Rambling

I chose the Last Hero Standing format because I felt like it's a good introduction to the tournament format. I only have a  very limited experience with amateur tournaments, myself, and I know many others also have little or no competitive experience outside the ladder. The rules are more familiar for those who follow pro hearthstone and the strategy can be as simple as "I know what my opponent is going to play, so I pick my deck that has the best match-up against that". Simplicity in this first season is really important.

That being said, I don't want to be the only person responsible for making these kinds of decisions. It's not that I mind it, but I'm pretty sure that given enough time I'll have enough bad ideas to kill the league if left unchecked. I don't want that - I think this is going to be really fun and would like to keep doing it. For that reason I'm looking for for a few people who would be interested in participating in a governing body for the league. Not that the governing body would do anything yet. I'm trying to keep it simple, remember? Just keep the thought in your head as the season progresses, "Am I enjoying this enough that I'd like to be part of shaping its future?". If you'd rather not be a part of that, you can still help the league survive by giving me a heads up when make a bad decision. I take criticism very well.

In future season, I think there are many more interesting formats we can try out, such as Blizzard's new 'Conquest' format, Primata Cup format, and Pinnacle format. The nice thing about having a match once a week is that we can hold multiple seasons of different formats during the same period, and players can participate in as many or as few as they want. I'm going to hold them close to my chest for now, but I have lots of ideas for ways to tweak the formats and/or league rules to make different seasons feel like diverse experiences.

I hope you are all in contact with your teams. I've been enjoying discussion with the Hairy Generals and will now start working on setting up a team meeting. It's he team element that's going to make this special.

For next season, I'm going to cast a slightly wider net for players and my goal is to double the size of the league. If you're not a captain but at any point think you'd like to become one and form your own team, you can do that at any point and I feel confident that we'll have players to fill out your team when the time comes. You may have made a few friend on other teams and decide to split off a new team with them. Just food for thought. The future is bright for THL.

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