As most of you probably realized, the Primer Committee subforum has vanished. Long story short, because of the way permissions are set up in that forum, it didn't translate well in the move to Beta. Curse is aware of the concern, and is working to fix it. We do not have an estimate for when this matter will be resolved, unfortunately.
At the moment, we will not be accepting new submissions, or requests to reopen submissions. The submissions that are currently open will be handled as best we can. We thank you for your patience, and will still be around to address any questions you may have about primers. For your convenience, I've pasted the Primer Guideline here for visibility.
If you google the question "What is a Primer?" You get two definitions, the first is about painting, and the second (quoted below) is the basis of the context we use here:
Quote from Google definition: Primer »
/ˈprīmər/
Noun
An elementary textbook that serves as an introduction to a subject of study or is used for teaching children to read.
Obviously, we are not writing for elementary school here; instead we focus on the part that indicates it being an introduction to a subject of study. A Commander Forums [Primer] is a resource or introduction to a play-style, deck, or theme in Commander games. Since Commander is a singleton format, spanning a large amount of available cards, and is played in a variety of social groups from more casual to more competitive, no primer will be the absolute perfectly optimized list. Instead it aims to educate by giving a solid base to work from, within your own constraints.
All Primers approved by the Commander Forums Primer Committee are held to several standards of quality, including a depth of content and explanations, as well as concise presentation and layout for readability of the information presented. Do not feel like every thread needs to be a primer eventually. Primers are a lot of work to create and maintain. If you feel like you may have issues maintaining an up to date informational resource, and answer inquiries by other interested members, then I would strongly suggest you consider holding off placing an application.
Here are the lists of currently approved Primers, these can be used as examples or as a resource when building your own primer.
Below, you will find an Outline that the Committee uses as a base for discussing primers. Once you are satisfied that your thread meets the requirements put forth in the Primer Outline, you can follow these steps to apply for primer status.
Create a new thread in this sub-forum.
Format the title in the manner of [your username] + [the name of the commander]. For example ISBPathfinder would create the following: ISBPathfinder's Jenara, Asura of War. This keeps things neat and clean.
If you are re-applying, just bump the thread you created earlier stating the reasons you are reapplying and the changes you have made to fix the primer since last application.
In the thread itself please provide the following basic information for us:
A direct link to your decklist.
Your experience with the deck. We are looking for some sort of estimate of the time spent tweaking, games played, duration of time you have been playing the commander, and so on.
Extra information
The primer itself should sort of contain most of the rest of the information we'll be looking at, but if there is any extra information you would like to add to your application, or anything you feel we should know, this is the place to put it.
This outline is what Primer Committee members use as a basis of evaluating applications. Some criteria are easily quantified and defined, others require more judgement. The Primer Committee does not judge solely on the existence of the following criteria, but also on the content, explanations, and depth of knowledge show within them.
Thread Life/Experience
Threads must be a minimum of one month old before applying for primer status.
If your thread is only a month old we expect that you have heavily tested your list, and that your experience and knowledge is clearly demonstrated with the Commander and list in question.
No primers will be approved earlier than a month after to the card's release date.
Until a card has been in general circulation, not only you, but your opponents will not have sufficient exposure to a card to learn not only how to play with it, but how to react to it on a consistent basis.
Your experience and knowledge with the Commander/Deck List should be readily noticeable to anyone reading your list.
Content - The following content may have differing titles, but all non-optional sections must be found within your Primer.
Why play this commander?
If you can't give reasons as to why you enjoy playing your commander you probably shouldn't be writing a primer for them. Let readers know the pros and cons of the commander. Let them in on what sort of role they might play in the deck as well. If the whole point of your commander is to throw your opponent off because it's so terrible, then go ahead and tell your readers such.
Be realistic as well; we know you love your Commander, but if there are any problems or downsides to your Commander, be honest about it. Building a Commander deck can be a time consuming and involved process, and newer players to your deck should have a decent idea of what they are getting into before they commit themselves to it.
Comparisons to other similar Commanders, and how they may play differently from yours is an excellent additional set of information to add.
Deck History
This section informs users about what motivated you to build this deck. It contains brief information as to what problems you encountered, and how the deck evolved to meet them; how the deck has grown and changed, and how it is better now than it used to be. This gives readers a road-map to your creation process and the roots of the deck and why it is today what it is.
Deck List
This is essential for any deck. If you don't have a list of what you are currently running, then it can't be much of a primer. This must be organized and in deck tags. Sectioning the list in some way is required, and we recommend sorting it by card type, as it is the most easily recognized method of sectioning a deck list. If you choose to sort your list by some other method, we strongly recommend adding or spoiling a decklist by card type.
Within your chosen sections, sort the cards in a logical manner. We recommend either alphabetically or by converted mana cost.
Change log
Change logs track the changes your deck. They can help minimize users asking, "hey have you tried this card out?"
A good change log will include both the outgoing and incoming changes, what reason prompted the change, and the date the change occurred.
Card Options
This section is used to discuss current inclusions of your deck, and potentially alternate card options.
The majority of your cards should be listed, and discussion about why they made the cut is mandatory. Even the most basic cards should be considered for explanations for the benefit of newer players.
Strategy
How do you pilot your deck? We want to know what sort of mindset you should be in when playing this deck. Let users know what your basic game plan is, then go into further detail.
Some sample questions to address as follows:
What are the deck's strengths and weaknesses, and how does the deck handle those weaknesses?
How should you pilot it at different stages of the game?
When is the time to be aggressive or defensive?
What cards are critical to the success of your plan?
When and how do you get them?
When and how do you use them?
What is your Commander's role in the plan?
What should you look out for in opening hands?
This section should be detailed enough that a player unfamiliar with your deck could pick up your deck and play it with moderate proficiency.
Match-ups (required for 1v1 only)
When playing 1v1 you should know who the real competition is and how your deck measures up.
Let users in on some of the tips and tricks for fighting back and winning against key opposition.
Several of the more popular or stronger Commanders should be included.
Due to the logistics involved in multiplayer games, this section is not required there, however if your deck has problems or requires differing strategies when certain archetypes are present at the table, or if it is tuned in a certain way to compensate for certain strategies, you should mention it in your strategy section.
Personal Bio (optional)
This doesn't need to have much personal information outside of your Magic experience. We're not interested in your auto-biography.
This section is to add a more personal touch to your primer, or to show some extra experience in Magic in general. Most people are interested in hearing that you have enough Magic experience to be writing a primer. If you have been playing Legacy / Standard / whatever for the past 10 years, or if you have attended and/or won large-scale events, let people know. Tell people about your background going into writing this primer and why are you a good source for information.
Maintenance
You are expected to maintain your list with updates, explain your card choices, answer questions put forth, and help players who come seeking for it. Primers are here to be resources for a growing community, and part of that entails remaining up to date, and being capable of answering questions that come your way.
The Primer Committee will be reviewing not only your opening post, but will also generally look over the content of your thread and the discussions that take place. For some, this may be sparse, and we understand that some Commanders simply don't get as much attention as they deserve, but we expect you to be on top of it regardless.
Presentation - A dearth of information remains useless if it is ill presented or unreadable. This section aims to ensure that your Primer manages to convey the knowledge and information you seek to present.
Spelling and Grammar
We understand that English is not everyone's primary language. We're not looking for a Master's Thesis here, but rather that attention has been made to detail and that your list is able to communicate your intentions.
While we're not here to be proofreaders, if we do have issues we'll try to help you out however we can, or at least give indication to the specific areas we feel need work so you can ask help of others.
Card Links and other URLs
Card links are a valuable tool to help players be able to quickly find information on specific cards. Since you play the deck, you already know them, but others may not, less so the older the cards are. New players will also not have an encyclopedic knowledge of the cards.
We recommend you card-tag as many cards as possible in your writing. More so even, within your Card Options and Strategy sections.
At the very least, card tag each card the first time you mention it, and again whenever there is a new discussion on it, for example, if a card shows up multiple times in two different combos that include it, at the minimum tag it the first time it appears in each combo.
Ensure that your card tags and URLs work properly. Fix any broken or dead links.
Formatting
We don't expect you to be Usability Experts, Graphics Design Majors, or even have a mastery of PHPBB formatting tags. However, the advanced editor has a plethora of useful organizational tools to help separate your Post into easy to digest sections. There is also a Formatting Help announcement in this forum which you can refer to.
If you need help, read through the Formatting Help or take a look at an approved Primer. You can hit the [quote] button to look over how the writer formatted their post.
If you still have trouble figuring out how to use a specific tag, shoot the writer a PM, or shoot a committee member a PM, even if that specific member does not have the answer, they'll be able to help you find someone who does.
Spoilers
Spoiler tags are often used, and more often misused. It has become such a common issue that we have decided it gets its own mention here.
Spoilers are valuable tools for hiding information, minimizing clutter, and holding "on demand" information until it is needed.
Using spoilers exclusively as an organizational tool however creates a lot of clicking for your reader to open the content, which impedes readability and breaks the flow of your presentation.
Also, since a reader does not know the content being hidden, there is no indication of length or importance of a hidden section.
The following is a quick list for examining spoiler use/abuse:
If it's something the majority of users will be opening anyways, leave it open (intro, decklist, why play this general).
If it is crucially important to your decklist, strategy, or generally needs to be read, leave it open (crucial combos, decklist, strategy).
If it's extra information, that does not need to be read, but is there for those interested in something more in depth, spoiler it (nitty gritty details of how specific combos work, extra information regarding specific cards, change log, personal bio).
If it's really, really long, and should be hidden to prevent a person from scrolling 3 miles to skip it, spoiler it (Card options).
Please note that this outline reflects the bare minimum requirements for primer consideration. Applications that do not meet these requirements will be rejected. Even if your thread does meet these requirements, we reserve the right to deny your application until such time as you have brought your thread up to the standard we expect for primers. If you are unsure of what that looks like, please consult the list of existing approved primers to a better idea of our expectations.
In addition, don't be surprised if your primer is declined when first submitted. This is a normal part of the process, and committee members are more than happy to help you improve your thread to meet the standard we have set for primers.
If you have any questions on these matters feel free to contact our committee members on the matter. The following list of users helped us to create the primer outline as well as help decide on threads which are trying to obtain primer status.
Thanks to the efforts of ExpiredRascals and the Curse staff, the issues with the Commander Primer subforum have been resolved. We're back open and accepting submissions.
At the moment, we will not be accepting new submissions, or requests to reopen submissions. The submissions that are currently open will be handled as best we can. We thank you for your patience, and will still be around to address any questions you may have about primers. For your convenience, I've pasted the Primer Guideline here for visibility.
Misc. EDH Stuff: Commander Cube | Zombies (Horde)
Resources:Commander Rulings FAQ | Commander Deckbuilding Guide
Follow me on Twitter! @cryogen_mtg
If you google the question "What is a Primer?" You get two definitions, the first is about painting, and the second (quoted below) is the basis of the context we use here:
Obviously, we are not writing for elementary school here; instead we focus on the part that indicates it being an introduction to a subject of study. A Commander Forums [Primer] is a resource or introduction to a play-style, deck, or theme in Commander games. Since Commander is a singleton format, spanning a large amount of available cards, and is played in a variety of social groups from more casual to more competitive, no primer will be the absolute perfectly optimized list. Instead it aims to educate by giving a solid base to work from, within your own constraints.
All Primers approved by the Commander Forums Primer Committee are held to several standards of quality, including a depth of content and explanations, as well as concise presentation and layout for readability of the information presented. Do not feel like every thread needs to be a primer eventually. Primers are a lot of work to create and maintain. If you feel like you may have issues maintaining an up to date informational resource, and answer inquiries by other interested members, then I would strongly suggest you consider holding off placing an application.
Here are the lists of currently approved Primers, these can be used as examples or as a resource when building your own primer.
Below, you will find an Outline that the Committee uses as a base for discussing primers. Once you are satisfied that your thread meets the requirements put forth in the Primer Outline, you can follow these steps to apply for primer status.
This outline is what Primer Committee members use as a basis of evaluating applications. Some criteria are easily quantified and defined, others require more judgement. The Primer Committee does not judge solely on the existence of the following criteria, but also on the content, explanations, and depth of knowledge show within them.
Thread Life/Experience
Content - The following content may have differing titles, but all non-optional sections must be found within your Primer.
Presentation - A dearth of information remains useless if it is ill presented or unreadable. This section aims to ensure that your Primer manages to convey the knowledge and information you seek to present.
In addition, don't be surprised if your primer is declined when first submitted. This is a normal part of the process, and committee members are more than happy to help you improve your thread to meet the standard we have set for primers.
If you have any questions on these matters feel free to contact our committee members on the matter. The following list of users helped us to create the primer outline as well as help decide on threads which are trying to obtain primer status.
Committee Members:
3drinks
BlackVise
bobthefunny
cryogen
Donald
DTrain
Feverous
ISBPathfinder
Juwdah
XeroxedFool
Misc. EDH Stuff: Commander Cube | Zombies (Horde)
Resources:Commander Rulings FAQ | Commander Deckbuilding Guide
Follow me on Twitter! @cryogen_mtg
Misc. EDH Stuff: Commander Cube | Zombies (Horde)
Resources:Commander Rulings FAQ | Commander Deckbuilding Guide
Follow me on Twitter! @cryogen_mtg