Just for clarification (and correct me if I'm wrong), I believe the list is supposed to be looking like this at the moment:

Gem


1. Barney
2. Vert
3. Pure
4. Heebs
5. Frost
6. Brian
7. Natasha
8. Sleep

I'm ahead of Brian

Or maybe not - lol. I guess I didn't ask as soon as my match was done so maybe he's ahead of me...idk doesn't matter much

Three top quality opponents in a row.

Time to brew something good!

Subtle shade at heebee

yeah that was pretty decent for Gem, well done.


Gem and I will be playing Saturday evening at some point.


Gem is right that he and I have absolute nightmares of a gauntlet to face here. Gem/Barney, then Vert then Pure. Yikes. No free rides.

I'm trying to decide how I feel about this new tendency of cherry-picking the list for matches. I don't think i like it. When I'm king, i try to respect the list as-is and do my best to get a match with the next in line, if the person doesn't respond or can't play for a while and the #2 on the list reaches out, then I'm all for that. But I'm seeing that some people immediately move further down the list if they can't play number one immediately. Which LOOKS like somewhat cherry-picking the softer matches to pad your record. Let me be clear, I don't think Gem does this either so I'm not pointing fingers or anything. But I think the list should be respected as much as possible.

For instance, let's say that I thought that Heebs/Frost/Brian was a soft three-some where I might lose but not as likely to lose as if I was facing Gem/Vert/Pure. In order to EARN the right to play Heebs/Frost/Brian, I think i should have to fight Gem/Vert/Pure. If I manage to beat Gem, I don't think I shoudl be able to skip Vert and Pure just because they can't play that very same day.

Just wanted to float this cuz I think it's important to respect the list.

btw, who is it that has been consistently dethroning me as King the last few months, is it Natasha or Sl33p? I can never remember. I have an awful record again one of them (maybe both)

I think any reasonable effort to move matches along is welcomed and necessary, especially if we want more and more people to participate in KOTH. TBH - It appears that the recent kings making efforts to move further down the list to 2nd or 3rd man up has made a considerable impact on the number of matches held this last week.

Also, it adds impetus for the first man up to get off their keister and actually play their match. Of course, for all the efforts the matches that ended up being played were largely with the person at the top of the list. For example of the matches this week. I played Frostang (#1 on the list at the time), then I played Sl33p (#1 on the list), then Sleep played Brian (#3 on the list) because you and Vert weren't available and wouldn't be for 4 days, then he played Gem (#3 on the list) for the same reason as jumping you to play Brian. The rules say you have 24 hrs before you might be skipped so this all seems legit.

I said that from the very beginning. Under the current system, Gem could be #1 on the list and I could literally never play him just by playing whoever comes up as #2 and #3 forever. While I doubt anyone would do this early in the season, I absolutely think people would cherrypick matches late in the season, especially if they are on the border or the person they are dodging is on the border of top 3.

Yeah, exactly. I remember you saying that too. The list is getting all chopped up and I can see why its tempting to try and go after low-hanging fruit (I've never done it myself), but yeah near the end of the season this could be a problem.

The king's responsibility is to play the first person on the list. If the NEXT challenger (#2 on the list) is not satisfied with the amount of time it's taking for the King to play the first challenger, he/she can challenge the king (which the King SHOULD accept). But it should never be the king himself that initiates moving down the list.

I think that keeps it fair. I'm glad to see Natasha and Vert agree.

News to me.

I suppose this is true since there is no rule that the king must play the #1 seed if both players are online and the challenger messages they are ready to go.

We should all be rooting for the most matches possible to be played in a season. This allows us all to rack up more wins and gives more people a chance to participate. To me, the biggest problem is when the king is unavailable and the ladder grinds to a standstill.

Standstill is a relative term. When I was King for a long stretch, I was playing every other day and that STILL infuriated Gem, who expected like 6 matches a night because he's not human.

I would have hoped that Sleep messaged you, but I suppose should leave that for you/him to comment on. The communications with Barney are in this thread. If you've been available then speak up and get on challenging the King!

I agree that every other day is reasonable. Ideally if challengers are available in the top 1-3 slots, a couple matches can be knocked out on the same day.

I think the hard thing with KOTH is its dependent on 1 person (the KING) and the top challenger having schedules align in order to get movement on the list (or a couple challengers below that after 24hrs). It makes frequent matches difficult as we all understand MTG Duels isn't priority #1 in (most) of our lives.

That's why I'd really like to implement some sort of ladder based tournament that allows for every participant to have more frequent matches, with whoever was available. I'm still pondering how we'd make that work though.

There is exactly a rule to that effect:



Neither the first part NOR the second part of this rule is being respected.

You do it in the order of sign up.

The current CHALLENGER is supposed to contact the king to schedule a match. You don't have to play the match in the first 24 hours, you have to schedule it. Sl33p and I did that. We made a match for Saturday afternoon, but he played Brian and Gem cuz they were available before then. I'm saying this is a slippery slope, that's all.

Challengers aren't doing their part. Gem is probably one of the most robust challengers here cuz as soon as he's #1 on list when I'm King, I hear from him before I reach out to him. He's the only challenger that beats me to the punch.

So the #1 challenger should be reaching out to the King to schedule a match (and post it here). If that hasn't happened in 24 hours, then #2 challenger can reach out to the current King.

It's not the King that should be doing this cuz he has the most to gain by cherry-picking the list.

Again, i'm not pointing fingers or anything. I'm just noticing a new problem that hasn't happened before and it's because people aren't following the rules (which Natasha just claimed doesn't exist).

peace and love


and just to again show the current status: Gem and I are playing Saturday evening. We'll play earlier if we both are on at the same time and we both have time to play a best-of-three.

If Vert wants to play the winner directly afterwards, that would be boss.

You misinterpreted me Barney I was agreeing with Vert's statement about his issue with the current rules that could lead to cherry picking. My point was its not cherry picking if the #1 challenger is legitimately unavailable. Buuut, if the King is playing other people further down the ladder and the #1 challenger is also online I don't see that there's anything in the rules that forces the King to interact with the first challenger (whom they may be avoiding). At least, I assume this was Vert's issue with the current rules.

Basically, so long as the King is just trying to play as many games as possible, and not actively avoiding people, I don't consider it cherry picking.

Of course, if that was actually happening then the #1 challenger could air their greivances here that they were on and the King was choosing to play someone else while they were messaging that they were available. I'm pretty sure that the issue would resolve itself quickly (either that or the whole thing would blow up - lol).

ah good points.

Here's the thing though, with that type of situation, you could very easily cherry pick.

In the end, it's all about scheduling matches properly, and not just playing whoever happens to be online, unless that person is up next.

I think I'm the only one here who would air their grievances. Most people don't want the rep of being a dick.

And of course Gem, but he airs grievances so often that people don't usually listen to him anymore.

The boy who cried wolf