynvFGOiMePFeM96q49asV/ucXrd9tXNxV5l7T6D+JA49wKm7B3Va8bquzCyYGfLGfMoMBScwiR3iATJ0HIps3aeJdgGwTsp4E3LboPGMiz7n1q04jFQj8JRSX14ORCoPGYppIF6M2v2+xsFQSAonzI5nxodu9tNbd3If3VzvoPungw8O8CPaud78elkFRxbpPePBm9pFU+1tE3EeEMIc68gYEXFB5NlAcR/wBs8ZIpsrSkvwThdF33rxSzwIJ5f2qn7VxJt2Aod4d5yBiE0BBOSYmDE+NdJcu3QjHM9szlcg/ZMEHoRB8NKY3pw8WbbfiK+4n9Ky5Z29F4rQFxNo8VYFeP4gPxDlWv7iIuTtCBJOnADQDp7elYzcxcqFzMR0M5R/u/QVqe5uNDYZNe8Kzy6NGL7jT8KymNBRi1AFUTCYsiCDVjweLZh8PqZ/OkUqLyjaIW++wVxdoofiHett0McPIjQ+fhXz1axGWUcxlYjXwMGfGvpzTm1fPf0k7LS3irjWyCjsbixw7x749Hn3FNB/UTzR+kgBZEgyOo4e9clKCWMQyGdfQkH0YfrIoza2kHHBXbpAS5/SIV/NdfA1psyUIillptdo2+Dq6EcZEx+RHlFSrQV/gIbwXU/wBPGuQBquors26WWiccha6FeivTXHDLWFPKPKpuz8K1ybS/agE9BOseJEj1ppU6kUZw9m1ZQPc/aUvKZA7gtEwQoKsA6mCdRPxcKeM5LoVxTAu19mPhsW65FbsrmmXUd0yOHTyrUsdsU7T2ai4iLN2BctMSIVjmCg6TBA1H5xVDwu0sPfxbXcb2q2rjs7CzEiSSAZElY07sGrttnejAsiNhsa9pkZXKvYutmCi5C6KOJuGY6CIqOWPJpothaWmYttPCdiptMB2ucFjBlYXVZP4j/tp7dPBdriFESFGb+1WPbV3Zt4tcuG/2znM9y0uUMzas3ZuxjXWBV23I3Ft4ZTf7Zb4ugFGUd0LrGsmTrr5UknQ3DemVm7uVJJDkTrEUq1XsB0pUnJlOCPn1AiOubM0CG74KllPFSvxCI1140YtnD3BGqHlwj31HvQm9hblq+bdy2wDECHUjMF5rI1GvEdaK4bZltNWWSfsEkqPPqfDh516ni3L6aPNz0ttlx2RdsvZXLes/tCDK9snLngnKynhmIjnHlUy1bvhSww+JUc8gzr72y1U5dpMuinKOigAewqRhd4LiHMGIPUaN/UIPzq8vHvpk45/wE9oY5CrgkyAcysCGGnQ/nTGw9qP9mIbRlYG4hKjukhwCZXSdD3DBopa31d1KX1t30IgreRXEHjro3ua9uNs+8gTsnwxEZWw7IcsGeF0aDwDc6zz8fIna38Fo5oPsJ4bbNxVIVrFkfaNm2ymOcu7HL6R5igG39+FKDD4SCoOrEjvPzcs2kD7M84MQNazvVh7lu5D37t7Dk91svZz4Mo7pby9KCoQEuBDCE5gOBB/+NOPKoOcovaKpKS0R8W1y5dyvAMxxlQJ6jj586K4x/wBnISAsW9Tazd4sToSZJGg04VCOMICquU9l3lkCNeI8Rz61zjsX2jC43FuK9AIjvT58qkpNselRM2ftL6rsszqAZVkaGUjURP8AmpqLi8fecPbZme0DKlgJkc9PM8Kn7Os2bmi91uhP5HnRBd3rjtltgsTyjQDqx4KPExWheMuLk5EPWfKkijvPjVo3QvkTlbvD7PUUztzY74YlGIYRoVnKeoEiZE9KZ3f+MkiRWK01o2KLi9mhrvctpQQoduYzQB5n9KX/AIgYgfFZFtTwDMFZh1AaCR5AjxoTgt2xc+sR1J+6xIA8cwYGfWi9nCdhbOcW1iSAk3HLNxOdizHyBikqJa5Hm8WPxF1bJW4Fs3RJ1cMSp7yd1SRAOvPj503vDu9eu4ZbmGJvZFcdmLSs5DFcsKZLAa8ZOvWrLuYwa1+yta7vFe0Ukq2vehhz1nzNGt3caBfCFMjAlSOXdB+GNMunHypb4jOHJOz5+wexGd+zLC0/Ai6HQKeWdmXLb82NSMfunctubZuYZnHELdEagEQxAVtCOBr6S2wti8n1llbpmAG7racYfiPeqXtj6OTc72H7h45LwDjyF1dQPMGqxzwuqv4M7wSq+vkxTF4LEWR9babKObpmT0uDT2aoZuIdcpU9VMr6A6j3q97Rs4nA3Ozv2jbY6goSAwHNXUw48DJ6gV5hrWFxJ+vt8eLqgDgdTkK5vUNVk4S6dfJJxkin2tq3V+2HA5OM3zPeHoamWdsofjQqeqmR/SdR/VVj219HlsKHweMtX1icjkW7469wxPsDVMxmyL1v4kb0E11NA0WC09th3biHwJCn/dHyNdXMORxBHmOPl1qnTFSsJj7ifA7L4A931U90+oruQKLBibgRZJI8uM+FDdo7ZvXyHvXHuEDKuZixCjgATULHbQe4RmI0EaKFHnAAE1GDVzkFIIW79O9tQwE112lCzqJV1pqZsjeDE4Sf2e8UBMlZBQnxRpE+I18aFZ65auewrRek+lXGgRkwx8TaeflcApVRMoryl4obm/3Lng8YXQd3IqkwBcvMGP3ir3GVT/CB8XgK4vXKZtXwFAB0j/Jpt7te5iioQSR5eRuUrZ4703mpFq4JosCHVuGpNnEEc6gqadQ1yZzRZ9m40MClwBkYQyngR/nOuPpB3VtWsPbxmFCpbYi1dtgmA4BKsATwZYkciPE0N2cGZsqKzNxhVZjHWFBMeNXjZ1h8Tg8Rheydu0Q5SysqrcTvJmYgZddPWoeWoSxu2rRTApxlpOjI1YMCFEKY0mTPWfOju7u6GKxzXf2e0DbTTO5yCQYhSR3m0MjlzrSd1vovwmFHaYg/tNwRoRFpeeiT3/5p8q0BcRGqRljgNBEn2NeBLyYro9iOBtWzMNjfROlqHxl3tGBB7JBFs+DMRmbXpFGNq2xZt5LVtUtqJORYmAYzc2OnE1dLxV9agY7CAhtRqI1+c1izZpye3o24McIqq2Yxt8lrDFjqO8PCY/5qq4fFd+IgxrWg/SDs4KncEayQOlZ3jkC3Ebkyif1/StPjyTRHyINMsWDx7IMo50as3A1tgXIYqcuokkjQyeAqjnEsvjHPnXdvGJcP1gk8ia0VZDnQZwm8WOt3lR77nXKYyNA5wFUyY8Jq82N4bucKFuZgEIkKHgfE7+BkDrrwFVjYOwLYIuPeVVH2bYVTB4y/T+H3qxbLu2nxTsneUDQkDRbWUmD4tAqOd1FmjxouUkjSbNzUnNwkRp11/wA8KI4a6oqs2Lp4faA/3N/zNTcPdzd06qInlmjr4TyrDjzcWaMuC0EdtbLsY6y1q6uZTwYaFTyZG5EfPhqKye3udcw91w7AC22j8mB1U+EjiOs1sNlyY5f2qvb+bD7ZEurOa20MAdGVtNfJoPlNelCbezzpQrRn+I2cpIIYnX4RwJGuYfdboQRFA9vvewrZm+ttHXgoZZPhoV5TyMTxBN2fCLYUM5JdtFA4eOUfmx+dAsZibVyy1trWU5ubMcyuQjDU6cSeXI8q0JtGekVQbQweI+MIG6MMp9GGnzqt7ds27dwpamIBMkHUzoCOIiK0PZe6mDu4e0z2hnNtczKzLJgSYDRrx4c6zfbuz2sX3tlSoDHJPNZOUg89K7nZ3GiAWrtbh6VytdTQOOyZrma8ArqKJx5NdAmlFKgce5j4Uq5r2jZxeMNsAXFUZMkDVwTnJ8pj1M0rm7HJbradYPygGomE2g6EQeHAESPTp6UXt7WDmX1/zkeNdeSPTB9L7BF3YV0fC6NHXMv6EfOoeKwd22JdDl++sMn9SzHrFWwXVPw6/wAWvs3Gi+wdlqA19pDA5UUHuyRqxAjNodAfOnXmTj2D+HjLoru7+5eJxUMAttD9pzE+QAJNXvY/0WWAwN+89wc0XuKfUEtHqKPbOtK65WBMjiDBEeIII9JrtjcwxDMxuWY1J+O30LcnXTiII6cxmy+blfvS/Bqx+LjXyE9nbHw1m2yYe1btgjvBQAzcpY8WMczQbEPirDTaui7b4m3ekkD8Lf3p6++dc9pwGHeR/s66w0cUPD/4qJh9rLfBBAS6krcSZgjmDzUxoa8yeVyfL3PRx4eOvYmrtokQbUTrAg8edJdoATy0/X/mq3tDHKsAmOGvrBH+frQDaW8YS4qz1Vv09ZApVGUizWOJf32gOoppseDzrOr+8nQ6xJ6UQwm1SzL0Zcx9hNB4nQY5IBjeHD57bD7wrJN4MGbYUH7JifA8K16zekMhjhIP+efzqo73bLzWbmmqqWH8uv6VTBLjKmJ5MOcbRRB7172YPFZ9vzprAvII9qk1vbadHnqKasI7ubON25l1yjVhJyqBxJJ0/wA51bfo/sE2bt375W0vkDr82H9NVS2rrYIUx2pCmOLfh8o41pezMIMPh7NschnbxI5+5JrJnm2jd40VFaCT4rKxjUk8POQPkre9EcFcAfLMxoB4jifeqda2lly3DrmvMR5L2aKPdjRLY2KLkkmMxiecCSQOk8z0rK40aeSei74fElpVCJ4F+U9FHOPbzqHvXhnfB3Yd57oBBOb41zHu+E+lSNnHTQcdBHAD/BT22roOGu5T8Ntj6qJrb40k2rPMzxq0jFsXs2+Ne0uP49o5aOgJMgeANCwXTMxa4cikw7MYMGIzHTWr+MQGGeJj4l5kdR+IfOI6EVDfrEJkOS5BZAwIQtmAII7wIyDT4iCK+q8jFijjcq2fOYp5HNKwtg8SioixCqAoKmVMCOXlQDfrFWmsT9XcbVAJGZMxBzDmPhPvVbwG0yCCzSf84kQTTW8m0jdyLyAJgcNdB66H3rwktnqAOpFvCXCoYW3KngYMHyPOp+7uBS47td1t2ULsPvclX1OnrV6wg7ikAL3RCoIUDkNOPmadilF2du/iL37u2x82RZ8BnYSfAa1Gx2z71klbiMhHHMpHz4fOrzibpOmnLkDwM8/an7GFBEquQ9UJUnziJ9a5NBozYOelddp1Bq7Y/A25+ss23/Ev1NyTxl7Yyn1Q0MfYFl/3OIyH7mIXKPS8mZD5sqcaNX0ArmYUqs7fR/tH7OG7ReIe29tkYHmrBtaVdTOGqQrrLSpyZ2uIZeZ/z86sO728Ajsm4zP/ADVafhUG6SrBxy/Klmk0PCVM3zYt0kDWf0qxYe8CPL/OdZXuVvGrAKTryP8AnOtJwWLzDjx4RPPrWGcWjdCSaKvtpTgrwu2hOHYxdtrwXMdXTpBMkeJ9Y23bK32DWbot4hRKZjC3FHNG+RjhpIq3bYwC3LZUyZEcvKsvu7tYm7dazcuItpTOUgl/BlBAAMfaB9DwqHpKTNCzcY7Bm08TeUFbwZXWdDwZTxytzj8qrmIvtdPdBZuca+RPTzNaGu5tq39q5dI/7r5l9FCge4NcXsIF0jL4AQK0QgkZp5r6KHewrqsn1orsfGTH4UijlzAhgSNPLh7VVdoocPdJ+yxkfqKM4prQMeVp7LrszHZhaJ4g5T40ax2HGZlPAj5Gs+wm0MqhgdJB4dK0i9eDpaujUHT3rFkjxaPTxS5JmI/spS4yfdJHsYozsjZRvXFXMon5+Hiaf3rwJt4xgBIuEMnj2nd4/wAUj0qdgt38VhV7RrJXKSR3CSSpEaj4VmNSIadK2VKcbRinFQkTbmCP7XbskCLbKNCCNe/PsANepq47auZS3ggUes1Vdk4a6Lli/dtsrE3Ljlo1LsCukyoA0AMGjO18ZnkgQCYHj41kywkpJM14ppxbK/vKcliyAYMMR5i5aajW6kgBv3nRUYEg9DyU6yZPOgu/tmLFlhwViPRgv6qKtW6SkIB2SomUCRcbOfEnL3esDrxrp/YGP3lowdhnILxpx+6g6D7zeNEto2C2EvxpNp1UeGU/nTezlVgAICjkDx99aK3jKP0Ct+Rp/Firsy+TN9GObMxWo8arn0kvlurcUiMQhzAT8QaLug5FgHgz+9NT8Dc4UJ+kS7NuwPuvc+aWv7V9V5W8Vnz+G45GivbLw6NOYheQ8SaHYuyUcq0SOhB8vlXiXSOdNWwSwGkkxqQBqeZOgHjXkG4K4G4EweIbncuW7Y/lJuH8hVj3b2ob2mWWUcEJzBeJPZzLAR8QmPCqdjTlAtgyB3jw+IgTw0OlMWrhUhlJBBkEGCCOBBGoNd2A03EICQwIIYSCNQZrs2e7KmI41WMHveW/+oXMedxAAxPW4nwufxCD1zVacJiFvWybE3Y49nLMs6d5B31HiRHjQaDYIxV884Py5eNCbnHmKK45xqIhgYI5jzHEGmtl4DtDLEi2vE8z+FfH8qD12HsgjBg69lm8ezmfWNaVXDCY5wgCnKvIB7igCdIAYAUqHNjcEVAUq8Wuq0Gc8io961Uk14aDCD9n402H1nKTr4eIrT9295OEsCp4Ea/LrWcX8OGqHau3LBlTp05VGcLLQnR9KYXFh1EH/IoTvHsntUm05tXkH1dxeKnoR9pTzBqg7h74lri2XPxaCTz8+lab2o4xx8qyzi4s1RkpIys76YjD3DZxtpWZTBZe6xHIj7DA+GWjuE23hcTAS4M5/wCm/cafDNox/hJozvBurYxsdoGDDgymG189D6ig1z6J8GCbZxV4XCuYKWsnQyJIKDMNORqkZRffZJ437Ettmsp1APhOooJvalr9mfPpwyzAhp0OseNWPZu492ygWxtIsw4peQPZJ/CM2ZB5NUzHYi5g7ZuY2wvZjjdsHOnhmQqHQHwDAdaPwLxa7MTwmI7pX2rQty9odrhHtk962QfSZrO9uOoxNxrbKUZi6leAz6keEEkR4VL3d2z+z3Z+y4hqTJj5Ky+LLwlTNO+k3Z4ezYxVsCUYLw0ytqvDkCoHrTm29tjE9moBCQrssypkBhHgA2oPNhxioeBK4rDXbSPBYSp5BlIZfTMBp51D3d2P+04btc2W7mKmNFAWAAAIjrRyeb9XJKi+LxF6ai3fdP5JuI2sqfb58tZ9tKZxOK7R1JXLoNDx05nxOle4fYa25du+w4LTBuEsSdOdDyPNfkKqQuHw1gd2wTvtis1sIOA/Oaue5gzWEIY8B0jhzEa1mm8V3M0DXWr3uXirdq2qO2oAgAEnh0USPUxWXJD6KRaE/wCY2zQMPA5AHmRFFrBlYGoIj/JoRg78/Ch82IH5SamXbrwe8Bp9ldfdp/KjhXHbJZny6MPt926yEQUZlI6FWIP5UA3vxIuMoE93MT/Plj/aB71KfEXr2JuG5cMlrjXHIEhULgnSBJygDT7QoDi8VLMepJ9OQ9BA9K97L5KniUV/c8iOHjNyBN/Q11gll/c17jTJqVsi0ILtOU6HLGaBxidJkj2rIUI+0Vh/QT5nU/nUYGp72s0luJqHdskUzi1sCkjmaewuJa24dGZHXUMpIYeRGoqPXoNKEv8AszffFYkrZxNvD4teJa/b76KOLC6hVhHXU1N2g4UEW1yIvBZJ85JJJPiahbJ2V2GHMjvumd/DjCjy/Ope0klSOo+RFLPJyVFIxoesGFAngBSqPbaQPIUqlsewFmr0CvBXQrYZBV5XtI0AnM024B407FcstcEFYiwVOZSQRqCOIrZdx9ujEYZDcYZwCrfxA9PHQ+tZOyVxg8fcw11blpguokH4Drxby61KcbRTHKmfQmE2jaLvYaAykQw8VBBHua9w2CdmIu4e3eQmM4NttP4W1U+Aqn27+HxRUsTh8UBIuWzKuo55dFuIevHxBo7h8LiUANu9hrv8z2mPpDgn1rM4muxq/uO9i6WwRuWxd1PfzC02kZrbyLlvjwIYaDhwtdnZhFsrdYOCsMCBBnjI4QelCre2MSBluW1UDi4Mj3FSDtVG0DlupjQevM0JMKTMa363LbC3C9hGbDtqAAWNs/dMa5eh9D41F8OPFT4g/rX0zbxCjUQTHGvXxCRyPmAR+WtGOZ1sV4VejAd2tqvhLgaS1v7QGunUQeP9q2Dc91OFSFUTLaZBOYkgnKeJBE+M9KIG3hWP7i0T17Nf7cak2NmYbitm0P8A00qOZKfSotibhpgPbvc7ywwOhAIJHQ+VV/8A0y9ckraOvt84FaTbw1tfhVB5AV12iyOoqccXErPM5GU/+HuIdszNbEagSZ9gDVh2buncttLusAAQA36x1q6m6vXhXBxK+BqjskQ8DhSmhMz04VPxDaH/ADhUJ8aKYv7QGWhsJim1XynEMRGa61oRxyo5ZjqeMi2PSqZcTnV42taN27cIByIzaxpmdy516xFAdr4CII51ui9GDJ3RXLhoveuG1kQcvi8Y5erFvao2Cwx7USJC97zjh7mB61O/1Gye5es5gsgXLZy3D4kxDa66g05M6uYmzdJJJtseOkoSeMxwPsKau4Rl1gMOq6iuv9JV9cPeV/wXIt3PIalT6keVRL1q7YaGV7bcYIIkdddGHuKdSaBSY29gHhp5VJ2Rs0s5MEhFLaamRw08OPpTH+pT+8UH8Q0arlsPZ57FWy3criQURmbXge78LRzpZyVBhF2OYHaxhbbkFHXuEx5Ms8iK9uvKDqAVP8vOom0LJylbquATKs9prbhuRgjK88yp9KbwGJmbdwiTz6mOI86iWJmHfurpyH5V5UD9oK93ppp4V5XUG0Miu4ofhcYDofepymtSMrVHQFKK9roCuOOIrwinlWimwt3MRizGHtM4mC57toedw6adBJ8KAUgJ2dQ76BpAIPlW67u/RPZSGxb9u3/bWVsjwInNc9SB4Ub3y3Dw+NsKiqtm5aEWXRRC/hKiMyHp6jWlbQ1Hzvu9tlrX1Dqt20x0RzGVuqPxtnXqPSavWH2hh1EMm0LDdQWdf6nRpHkTVK3o3Zv4S6bd+3lP2TxRx1R+DeXEcwKHYPaOIs6Wr122OiscvtwqbjZSM60zTsJtpmJRdoNeUcLbW4uetyYgeVNna4Unvei978v71ndzbmNcFWvuwPENrPvStY7EjhdI8gv9qT0mynrGhPvWq/ExXz/tNdjeqz8TX1JPAEjT0rL7+Bd2LOxZjxLEk/OmTss13ooX1mawN8bPJxUmxvpaMd8e9Y7/AKefWuTg3HWu9FB9dm4pvhbP2196cO9VuNGHvWEm2/U14M/U0PRQfXZttzehPvj3qK+8yk6PWPg3Opp61YutwJo+igeubFa25bjvNxpjH7wKiyOPAddefoNfSs1tbIxAg5iB1BBoutk93NGhJOUGTpA4k6jX3orCc84X3dsFrLF1jM7tmA1aTDE68ipAgDQUO2rYmRl4af8AM1cMDtCwywpCQAAracAAok6MYA4HXU0BZgxYNpDHUCmaI9lNur2eYmAToJ8IiP5mH9NCP2er1g7blrhU6HuEcQwBkyvBhJ5io93C4dbqdraCqZnIWCQOZTkfIgeFVxY3kmoLtiylxVspLWiOFT8Ht29aGSQ9vnbuAOh/lYET48asW8Ww7GjYMm4eLJbJuZR97SSPKqpcTnxp82KWGXFghNTVhXDjB4p1Xsnw91jp2Zz2mPEjI5m35hiB0rSd1Mc1tsoMAdOlY7hL5tXFuDipmrxs/a4JV1NZ57L43RvWDxAuplYBgRqG1B8weNZzv/8ARyjIb2DQKwGtn7Jj/t/cb8Pwnwotu5t0MBrrVusY8Ea0parPmQX3GmYiNI4ERpBHI17X0Fj91cFeuNcuYeyztqSU1Oka+1KuF4fk+aAY4USwWM5GaGW3oxu/ge3vJaDKhYxLTl9QATVopt6M3ZPQUc3f3ZxOMP1FosvO43dtD+cjveSya1Tdr6MsJZCvdnEPoRn0tj+G2NCP4pq9W0AAAAAGgA0A8hRcqO4lA3c+i3D2ofFN+0P92Isj+Xi/8xI8BV+tWwoCqAANAAIA8gOFdVj+821nvY24hu3BbW5khWKwtvRojSdDrHOjGPO7dJBSvo2Ghe3d4MPhEz37gSfhXi7eCoNW/TnVDGNxlpuysXsVczIWy3UsdogkAFXYgNxMafZOhqoY/Ylx7xFxsS95p0e2xumATMnR0AB+DTkOlUhg5LkmqBJpOiVvtv7cxqm0iLbsTwIVrjRwljIQeC6/i5VRmwooji8A6T9oDiQD3f41IzWz4MBUSaWSrVC2RjhR0jyrpcPT815S0dZ4EFNuwAJPKnai4pSxC8idfTj+fzrmchYRZ1POpQWkqV2KCQTnshXQw46V2BXYonDa2R0FPogpCuwK4B2pjhXQFcKKV67kEn0HU9KJw8PCnrSDyJ5jT/imbOFdURrkzcBYDoAxUfIA+tXLcPdb9qY3LsdghgqCJuNxykDVVHPhPDrTNV2L8HG5+5D4hC5c27XG22XvuSdTrIyeIGvLQayNr7mOpGdQQBxZSUEce8HB1EanWtLvbSsWu6zop4BZ10GgCjwHCpdq8riVZWB6EEUsJPG+SQ0lyVWYRtndkYcqV0zyY10KnSCZI0OmvrQTaOHD6XkW5yzHS4PK6veJ/iLDwrdd4d1reJWAxtkaiACsxEFTyg8iKy3bGx3sXHtko7KdezOh0HFW1BjlJo5JyyScls6MVFUzOsVu+jT2V3KfuXoHtdUZf6glRcLgL1i5FxWQESM3wsOqMNHHipNXG/YUk5lKnw/9poPi9ovYD20bRxqNCkHmbbArPjE+NRtPsffsObL2wV1RvSrrsje8EANoayBCV+EwRUldpMPiHqKWiimb1a2uCB3h70qxe1vGwAAelQH5gPBjvCrPhhFvDMNGzETzgERrXlKt3i9kDUd38fdzIO0uQWXTM3MjxrWaVKr/AP0klkVAR7WK7AE7QM6y1yZ1mXE0qVefL9GfwWw/ciZvooONiNBZskeBm9qOhqs4LFO11mLsWUAAliSAGWADyGp96VKtGD/TL4Rjl+oy5b5KDs1bxH1oyAXP+oJ4w/H51nm8lsLdXKAJQEwIkkDU9TSpUf8AYwxBa8K6FKlUX2MexTCfF/KPzalSrn2cSbYpXaVKuCiBeusOZ9zRKydB5UqVKxx6vaVKm9hB1Ki7QHfteZ/SvaVEC6LxvyoH7NAA+qPD+M0K+jjEOu2FRWYK9piygkKxAEFhwMeNKlWiHv8ADBHpBfEuf2dDJnumeck6metWvddiHEE/EB+dKlXp+Sv5DMEP1kXQfEfKsT2gxNxiSZkn5mlSrx8H2S/sehP2O7aBrTZgGgaTrHvWbbyfEvmR869pVHJ2NAFOPyphq8pVIoxg0qVKnAf/2Q==" /><br />
GP Top 8 Competitor<br />
Underrated deck builder<br />
Your grandpa might recognize the name (if he's from Wisconsin)<br /><br />
<br />Matt Sperlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09068116459532701291noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-235663687017051886.post-36844529661958425072015-01-15T11:45:00.002-08:002015-01-15T11:45:59.489-08:002015 Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour Season GoalsI've never blogged about goals before, but I'm feeling optimistic about this season and I want to record my goals now while I have the wind at my back, so that when I hit the inevitable setback I can look back on something concrete and immutable and not let myself adjust my goals or commitment downward without being cognizant of the fact that I'm lowering the bar I set for myself.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrUdHHE13Ff82wokoovEGM5mZI00EdUIS_B_9iXFZoCf9D9bz4DB_nhZZl1qsJmhxR8PlXBcKA93oWgqdWw_Nv7HeKz28VKxebO6168UHQM_PMDreoY1JAUd8uzYAbO6dhQQUY9ZCaDHY/s1600/platinum_2126884b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrUdHHE13Ff82wokoovEGM5mZI00EdUIS_B_9iXFZoCf9D9bz4DB_nhZZl1qsJmhxR8PlXBcKA93oWgqdWw_Nv7HeKz28VKxebO6168UHQM_PMDreoY1JAUd8uzYAbO6dhQQUY9ZCaDHY/s1600/platinum_2126884b.jpg" height="200" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Goal: Make Platinum. </b><br />
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Top 8'ing another Pro Tour would be amazing. Making the World Championships would be amazing. I'm not saying Platinum is the only carrot out there, but it's the one I see right now on the end of my stick. Plus if I make Platinum, making Worlds will be a likely consequence a good percentage of the time. <br />
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Platinum this year requires 48 pro points.<br />
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<u>How Am I Doing So Far:</u><br />
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<b>PRO TOUR KHANS OF TARKIR: </b>(bolded and all-caps because the Pro Tours really matter a ton). 3 points. Yikes. Made day 2 but flamed out.<br />
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Grand Prix of Latter Day Saints: 1 point.<br />
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Grand Prix Roscoe's and Broken Dreams - 3 points.<br />
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Grand Prix Why the Fuck is this Location Chosen in January I - 6 points.<br />
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Grand Prix Why the Fuck is this Location Chosen in January II - 3 points.<br />
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<b>Total so far: 16 points.</b><br />
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As good as I could hope for after 4 GPs and 1 PT <i>given </i>that I crapped out at said PT. In each leg of the upcoming season (3 legs left, one for each PT), I'll need to do better at the PT because 48 is a shit ton of points needed and because only 6 GP finishes will count at the end of the year, meaning I can't get 16 points this way every leg. <br />
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I really will hate the World Championships and the Magic World Cup for as long as I don't get to participate. I will switch to <i>loving </i>these events once I get to play and enjoy the head start my peers enjoy now. If I get way too enthusiastic defending them once I've made it in to either (assuming I ever do), you can direct people here. (Self-service aside I think these PT point bonus that go into "next year" are fine - the rewards were earned and it helps top pros stay at the top which helps the brand. I get it, I'm just Sick of It <span style="font-size: xx-small;">TM</span>).<br />
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<u>Projecting Specific Goals:</u><br />
<u><br /></u>
<b>REMAINING 3 PRO TOURS</b>: One 11-5 (10 points), two 10-6 (6 points each) for a total of <b>22 points</b>. Consistency will be rewarded, and of course if I spike something better I give myself additional wiggle room, but I want to set out the goals that I know won't require me to run like Shahar.<br />
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Remaining GPs: Upgrade my 1 point finish to a 3 point finish (netting me 2 points). Make 2 additional top 8s or secure 1 GP win (8+ points). Total of <b>10 points</b>. This one seems pretty hard given the low volume of GPs I go to. I will have to stay hot, and there's no reason to think I'll keep running well over a handful of tournaments just because I have been. What I'm feeling is the benefit of setting this out in writing is that I probably have to book an extra trip or two, and I can't "blow one off" drinking on Friday night or not caring what deck I play.<br />
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<b>Total projected: 32 points. (making 48 points, holy shit it works!) </b><br />
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<u>Minor Goal: Stop Bitching About Being the Guy With a Full Time Job and a Wedding Coming Up Etc. Which Means I Can't Play Magic 24/7</u><br />
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Many other pros have other commitments, and the full time players have their own crosses to bear (staying motivated to challenge themselves in practice, feeling the pressure of having to do well in the actual events, and others), and this narrative is just getting kind of tired. I want to consider myself a top 25 player at year-end, and not because I decided to grade on a curve. This whole thing originates as a kind of defense mechanism to "Sure, Owen Turtenwald is 2-4x better than me, but that's because of [excuses]." I'm getting over that; Owen is better than me because he prepares better and plays better. The details of why that is the case might suggest things I can do to improve, but I will no longer cite them to other people in order to make it <i>seem</i> like "well, we're all pros, and who knows what would happen if I played Magic full time" (all the evidence suggests Owen would remain the best in the world). I'll keep putting "real life" well ahead of Pro Magic, but I've found ways to serve both (including a new testing team that will test online).<br />
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Nobody likes the guy at the YMCA who would have played shooting guard in the NBA if his high school coach didn't hate him or if his girlfriend hadn't gotten pregnant. Even if it's true 0.1% of the time you hear it, everyone wisely rounds that 0.1% off and it just comes off sad. My goal is to never become the Magic equivalent. <br />
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If anyone wants to post their own season goals and current progress in the comments, I'd be genuinely curious as to who is aiming for Gold, Platinum, to Qualify for 2 PTs, to cash 2 GPs, to learn competitive Hearthstone, whatever. I'm not yanking your chain when I say my goal last year was to try and spike a good finish and if I couldn't, then quietly phase competitive Magic out of my life a bit. I spiked that PT T8 out of a combination of good prep and good luck, and so I have a new attitude and a new set of goals. I wish I had written more about where my head was at last year, so that's the motiviation for this post, and thanks for reading.Matt Sperlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09068116459532701291noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-235663687017051886.post-55544114705116685172014-12-05T10:56:00.003-08:002014-12-05T10:56:43.742-08:00On Marcio Carvalho DQ<img src="http://archive.wizards.com/sideboard/images/ptkl08/sf1_carvalho.jpg" /><br />
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Wizards recap: http://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/2014WMC/disqualification<br />
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My note from facebook in a more public space:<br />
<span data-reactid=".9e.1:3:1:$comment10103955347663396_10103955361176316:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.$text0:0:$0:0" style="background-color: #f6f7f8; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.3599996566772px;">For anyone who doesn't know, Marcio has done this cheat time and again, such as vs me AND </span><a class="profileLink" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/hovercard.php?id=201538&extragetparams=%7B%22hc_location%22%3A%22ufi%22%7D" data-reactid=".9e.1:3:1:$comment10103955347663396_10103955361176316:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.$range0:0" dir="ltr" href="https://www.facebook.com/tom.martell" style="background-color: #f6f7f8; color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.3599996566772px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Tom Martell</a><span data-reactid=".9e.1:3:1:$comment10103955347663396_10103955361176316:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.$text1:0:$0:0" style="background-color: #f6f7f8; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.3599996566772px;"> in PT Amsterdam after he did it against Tom and I begged </span><a class="profileLink" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/hovercard.php?id=723441782&extragetparams=%7B%22hc_location%22%3A%22ufi%22%7D" data-reactid=".9e.1:3:1:$comment10103955347663396_10103955361176316:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.$range1:0" dir="ltr" href="https://www.facebook.com/toby.elliott" style="background-color: #f6f7f8; color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.3599996566772px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Toby Elliott</a><span data-reactid=".9e.1:3:1:$comment10103955347663396_10103955361176316:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$0:0" style="background-color: #f6f7f8; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.3599996566772px;"> to have a judge watch my match with Marcio the following round but he declined. I tried to watch him, I really did, but he had the life totals wrong and I go to score pad to correct it and there you go he topdecks a situationally perfect sideboard card (some falter effect) that wasn't good against me or Tom generally but was topdecked in the final turn against both of us after some distraction tactics. Tom had warned me Marcio cheated him but didn't say how so I didn't know EXACTLY what to look for, just to ask Toby for help. After that draft pod Tom and I compared notes and it was same cheat - card "topdecked" off sideboard or from hidden zone after distraction tactics. Fuck this guy.</span><br />
<span data-reactid=".9e.1:3:1:$comment10103955347663396_10103955361176316:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$0:0" style="background-color: #f6f7f8; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.3599996566772px;"><br /></span>
Is it possible he really did legitimately topdeck all these cards against all these people over the years and is really bad at counting his deck, putting away his sideboard, keeping the life total, etc.? Ya it's possible, but don't bet your tournament entry fee on it if they let Marcio ever play again. Matt Sperlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09068116459532701291noreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-235663687017051886.post-13443924057548005992014-09-10T09:37:00.003-07:002014-09-10T09:37:54.014-07:00MTG Digital Offerings: What Was YOUR Breaking Point?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgte0ua3gsjdzo2y-FZOpXAeo3jOSvyPqiUPCRImzL-1RAeG2_j9YJwW8hyphenhypheneFXTy58Y2L8vHvnPvwXbYqAFLDeVOBURceJ7WUm2l35618vxZgbS-7QMYzXQI7BnmKziVlkFziJNclo2l0/s1600/ss+(2014-09-10%2Bat%2B09.35.40).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgte0ua3gsjdzo2y-FZOpXAeo3jOSvyPqiUPCRImzL-1RAeG2_j9YJwW8hyphenhypheneFXTy58Y2L8vHvnPvwXbYqAFLDeVOBURceJ7WUm2l35618vxZgbS-7QMYzXQI7BnmKziVlkFziJNclo2l0/s1600/ss+(2014-09-10%2Bat%2B09.35.40).jpg" height="293" width="320" /></a></div>
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(Conversation below between me and Magic: The Gathering Hall of Fame member elect <b>Paul Rietzl</b> discussing the magic.wizards.com website and Magic Online). </div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>Matt Sperling</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So, I don't know
whether to start this State of the Magic Technology Union exchange with the
website or the MTGO software. What's on the top of your list at the moment?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>Paul Rietzl</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My Grandfather and
the rest of my family. They like to follow my progress at the tournaments, but
are so frustrated by the inanity of the Magic website that it makes it hard.
They wish it was possible to find what they want to read about. My Grandfather has
multiple advanced degrees, but this website is uncrackable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>Matt Sperling</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Old people don't
love change, and I'd be ready to blame your grandpa’s likely advanced age for
some part of this except I myself also cannot find the coverage 9 times out of
10. sideboard.com used to redirect to the event coverage page, which had simple
links. It can't be difficult to point sideboard.com to the new event page, can
it? That doesn't seem like an intractable problem, but you also end up on the
old website if you click the first Google result for many key searches. Wizards
owns these formerly popular pages, why don't they redirect them? Maybe if their
website just displayed cat pictures or something it wouldn't matter that they
changed the layout and organization so much, but I need to LOOK THINGS UP. I
need information. Maybe if I click this banner at the top 10 times it'll take
me somewhere....<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>Paul Rietzl</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This is not to
mention all the broken links, bugs, and generally baffling UX/UI decisions.
Similarly to MTGO, I sometimes feel the website is part of a large social
experiment, like they are trying to determine the commitment level of the
player base. Only the deeply enfranchised or clinically insane would continue
to attempt to use magic.wizards.hasbro.screwyou.whatever it is these days. I
took it off my bookmarks some time ago and hope all relevant information will
be tweeted. It makes me feel really bad for the hard-working people in R&D
that make this awesome game, only to be confronted daily with soul-crushing
negativity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>Matt Sperling</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I also feel bad for
Wizards employees not involved in these decisions directly. At first I thought,
"Someone should have stood up in a meeting at some point and yelled WE
CAN'T SHIP THIS. The blame ultimately rests on the decision-makers' shoulders, but
this thing is so bad that there needed to be some canaries flying out of that
mine." But here is my best guess at why it didn't actually play out that
way: when the design team handed this off internally and they said to the
regular Magic teams "you guys can try it out now" they didn't have
Google to help them out so they wouldn't go searching for obscure stuff, they
would just probably click around and check it out - and they probably had
"dummy" articles and/or static pages like "Learn How to
Play!", not a bunch of live material. So early testers were (I am
guessing) not clicking on banners with broken links, not trying to view top 8
decklists for recent events because decklists are not being automatically
loaded in, etc. They're not trying to find coverage of the Grand Prix going on
that day because that information isn't hosted on the dummy/sandbox website
yet. I can see how this maybe slipped past them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They probably
decided to ship this atrocity because the layout feels more modern and the
static pages mostly work. But the layout doesn't matter if you can't find the
page you're looking for. And for those of us who use the site often, unless
we're looking for a giant picture of Garruk against a black background, we end
up very frustrated.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>Paul Rietzl</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Let’s hunt bigger
game. Magic: The Gathering’s online game offering has some shortcomings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>Matt Sperling</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Around the MTGO
version 4 (v4) release, I was among the people beating the drum of "cmon
guys, it's not THAT bad ... it's maybe only a few tweaks away from actually
being better than v3, and now those tweaks can actually arrive." Is the
blood now on my hands, too?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>Paul Rietzl</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I blame you, but
only a little. I blame you, and everyone else who defended this atrocity, for
making me so optimistic. Until now, I’ve taken the approach “What can I
personally do to help WOTC get V4 to the point where it’s fun for me to use?”
But all the positivity has been sucked out of me. Here’s a recent experience I
had. I like to sell cards that I own >4 to bots, so that I have a supply of
tickets. These tickets allow me to play basically at will, with the exception
of during new set releases, when I’ll have to bust out the credit card. On V4,
when I used any filters, it wouldn’t let me select all of my cards. So I tried
adding all the cards I own more than 4 copies of. This crashed the program. I
tried again, and it worked after freezing for a few minutes. However, now I had
almost all my basic lands in my trade binder. To remove them, I had to go version
by version, picture by picture. I gave up after a while, and tried to delete
the trade binder (you can’t). So I created a new trade binder, deleted the old
one. Now I filtered to just green, white, blue, black and red cards to avoid
adding basic lands to my trade binder (I accepted that I’d have to add
artifacts later). Well, MTGO V4 reads Basic Forest as a green card. I broke. I
started angrily tweeting that I was going to take up Hearthstone. Then I got
this response:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 14.266666412353516px;"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<a href="https://twitter.com/paulrietzl">@paulrietzl</a> So you don't have the time to learn about Trading Binders but you do to learn to play another game?<br />
— Gabriel Gutierrez (@rockbard) <a href="https://twitter.com/rockbard/status/509411572809084929">September 9, 2014</a></blockquote>
</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 14.266666412353516px;"><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This is what I’m
talking about. It's MY fault for not learning that forests are green? Forests
are fucking colorless bro. So yea, I blame you [Matt] and all the V4 defenders a
little.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>Matt Sperling</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And that's the
problem with institutionalized incompetence on the scale we now understand
we're dealing with; my assumption that Wizards will now be free to apply many
fixes and will do so quickly was almost as stupid as the Hasbro executive
saying on an earnings call that Hearthstone isn't a serious competitor to
Magic. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If they had the
talent, the organization, the leadership, the budget, and the vision to fix V4
relatively quickly, we'd never have V4 in the first place. So, <i>mea culpa</i> on
being an apologist for V4. Please accept my apology and a free M15 prerelease
sealed to make up for it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">From here, if I was
in charge of Hasbro, I would acquire a third party game design studio, shout about
the acquisition from the rooftops as loud as I could, and promise to release a
new Magic Online client by Q3 2015. Is this an unrealistic solution because the
cost would be so high? Well, whoever tells you that is exactly the person who
needs to have their incentives realigned. If it comes from the out of touch
leadership at Hasbro, then they deserve for Magic Online to be crushed into
relative obscurity by Hearthstone and whatever else. Even though it would
absolutely devastate me to see the game I love headed down the drain, if these
people had this big of a golden goose and could only manage to try over and
over to strangle it, why should I root for them? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They could invest a
lot of money now to essentially start over in a new way (read: new people in
charge and on the ground), or they can slowly start checking the golden goose
for visible ligature marks and petechial hemorrhaging (I have more time to
watch Law and Order SVU now that I don't play MTGO much).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>Paul Rietzl</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That’s the hidden
rainbow in this whole storm. I used to double and triple queue MTGO all the
time, and I could play fast enough on V3 that no one ever had to wait for me.
Now I get to read interesting articles on the internet, I’m more productive at
work, and we get to shoot the breeze about Obamacare. I’m a much more
well-rounded person. I go to too many live Magic tournaments to quit MTGO
entirely – I simply need it to prepare. And I hope one day the people will give
us a product that I can enjoy again. But I agree with everything you just said,
and I accept your apology. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Here are some
specific issues I have with V4 that I could come up with off the top of my
head:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">1. Get rid of the
Are You Sure You Want to Close Magic Online feature. When I’m done, I’m done.
I’m not a child, and if I misclick I can log back on. It’s not like I’m
deleting a file. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2. Why do triggered
abilities require targeting require changing the size of the window before I
can click a target? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">3. Why can’t we see
the top of both libraries at the same time? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">4. Why does Courser
of Kruphix cause the top card of my library to cover my entire battlefield? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">5. Why is it so hard
to move cards around in my hand? Why do they get stuck? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">6. Why isn’t that
chat permanently anchored to the right side of the screen for all formats at
all times? How else can I tell what is going on? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">7. Why are so many
cards bugged? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">8. Why is there a
select all function during sealed deck building if it doesn’t work? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">9. Why does the
client think basic lands have a color? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">10. Where are
ratings? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">11. Why is
everything so slow and laggy? My computer is not old. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">12. Why do none of
the filters make any sense? I have 727 cards with Special rarity. What does
that mean? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">13. Why does the
scroll function just stop working when perusing my collection? Why do the
pictures take so long to load? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">14. Why does a
program that is so bad take up so much of my computer’s operating capability? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">15. Why, after I click YES I want to
close Magic Online, does it take 1 minute, 31 seconds (last time I timed it)
for the program to actually close?</span><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Now tell me about
Leroy Jenkins…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>Matt Sperling</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The best thing about
Leeroy Jenkins is that you can use him for a 10 minute game without setting
aside 3 hours or waiting between games. You can use Leeroy Jenkins on a Mac or
an iPad. You can learn how to attack with Leeroy Jenkins in a built-in tutorial
mode. You can convert your extra Leeroy Jenkinses into other cards without
dealing with robots or having to manually sort to find all your extra copies.
You can use Leeroy Jenkins on a computer or tablet that doesn't have gigabytes
of RAM waiting to be burned. When your friend sees you play a Leeroy Jenkins he
or she is unlikely to ask why the game looks like it's from 1998. People are
enabled and supported as they try to show Leeroy Jenkins to their friends and
fans on Twitch.tv. Leeroy Jenkins, when he does appear on Twitch.tv, has
animation and sound that add to the viewing experience. You can get Leeroy
Jenkins for free if you're willing to play enough and wait. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Most of those things
could and/or should apply to Chandra or Jace, not just Leeroy or Ragnaros. But
if Wizards keeps dropping the ball, you can be damn sure someone will
eventually pick it up and run with it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Matt Sperlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09068116459532701291noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-235663687017051886.post-16893668289041198472014-06-19T12:53:00.000-07:002014-06-19T12:59:25.968-07:00Hearthstone Templating: Issues and Suggestions<div class="MsoNormal">
The Hearthstone team needs to rethink some aspects of how
they are templating (choosing the words for) the cards. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><u>The Problem<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
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<b><u><br /></u></b></div>
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Some recently spoiled cards appear here: <a href="http://i.imgur.com/6BjCLwj.jpg">http://i.imgur.com/6BjCLwj.jpg</a> (I don’t
know if the note about Random being added to text was officially announced
somewhere, but I couldn’t find it. In
any event the templating issues are somewhat more fundamental than that one set
of cases.)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Much of the team’s philosophy on templating was articulated
by Ben Brode here: <a href="http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/forum/topic/13077147586">http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/forum/topic/13077147586</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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Things were brought back to the surface when they recently
spoiled a card (Webspinner) that says “Deathrattle: Draw a random Beast card.” Random is there, which I think is helpful,
but the word Draw is at best ambiguous about from what pool of cards it is
drawn and whether it will reduce the size of a player’s deck. Blizzard had to clarify quickly, in several
places, that “Draw” in this case means select at random from possible choices
in the game (regardless of which Beasts you own or play in your deck) and add a
copy to your hand (cards are not taken from or selected from your deck or
collection). <o:p></o:p></div>
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I’m not sure Blizzard would really defend this templating
given the public reaction, but they might.
They need a game plan for better templating in my opinion. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I should note that A) I’m a Magic player, B) Magic
players have a special difficulty in learning not just a new way to comprehend
the text of cards but also how to shut off what they’ve already learned in the
Magic domain, C) Blizzard isn’t necessarily primarily concerned with Magic
players’ understanding of the cards, D) my analysis is in no way intended to
only address the Magic playing audience for the game (I understand there is a
wider audience, and I’d like to serve them too). <o:p></o:p></div>
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Ben Brode writes: <o:p></o:p></div>
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“'Feel' is really important to how we write cards.
Consistency is important, but somewhat less so in a digital game where the
computer handles the rules for you.” <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Feel and Consistency might well be at odds in many cases,
but they each must serve the larger goal of comprehension. Comprehension is the understanding the
owners or browsers of these cards are left with after reading the cards – understanding of
what the cards do and how they interact. The designers of Hearthstone cards obviously understand that this is what is at stake. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Where I think my comprehension analysis differs is in the balance between comprehension from handing a player one card and asking them what it
does (the <b>isolated comprehension</b> –
or focus group style - model) vs. handing someone ALL the cards they
will be exposed to, asking them what they all do, and asking them to “get it”
in a way that lets them predict novel interactions between the cards (the <b>in-context comprehension</b> model). In-context comprehension will never be
100% - some interactions will prove difficult to predict, so much so they may
even be bugged in the software. But just
because it won’t be 100% doesn’t mean 75% understanding is the same as 85%. <o:p></o:p></div>
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‘Strict’ templating (as I’m choosing to define it here)
means that the text of cards is not just a hint at how they function, but it
actually governs how they function in an always predictable way (barring a bug,
typo, or similar mistake). Magic the
Gathering has this, and it is a tremendous asset to that game (but don’t forget
there are many reasons to try and do better than Magic does, I’ll get to that
shortly). <o:p></o:p></div>
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Ben Brode mentioned essentially the concept of what I'd call <b>rules-engine-as-mediator</b> which means
that the players need far less in-context understanding when there is a digital
rules engine to mediate disputes and clarify misunderstandings (well, at least up to a
confidence level bounded by the frequency of bugs in the engine). This is very much true and definitely aids a
digital game, but I don’t think it gets you as far as the Hearthstone team
thinks it gets you. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Critically, as the game grows, the number of novel
interactions (novel can mean either ones the player hasn’t seen yet, or new
interactions generated by the release of one or more new cards) between the
cards grows exponentially, hence in-context comprehension becomes more and more
difficult as a game grows. Isolated comprehension
stays pretty much the same. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Choosing a model that skews heavily towards isolated
comprehension will become increasingly untenable. The good news is you don’t have to sacrifice <i>that much</i> isolated comprehension (if
any) to get to much higher levels of in-context comprehension. <o:p></o:p></div>
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‘Strict’ templating is one way to make sure you skew in the
scalable direction – towards in-context comprehension. However, the downsides of ‘Strict’ templating
can be large. Cards can become more
difficult to immediately parse. As Ben
Brode notes, “if you add the word ‘random’ to Lightwell, it becomes very hard
to parse its text. ‘At the start of your turn, restore 3 Health to a random
damaged friendly character.’” Also, it
can feel like you’re tying your hands when it comes to making really cool,
really complex cards like Jaraxxus.
Imagine that card’s actual rules text (I will do just that in a
bit). If you set user expectations for
text boxes at “This is <i>roughly</i> what
the card does” then you can do something like Jaraxxus no questions asked
(well, actually, a TON of questions asked :P ). So not being able to just give an approximation is a cost.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Those costs are worth it.
The frustration experienced by so many players at unpredictable outcomes
and confusing new cards because of the lack of in-context comprehension grows with
every day and every new preview card. Below
is how I would try to strike a better balance.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><u><br /></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u>My Proposal<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Hearthstone team should try harder to achieve ‘Strict’
templating that also has enough ‘Feel’ to satisfy the non-hardcore-rules-aficionado
audience. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Am I saying “Do what Magic designers do?” No, not exactly. You still have a huge advantage if you’re
Hearthstone – the digital medium. I’ve
already mentioned its advantages in terms of rules-engine-as-mediator, but
there’s also the advantage of potentially dynamic text boxes. What I mean by that is you can have shorthand
text, no text, reminder text, or whatever in the actual text box of a card, and
then link to a “full text” hosted elsewhere (exactly where I don’t hold a
meaningful opinion on). <o:p></o:p></div>
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For most cards there is no need to link to “full text.” Let’s start with some of the new cards from
Naxxramas.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Spoiled text of <b>Anub’ar
Ambusher</b>: “Deathrattle: Return a friendly minion to your hand.” <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Proposed new text of <b>Anub’ar
Ambusher</b>: “Deathrattle: Return a friendly minion to your hand. (Chosen at
random.)” OR “Deathrattle: Return a [RANDOM
SYMBOL] friendly minion to your hand.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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In this case the Rules of the Game can say Deathrattle
choices are always random, but the card should be comprehensible as such not
just by reference to that rule, but using actual words that appear on the card. Reminder text is one way to accomplish
this. Since the reminder “(Chosen at
random)” can be inserted even within a sentence if multiple things are going
on, I think this solution scales properly and solves a ton of issues the random
deathrattles had as spoiled.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You could also address the Random vs. Choose problem with
icons that note the difference instead of a parenthetical reminder. A little red crosshairs could appear in front of “minion” when it means “a chosen minion” and a little d6 could appear in
front of “minion” when it means “a random minion”. That’s also a consistent, clear, and workable
solution. It requires a little bit of
onboarding to get someone to learn the symbols, but it translates easily and
the digital games can have a popup explanation or clear tutorial that paper
games can’t, so use those advantages. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Text of <b>Thoughtsteal</b>:
“Copy 2 cards from your opponent’s deck and put them into your hand.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Proposed new text of <b>Thoughtsteal</b>:
“Copy 2 random cards from your opponent’s initial deck and put them into your
hand.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A few things have changed here. First, I’m using random instead of just
relying on a rule about things of this nature always being random. Second, I’m using the term “initial deck” to
disambiguate the initial deck LIST vs. the cards remaining in deck when this
card is played. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Spoiled text of <b>Webspinner</b>: “Deathrattle: Draw a random Beast card”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Proposed new text of <b>Webspinner</b>: “Deathrattle: Add a copy of a random Beast
card to your hand. (Chosen from the list of all Beast cards)”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Here the text is designed to line up with Thoughtsteal (this
is critical for new cards and has really hurt the Naxxramas spoiler effort),
and also the text uses a parenthetical reminder once again to explain what is
happening. The rules can say “Beast card”
references the list of all possible beasts unless otherwise indicated and “Beast”
means Beast in play unless otherwise indicated, but even with that technical
background in the rules, reminder text should light the reader’s path. You end up with “clunkier” and longer text,
but that’s the price of doing business in a clear and understandable way – it
sometimes takes more words. There is a
spectrum from the full rules text on one end to cards that just say “SUMMON AN
AWESOME INVENTION!” or have no text at all but do something nonetheless that
you have to learn through trial and error.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Text of <b>Shadowflame</b>: “Destroy a friendly minion and deal its
Attack damage to all enemy minions.” (It
turns out if you’re destroying a minion with Spell Damage +1, Shadowflame will
get that bonus. I assume we wish to preserve current functionality, just make
it more predictable.)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Proposed new text of <b>Shadowflame</b>: “Choose a friendly minion to sacrifice. Deal its
Attack damage to all enemy minions and then destroy it.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Preserving the ‘Feel’ here is tough, which is why I like
this example. I’ve even used a non-rules
term “sacrifice” to describe what’s happening even though that word adds only
clarity not actual functionality. This
is the kind of way I think you can bend “Strict” templating and end up in a
better place for it. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Text of <b>Lord Jaraxxus</b>: “Battlecry: Destroy your Hero and replace him
with Lord Jaraxxus.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Proposed new text of <b>Lord
Jaraxxus</b>: “Battlecry: Destroy your
Hero and replace him with Lord Jaraxxus. <u>FULL TEXT</u>.” (<u>FULL TEXT</u> is hyperlinked to a popup
or display in the blank space in the side of the window or something else
containing the full rules text of what will happen.) This article isn’t about gendered pronoun use
so I’ll set that aside for someone more qualified on that topic.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I only pretend to be smarter than the entire Hearthstone team as a part-time hobby, so I fully understand that the issue is more complex than can be fully treated in this blog post, and that many conflicting concerns are in play. I hope my analysis and the suggestions I am committing to the public domain here are helpful as the team re-evaluates its current templating philosophy and kicks around new approaches, which I do expect to happen as the game scales and the "wtf does this card do?" questions keep rolling in. Even if they aren't at all helpful or the team never feels a need to re-evaluate, I hope you all enjoyed the discussion on HS templating that I have been participating in and will continue to participate in.</div>
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-Matt Sperling</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Armchair Template QB</div>
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Matt Sperlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09068116459532701291noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-235663687017051886.post-14447687249213244092014-05-22T21:48:00.000-07:002014-05-22T22:04:18.202-07:00Pro Tour Journey into Nyx (Atlanta) Report<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">This report was originally going to be in the "Props & Slops" format. I'm in a good mood so I'll try for all "Props & backhanded Props." Let's see how it goes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Big huge props to
Gabriel Nassif, Gabe Carlton-Barnes and Martin Goldman-Kirst who all conceded
to me on day two once out of top 25 contention so that I could have a chance to
make top 75, which I did, which qualifies me for the next two pro tours.
Not everyone is as unselfish and understanding about getting a couple points to
someone who can really use them. I appreciated it tremendously. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">The other big huge props
have to go to Patrick Chapin for winning the Pro Tour. Patrick and I have
been friends for many years, and I've learned on several occasions that Patrick
is the kind of friend who would give you the shirt off his back or the big piece
of fried chicken if you were hungry (and he fucking loves fried chicken).
A man of truly grand vision, Patrick has put more sweat, passion, and hours of
work behind his vision for the competitive Magic: The Gathering community than
anyone I know. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Patrick is a leader also
in the way he balances that work with celebration of and appreciation for
everything and everyone he has around him. If someone's not having a
good time, Patrick's work is not done. I'm lucky to have Patrick as a teammate
but far luckier to have him as a close friend. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Props to Reid Duke and
Jamie Parke for breaking through to top 8. Everything you've heard about
Reid is true, which is high praise. Jamie is an old school background
player like myself who just snatched the mic and starting singing a lead
vocal. You haven't heard the last from Reid or Jamie, and again I'm lucky
to call them teammates and friends.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Props to Dan OMS for
helping us with offsite logistics while the PT was going on. Support via
email is key as you scramble to figure out what is happening at the PT and
compile the public information you gather.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Props to Wrapter from [that
Other Team] on his top 8. You could pick him as the best in the world and/or
the most likely to win the next big event, and you would be at WORST only very
slightly wrong. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Props to Hall of Famers
Finkel, Kai, Nassif, Bob, Karsten, Darwin, Rob, Jelger, PV, LSV et al for
showing up and giving a shit even if past their prime. Better to have had
a prime and lost than never to have had a prime at all like me. And I
think everyone benefits from them using their invites and try to win. So,
joking aside, props for still giving a shit.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Props to the bartender
at the Sheraton near the convention center. This woman was more understaffed
than the judges at a Bolivian limited Grand Prix but still kept the drinks
coming with a smile. No bar back, no cocktail server, no second
bartender, just her and a hoard of thirsty gamers. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Props to Atlanta for
having Uber. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Props to Waffle House
for being better than Dennys and iHop (sounds easy but there were a million of
these everywhere and when I went it was good). </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Props to Zac Hill for
finally mentioning on camera that he used to work in R&D and had some role
in the development of cards that were recently released. You might have
missed it if you took a break from the stream but trust me he said it at least
once on the record. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Props to R&D for not
having a cheap wrath in the block. If I wanted the same pieces available
every game I'd play chess.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Props to Tom Martell and
Paul Rietzl for hitting Platinum. Tom is better than you think he is and
almost as good as he thinks he is. Paul is as good as you think he is and
better than he thinks he is. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Props to the PT coverage
staff for getting a picture of me doing my Walt Jr. impression as Patrick drew
a land he needed vs wrapter. </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><o:p></o:p>http://imgur.com/r/magicTCG/tCazst5 </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Props to Andrew Cuneo
for being the funniest person over age 60 to come along since George Carlin.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Props to Marshall
Sutcliffe for the time he remembered which creature had been targeted by
Kiora's +1 the turn prior.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Props to Paul Rietzl's
opponent (Paul please tweet who it was) [edit: Marlon Gutierrez] that accidentally pointed to only one
of his creatures with a Mogis' Maurader trigger and told the judge the absolute
truth about his physical gesture when asked. Easy to fudge or reinvent
what happened; this guy went down with honor, integrity, and only one creature
with intimidate. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Props to WotC for not
having Michele of Gaming Etc deal cards for the PT. Who knows if I still
would have made top 75 if others weren't scrambling looking for cards the night
before the PT. If it ain't broke, find a local supplier to fix it as the
saying goes.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Props to Conley Woods
and Brad Nelson for taking some high-profile split card criticism in stride and
finishing top 50. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Props to Sam Black for
calling a judge on himself when he scryd into a card that wasn't in his deck in
a game he was going to win. Could have sent it to the bottom, sided it
out, fixed it between rounds - no one finds out and no real harm done - but he
did the right thing and played by the rules. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Props to runner up Nam
Sung Wook for playing well and being grateful to make the finals and willing to
fully celebrate the 2nd place when he lost. Oh and for playing fast even
in top 8. This kid gets it in my opinion.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Props to the members of
R&D who gave a talk on the design of Journey to Nix cards and
mechanics. The members of the Hex design team that were present can't
thank you enough. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p> -Matt Sperling</o:p></div>
Matt Sperlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09068116459532701291noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-235663687017051886.post-76003461163931677692014-05-06T10:35:00.000-07:002014-05-06T11:12:48.300-07:00Journey Into Nyx Policy Changes – For Players/Judges and /r/Spikes to complain about.<h1 style="background-color: white; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.6pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-size: x-small; line-height: 13.3pt;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="border: 1pt windowtext; color: #777777; font-family: Arial; padding: 0in;">[Guest post by friend-of-the-blog <b><i>Lucas Siow</i></b>. Send props to him, angry letters to me as usual. FYI - skim this post for context: </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; line-height: 17.733333587646484px;"><span style="color: #777777; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://blogs.magicjudges.org/telliott/2014/04/28/journey-into-nyx-policy-changes-for-players/" target="_blank">JOU Policy Changes</a></span></span><span style="color: #777777; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small; line-height: 13.3pt;"> -MJS]</span></h1>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrTDVHkQqJOEYkvNY1b_5SzpYrNhmubrLLm_1oqEG0rtU-HeRme4yJ4uXH7PIpaxnFXqH9rSM-5x0SOaujPq5mpsFNHXReOUFrFdQa-HtLemhjHAxr44U7wbXl3MPNdOz0EBI8x2DEOtk/s1600/pad.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrTDVHkQqJOEYkvNY1b_5SzpYrNhmubrLLm_1oqEG0rtU-HeRme4yJ4uXH7PIpaxnFXqH9rSM-5x0SOaujPq5mpsFNHXReOUFrFdQa-HtLemhjHAxr44U7wbXl3MPNdOz0EBI8x2DEOtk/s1600/pad.png" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="border: 1pt windowtext; color: #777777; font-family: Arial; padding: 0in;">Posted on</span><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: #777777; font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: #777777; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://blogs.magicjudges.org/telliott/2014/04/28/journey-into-nyx-policy-changes-for-judges/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank" title="3:42 pm"><span style="border: 1pt windowtext; color: #777777; padding: 0in;">April 28, 2014</span></a> <span style="border: 1pt windowtext; padding: 0in;">by</span> a level 5 commander player</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 9pt;">With the latest policy update, there’s a major change to the Electronic Device policy for Competitive and Professional REL. We wanted to make it really hard for casual players to use their phones to keep track of life totals while minimally impacting the ability of serious scum bags to game and abuse the system.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 9pt;">It can be summed up easily: Don’t use them during matches or any other “official” times (drafts, deckbuilds, etc). Its only ok to use them while taking a fake bathroom break, while looking at the pairings board and when appropriately hidden under the table as you pretend to drop things a (aka you are Mike Long). Taking a brief personal call is OK in an emergency – as a competitive magic player you probably have a lot of an important things going on outside of the tournament and we believe that. If you happen to be in the group of honest, non-emergency suffering magic players, we would appreciate if the 11 of you could leave your devices in your pocket until the match is over.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 9pt;">We tried having a policy to define what could be done with devices, but like most things which involved computers it ended up having too much downtime. We are committed to Stability, Performance and integrity in all of our decisions. We swear. We were planning on going with the make the same promise year after year until nothing gets fixed route, but the current policy was really out of date with regards to the capabilities of devices. We wanted people to behave themselves, but gamers are finding needle in the haystack exploitable loopholes which is just an unlucky feature of how popular magic is. We had the choice of writing a complex and ever-changing policy and immediately enforcing it without soliciting any outside advice/feedback or taking the cleaner route of disallowing them entirely during matches. Based on our experience with previous: Rules Changes, Pro Player Club Changes, MTGO PTQ announcements, GP rules changes, Magic Coverage, PT invite alterations and prerelease statistics we have decided that mixing both strategies was the safest course. Devices may be used freely at Regular REL; because - seriously - who tryhards at FNM? Outside Assistance rules still apply to those who names don’t rhyme with vidiguris.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 9pt;">A few players have asked about using video cameras to record or stream matches. This is allowed as long as the device is passive, not consulted, and you have permission of the Head Judge and each opponent. In other words we are calling this the Starcitygames.com Classic invitational Player’s Championship exception. </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13.3pt;">For reference, the following is a list of passive mobile computing devices:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 9pt;">Bricks.<br />Blackberry Anything.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13.3pt;">One other clarification that is not a policy change: at the end of extra turns, players are not allowed to flip over the top cards of their decks to do comparisons or see “how things would have worked out” to determine the winner of a match. We really want to enforce the notion that collusion should only take place between established players that are well versed in the tournament floor rules and magic culture. The rules do not allow players to look at those cards until the game has ended, and, once the game is over, it’s using an outside the game method to determine an outcome. Instead of that we would prefer if both players only colluded when using very specific legal language. We can</span><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">’</span><span style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13.3pt;">t tell you what language to use. But if you propose something we might be able to tell you if you got it right. Unless you weren</span><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">’</span><span style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13.3pt;">t specific enough. Because that would be coaching. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13.3pt;">Wizards feels very strongly that the game is moving in the right direction. Judges are not supposed to use rational subjectivity in making rulings. Instead we are one step closer to our ideal of irrational objectivity. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13.3pt;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13.3pt;">[posted by Matt Sperling but authored by <b>Lucas Siow</b> as noted earlier. - clarifying the auto-author-tag that appears below]</span></span></div>
Matt Sperlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09068116459532701291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-235663687017051886.post-39672823004733276532014-04-15T10:57:00.000-07:002014-04-15T10:59:08.815-07:00Announcing Grand Prix Magic Festival 2015 (Atlanta)! <div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">
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<b>Summer of 2015 means Grand Prix Magic Festival is back for its Atlanta stop! Head to the greater Atlanta-ish area the weekend of June 19th, 2015 to join thousands of Magic fans and enjoy all that Magic has to offer. </b></div>
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<b>Format:</b> Standard Masters block sealed deck day 1, draft day 2<br />
<br /><b>Tickets:</b><br />
<ul>
<li>One-Day Pass Friday only: <b>$70</b></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>One-Day Pass Saturday or Sunday: <b>$150</b></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>All-Access Weekend Pass: <b>$340</b></li>
</ul>
<b style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">VIP Packages</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"> (all packages include an All-Access Weekend Pass):</span><ul>
<li><u>Side Event VIP</u> (fixed side event seating, plus receive a pseudonym for when your name is called because you're late to a side event - never let your friends know you're drafting in round 4 again! Also included: access to the Losers Lounge) - <b>$450 </b></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><u>Bottle Service</u> (3 litre "handle" of water and up to 10 glasses (ice included) every 3 rounds, plus enjoy the privacy of a roped off private match area. Includes one free Commander side event entry) - <b>$750</b></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><u style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Platinum Emperion</u><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"> (all benefits of bottle service and side event VIP packages, plus one Bic pen and Grand Prix life pad, PLUS VIP golf cart rides to the restroom located near the hall's northwest entrance. Platinum Emperion members are guaranteed to receive a playmat while supplies and our desire to provide playmats last) - </span><b style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">$1250</b></li>
</ul>
<b>Prize Pool:</b> $4,000 for first, $2,700 for 2nd, with cash prizes all the way down to 100th place! The winner will also be driven to the airport following the event in the tournament organizer's own 2015 Lamborghini Aventador.<br />
<br />On behalf of FutureTimes Games we hope to see you there, and we hope you're one of the approximately 5 players expected to open an Ultra-Mythic Rare!</div>
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Matt Sperlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09068116459532701291noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-235663687017051886.post-86487631296177102012014-03-18T17:36:00.001-07:002014-03-19T15:21:49.909-07:00Conversation with Crackstyle Creator Sid Blair<div style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in;">
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Below is my brief conversation
with Sidney Blair, the player who was recently suspended from competitive Magic
for 18 months as a result of this post he made on Reddit, which went viral, receiving hundreds of thousands maybe millions of views: Grand Prix
Richmond Crackstyle: <a href="http://imgur.com/a/SjcgE">http://imgur.com/a/SjcgE</a>
(Original Reddit thread here: <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/202wd3/i_participated_in_one_of_the_biggest_magic_the/">http://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/202wd3/i_participated_in_one_of_the_biggest_magic_the/</a>)
<o:p></o:p></div>
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That’s the post as it originally
appeared, but you may have encountered it in a content regurgitator like
Buzzfeed or TIME Magazine, and/or alongside commentary and speculation about
Sid’s motivation, the impact of the post, and what the DCI (Magic's tournament rules enforcement body) should do about it. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Amidst all that commentary and
speculation, I didn’t see Sid’s own thoughts. His post was made without much commentary or
explanation. I chatted with Sid not
knowing whether he’d be pissed off, understanding, regretful, satisfied, or
whatever else. Here is my full
conversation with Sid:<o:p></o:p></div>
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(Image via <a class="account-group js-account-group js-action-profile js-user-profile-link js-nav" data-user-id="487514738" href="https://twitter.com/moiky00" style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;"><span class="username js-action-profile-name" style="color: #8899a6; direction: ltr; font-size: 13px; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="color: #b1bbc3;">@</span>moiky00</span> </a>on Twitter - NSFW).</div>
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<b>The Conversation:</b></div>
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Matt Sperling (MS): First of all, can you describe your goal
or mindset when you were taking the pictures and then posting them? <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Sid Blair (SB): My
goal was to make myself and my friends laugh. We have an odd sense of humor and
find this sort of thing funny. I decided to post the pictures I took the day
after I got back. I figured a few people would think it was funny, and the rest
of the world would think I was really weird. I kept it anonymous and never
intended to shame, bully or harass anyone.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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MS: That was certainly my impression of it. I've seen bullying, more to the point: I've
been the bully, and I've been the victim.
Most of us have. Your post just
didn't come off that way to me, with faces and names hidden, and not even any
commentary beyond the specific phenomenon (ass cracks) that you showed.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So you don't expect this thing to go viral, but it
does. My mind is focused now on the
naysayers first and foremost since the DCI took action, but there were
thousands and thousands of fans of the post too. Did the tone of the reaction change over time
or was it a pretty mixed bag from early on?
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<b>SB: Within a few
hours after I posted it, it had a ton of upvotes and most people thought it was
funny. I posted it in r/funny and r/MagicTCG and then left to hang out with
some friends. It wasn't until I was home later that night that I started
noticing a lot of negative feedback.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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MS: So you had your intentions when posting the pictures,
and you saw the reaction, both positive and negative. Did the public reaction change how you felt
about the post?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>SB: Well, from the
start I understood why people felt the way they did. I didn't understand why
people thought I was making fun of people for their appearance (other than the
obvious part) or why they thought I was "fat-shaming" but I did get
why people thought it was bad. It was crazy when I saw people start to call me
a bully or accusing me of harassment. </b></div>
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<b>Another thing that I didn't expect was
how the media made me look. A lot of the headlines on the popular websites
called me a "rapper" instead of me clearly explaining in the thread
that I played Magic. Making music is my creative outlet, but I never have
called myself a rapper. They made me look like an outsider that came in to pick
on people, which was obviously not the case. I think that that skewed a lot of
the public opinion when it comes to the pictures I posted.. There was a lot of
missing context that made me look like a bad dude. <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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MS: That does seem like an important distinction. I saw a few people point out that you
were a Magic player having fun at a tournament, not showing up just to take
these pictures. The response from the
other side was that as a Magic player, you should want to portray the game in a
positive way and make other players feel comfortable. Is that a fair point?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>SB: That's a very
fair point. I didn't mean to portray the community in a bad way. On the other
hand, people coming into events and seeing this type of thing isn't very
inviting and comfortable either. The community of Magic is largely an amazing
group of people. However, within every group of people is a much smaller group
of people that present the community in a bad way as well. Whether it be the
guys that make fun of new players for using Lava Axe which makes them not want
to come back to a LGS, the guys who have naked anime characters on their
sleeves/playmat that make women not want to play or the dudes that smell badly
and make people not want to go to a certain store. I think that vilifying me is
easier for a lot of people than realizing that they might have something to
improve about themselves for the community. Not to take the blame away from
myself, but that's how I feel. It's much easier to criticize someone else than
yourself.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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MS: I hear what you're saying about representing the
community. I think that's a valid way to
approach how to avoid situations like this.
And yes, people tend to point the finger really quickly, but not so
quickly when they're looking into the mirror. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Part of me wants to condemn the guy with anime tits on his
deck box, and I have condemned those guys, but another part of me is like wait
a minute, Magic has always made me feel like I could be myself and have fun the
way I like having fun. I wouldn't want
to play if people couldn't express themselves, joke around, and take chances
you maybe can't take at school or at the office. If someone's 8 year old isn't ready to hang
out in a diverse crowd of gamers, then they aren't ready to hang out among a
diverse crowd of gamers. I really detest
the idea of all of us becoming overprotective-mom approved.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Wizards of the Coast, which would like everyone to play,
probably feels differently. That leads us into our next topic. But before we go there, I have to remind
people that just because something aligns with the profit motive of the game
producer, doesn't mean that thing is good for the game or a just outcome or serves
the community of players. <o:p></o:p></div>
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On the topic of Magic protecting its own interests, how did you
react when you learned you had been suspended from participating in Magic
tournaments for 18 months? <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>SB: You bring up an
interesting point. This theoretical dude with anime tits on his deck box, for
example, gets a pass because he is expressing himself. I don't think it's okay
for the community at large to be cool with this guy having pseudo-nudity on his
MTG paraphernalia, but not cool with my controversial way of expressing
myself. I'm not saying what I did was right; in retrospect, it wasn't. Just
because these guys were exposing their ass doesn't make it okay for me to take
pictures of them, in the same way that Anime Dude shouldn't be able to get away
with having that shit because he's expressing himself. I think the line should
be a bit more clearly drawn.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b>On the topic of WotC
banning me for 18 months? At first, I was blown away. When I posted these
pictures, I never would have guessed that it would end with me being
"internet famous" and getting banned. I laughed when I read the email
because I couldn't even believe it. A lot of people believe that it's a
publicity move to ban me for as long as they did. A lot of people believe I
should be banned for life. I was reading about players being banned for 6/12
months for intentionally cheating, and also another player who was also banned
for the same time period for tweeting pictures of people and captioning them
with really rude comments, as well as allegedly "trolling" everyone
who tweeted back at him. I didn't caption these pictures with anything derogatory, nor did I antagonize anyone when
they replied to me on Reddit. A lot of people were making the comparison and I
felt insulted. Furthermore, I understand the position that WotC keeps. I
understand why they decided to make an example of me, even though I don't agree
with it. At the time of this conversation, I have appealed my ban to WotC and
am awaiting a reply.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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MS: Did you have any prior history of discipline from the
DCI? I've seen people stating you had a
discipline history, but at this point people have said all kinds of things.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I agree it's strange to see cheating get a 6-12 month ban
and you get 18 months. If anything it
really underscores who the DCI serves.
Cheating terrifies players. Your
post terrified Wizards' marketing team.<o:p></o:p></div>
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When your 18 months is up, assuming your appeal is not
successful, will you come back to sanctioned magic you think, or are you over
it? Any final thoughts you want people
to know?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>SB: I've never had
any prior discipline with the DCI. I had read that the precedent set by Gerald
Freas (the man I mentioned earlier) took into account his prior offenses of
bullying/disrespectful conduct, of which I have none.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b>If my appeal is not
successful, I'll have to wait it out. Magic is still going to be an important
part of my life. I hope that I never see a reason to stop playing. Sanctioned
Magic is only a part of the Magic I play, but it's significant to me. I have
been disciplined in a political manner and I have to understand my role in the
big picture. I look forward to the next 18 months, sanctioned Magic or not.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Matt Sperlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09068116459532701291noreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-235663687017051886.post-12125333018274747602013-02-08T23:45:00.002-08:002013-02-08T23:45:35.705-08:00FrankenBlade<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPpjqcX4gbaV6dNrwgRvVA4a4LAAglG856bwXgRuTtIT4OjqGdulgmlf9MgyCP2ZvnVgNc6VEBQxQvCctILdYmFKmC7wm-AMZusEqKXHwhAiMfmbFPZCEEBE6Kk6D6I7pvWGryycgD7E8/s1600/FrankenBlade.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="207" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPpjqcX4gbaV6dNrwgRvVA4a4LAAglG856bwXgRuTtIT4OjqGdulgmlf9MgyCP2ZvnVgNc6VEBQxQvCctILdYmFKmC7wm-AMZusEqKXHwhAiMfmbFPZCEEBE6Kk6D6I7pvWGryycgD7E8/s320/FrankenBlade.jpg" /></a></div>
I was reminiscing today with Greg Hatch about what we call Dr. Frankenstein's Caw Blade.
Greg shows up at a Costa Mesa Women's Club ptq with no deck and is resigned to not play. I walk in 10 minutes before the start of the event, and after 5 minutes of convincing, Greg is going to use my cards to try to build a CawBlade deck. Now I didn't have the deck, I just had 2 longboxes of modern playables. Greg and I go through it. We pull out 3 baneslayers, 4 mana leak, some snapcasters, some paths, a sword or two, 4 squadron hawk, some colonnades and mutavaults, 2 cryptics I think I had, a beta disenchant, a heavily played remand, might have been a vendilion clique, 3 wrath of God emerge. So Greg finds his 26 land, his 34 spells, and 15 cards looking like they might be in a sideboard (some relics, 2 meddling mages, that sort of thing).
Our 5 minutes are up so Greg is sleeving and registering the deck face up in front of his round 1 opponent. Opponent is just looking at this thing, likely thinking "ok he's got 2 cryptics, 1 maindeck wrath, 2 main baneslayers, 4 leak 1 remand, a disenchant, 1 of each sword...." It must have been as confusing as it was insane to try to play around, like this guy was probably 5% <i>less </i>likely to be able to win the match having seen FrankenBlade spread out before him. Greg beats him and several others. In the last round or the round before last Greg loses playing for top8. A tragic Frankenstein's Monster ending for the FrankenBlade deck, but its memory lives on. I'll never forget walking over and seeing an opponent get completely blown out by a Wrath of God when Greg had a sword in play and a disenchant in the bin. Greg was laughing about the serendipity of it all; his opponent was less amused and really really confused.Matt Sperlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09068116459532701291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-235663687017051886.post-51078173081158992332011-05-16T09:29:00.001-07:002011-05-16T09:29:39.189-07:00Are we playing Brainstorm correctly? (A rules issue)<span xmlns=''><p>I'm playing in a Legacy tournament. My opponent has 6 cards in his hand to start his turn, and during his upkeep he decides to first cycle a Lonely Sandbar, and then to cast Brainstorm. He draws one for cycling, and then he draws 3 from Brainstorm, puts 2 back, then shuffles his hand around thinking about what to do next. <br /></p><p>He decides to cast Bituminous Blast on my creature, and his cascade reveals the card Sylvan Library, which he casts. <br /></p><p>We move on to his draw step, where Sylvan Library triggers, allowing my opponent to put back on top of his library any card that he has drawn <em>this turn. <br /></em></p><p><strong>QUESTION 1: </strong>How can I obtain any level of satisfaction that the card he puts back is indeed one of the ones he drew this turn (for Question 1 purposes, assume neither of us realized this was a possibility when Brainstorm resolved)?<br /></p><p><strong>QUESTION 2: </strong>Next game, he casts Brainstorm during his upkeep, can I request that he <em>openly </em>track which cards he's drawn this turn? If not, why not?<br /></p><p><strong>QUESTON 3: </strong>A different opponent cast Brainstorm during a non-upkeep phase. Can I ask her to openly track which cards she's drawn this turn? If not, why not?<strong><br /> </strong></p><p><strong>QUESTION 4: </strong>A different opponent draws his card for the turn. Can I ask him to track which cards he's drawn this turn when he, say, plays a land? <br /></p><p><br /> </p><p>My argument for perhaps answering Question 3 in the affirmative is as follows: If "which cards are fresh," so to speak, is something I might need to know about, I should be entitled to track it so I know I am not being cheated. If I am entitled to track it in some contexts, nothing in the rules provides guidelines for differentiating those contexts from all others in which I might want to track the same information. <br /></p><p><br /> </p><p>The rules handle a similar issue regarding Morphs by explicitly addressing the problem in the comp. rules. <br /></p><p style='margin-left: 30pt'><span style='font-family:Times New Roman; font-size:10pt'>"707.6. If you control multiple face-down spells or face-down permanents, you must ensure at all times that your face-down spells and permanents can be easily differentiated from each other. This includes, but is not limited to, knowing the order spells were cast, the order that face-down permanents entered the battlefield, which creature attacked last turn, and any other differences between face-down spells or permanents. Common methods for distinguishing between face-down objects include using counters or dice to mark the different objects, or clearly placing those objects in order on the table."<br /></span></p><p style='margin-left: 30pt'><br /> </p><p>In a similar vein, all cards that search the library for a specific card type require that card to be revealed in order to avoid a "just trust me" result. <br /></p><p>Rather than rely on a player's honor or a judge's presence, players are required to track openly what otherwise would be hidden information, where that information is necessary to maintaining a clear understanding of the gamestate. Why isn't there a similar rule for cards drawn, given that <em>not </em>allowing it to be tracked <em>can </em>lead a situation where I just have to trust my opponent? </p></span>Matt Sperlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09068116459532701291noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-235663687017051886.post-47210614621162383292011-04-28T18:03:00.001-07:002011-04-28T18:03:15.513-07:00Trace the Mistake Back...Now, Keep Going<span xmlns=''><p><br /> </p><p>When the spoiler bannings (Wafo-Tapa, Matignon, and cohorts banned for leaking the spoiler) were announced, a detail emerged that was glossed over by Wizards. <br /></p><p>Why the hell were some players given confidential information that they could use to gain a competitive advantage in Magic tournaments? <br /></p><p>Well, we kind of got the "why;" it was explained that the spoiler was given to aid Matignon in hyping the new set in his publication. There is no way disclosing the whole set is necessary. Why can't Matignon just talk about a preview card or two, or a mechanic? If an NDA is entered into with an author of preview articles, must it be a Pro Club member? The answer to these questions is that the benefit of providing this information to pro players couldn't possibly have justified undermining basic principles and expectations of fairness in competitive play. <br /></p><p>It's really frustrating to see such oversights come to light only after a non-disclosure agreement was breached. I lost to Wafo-Tapa in Worlds (where I finished a win away from drawing into Top 8 in the final round), but I was outraged before I even remembered that fact. My friends and I fly around the world and try hard to prepare for these tournaments in the limited time we have with the new set. We show up to compete on a fair playing field. That's one of the things I love about the game, and it is an obvious pillar of tournament play.<br /></p><p>The biggest mistake made was not Matignon sharing the list with his friends. It wasn't those friends sharing the list with the world. It was Wizards of the Coast providing an undisclosed competitive advantage to certain competitors. <br /></p></span>Matt Sperlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09068116459532701291noreply@blogger.com31