u/Wretched_Little_Guy

Hello, users of r/mtgvorthos!

I'm u/Wretched_Little_Guy, and I'm one of the junior mods on the team here on the sub. I'm writing today in representation of the other mods, with their blessing (and proofreading!).

We wanted to announce to you all that there's going to be an upcoming moratorium on Universes Beyond-related posts and power-scaling discussions. The moratorium will be in place from June 1st to August 1st.

To clarify, any posts discussing characters, lore, art, color identity, etc of a Universes Beyond card will considered a violation of Rule 2 (Relevant Content). Any posts centered solely on powerscaling will be considered a violation of Rule 3 (Low Effort Content). We feel comfortable focusing on these subjects because we feel that they aren't necessarily unique topics to this subreddit and can be hosted in other fan spaces during those two months.

In an effort to anctipate your most pressing questions:

WHY A MORATORIUM INSTEAD OF A BAN?

Moratoriums, by their very definition, are temporary, whereas a ban is permanent unless revoked, and we didn't want to do anything permanent when we ourselves haven't reached a consensus.

WHY UNIVERSES BEYOND?

Our mod debates (and I emphasize debates, not arguments) over the topic seem to be a microcosm of the fandom's back-and-forth. Some of us mods feel that any character's presence on a Magic card opens them up to discussion in Vorthos terms, while others feel that this subreddit should be limited solely to Universes Within Magic characters. The poll posted by mod Alaya a couple of months ago was meant to sample opinion on this topic, and this is a follow-up after we discussed the results amongst ourselves.

WHY POWER SCALING?

This is something that has been far less on our radar until recently, but the recent trend has drawn an outsize amount of reports on our end, including some choice name-calling.

WHY THIS NOW?

The wheels of moderation turn slowly sometimes, but they turn. We strive to curate a good subreddit experience for you folks in this little corner of the Magic fandom, but we mods are volunteers juggling lives of our own and coordinating with each other across multiple timezones and continents. To be perfectly transparent, this is an experiment of sorts, and how this goes will determine how we may approach some problem topics in the future.

Thank you all for reading, and we're sorry about any ruffled feathers from this. We'd like to hear from you regarding this decision if it moves you one way or another, just please follow Rule 1 so we don't have to ban anyone for calling each other stinky nerds (really). Questions, concerns, and clarifications are all welcome in the comments below or via modmail.

This is meant to be a counterpart to the many posts celebrating off-meta picks for ranked climbs!

When navigating Champions and building a team, you can utilize Pokémon and tactics that been established to function successfully and reliably (the meta), or you can attempt to craft a counter or check to said successful Pokémon and tactics (anti-meta), and so the dance goes.

We all want to win with our favorites, and it's amazing seeing people push less successful Pokémon up to Masters out of sheer love, or to see written-off picks like Ariados (and classically Pachirisu) have impressive niche use within specific regulations...but as a self-professed contrarian when it usually comes to Pokémon metagames, what are some of the POPULAR Pokémon or team archetypes you've forced yourself to use for competition's sake that have actually grown on you? Has the meta embraced you back?

I didn't dislike Archaludon prior to Champions, but I was a lifelong casual Singles battler before and never understood his potential in Doubles. He ended up being workhorse of my first season team, and he's become a massive favorite, that bulky bridge bastard tanked a Sleep Powder and three turns of Confusion to get me to Master 4!

I love him so much I'm trying him on a Gravity-based team for this current season instead of my modified Zheng Bridge squad since people are getting wise to that archetype.