So the idea of a 'This week in NGA...' is a really neat idea, and I like the idea of it being a thing.
But...
I can only speak for myself, but when Im looking for a new community or some information, the more barriers you put between me and the actual sub-forum or information Im looking for, the less time Im going to spend trying. And since we're only a forum, I think thats worth considering. The idea is good, and should be a part of NGA in some way, but navigation barriers in front of content are costly when every topic and hobby is dime a dozen for websites about them.
A fair concern. I suspect that right now most of our traffic comes from links to specific areas, though, which the front page wouldn't interfere with.
For DotP, you could do a weekly decklist feature. The guy currently managing the master decklist thread (DJ0045) could probably help you with that.
I would definitely like to have one of those.
For RPG, the side-bar with open games is a neat idea. As for the weekly activity, a cool scene from one of the games could be highlighted each week, although that would require someone to actually keep up with every game, which I'm not sure if it's feasible.
Well, no, it would just require someone who reviewed descriptions sent to them by the people in those games. The Content Czars aren't actually responsible for making all the content, just managing it. The content itself comes from poster submissions.