GG's New Year's Resolution

This time of year, people seem to make a lot of promises. Some are made in good faith while some are not. The popular stereotype reflects that very few of these promises are ever fulfilled. Today your going to get a few promises from your old Grandpa Growth. I have some big plans for Sundays here on The General Zone. Throughout 2014 I'm going to do some new things and we will collectively test my resolve and see if I can stick to 'em.

1. The Return of Ill-Gotten Games

Let's be honest for a minute. The original run of Ill-Gotten Games was not great. The recording quality was low. The sound quality was low. The quality of my commentary was low. The quality of the games was fine and generally representative of what games of EDH look like and what I want to show with a video, but the pacing of the games was much to slow, making the videos boring to watch. Magic isn't the most exciting game for spectators, but it can definitely be fun to watch if you can get into the plays or the commentary. There are plenty of examples of great MtG video content on the web. I am confident that I can produce better videos this year than I could last year and here is why:

• I have upgraded my computer substantially in the last 6 months. This will allow me to record and upload more videos, record in much higher definition, and at higher frame rates.
• I have a much better understanding of audio equipment and the hardware that I need to make high quality recordings.
• I am looking for new editing software for both audio and video. Hopefully I will be able to learn a few of the tricks of the trade and really start upping the production value of the videos. 

I still have to get some things squared away. I need to find some sweet opponents, get a sweet hardware set up to do recordings on the regular, and I need to find a platform on which to actually play the games. I want to keep it as 'real' as possible, but recording live games of paper Magic is an extra challenge. Recording on MtGO can work great, but I won't have access to different decks that I want to play or new cards that I want to test. I will have to work out a new way to play games that combines the best aspect of both. It is important to me that I be able to bring you guys videos about more than just one or two decks in order to keep the content fresh and interesting.

2. SNAP KEEP!?

I have seen a lot of other Magic writers do this: They share sample hands that look really bad. The cool part is having great sense of humor about it. Did I make a janky draft deck? Share the worst hand. Did I make a sick new Modern brew? Share the worst hand. I love looking at the goofy combinations of cards that show up. It is a fun and simply way to add some spice to an otherwise bland text blog. I know will have plenty of ammo for this because I play a ton of Pauper Cube, wherein I play mostly 5 Color control...because why not live the dream every single day? I am going to try and push it so that I can share the craziest hand of my games for the week that I actually managed to win with, but I do mulligan pretty aggressively so we will see. Anyway, I am going to be sharing these in a new segment on a new day. Each week I will be posting on one of the "off days" here on TGZ instead of on my usual Sundays.

So:

• More GG. 
• GG on a new day. 
• Something to laugh at during the week.

3. You Make the Pick

Another new idea for a short off-day segment: In order to show some love for Cubers everywhere and to help promote the format to Magic players who haven't had much exposure to it, I will be sharing real packs from real Cube drafts I am playing. I will share the whole pack, talk about what cards I think are worth taking in a P1P1 situation, and share what my pick is. This is a cool way for me to interact with the readers too. Share what cards you think are good/bad options for a pick. Leave a comment on why you would pick a certain card or what you think about my pick.

So, there you have it. Those are my new year's resolutions for 2014. Resurrect a defunct segment that could be done much better and give you two new segments to look forward to. More content. Better content. That is just how we like to get down here on the General Zone. Starting this coming week, look forward to some more awesome stuff from the who made that stuff you already liked.

-GG