Writing contests?

M

Mikeymike

Guest
I would be most open to a contest with no limitations on the articles, with the exception being that they have some sort of casual slant. I think we can all make our own assumptions as to what this means, and if someone pushes the envelope too far, it'll probably show up in the judges' decision. We've probably all read enough damn articles about playing Quiet Roar vs. Control Black to understand what is decidedly not casual.

However, the folks here are clever enough to come up with casual angles on all sorts of stuff, and I think that should be recognized. I could see articles coming in on breaking crap rares, hot multiplayer cards from recent sets, fun rogue-deck tourney reports, 5-color decks, theme decks, and rants about Randy Buehler's hair. And I'm sure the people here can have very unique approaches to each.

As for judging, I'm up for having a panel of judges or for putting it to a general vote. Maybe we could even get another site or a casual writer at another site to link to the main page of our contest, and "outsiders" could vote in some way.
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Good stuff Sammy, I especially like the idea of getting an 'outside' judge. Although a general vote would work quite well too.

Another thing regarding the Ante idea, considering how many people have posted here saying they'd be willing to donate prizes - I don't think a 1+ rare stipulation per entry would really scare anyone away. 2nd and 3rd place prizes are fine too, since we'd probably get a ton of cards.

Either way, I'm getting antsy to start. It sounds like this would go a long way to continue the CPA revitalization which I've noticed in the past few weeks or so.
 
S

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
I'll go with that if that's what most people want, but my feeling is that if this is supposed to generate new writers to begin with, there shouldn't have to be an "entry fee".

And I think there ought to be at least two categories: deck and non-deck articles, if it's going to just be "flung wide-open" :)
 
N

Notepad

Guest
We should start with a general writing contest, open to all article entries so long as they fit the site's theme. Just like Star City's Article of the Week. However, this should span at least 2 weeks.

After that, maybe we could try out that ante thing. Sounds like a cool idea!


The first contest, might be good to announce it a week before it starts. Maybe try to get MTGNews to post a news story about it. I definitely think Star City would be nice enough to give it a link for a day. :) Chaos Turtle or Spiderman would have to email Ferrett about that, though.

I'd like to formally withdraw from the first contest. And in doing such am wondering if I could get on the panel of judges for it.

The second contest, I'd certainly want to enter, doing the ante thing. :D
 
A

Apollo

Guest
First, I don't think ante is the way to go. While it'd be cool for some people, I think it would discourage people who are submitting for the first time and aren't too self-confident yet (this would describe myself, were I submitting).

Second, I would like it to be an "anything goes" contest. Ideally, we'd get a pretty good amount of donations, and then we could keep it running continuously. Every other saturday, we'd pick the best article from the last 2 weeks, send them 4 or 5 cards, and start anew for the next 2 weeks. The articles could be of any sort: submit your deck, critique Randy's head, rant about M:OL, whatever you want. Make it interesting and entertaining, and you've got a shot to win. The broader the area we go for, the more submissions we get. And that's what we want out of this.

Third, the other sites might be reluctant to post something that might send their writers to our site. Hopefully, the Ferret (or whoever is running the show there now) would do us the favor, but there's a decent chance he won't. I know they're good people, but naturally they want the writers to themselves, right? I guess we'll see.
 
C

Chaos Turtle

Guest
Whatever rules you guys decide on are fine with me, of course. I wouldn't mind judging, if more judges are needed.

Ferrett usually links to whatever's on our front page if he thinks it would interest his readers; he'll link to it if he wants without us requesting it specifically. A casual decks article contest probably would not really compete with StarCity's article-writing contest, anyhow.
 
T

train

Guest
Having 2 categories would be the way to go... Maybe they could be deck and non-deck - just to categorize them...

In deck - anything dealing with decks

In non-deck - rants - which do make some good articles, play styles, tips on playing, improving your/the game, etc...
 
S

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
Maybe it already has somewhere else and I haven't gotten to this yet... :)

I've gotten some PMs from people who are gonna send cards. So it seems we need to finalize the format, at least the first time around. Should it be general, with the articles subdivided into deck and non-deck, and have two winners? Or just general period, with one winner emerging?

Personally, I vote for deck/non-deck, since the article styles are different.

Judges so far: myself, SeFRo, Chaos Turtle
 
D

Dune Echo

Guest
I suggest people put up good multiplayer cards if possible to support the casual-ness of the contest.

Spidey, I'll send you stuff soon. Please remind me occassionally.
 
M

Mikeymike

Guest
Did we decide on the prize cards? I'll send cards, but I can't send the 3 that SeFro mentioned (Horn of Greed, Teferi's Puzzlebox, Well of Knowledge). But I've got a bushel of funky Casual/MP Rares that are definitely playable.

We should probably list what people are willing to send, this way we can organize it so the winner ends up with 2 4x packs of a particular rare or 3 3x packs instead of getting 10 random singles.

I can deal with 1 general category, but I like the split of deck/non-deck articles - as long as we don't get 15 entries for one and 3 for the other.
 
S

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
I actually don't know what people will send me; if they want to post it, that's fine or I can post the cards when I get them.

train, I sent you a PM about the address.
 
N

Notepad

Guest
Here's the cards I'm sending in:

NORMAL--
Teferi's Puzzle Box
Well of Knowledge
Horn of Greed
Kangee, Aerie Keeper
4x Quirion Dryad
Chance Encounter
2x Mana Clash
Game of Chaos
Invasion Plans
Rogue Skycaptain
4x Blessed Orator
Kavu Lair
Kavu Chameleon
2x Kavu Mauler

UNGLUED--
Mine, Mine, Mine!
Charm School
2x I'm Rubber, You're Glue
Free-for-All
Jester's Sombrero
Timmy, Power Gamer


All casual/multiplayer good. Chance Encounter is made useful with the 3 coin flipper cards I'm sending in. Also tried to put in a few Kavu-themed cards. Hopefully somebody can fluff these up to 4 of each. ;)

Spidey still the dude to send all these to?
 
S

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
As far as I know. No one else has volunteered :)

The winner's not getting all of the cards, right? I'm thinking we should hold some back for the next contest (if this is supposed to be a weekly/bi-weekly/monthly thing).
 
A

Apollo

Guest
I was thinking you'd give away mebbe 4 cards every 2 weeks. That way, this contest could be a continually running thing, at least until the cards run out (assuming the 4 cards/2 weeks thing, what SeFro is donating alone would last 14 weeks). Which cards you give away could be random selections or, if we were to get 4 of each, you could give away 4-card sets.
 
N

Notepad

Guest
The winner's not getting all of the cards, right?
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I certainly hope not. :eek:

I tried to put in some themes among the cards. There's a coin flip theme, a kavu theme, an artifact strangeness theme and even a "share" them (skycaptain and some of the Unglued stuff). Then there's fragmented stuff, like Kangee which would go together with some bird submissions to be part of a bird them, and the dryad which could be part of a multicolor theme.

This way, it can be chopped up into nice little packs (maybe 4-8 cards each, more around 4?) as prizes with a theme.
 
C

Chaos Turtle

Guest
Stay tuned, folks.
An announcement regarding the first contest will go up soon.
 
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