I closed out last year by discussing the Commander Rules Committee’s (RC) goals for 2022. In the same spirit,I want to close out this year by reviewing those goals and assessing how we did in meeting them. I know going in that we had some rather ambitious things in mind. Even if we didn’t get to where we wanted to be with certain things, I’d rather fall short while making an effort than not try at all.
For each of the major goals in last year’s piece, I’ll offer up what we did or why we didn’t, and then grade us on what we achieved. If something is in the works on a particular project, I’ll let you know.
RC Expansion
RC expansion was the year’s primary goal. It was long overdue, and I’m quite pleased with the results. Olivia and Jim both bring powerful tools to the team. In addition to being serious fans of the format, they both bring a sense of gravitas with them—tempered at the same time by a sense of fun and adventure. Then we add the fact that they’re simply amazing human beings, and we have a recipe for success. The two of them have already started some great work, which you’ll see the results of in short order. To be honest, what I’ve seen of their project so far exceeds even my somewhat lofty expectations for the two of them.
We worked tirelessly on getting this done. After a great deal of discussion, we winnowed a potential list down to six candidates, then ran two rounds of interviews. I’m not going to divulge the names of the other folks who we talked to, but I have no heartburn if they make mention of it at some point. The short version is that they’re all great people with excellent skill sets. Any one of them could have been a compelling choice. It wasn’t easy saying no to them, but there are only so many seats.
That work didn’t begin after we announced we were going to expand, but much earlier. I believe that you don’t just leave potential candidates for positions you want to fill to their own devices; you cultivate them. This isn’t to suggest that we picked Olivia and Jim out of obscurity and ran some Pygmalion action on them. They were already significant personalities in the Commander community, which we felt befitted the role we were asking them to step into. What we did with the two of them and some of the other candidates was help open some doors and get them introduced into the broader Commander and Magic ecosystem. Also, simply, we just had conversations. We talked about format philosophy and the Commander biosphere.
Having these kinds of conversations is something I’d like to do with more people more often. To me, it makes sense to help people develop some of the skills or knowledge base that would qualify them for a Commander Advisory Group (CAG) or RC seat. Obviously, we’ll end up with more people than positions, but that just means that, when the time comes to replace someone, we’ll have multiple good candidates—and everyone will have received a better look into what and how we do things. Part of my time when traveling to events will go toward round tables and extended conversations with folks who have either expressed interest in getting involved or whom we might want to nudge in that direction. While I love slinging spells with folks, the best use of my time might be helping prepare both people and the format for the future.
Speaking of the CAG, it wasn’t necessarily a specific goal, but we added three outstanding individuals to the CAG during the year: Rebell, Tim Willoughby, and Benjamin Wheeler. All three of them have very keen Magic minds and bring sharp perspectives to the table. We weren’t looking to add CAG members, but sometimes undeniable individuals cross your transom. That was the case with all three of them—and it turned out we were opening up some seats. I do want to note that, while Olivia and Jim both left the CAG to join the RC, that’s not a required path (nor do I hope it’s an expectation). We interviewed non-CAG people as well. It just so happened that this time, the two best candidates happened to be right in our backyard.
Grade: A. We might have been able to do as well. I don’t know if we could have done better.
Website Update: Banned Cards Tools
This project is the one that is in most want of doing, but it’s also the one that’s the most time- and labor-intensive. Unfortunately, because of the time investment, it’s the one that didn’t get the kind of attention it needed. My hope is for 21st-century tools that’ll help us to make the information players want regarding banned cards—namely why they’re banned—right at their fingertips. I suggested a rollover that revealed an explanatory paragraph. From what the technically-inclined folks tell me, I might have been thinking a little too small. Apparently, we can do more and engage deeper with hot links to wiki-like tools.
A portion of the work is ongoing, but it’s the part that you won’t see until the work is completed. Using his already-excellent document explaining the cards on the Banned List as a baseline, Tim Willoughby is crafting the explanations to be a bit more concise at the first level. Links therein will then lead to either deeper explanation from us elsewhere on the site or to external writings on the particular card/subject which we feel do a good job of engagement.
As far as the tools themselves, Rebell has agreed to take the lead on development and implementation. She has some excellent ideas for both the short and long term. I’m happy that she’ll become the kind of caretaker that for quite some time the site has lacked.
Grade: C-. We got too far behind the curve and have yet to make progress catching up.
Website Update: Expanded FAQ and Philosophy
An expanded FAQ is intertwined with the explanation of banned cards. I also wanted the FAQ to have a rulings sub-section of common card interactions that come up in the format—especially those that folks struggle with. I’m still emotionally dealing with the fact that opponents’ creatures that enter the battlefield as the same time as Urabrask the Hidden don’t come in tapped.
Once again, we were victims of the time investment. We simply didn’t have the cycles through the course of the year to take care of this. Part of the fault there is I expected to have more time to work on things like this, but a few medical situations significantly cut into my time. A failing grade on that half is reasonable and appropriate.
That said, the project I mentioned earlier that Olivia and Jim are working on is updating the Philosophy Document. We’re not changing the underlying philosophy, but how we articulate it is undergoing a major update. I don’t want to spoil anything, but the work I’ve seen so far is outstanding. There’s a very clever linkage between philosophies and practices, with constant reflection of underlying motivations in the decisions we make. It’s truly excellent work that I hope we’ll have done before the second quarter begins.
A Commander Philosophy Side Note
Speaking of that philosophy, I know that there are some of you who are first-time readers. I want to articulate something that folks who have been around a while have heard me say (and some of them in various degrees disagree with, which is both reasonable and expected).
We don’t manage Commander like any other format gets managed. We’re here to create a social experience, something that other formats don’t strive towards. They manage mechanically—that is, generally towards a tournament-focused end. Other formats seek balance for competitive play. That’s not one of our concerns.
To a great extent, we’d like players to enjoy the cards that they find fun in (“fun” being an understandably subjective term), which is one of the reasons we keep the banned list short. We go after the ones that we think have the greatest negative impact on the social experience for the broader player base. The factors that we take into account aren’t the same as those other formats consider, so it makes sense that to some eyes there’s inconsistency in our list. I think that impression comes from looking at the Commander list through an other-format lens. I get how that could make things seem out of focus.
Anyway, things happen a little differently here than elsewhere, so if things don’t make sense to you, please see if you can look at them from a different angle (or pop over to the Discord and we can chat about it).
Grade: C. Part success, part failure.
Stream Expansion
Another victim of the dwindling amount of real time I had during the year in addition to other factors, this one that I wanted to take on mostly myself. I had hoped to be able to have another night of the week (or maybe weekend, so we could start early and get our European and Asian friends involved), but that window never opened. I had also hoped that my voice was in better shape. While things are looking up for me health-wise in general, I’m still struggling with the voice. Carrying the load on stream for a few hours just isn’t in the cards for me at the moment.
I’m also not sure if there’s a good answer here. Multiple factors seem to have arrayed against us. I wouldn’t mind a little something breaking loose, but I’m not confident that it will.
Grade: F. We simply didn’t get there.
Discord Enhancement
I’m happy to report that we’ve been able to offer a stipend to our three primary mods (four, counting Logan, who is basically super-mod at this point). We have enough trickling in from the stream to be able to do so.
While we haven’t gotten to too much of the real value-added or additional stuff we wanted to do, I believe that we’ve created a decent sense of community there. We’ve also increased our number of users from around 5,000 last year, to nearly 9,000 now. There is always a lively conversation going on in one of the channels, most often #format-philosophy. One thing we’ve done there is take advantage of Discord’s threading to focus discussion on specific issues or topics. We can have targeted discussion and feedback without bogging down the main channel. It’s worked out reasonably well.
Stepping up to the next level of engagement will take some staffing power. That, of course, takes resources. We’re going to have to come up with the latter before we can get to the former. With some ideas floating around and Discord now being able to have Patreon-like subscription tiers, we might be able to make something happen.
Grade: B-. Some decent stuff, but also left wanting more.
Enable Next Generation of Content Creators
This ongoing effort isn’t easy to base objectively (so I’m not going to offer a grade on it). The short version is that we take every opportunity to lift up the voices that might not get heard otherwise. We can do this by signal-boosting on social media, joining streams and interviews when invited, providing space on the website via the New Voices page, and a host of other things. The short version is that we just need to make an effort. The somewhat longer version is that we need to listen to people from the groups we’re trying to support in order to better serve them. I believe it’s part of our responsibility to create a fertile garden for the next generation to grow in. We’ll continue our efforts on this front—and take advice on how to do it even better.
We created an ambitious schedule for 2022. We didn’t get as far as I had hoped on a few things. Still, we’ll continue to work out the details. Most importantly, however, we met the goal of adding two new, vibrant people to the RC. Olivia and Jim have already had significant impact since their appointment. I have every confidence that they’ll be major factors in how we meet 2023.
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