From the Commissioner's desk - We need your help!

Legends,
We're a couple of nights away from our next Town Hall (held in Discord), but there are a few key events that have already happened and a few more important ones to come. 

-Pro series playoffs were locked up tonight - congrats to the qualifying teams
-A couple of new board members were added to the roster last week - welcome to Dusharmo and TwoStarMako!
-Blizzcon is under a week away! 
-Legacy and Hero have one more week left of the regular season

And that last point is what we want to talk about - in a bunch of ways.

This most recent season has been fairly smooth by almost all THL standards - there have been some mild issues with team engagement, in some cases requiring mid-season replacements - but culturally, things are moving in a great direction. Players have gotten along well, our partnerships with organizations like NoProsHere and Ranklytics have been fruitful, and systems have been consistent in their operations even with new features being added. Content has also been excellent as always and the long-fabled Challenger series has launched, giving players an opportunity to try THL without needing to find a full team first.
In short, things are great - but we need your help. We're light on players and even lighter on captains, and THL needs to reverse course in the key area of people. Our goal is to hit 16 full teams of highly engaged captains and players in Legacy and Hero, and we're not opposed to bumping up Pro either. 

If you are currently a captain, we thank you for everything you've done and continue to do - it's a position not without its challenges, and THL literally could not exist without you. The most important thing you can do as a captain is help matches get played, and if your team is currently showing up and making the THL environment a positive one both inside and outside of match play, you are doing your job and doing it well. 

If you are currently a player, we're glad to have you! And if you've had a good experience on a team, now is a great time to think about becoming a captain on your own. It can be daunting, but if you have a group of players with you who have truly invested in the THL culture of competing while having fun and treating each other with respect, you have everything it takes to make a great team.

If you are currently a spectator or any other member of our community who isn't involved in series play, thanks for hanging out and anything you do to contribute! There's always room for another friend by the hearth. If you know anyone that you think would fit our organization, don't be afraid to shoot them a discord invite!

If you are new to us completely, welcome!! Come join us in conversation, play a match or two, and think about joining a team or even making your own. We've had some whole teams join us before (and I was part of a brand new team myself when I joined, years ago) - we're always happy to make new friends. 

And to everyone, we need cultural support - we are truly proud of where THL stands today and rely on the grassroots support of all of our members to help get the word out. Tell your friends, tell your twitch streams or podcasts, and tell your social media followers! Ladder these days has its ups and downs, and in many cases isn't enough to keep players perpetually engaged with the game. We need to make sure that people are aware of other ways to play, and what THL offers is truly something special. And when new faces show themselves around our discord, welcome them as best we can - we're going to be making some recruitment posts on Twitter and Reddit to get the word out and we want to make sure everyone has a great first impression.

Even beyond that, there's one very helpful thing you can do that takes almost no investment of energy at all - play on stream!! We've really struggled to consistently get matches on stream, especially from our marquee Legacy and Hero series. We need your help to make sure that everyone can see the quality and accessibility of THL, and we can't do that without players. The content team would love to see more of us on streams so we can make some great THL memories together. And hey, don't be afraid to jump in and watch as well so we can get some lively twitch chat going. 

I'm hopeful that we can grow our community once more and help reach new folks that can join in on the fun. Don't be afraid to share any ideas you have for engagement with the greater HS scene and thank you for everything you do!
​
-Hat