The Freemasons of THL

By MartyB

​Every June, there is a small community of THLers that come together to find the best of the best. The Hall of Fame committee wakes up from its slumber, looking for new players to induct into the Hall. For most, the committee is a mystery, with no members officially made public. No official process has ever been provided to the public either. That is, until now.

Who is the Hall of Fame committee? THL’s innermost inner circle may be the most secretive and influential group in the entire league. The private server has just 17 members, about a dozen of which participate in voting each year. The members range from the expected veterans (no names will be given here) to the oldest members of THL itself. Several of these older members have been out of THL for years, showing no activity in the official server and even moving on from Hearthstone itself. Their yearly input, however, is just as valuable. The unfamiliarity with nominees helps the committee maintain an unbiased approach to the induction process, guaranteeing that only the best THL has to offer is welcomed to the Hall.

What does it take to make it to the Hall of Fame? For each category, the expectations are slightly different. Players are expected to break at least 55% match win rate (generally, players aren’t strongly considered unless their win rate is 60% or higher). Awards like championships and All-Star selections are also taken into consideration and heavily encouraged (to the point that they are all but required). For captains, the requirements are even harder: a 55% match win rate across all players captained for at least 5 seasons is the bare minimum. Once again, awards and achievements only help a nominee’s case. Finally, there’s the contributor category. Generally, THLers might associate this category with things like working in content or participating in an administrative role for several years. Some, however, are inducted via extraordinary circumstances. When an important figure in THL deserves recognition but doesn’t quite fit into any other category, they usually get that recognition here. Of course, there are always exceptions to the prerequisites above (several Hall-of-Famers have gotten into the Hall through unique circumstances despite falling short of the general expectations set), but the general consensus among the committee is that this is the bar THL's best are expected to meet. 

All of these categories also require consideration for integrity, sportsmanship, and character. Members of the Hall of Fame are meant to represent the best of the THL community. Players should not only be well-liked amongst THL, but also represent THL’s culture and values from a community perspective. This isn’t to say that the committee plays favorite with its nominees either—the diversity featured on the committee is meant to minimize any favoritism in voting—but nominees are expected to meet a certain standard as members of the community as well.

For the most part, votes are nearly unanimous. The committee has an internal rubric that is used to grade every nomination, and members are generally aligned with who meets those requirements. Occasionally, however, there are a few nominees that challenge the committee’s standard for the Hall. Nominees are required to win at least two-thirds of the vote to be inducted, making those on the cusp of the threshold a hot debate for the committee every year. Sometimes, the question is a matter of whether achievements alone outweigh an individual’s performance. In other instances, the controversy surrounding the induction comes from others who have or haven’t been inducted. Nominees are constantly being compared to others in their potential class as well as those in previous classes to uphold the same standard that the Hall of Fame began with back in 2017.

Debates and discourse regarding nominees also have a habit of bringing up questions surrounding what the Hall is supposed to represent as well. Members of the committee from years ago have different feelings regarding how the Hall should select its inductions compared to those who joined more recently. A recent topic of debate was in regard to the increasingly large class of 2023. 14 THLers were inducted into the Hall of Fame that year, ballooning the Hall’s size more than ever before. Several members of the committee felt that this went against the Hall’s original purpose of highlighting the best of the best, as removing scarcity would tarnish the weight of induction. Others argued that a perfect storm of circumstances justified such a large class: the COVID-19 pandemic, during which THL exploded in popularity, was just wrapping up; Wild series was finally seeing its inductions begin; and the class of 2023 was the first class in some time after the Hall of Fame committee moved to yearly inductions instead of seasonal ones. Those for a larger class eventually won over the rest of the committee, but debates surrounding these numbers, as well as when and how nominees are inducted, are ongoing to this day.

The internal politics of the Hall of Fame committee exist by design. Members exist to constantly challenge each other as much as the criterion challenges nominees. One of the bigger concerns within the community is inducting a THLer that later falls short of the standard the committee expects from Hall of Famers, thus tarnishing the prestige that being inducted into the Hall of Fame brings. It’s a difficult standard to uphold, and one even harder to properly assess. Yet, when June comes around, the committee always finds itself doing exactly that.