Guildmages' Forum First Anniversary State of the Site

Note: This article was translated from Chinese by AI and may contain errors. Read the original Chinese version.

The title of this post is a tribute to the State of Design articles that MTG’s head design director Maro (Mark Rosewater) writes every year, in which he covers what MTG did over the year and the good and not-so-good feedback from the community. If you are interested, we highly recommend reading State of Design 2023 as well as the articles from other years.

Starting from the Beginning: How Was the Guildmages’ Forum Website Born?

September 7, 2023 was the date the Guildmages’ Forum website was officially announced, and it is a day worth remembering. This post takes everyone back through how our site started, what we tried over the past year, and what we learned from running it.

Around August 2023, I, a.k.a. cephille, published The Challenges of Promoting MTG in Taiwan on that fan page, and realized how awkward it is for Traditional Chinese-speaking players who want to share their thoughts on MTG and want more people to see them. Right around then, MiohitoKiri5474 came to talk to me about the idea of building a website.

Since we had such an opportunity, what were we waiting for? Say it and do it, let’s go!

The site uses Hexo as its framework, is written in Markdown, and is hosted on GitHub; the whole site was built single-handedly by MiohitoKiri5474, which was truly no easy feat. After about a month of preparation, the site finally went live on August 20, 2023, and the Facebook page of the same name went public on September 7, 2023. And just like that, Guildmages’ Forum (GF for short below) was born.

After the site opened, we gradually began recruiting, and the articles we published became more diverse; basically we spent our days playing cards and making friends, and whenever we met other players we would pitch the site to them XD

During this period, the site’s important third collaborator Jru also joined the team. His solid grounding in the rules and all-around ability have made him an extremely important partner in running the site to this day. About three months after the site opened, a friend kindly provided this promotional logo image. It looks small when shown on Facebook, but the actual image looks like this, so let us show it off here.

The three animals should need no special explanation. As for why the five colors are arranged counterclockwise, it is mainly to avoid any worries about infringing on Wizards’ patent. If you care, grab a mirror and look at it that way.

As of the time this post is uploaded, the site has a total of 137 published articles (including this one), of which Limited articles are the most numerous at 41 in total, which is a considerable achievement. Judging from the overall completeness and depth of the articles, you can imagine the effort the team members and authors have put in.

Want to know how the site has operated this past year, what the site’s focus will be next, and the team’s journey? Let’s keep reading!

How Does the GF Website Work?

GF is a static, blog-style website whose content is mainly MTG-related articles, including deck analyses, rules introductions, Limited guides, personal essays, and more. But before these articles are seen by readers, a lot of “invisible” effort is actually needed to make it happen. We would like to explain this part through these lesser-known contributors.

Writers

Without a doubt, the main thing that makes articles possible is the contribution of the writers. The articles on the site come mainly from two sources: those written by the team internally, and those invited from or submitted by outside contributors. Since the site currently runs on a model of free sharing, every article we publish exists because of a writer’s passion; through this process we have also come to deeply appreciate that there are so many people with experiences they want to tell and share, and who are willing to turn them into words so more people can see them.

From the front line, this is deeply moving. Every article is a showcase of an author’s personality and the output of knowledge they have internalized. Allow us here to offer my highest respect to every writer who has contributed, or continues to contribute, articles to the site.

Editors

The matter is not complicated: the most important thing about an article is that it looks good and is fun. The editor’s task is to accompany the author and make the article both professional and entertaining; but it is also a hard task, because it is mixed with too many subjective factors and must also take the author’s feelings and original intent into account.

As an editing member of GF, the most important thing is to serve as the bridge between authors and readers, so that readers receive professional information while subconsciously feeling entertained, and so that authors can also find the passion to keep working hard. As for the rest of the finer points, I will not go on, because they are neither good-looking nor fun XD.

This section was handled by editor faintmama, so the writing is especially rough and uncommonly poetic ~~blush~~

Web Administration Members

As mentioned at the start, MiohitoKiri5474 is the site’s main administrator, but as the site’s workload has grown, so has the load of maintaining a website, and we had to look for more web administration members. We are very happy that, a few months after launch, professional programmers were willing to join the team and even helped develop some new features. Many thanks! We have to say the MTG world really is full of hidden talent!

Readers

As the most important recipients of the site’s articles, we very much hope to have more and deeper interaction with readers. The feedback every reader gives us is precious and is also the driving force behind the site’s continued evolution. We sincerely hope the site’s readership keeps growing, so that readers and authors can grow together and spark more new ideas and endless possibilities.

If this has stirred an urge to share, you are welcome to submit your own interesting ideas to us; even if you feel limited by your writing ability, ideas and creativity should not be restricted because of it! Let our editing team help you finish the content you want to share!

Operational Highlights of 2023 to 2024

Over this past year, besides the better-known work of writing articles and running the fan page, GF has also tried to find collaborators and reader communities wherever possible; and internally, we have also made a series of attempts. The sections below cover the highlights of the site’s operations over the past year:

“People”, specifically MTG players with these qualities, are the major asset that has allowed our site to keep developing to this day. Along the way, we always had experiences of being turned away, being left on read, or having someone who was willing at first but could not collaborate long-term because of different expectations.

This is normal, since not everyone is willing or has the time to produce extra output. Yet we also met many people who were willing to share and who continue to make an impact. We are very lucky that our partners’ voluntary contributions have sparked more and more ideas among us, and this lovely positive feedback has given us the confidence to keep going.

Allow me a digression here. When I was little I played a KONAMI RPG called Suikoden. Its main storyline is quite simple and takes only about 20 hours to finish. Another key part of the game is collecting the 108 Stars of Destiny, the hero characters, and while doing side quests I often lost myself in it, spending two or three hours just to find the key information or item needed to get a certain hero to join. During this past year of looking for companions, it felt as if I were doing exactly that in the real world! My life this year has been especially fulfilling and happy.

Besides the partners we work with, there are also many seniors who generously offer advice and enthusiastic players; your suggestions have all continued to be discussed or gradually put into practice as the site has iterated. If we get the chance to meet at any MTG-related occasion or tournament, feel free to come chat with us!

A parody of the promotional art for the first Suikoden. By the way, a remake is coming soon, so interested friends can keep an eye on it XD

Producing Limited Articles and Continuing to Evolve

Starting with Wilds of Eldraine (WOE) in 2023, through the most recent Bloomburrow (BLB), and on to the new set Duskmourn (DSK) releasing this September, over the past year we have kept producing Standard-set Limited mechanics introductions, individual card ratings, and, starting with BLB, even Limited archetype introductions.

However, the card rating part of Limited has always suffered from a serious lack of time. This is mainly because there is only one week between the full card list being revealed and the Prerelease kicking off, which dooms this activity to run in a hundred-meter sprint mode. Despite the lack of time, after drawing experience from preparing several Limited sets and gradually building usable templates and methods, we have gotten better and better at it, and this will also be an important team output for the site going forward.

It is worth mentioning that when the site was first founded, due to a shortage of collaborators, articles were mainly based on a single writer’s ratings and subjective sharing; now the number of members taking part in Limited article discussions has gradually grown, and the team has started using a mode of multi-person co-rating and exchange of opinions, which has shifted the rating baseline toward the more objective end of the spectrum. Even so, in addition to objective team ratings, we also pursue a hybrid mode in which authors can each express and elaborate on their own subjective opinions. We hope these efforts help readers quickly get started with a new set’s Limited and find even more fun from there.

Looking After the Team Members’ Energy

From the Producing Limited Articles and Continuing to Evolve section mentioned above, under schedule pressure this is not an easy task; what is more, it is an activity you take part in on top of work, life, and playing cards. Therefore, we must make sure everyone has enough passion and energy, since only on that premise is “sharing” possible.

We place great importance on everyone’s enthusiasm, and this energy is the extremely important budget of running the site; we must use it carefully and avoid wearing the team out during discussions. Take each Limited article preparation as an example: before the event begins, the team holds an organized internal discussion and confirms which writers and editors are available; then we try to finish the job in the most effective way and with the smallest discussion cost. This process is never perfect, but after a few rounds of running in, we have gradually found our direction.

Of course, team members each have their own jobs and things that need their attention. If a team member feels too busy or needs a break for a while, then take a break! If we cannot mobilize enough people for an activity during that time, besides seeking outside help, pressing the “PASS” button is also a possible option. Just like when Modern Horizons 3 (MH3) was released and the team decided not to publish Limited articles for that set, it was a decision made with exactly this consideration.

Looking Ahead to 2025

More “People”-Oriented Articles

MTG is fun mainly because of the people who take part in it. Although everyone knows this, the role people play in the game and in the community, and how individual players understand and experience the game, will be what we want to focus on next. Specific plans and related articles will meet you when the time is right.

The Site’s Chinese Name — “魔風集會所”, Activate!

In the last subsection before the end of the article, we are very happy to announce that the site now has a Chinese name!!!

“Guildmages’ Forum 魔風集會所”

is our site’s new name, and the site’s abbreviation remains “GF”, which also carries the meaning of good friends. We actually brainstormed this within the team for quite a while. The reason is that if readers do not know the site’s keywords, then no matter how good our content is, it cannot be found; to increase the site’s visibility, a Chinese name that helps with search is necessary. Considering that beginners who want to join the game would most likely search with “MTG” or the Chinese “魔風”, this was also taken into account when conceiving the Chinese name, and it was finally decided by a vote of the team members.

Conclusion: It Is Like a Micro Startup

Running a website is actually like taking part in a micro startup. Of course, calling it a startup may not be precise, because our goal is not to make real profit; our goal is to bring a better and friendlier atmosphere to the Traditional Chinese MTG community, to have more people willing to share what they think and learn, and thereby to grow the population of players willing to invest in this game.

As mentioned earlier in Looking for Partners Willing to Share, you are the 108 Stars of Destiny heroes that the site is searching for! And through exchange after exchange, our site also hopes to become your good friends on your road of exploring MTG! Having read this far, if you are interested in how our site is run, or want to try writing a piece about your own thoughts on MTG, you are all very welcome to contact us by any means.

Just as the name of our site Guildmages’ Forum 魔風集會所 (GF) hopes: we gather because of MTG, use our influence to share, and thereby find more like-minded partners! Let us together make our own lives and the communities around us more interesting!