To my fans, followers, fellow players, community leaders, league organizers, judges, parents and store owners I would like to share an important update regarding the meta share report.
I would first like to thank the community for the overwhelming supportive feedback that was received in the establishment for this reporting within the local scene. However, a few concerns have been raised by some individuals which I will elaborate on in more detail below.
Effective for tournaments from 01 May 2023 the meta share report (graphics, post details and public database) will no longer feature the deck lists of any participant, irrespective of whether that player has opted-in or out. This will be applied prospectively across all tournaments that will be featured.
The only data-points that will be collected from league organizers will include the deck archetype and final placements for each participant. Deck lists will not be shared in any capacity. It is the store’s responsibility to record this information. However, it will make their life easier if players write their deck archetype on their deck lists.
Background on the decision
In the month of April 2023 we embarked on establishing a meta share report with the objective of improving the post-event reporting within our local scene to get us to an international standard.
The purpose of publishing the top performing deck lists was to allow for the average player (who might not be aware of international resources but frequents local leagues) to have access to information to improve from a local source. We are a community, we want the community to grow.
A few players have voiced a concerns that by publishing their deck lists (even anonymously) it will result in stifling the top-level competitiveness of the scene considering the following facts:
- There is often a shortage in competitively viable cards available to all parties;
- The size of the South African player base is small in comparison to other regions;
- Players’ decks can be countered to easily in a small field, thus disrupting innovative deck building processes.
Whilst every single one of these players acknowledged the benefit to the community of publishing deck lists; these are true drawbacks for the top tier of competition.
It has never been my intention that my fellow competitive players feel disadvantaged; whilst we are all in agreement that the above risks are easily mitigated with a larger player base we need to factor in the scene size.
I feel that this is something we must overcome in order for betterment and growth in the community, which is something we can revisit at a later date.
Meeting in the middle by publishing only archetypes has been agreed enough of a mitigating factor to address the concerns by some of the hyper-competitive players.
Addressing Misinformation
I have unfortunately been informed of various misinformation campaigns by a limited group of individuals within the local scene and wished to set the record straight for all members of the public.
- The objective when I formed this professional brand was to create a local platform dedicated to the betterment of the entire community. This includes benefits to young players, parents, supporters, leagues, competitive players (of all levels), new comers and various stakeholders.
- Any initiative that this brand embarks on is backed by myself at all times. Every single initiative has a specific focus on improving the entire scene across South Africa, irrespective of whether you are new or not or what stores you may associate with.
- I am fortunate enough to have had various international experience and humbly acknowledge that the community looks up to myself for guidance. This is why I started this brand and partnered with various individuals to assist me. I want to help everyone, not only selective persons that happen to be geographically linked to me. I am proud of the Pokémon scene locally and want it to grow so that many more individuals can share success and achieve greater things.
- The meta share report is an initiative for the community, I have made it extremely clear to all those assisting me that everyone’s voice is to be heard and that if there are concerns you meet with the stakeholders to discuss the concerns and work together towards a solution. I am proud to hear that my team down in Cape Town have had various discussions on this with selective parties and I am fully supportive of their active efforts to meet with the individuals that had questions and concerns, irrespective of the treatment that they have received.
- In connection to the collection of Deck Lists. We have in-fact employed various procedures and internal policies to ensure data has been anonymized and destroyed once captured. There is no exception. At all times, fully compliant with POPIA and the Pokémon Rules.
- We have had instances where the league store has submitted every deck list to us, instead of just the requested top 4 lists. This is because either the league administrator for those stores may not be familiar enough with the meta-game to conclude what the deck archetypes are just by reading the deck list or to ease the administration load on these individuals.
- In such a case, we have internally looked at the lists very briefly in order to see what the archetype is, and subsequently destroyed the deck list.
- There is no one-sided information – everything we publish is the information we have access to internally.
- In connection to the deck-lists being shared amongst selective community members, this is simply not true. Other than what has been published publicly on the website no other sharing of information has occurred. If you have heard about this in any instance, please contact me directly.
- In connection to association / authority / partnership with the official Organized Play! South Africa brand / individual.
- This pilot project is our initiative, alone, and has nothing to do with those that run Organized Play! South Africa. This has been communicated at all times by my team.
- We collect the necessary information, feedback and populate ideas on how this can be rolled out for the betterment of our community in a more formal manner.
- Once our pilot initiatives are through a community testing phase we do schedule a meeting(s) with the representatives of Organized Play! South Africa to gather their thoughts on the initiative and how we can work to further enable this type of initiative to grow the scene through a more formalized project / environment.
- Certain individuals have asked about a roadmap and future outlook on these initiatives. To these individuals we have outlined that process that the ultimate aim for the initiatives that are proven beneficial to the community is to have them authorized by Organized Play! South Africa.
- In connection to certain stores / leagues being intentionally excluded. This is not true, we closely monitor the official Pokémon Event Locator Page.
- If you held an event that would be scoped into reporting and we missed it, we sincerely apologize. Please contact us so that we can include you.
- In connection to the gate-keeping of information. This is not true, we have always explicitly outlined how the pilot initiative is being run, actively engaged in discussions with various individuals and published the same data stored in a public manner.
I am disappointed that there are some individuals within the scene are actively embarking on these sort of misinformation campaigns to try and discredit myself and/or those assisting me. However, I hope that the above clears up any issues that other individuals may have had.
If you wish to discuss more about this brand and my goals for the local Pokémon scene please reach out. I am passionate about growing this scene and providing the platform that benefits our entire community so that my fellow competitors can go on to achieve success and inspire our young players to do the same.
Yours sincerely,
Jonah Alter
