It may have come to the attention of some people around the forum that there has been some internal turmoil with A1 recently which has culminated with several prominent figures leaving. This post is to clear a few things up and to explain where A1 now stands.
As of the start of last week, Raph officially stepped down as leader of A1 following the saga that ensued around BlueJet’s Crown tournament and the finals glitch. Since then, Raph has made the decision that this is a permanent move. We have moved quickly to elect a new leader and I am proud to say that I have been seen fit to take over the mantle and lead A1 from now on. Raph and Pete (who has also left), have left very large shoes to fill and have done an amazing job getting A1 to where it is now. From humble beginnings A1 has grown to an alliance of members of all talents and skills with a strong culture of learning, sharing and improving the community. I thank them both personally for all of their commitment and hard work. They are leaving for their own reasons and we respect that decision and thank them both for allowing A1 to continue on their departure.
Many people would have also noticed that it is not just Raph and Pete who have left. We have in fact lost our fair share of people from the guild.
I want to explain the reasons behind the recent turmoil as best as I can and then explain the new era at A1 and how we will move forward from here.
Firstly, there was an increased intensity in the competitiveness of some A1 members. This occurred with the rise of TJ who have proven themselves to be a worthy guild with some excellent players and deckbuilders. There was a lot of discussion that we were focusing too much on being too competitive and we should go back to the core values of what made A1 great to start with and let the competition sort itself out, with other discussion about how far we were prepared to go to win. Needless to say, this caused fracture. We feel that if we continue to hold to our values as they were before all of this drama started, the results will follow. At the same time, we are grateful for the presence of TJ, who continue to challenge us and give us worthy competition and some excellent and exciting matches. We have the utmost respect for TJ and all other guilds and we hope that a healthy, friendly and competitive relationship continue on in the future.
With all that was going on, there were a lot of resignations from A1. Some people felt the environment that we had was no longer fun, and left for the enjoyment of the game. Others simply had lost interest in the game all together, especially with the narrowed meta and lack of clear future being expressed from the developers. Others yet, it saddens me to say, thought that we should use whatever bugs/exploits we had available to get ahead and did not fit in with the current ethos of A1. All members who left did so willingly with nobody being expelled for having done anything wrong (in terms of cheating or using exploits) and all resignations were done so on friendly terms.
So where does that leave us now?
I am happy to say that the remaining members are all committed and united on several key things:
1. To continue to improve the game and the community
a. As such, we have some exciting initiatives that are aimed at improving the general state of the game and the experience that everyone has playing Shadow Era. We have many new projects and project ideas that are coming along, including Project Omega which we are very excited about and promise will be worth all of the hype. We have also started a new area at our forum designated “Ask A1” in which we invite anyone who wishes to come along and post a question for us that we will endeavour as a guild to help them with – whether this be tactics/strategy, deck building or advice for beginners. I will continue to write my beginners guides and I know many other A1 members are committed to sharing their knowledge and the knowledge of the collective minds of A1. We also have some new exciting changes I will keep secret until we can make them official, all to improve the A1 experience for our members and others
2. To continue to enjoy the game and be challenged by it
a. We welcome further competition from all guilds and hope to see more competitive play, more guild wars and more tournaments
b. A1 will remain a place of integrity and with the stance that bugs/exploits used to alter the course of a game (whether that be in quick match or tournament play) does not belong in A1
3. To continue to challenge the meta and stay a step ahead of it
a. A1 has been known in the past for being able to change the meta with deck releases and posts. We hope to continue to do so in the future. We will continue to share our best decks with the community (once we have counters to it, of course!) in the hopes that we can teach others how to deck craft and show them the strengths of each meta shift as it changes
b. We will continue to nurture a culture where we play test our best decks against each other and use our knowledge and time to come up with the very best decks possible.
4. To continue to share our knowledge and be challenged by fresh and exciting ideas
a. There has already been a big shake up at the A1 forums, with many new and exciting changes that are designed to bring about the former atmosphere that existed of a fun place to be, full of camaraderie, sharing of knowledge, advancement of ideas about the game, the future of the game, advanced tactics, deck discussion and how to go about giving back to the community
5. To continue to be the best
a. We believe that if we go back to the roots of what made A1 great to begin with, results in tournaments and on the ladder will follow. We already have (and have had) some great players who have won, or placed second in, a lot of recent tournaments and we want this success to continue
I am committed to ensuring that A1 continues to be a success and have an all new and dedicated team of A1 leaders surrounding and assisting me.
We will continue to aim to have around 30 members – we will be beginning to recruit again very soon, so if anyone is interested in joining the elite echelons of Shadow Era and shares the values that are listed above, please stay tuned and we hope to see some more great players put their hands up and join our ranks.
Sorry for the wall of text – I tend to ramble a bit sometimes
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Originally Posted by Wtzky
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