Well, I guess I fulfill most of these requirements. The thing is that it probably doesn't work well with the Europe time zone; during the week my games could only be played in the evenings, which is early afternoon in the States. Time zone differences suck for this kind of stuff.

Good luck to all other applicants though :)

Few people are going to fit everything well; we'll manage workarounds when problems come up. If you fit most of the requirements, that's what I'm looking for.

Well, then leaving the time zone thing aside:

1 - I'm online on TO on a daily basis, most of the time multiple times or even hours at a time. Although I might not always have that lot of a time each and every day, I'm pretty sure I can find the time to sum up other responses or pick something out of a pool.

2 - Yep, got an MTGO account.

3 - I can stream (and comment in voice) on twitch.tv. My channel isn't regularly used at the moment, but the set up is definitely there.

4 - This is probably the most subjective. What I can say is that I did have a lot of fun reading the last two draft debates and semi-regularly made plus-votes for cards. I'd say I'm a 'relative' newcomer to TO (also, to MtG), having joined TO in January, although you've probably seen me around the site already - one of my decks was even featured in the Aprentice's Workshops.

Well I'll be very interested in being in one of the groups, but I'm not confident in my ability to lead one. I'll be awaiting the group sign-up.

I do enjoy that the only people discussing each pick will be the ones playing the pool. It will keep down a lot of awkward mob votes, and may highlight some interesting tunnel-vision.

Question: How is the rest of the community going to be involved in this DDD? Will they get pretty much the same report as always?

1. • I would be happy to lead a group.I am almost always connected to the internet and can make time to make this work. Shouldn't be a problem. Bigger question is... how are we going to communicate with our groups? will we have threads only certain readers can see? I think that might be the optimal route to go.
     
2. • I don't have a MTGO account at this time but i can acquire one as i have been thinking about doing this for some time now any how. Was actually just waiting to see if they were going to do a promotion with the new release of the software.
3. • i have no idea if i can video record this or not as i have never attempted such a thing... but... it might be possible. Doesn't MTGO have this capability built in now?.
4. • Long time user and frequent daily draft debate contributor. I have really enjoyed this series in the past quite a bit and would like to help so everyone can continue to enjoy these and would be happy to facilitate these things moving forward. Count me in.

When does the DDD start? I'm out for next week.

I would also love to head one of the groups. I'm fairly active in the magic community and would say I have decent experience drafting. I do not currently have a Magic Online account but would be absolutely willing to get one upon being selected as a leader. I also have software and would be able to record the games as I play.

Love the new format. I'll do my best to make sure it works out, but I'll do that as a team member.

I'll hold off on offering myself as a team leader. I'm a Mac user and while I could easily get Windows to run, well... it's such a bother. In the unlikely event that not enough members are willing to lead, post on my wall. I'll step up.

I gladly volunteer if you need me.

1 - No issues here. I have a little mini vacation from the 20-25 of July but this should be over by then if things go smoothly. (I hope I didn't jinx it)2 - I'm on MTGO, no worries.

3 - I can download something easily. I also have audio capabilities.4 - I've been here for a while, although I did have a 2 year hiatus.

Hey there. I would be happy to lead a group. I stop by here just about every day, and certainly don't mind upgrading that to every every day. I have an MTGO account, can certainly download some video capture software, and have been at tappedout for a couple of years, now. The daily draft debates are great and i have been hoping to get more involved in them for a while. Do we get team names? :-p

Love the idea of this. Though won't Elaine get lonely?

I'll offer myself up as a group leader, with the following in mind:
- I possess a MTGO account (fairly neglected, but existent) and have plenty of time on my hands for something like this.
- While I have no experience streaming / recording (I assume watching streams nor dating a livestreamer counts), I'm willing to learn ahead of time for it.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE form a EU based team. Not everybody here is from the US and participating in a debate with 6 hours between questions and answers is not so exiting. I know that the actual matches may be difficult to be played across the Atlantic but I rly hope you can give us people from the old continent a chance :D

I'll volunteer. I've only been active here since a bit before the GTC DDD, but I think I meet most of the criteria.

1. I have work during the week, but I can access TO on my phone if I'm out and I don't have much else occupying my time this summer.
2. Don't have an account, but I guess I can spare 10 bucks
3. I have FRAPS and can record audio, never done a livestream though

I plan on drafting modern masters later tonight ill see what I can do about recording it and streaming it as we'll.

I think I could lead a group. My time spent on here is largely from work, and I can make picks here with no trouble. Remembering to pick on my weekends would actually be my largest hurdle outside of getting a stream setup going, and I understand that to be relatively easy to set up. Actually playing the games would be my most interesting issue, because I work a 2nd shift job. But if scheduling can be worked around then I see no problem there.

The only stumbling block I might run across is that if this takes a bit to get started, and we run over my trip to PAX, I might be hard up to participate for a few days, but that's the tail-end of August.

I would like to finally make use of my MTGO account. I've drafted a handful of times on there, with little real collection to speak of.

No intent on leading a group but ill pay for my own drafts and y'all can dissect them if y'all want.

An EU based team sounds kinda fun from a theme standpoint. Some sort of team identity just adds to the fun. Although I don't know that the time differences are all that big of an issue. Here in the US, some people are on early morning, some late at night, and everything in between. No matter what happens, people will be on a different times. But that could maybe be a consideration in who gets placed on what team(if it matters). Members could say when they tend to be online. I, for example, would normally be on around 1-2 am, local time.

I'd be interested in either leading a group or being in one. I'll post the requisite qualifications I have.

1) My real-world job is in Logistics. Every day I must be in constant communication to and from various people. I have to make sure that information is relayed quickly, clearly, and concisely. I'm pretty good at it, if I do say so myself. =)

2) I have an MTGO account already. Username: BuLLZ3Y3

3) I might be able to record games via FRAPS (it's a matter of okaying the purchase with my wife). If I can't do that, I can always watch replays of the games and copy down MTGO's game notes. Those provide a very detailed play-by-play.

4) I've been on TappedOut for a while now (I was even in the running for player of the month at one point, but I can't remember who beat me out).

============================================================

If you don't need a team leader, I'll gladly be a member of one of the teams. =D

-BuLLZ3Y3

I do have one question though: Would there be a central way for communication? Such as threads only team members can see? I believe that was already suggested, but I think that would be the easiest way for all of us to communicate. There are also several voice-chatting programs (Skype, Ventrillo, etc.) we could use between teams as well.

Just some options.

-BuLLZ3Y3

To answer some of the questions, suggestions, and concerns:

1 - @landgrafb - Everyone will get the same information at the end of the draft (AFTER the games are played) as usual. I will be seeing what everybody picks and compiling interesting information on it. I am also toying around with having an "observer" group which will have private access to the ENTIRE draft as it occurs.

2 - @DeckBuilder345 - I didn't think that MTGO had native recording stuff, but I could be wrong about that?

3 - @http404error - It'll start probably just after you get back. If you're planning on just being in a team rather than leading it, you can join whenever. If you're a team leader, I'll be in touch with all of them to ensure that everyone's set before we start.

4 - @landot - Team names are MANDATORY.

5 - @GureiSeion - My local group, I think, will be more relieved than anything that I'm not bothering them anymore.

6 - @everybody - If you lead a group and have to take a short break in the middle, that's fine as long as you designate someone to keep things running in your absence. As long as everything gets done on time, you can do whatever you want, basically.

7 - @vic and VRonin - I had originally thought to randomly assign the teams, but severe time zone differences might justify the creation of groups by locale, if we can still keep the groups balanced. Good idea there.

8 - @BuLLZ3Y3 - Your group can coordinate in any manner the leader sees fit, but the default that should be accessible to every member of a group is a private Tappedout page (just create a private deck and share it with all group members) so that even people without the ability to use Skype or Teamspeak or whatever can get in on the action.

My lack of MTGO account (and willingness right now to make one) excludes me as a team leader, but I'm totally on board for one team or another.

Also I hope we draft MM for the next one because I just did that last night and it was the best drafting experience outside of a Cube. And of course my red/white giants deck was bitchin'.

@thebeardedshuffler - MM is probably excluded for budget reasons. Thing's EXPENSIVE.

Aww.. well I can understand that. Maybe if the team leaders are willing to go halves though?

I can dream...

This is gonna look like a lot of fun, can't wait to join in!

I'd be willing to join in as a group member, I just wouldn't be able to lead a group, mostly because i dont have an MTGO account and I really don't want one.

I just have one question - How are teams going to be formed? Do people just choose what group leader's team they want to be on, or is randomly selected (maybe with few preferences due to time zone issues) or what?

I'd love to be in, however I think being a leader will not be optimal for me at the moment. Lacking the MTGO account, the way to record, and I'd probably be pretty stubborn when it came time to make the picks :)

I'd like to help out though.

One thing, are we going to draft this the right way this time? DGM-GTC-RTR. The other way was stupid.

KrazyCaley: Would it be possible for the observer group (if it happens) to compile their own commentary, perhaps alongside yours? I would absolutely LOVE being a part of that, and I have some experience building cohesive works from a hivemind (google docs ftw!).

@TheSeventhNinja - I was going to select it randomly, but time zones might indeed be a factor; that's just common sense. I just don't want the teams becoming imbalanced due to everyone picking this or that team.

@Kravian - Of course!

I'm probably not cut out for being a group leader (even though I've been around for 3 years, I don't post that frequently), but I would definitely love participating in one of the groups as a member. I'm really liking the idea of the new format.

I do have a few questions about the logistics, though. One thing I haven't noticed addressed is whether the group leader gets to vote. Since we're splitting the community 8-ways, I would imagine that each group will become rather small, so whether or not the group leader gets a vote in the debate would make a significant difference. Especially since those group leaders would be the members of TO that used to participate/vote most regularly in the DDD.

Also, are the groups locked after the debate starts? Currently, new TO members can join in the DDD whenever just by seeing the newest article on the front page, and I believe that's one of the greatest factors in the popularity of the DDD. The new system doesn't really allow for new people joining the voting groups, does it?

Maybe the observer group should be easily accessible for anybody not already in one of the voting groups? You could maybe then have access to the observer group be advertised through the TO home page? The problem then becomes making sure that members of the voting groups don't slip people into the observing group, but I guess that was always an inherent problem with the observer group. I can't really think of a solution to the existence of the observer group other than to trust our community.

Some thoughts:

I had also wondered what would happen with new people coming on board. mossflower has a good idea there. Otherwise new people would somehow have to be assigned one by one. That could get tricky.

I like the idea of an observer group. This whole thing is a learning experience, and we would get to see if the observer group gained any advantage or not. Along those lines, it might also be interesting to have one group that was completely out in the open for everyone to see. Again, we could see if there is any real disadvantage with that. I have always wondered about that.

After the draft is over, it would be nice to be able to go back and look at every group's threads and see how things developed.

Picking teams by locale provides some kind of a basis for team identity/camaraderie. Small point, but I think that would be nice.

I propose that group leaders don't have to pay for an MTGO account, since they are doing the work. I am not set up to lead a group, but I would happily pay the 10 bucks for someone else.

What is an MM draft?

I liked the way we did it last time. I think having the biggest mana-fixing set last makes a certain amount of sense. But I would be happy to try it the other way for variety.

@vic - Modern Masters.

@KrazyCaley - It could be interesting to do a chaos draft, now or later. Having each group pick which packs to use could spark some interesting debates. Just a thought. Prices will definitely vary, but we could impose some restrictions so people aren't all picking the expensive packs. Ultimately up to yeaGO!, or whoever is buying the packs to begin with.

@KrazyCaley - i kicked down today and set up my mtgo account.

@ KrazyCaley confirmed MTGO does save replays of your games. I just watched a couple of my matches.

@mossflower - By default I was just going to assign new people to the observer group unless they asked to participate, in which case I'd send them into one of the drafting groups.

@DeckBuilder345 - It saves replays (which is why my Daily Dose transcripts that come off of MTGO are always so accurate), but what I was looking for was actual video capture. Some games have built-in video recording software, but I don't think MTGO does.

I'm under the impression that replays don't have the best shelf-life.

I would love to lead a group. I don't have an MTGO account, bot I could make one, and I live in central time zone (US). I can record matches and I'm sure I can find a way to live stream them.

Also, just to be clear, I would rather be IN a draft group then just an observer, but in either case I would be willing/happy to compile some kind of group commentary for later reading.

Oh, see now I thought the observer group was going to be one of the drafting groups. I thought that would be an interesting experiment to see what would happen if one of the 8 teams could actually see what everyone else was doing. Things like that never happen in real life, so it would be fun to find out in this format. But I guess you meant it would be a group of non-drafters who only observed.

I'm looking into freeware video capture now -- supposedly there's a way to do it with VLC, but haven't figured it out yet. I'm a little nervous about an observer group -- it's a great idea in theory, and I know we aren't playing for prizes, but the judge in me sees some potential for abuse -- how can we be sure observers aren't passing information to drafters?

@landot - It's an excellent point, but I think it's safe to err on the side of transparency, as the play is more for the purposes of education than it is competition. Having team leaders who are honest/trustworthy helps, too.

I agree with KrazyCaley: If the correct teamleaders are chosen, then it will be hard for anyone to pass on information, without the leader becoming suspicious of something.

I think though, that I'd prefer to join one of the teams.

Hello everyone. I love this new format. I was hoping something like this would be done. As much as I'd love to lead a group, I have a few plans for upcoming vacation that would most certainly prove very inconvenient for this task. Nevertheless, I'll be more than happy to join a group under someone's lead.

Also, I don't think that we should be concerned about the observer group's brokering information. As KrazyCaley has pointed out several times, the primary purpose of these debates is education. Competition is only secondary. Anybody who would engage in such indecent activitiy would be defeating that purpose. I don't believe anybody would actually do that. What would be the point of winning while cheating this way? Call me naive, but I really trust this community and think that there is absolutely zero chance of this happening here.

I'll call you naive Absinthman. (Jesting =P) I've found that as long as there is a game, people have tried to cheat. Of course, I'm not saying this will happen. However, I feel that it gives an unfair advantage to the drafters who get to be the observer group.

If we are talking about a separate group that gets to observe, then I'm less leery about that. There's no real reason for them to "sell" information to anyone since there's nothing but bragging rights on the line. I would be fine with this group. I only mentioned the first because of vic's previous comments.

-BuLLZ3Y3

There's no way the observers could be drafting at the same time. I'm sure Caley meant for the observer group just to observe. It wouldn't make any sense the other way. Yes, vic's idea is interesting, but again, the purpose of these debates is not to experiment with weird settings, rather to learn to draft better. Invoking unrealistic circumstances does not accomplish that.

Men, lets face it. If you are going to cheat in a for fun event with no prizes involved then you are a f**king looser. We'll keep it straight because otherwise the fun will be no more.

I wasn't following the comments very closely, as the article stated there would be more information coming up for people who did NOT want to be group leaders, but still participate. I had assumed this information would be in another article, but I see that more is coming out in comments now.

@KrazyKaley: For people interested in just being group members, do we NEED to ask for it NOW on this article, or is there something more official still coming?

To be safe, I would like to declare that I want to be a member participant. I'm near the US West Coast, for any purposes of geographic selection.

@KrazyCaley i suspect it will be fine, i just wanted to make sure it was out there as something for group leaders / moderators to consider.

As for video capture: there is a shareware called screencast-o-matic. The unpaid version allows you to record screen capture with audio up to 15 minutes per video. Seems pretty good for what we're doing -- I'm running Windows 7 and it downloaded and installed in about 5 minutes works perfectly so far.

@sewellius - There'll be another post where I assign people to groups.

@KrazyCaley - Just to update you, I'll be getting FRAPS in about two weeks or so, which will probably be way before any games start, if there are to be 24 hours between picks.

I do have a question though - How will this content be distributed to the other members of TappedOut? I don't think it would work very well if you posted a big thread with all of our picks and discussions about said picks for all to see.

Thanks,

-BuLLZ3Y3

I think that's the whole point of the observer group. They'll have access to all of the team's private pick pages and will be able to see the content and the picks that way. At least that's what I'm gathering from the setup.

Absinthman(and others), let me clarify:

When I first started drafting, I was always very secretive right up to the point of not letting anyone see my cards as I was building my deck. I noticed some other people being more open about it, and I thought that was careless of them. But over time I've noticed that it seems to be strong, medium, and weaker players/drafters alike who do it both ways. A few people openly comment on their picks during the draft. One of our local drafters who does very well and went to Grand Prix talks openly about what he has right after the draft is completed. And he usually wins.

So my point is that I've started to wonder if it really makes a difference or not. Does it matter if one is secretive? I used to assume it did, but now I'm sure so sure. How does it affect the draft? I really don't know the answer to that, so that's why I could see it being a worthwhile experiment. Where else would such an experiment happen?

To be clear, I'm not pushing for this, per se. I won't be upset if we don't do that. But I wanted to explain the thinking behind it.

vic: I think the concern is not mainly about what other teams are picking, but what cards are in upcoming packs. Having information on all packs' contents ahead of time is huge and unrealistic advantage.

Not to mention you get to see what colors are open in regards to where you sit.

Being able to see someone on your left getting an AEtherling and someone on your right getting a Progenitor Mimic on the first pick and realizing that you should probably avoid blue like the plague is an advantage that you aren't normally going to have in a real drafting scenario.