2020 'Deck of the Year' COMMITTEE / DISCUSSION

[PipChick]

Hi y'all!

With 2020 drawing to a close and the new year quickly approaching, I know we're all starting to feel the build up of anticipation and excitement as the arrival of December unofficially marks and kicks off the mad-rush start of that magical time of the year... a time in which we all can begin to look back and reflect fondly upon the past and come together as friends and family to begin planning celebration of all that we hold dearest with our annual holiday traditions... That's right folks! The 2020 DOTYs season is upon us! yay!

Now, although I recognize that I haven't been very active publicly in the threads lately which has, understandably, prompted several card-baes to kindly reach out over the past couple weeks to confirm management of the DOTYs as done last year, I have in fact already been quietly working behind the scenes on organizing and preparing for the DOTYs and would very much be honored to once again take the lead in helping to manage this awesome community event if y'all would allow me to

HOWEVER, this year I *do* need help!

I cannot stress this enough but I honestly cannot run this event on my own as I have in previous years and am calling on our wonderful community to come together in organizing a committee in which tasks can be better organized, delegated and executed so we can make this year the best DOTYs ever!

So the first step in rounding up some dedicated community members to be a part of our DOTY committee is opening this thread which is specifically created for the intended purpose of providing all members and potential prospective members with the opportunity to volunteer to fill in one of the many committee roles for ensuring our event can be as successful as it can be - like they say, 'Teamwork makes the dream work!' So if you've got some extra spare time, the motivation and the passion to want to give back to the card-community by becoming more involved in our DOTY awards event, please reach out here! This will serve as an open discussion on literally any and all things relating to the running and managing of the DOTYs; so please, don't be shy - join in on the conversation! In the weeks leading up to the DOTYs, many of the specific details of the event will always be first and foremost addressed and discussed right here in this thread so be sure to stay tuned! Participation from anyone and everyone is not only encouraged but also greatly appreciated because it's only with all of you that we can make this year's 2020 Deck of the Year Awards the very best ever! YAY!

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Okay, so despite trying to be as clear and concise as I could, I know this first posting is going to be a bit long so I hope it helps to break it up into different sections to keep information organized and in order of highest priority as it aligns in keeping on track with our schedule so things will run smoothly:

1.) COMMITTEE POSITIONS

From past years of organizing the event, there are a few absolutely essential roles that need to be filled. These positions and the responsibilities that come with them can be taken on by one super-dedicated member, or in many cases, can be shared between multiple well-coordinated members.

The open committee positions, in no particular order, include:

• [_] Masterlist Specialist : This role is active from now until the end of the year (approximately 4 weeks).
  
  • responsible for keeping our Masterlist of deck releases up-to-date with all relevant information which will help the Nominations manager double check for eligibility of decks.
  • keeping track of new projects as well as those that are nearing completion.

• [_] Sponsor outreach Representative : This role is active both in the 4-6 weeks leading up to voting opens and throughout the event - roughly 2 months in total and is mostly done via email or other means of contacting and connecting with potential sponsors. This person would serve as a point of contact and be a representative of the community - will also need to be quite the sales person in convincing designers, retailers/producers and manufacturers why this is an event they would want to support with sponsorship.
  
  • responsible for creating a list of potential sponsors and means of contact.
  • reaching out and being informative of our DOTY event.
  • keep track of sponsored prizes in our giveaway thread.
  • curate appropriate pictures of prizes donated for our event.
  • collect branding resources (ie. logos) and guidelines of use from sponsors.
  • keep images organized also via a shared dropbox for use in social media promotion of event.

• [_] Nominations Manager : This role is only active for about 6 weeks leading up until voting opens in mid-January.
  
  • responsible for taking submissions of nominations during an approximately 4-6 week period.
  • double-check that nominations made do in fact meet the criteria of eligibility for submission by using the Masterlist of deck releases over the past year.
  • manage the Nominations thread by updating it with all submitted nominations, organized into each of the appropriate award categories for which they were submitted with all necessary information (ie. deck/series name, designer(s), producer(s), and manufacture(s).
  • curate appropriate pictures for each of the nominated decks to showcase the specific feature for which the deck has been nominated.
  • keep images organized also via a shared dropbox for use in social media promotion of event.

• [_] Promotional Marketing Manager : This role is active during the entirety of event and is best suited for someone with basic skills in creating visual graphics/digital content via use of canva or similar apps for social media.
  
  • responsible for helping create the direction of this year's theme.
  • help in creation of branded templates that can maintain cohesiveness through consistent use.
  • help in creation of visual graphics for promotion.
  • use curated resources shared via dropbox of Nominated decks & giveaway prizes/sponsorship
  • creation of content in the appropriate formats for promotion across platforms (ie. IG, FB, Twitter and Story posts).
  • keep images organized also via a shared dropbox for consistency and cohesiveness of event's theme/branding.

• [_] Social Media Support : This role is active during the entirety of event and is best suited for someone who is organized and punctual in posting of content and creating visual appeal in how our content is presented. This person also needs to be socially engaging via multiple social media channels (ie. IG, FB, Twitter and Story posts).
  
  • responsible for assisting and supporting promotional marketing manager in creation of visual graphics/digital content.
  • organize how, when and where content will be shared.
  • curate visual aesthetic for the event and our brand.
  • engage with people that interact with content.
  • assist with any comments, questions and/or concerns relating to the event and, if need be, direct them appropriately to a person that may be able to further help.
  • keep final content organized also via a shared dropbox.

• [_] DOTY Voting Commissioner : This role is most active during the 2-3 weeks during the open voting period. Prior to voting open, we'd also like to seek out other potential means and methods by which we manage voting in the event.
  
  • responsible for helping to brainstorm, plan and test-out potentially new means and methods of voting.
  • keeping track of votes and tabulating them (currently, there's an excel sheet that we use that does all the tabulating work for you but the votes need to be inputted).
  • double-check write-in votes to ensure that they meet the criteria for eligibility for submission by using the Masterlist of deck releases over the past year.
  • keep track of voters (unless they opt out) for entry into prize giveaway which also includes alternative means of contact.
  • respond back to voters with confirmation that their votes have been recieved/tabulated and they have been entered into prize giveaway (unless they opt'd out).

• [_] Prize Giveaway Superviser : This role is active after voting has ended and the prize giveaway winners have been announced. The duration of this role depends on how quickly you can manage and facilitate participants to select the giveaway prizes they've won.
  
  • responsible for reaching out to winners of the prize giveaway by using the list of winners and, if necessary, their alternative means of contact.
  • connecting winners with sponsors to ensure they have sent/received giveaway prizes.
  • follow-up with sponsors and giveaway winners that prizes have been sent out/recieved.
  • encourage winners to share pictures of their recieved giveaway prizes on social media.

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2.) DOTY TIMELINE

It may feel like we're getting the ball rollin' a bit late this year in organizing and preparing for this year's event, but all honesty, we're actually very much still on schedule with our tentative timeline as loosely outlined below:

• [✔] late-November : form DOTY committee and open DOTY Discussions Thread and begin discussions regarding organization/planning of this year's event

• [_] early-December :
  • Master List of 2019 Deck releases ('Upcoming Decks of 2020' google doc) will be updated to be as comprehensive as possible and ready/available in it's entirety on Saturday, Dec. 19th. The Master List/google doc will continue to be updated until the very end of the 2020 calendar year so be sure to check often and remember to keep in mind that all end-of-the-year releases within the 2020 calendar year are also still very much eligible for DOTY recognition
  • DOTY Nominations Thread with final list of agreed upon Award Categories will be opened on Saturday, Dec. 19th
  • submission of deck/designer nominations for DOTY recognition will be open for acceptance during a full, 3-week time period from Saturday, Dec. 19th - Saturday, Jan. 9th, 2021 and thread will be constantly updated to reflect those nominations submitted until close of time period as stated

• [_] December :
  • start informal promo outside of the community (ie. Reddit, Facebook, IG, Youtube, etc.) to encourage early registration/participation of new members
  • seek out sponsorship/giveaway donations from designers & retailers
  • open Prize Donations thread to where we will be accepting giveaway prizes from donors/sponsors

• [_] mid-December : open *OFFICIAL* DOTY Thread with all finalized rules/information regarding event and voter prize giveaway

• [_] late-December : start formal promo outside of the community (ie. Reddit, Facebook, IG, Youtube, etc.)

• [_] early-January (15th) : *** VOTING OFFICIALLY OPENS on Monday, Jan. 18th, 2021 ***

• [_] late-January (31st) : *** VOTING OFFICIALLY CLOSES on Sunday, Jan. 31st, 2021 ***

• [_] early-February :
  • all casted votes will be tabulated & double-checked for accuracy
  • award placement finalized
  • promo graphics made

• [_] mid-February (7th) : DOTY award winners officially announced

• [_] mid-February (14th) : DOTY prize giveaway winners officially announced

• [_] late-February :
  • official conclusion of DOTY event
  • reflection and evaluation of year's event

As we continue with planning, this timeline here above will be edited and kept up-to-date to reflect our current progress in the big countdown leading up to the DOTYs... aren't y'all excited already? I know I am lol

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3.) TOPICS OF IMPORTANCE TO ADDRESS

• [_] DOTY Committee : form it asap & start coordinating workflow among committee members

• [✔] Timeline : see above - yay or nay on tentative dates? anything else we're missing?

• [✔] Dates of Nominations : submission of deck/designer nominations for DOTY recognition will be open for acceptance during a full, 3-week time period from Saturday, Dec. 19th - Saturday, Jan. 9th, 2021 and thread will be constantly updated to reflect those nominations submitted until close of time period as stated

• [✔] Dates of Voting : official open voting period of 2020's DOTY event has been changed to run from Monday, Jan. 18th - Sunday, Jan. 31st, 2021

• [✔] Master List of 2020 Deck Releases : the 'Upcoming Decks of 2020' google doc (will be shared publicly soon) will likely be the most comprehensive list of all the decks released over the past year and may be used as a reference for nomination submissions. Currently, it is still being worked on and I hope to have it up-to-date by the time the Nominations thread is opened. Overall, I'm confident to say that a vast majority of decks that have thus far been released in 2020, starting at the very bottom of the doc with early releases up until now, have been already included and the best way for people to view each deck, albeit time-consuming, is by clicking through the links provided. As I said, this is *NOT* yet finished as I still have to backtrack much of last month in particular and go through a lot to ensure its accuracy so please be patient and I'll be sure to let you all know when it more up-to-date

EDIT: available here

• [✔] Nominations : did it work last year? was it helpful? yay or nay? anything that could/should be improved upon? Nomination process will be implemented again this year; thread will be opened and submissions of nominated decks to be recognized in this year's event will be accepted by any members of the community

• [_] Promotional Graphic(s) : do you or perhaps someone you know have the skillz to create a promotional graphic or few? Would you wanna get involved and help out? Last year, with my own very limited skills, I created nearly all the graphics used in promotion of the DOTYs both here within the community as well as reddit, IG and FB... but, since this *is* a community event, it'd be great if there's perhaps someone within the community that would also be willing to donate whatever time/effort they may have towards working together to create something for our event. Consider joining the committee and get involved!

• [_] Rules of Participation & Voting : please first refer to those stated in last year's event here and please feel free to bring up any areas you see that have been or may be a potential area of concern so we can work on improvement

• [_] Announcement of DOTY Award Winners & Prize Giveaway Winners : as you may or may not have noticed, the tentative DOTY timeline above currently has the announcement of the DOTY Award Winners & the Prize Giveaway Winners scheduled one week apart - I propose that we make this change so that the Giveaway aspect of our event does not overshadow the honor and recognition of the DOTY Award Winners... any thoughts? yay or nay?

• [_] Prize Giveaway Contest : we absolutely will need to implement a new rule about a time-limit by which giveaway winners must claim their prize within. I very much still stand by many of my own sentiments regarding last year's issues of AWOL participants as stated here but would love to hear what y'all think regarding the scenario brought forth and how we can most effectively avoid running into such issues again in this year's event

• [_] Additional concerns : anything else y'all would like to see be addressed? Questions? Comments? Concerns? Suggestions? Please don't hesitate to express anything on your mind regarding the DOTYs and we'll absolutely include it to this list and do our best to discuss it. The goal with this thread is not only give you the opportunity to do so but also for all of us to, the best of our collective ability as a community, come to a consensus in how this event is managed and run - as I said before, the DOTYs are for all of you! So get involved and voice your thoughts on how we can make it bigger and better than ever for everyone!

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[PiazzaDelivery]

I’ve got a month off between December 14th and January 13th, time commitments all seem to extend outside this period, but I’m free to help anytime between those dates! I think I may be best suited in the sponsor outreach role, although I’ll go where needed.

[KingfisherZero]

I’m up for helping wherever I can! I can take on coordinating nominations - or anything else you need!

[vasta41]

Thanks, Pip! I'm gonna make this a sticky.

[andreac75]

Hello Last Edition I won a Prize. Since I wasn't in the mood for the bad situation in Italy I didn't get the prize and left as "gift" prize for this year competition. Is it ok with that ?

[portcullis]

I can take on the prize supervisor role.

[sinjin7]

There was so much that was awesome with last year's contest. Two of the best things were the prize donations, not just from members but from artists and companies as well, and the overall participation. The elephant in the room was how long and slow the prize selection process took. I would like to volunteer to be in the committee or group that will formulate new rules to make the prize selection process MUCH faster while still being fair, a delicate balance but one that I know can be reached.

[Jocu]

Crazy to think that last DOTY I didn't think it was worth donating a prize as we only had one deck.

Now we have 14 variants of decks so I'm sure we can put a little package together

[theCapraAegagrus]

You're alive!?

I'd love to help, but I don't think that I can commit the time this year. The pandemic has screwed everything up, as you well know...

[portcullis]

I might even donate my "bits box" for a prize.

[PipChick]

Okay guys, I had gotten word that fckn' Penguin Magic is doing a "Penguin Magic Awards" which includes their 'Deck of the Year'... Y'all could probably imagine how peeved i was to see this sort of hijacking of such a grassroots community event as ours that has been devotedly nurtured and homegrown here to be so blatantly stolen to be capitalized in shamelessly plugging their own produced decks... gross! that's not what our event's all about, as we're independent and this event has and will always be done for the community, by the community!

Good news is, their promotional graphics are of the most basic garbage and, with all of y'all support, we most certainly can and will do better to maintain the validity of our DOTYs.

Okay, so let's get down to business! First off thanks so much to all that have expressed interest in taking on more active roles in running and managing this event! It honestly would not be possible without you! Thank you! Your enthusiasm honestly gives me a much needed push of motivation as this year has really been a struggle and I was contemplating if I could and would even be able to take on running the 2020 DOTYs again this year - but this year, I'mma do my very best and I appreciate tf outta y'all!

So, from those that so graciously volunteered to make up our first year's DOTY Committee, I'd like to official assign the following roles & associated responsibilities:

PiazzaDelivery - if you've got the time, dedication and motivation, I'd love to make ya my sort of all-over guy! By this I mean I'd be relying on you to sort of fill-in any areas that need to be covered. I've seen you on IG too and I'd love to connect asap so we can start working together to get the ball rolling in prioritizing tasks and organizing how to delegate and execute them. Today, I'm going to be devoting most of the day on starting to put some visual graphics for promotion together - I'm excited for this year's theme but, being that I am *not* a designer, it definitely takes more time and I'd love to talk to get to know where your strengths lie and how we can best utilize your skillz!

KingfisherZero - I'm actually super excited that you've volunteered! And for noms - so exciting! Now, maintaining the nominations thread primarily requires sort of two different tasks; the first being the curation of appropriate pictures for each of the award categories (ie. pic of the pips for a deck in the pip category, etc.) The job of pulling pics actually does take up quite a bit of time in and of itself; the other part of managing nominations is the fact that ya gotta spend also a lot of time tediously editing and re-editing the thread to update and reflect all noms submitted as they come in and, one of the benefits of having mod-privileges, is being able to edit other people's posts rather than just your own. In this regard, I think Tom (MagikFingerz) also graciously volunteered to help out... would it be possible for y'all to work together? Tag-team both in collecting pictures and editing the thread to post them? I think this might actually work best... a sort of divide and conquer approach lol. I'll be setting up a shared dropbox of which you can dump photos into and pull from and y'all can keep organized based on files for each category and then each nom'd deck within the category. As for as receiving the nominations, I think submission will still need to be done somewhat manually via DMs from the community... I can offer to take submissions and compile a list that I'll update and, from that shared Dropbox, you can use as a guide for what pics need to be pulled and how the thread needs to be updated... does this sound like a plan? Let me know if this would work for y'all Today, I'll open the Nominations thread later today so we can already start with submissions and get the ball rolling.

portcullis & sinjin - y'all most definitely can make up the unstoppable duo to oversee and facilitate the prize giveaway - that would really be great! As for now, the responsibilities for this role won't be a priority until later on, after votes have been tabulated and the giveaway winners have been drawn. In the meanwhile, would either or both of you be interested in possibly exploring other means/methods of voting? This would basically just looking for and testing out the potential practicality in use of other apps? Let me know if this is something you can spend some time looking into... that would be amazing even if only as another alternative we could offer and I think could possibly help enhance voter experience as well as streamline tabulation of votes. For the past few years, we've done voting via DM and this required manual input of votes into a google doc form that tabulated all the votes for us... but that step of DMing was one that people expressed as deterrent as it related to inexperience with navigation of the forum. Let me know what y'all think

To all those above, please DM me your email address and I'll add you into a shared dropbox which will hold our resources for managing the event and let's start getting a workflow down and make this the best DOTY Awards ever!

To everyone else in this amazing community that is following along and would be interested in participating more to make this event happen, PLEEEAAASE let me know! This could even be something as small as investing a little bit of time in finding and curating a collection of pictures for our nominations thread and promotional materials or spending time to help write up a draft for contacting sponsors... any and every little bit helps and would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks everyone and stay tuned! There's a lot to be done but I'm really excited for this year and I hope, that with all y'all's help, we can make it bigger and better than ever!

xoxo,

- Pip

[KingfisherZero]

Sweet! Excited to help. Have some stuff going tonight but tomorrow morning...all UC for Pip!

[PipChick]

Sweet! Excited to help. Have some stuff going tonight but tomorrow morning...all UC for Pip!

Pip-Pip-Hooray! LOL

[portcullis]

Skeleton Google Form to act as survey in the folder (only has placeholder text for now). Feel free to comment.

[PipChick]

BIG NEWS!

Hi everyone, I'm sorry for not posting here but it was only just yesterday that I got posting privleges back as, for some inexplicable reason, my IP address was blocked & blacklisted and I couldn't do anything nor communicate to any of you because of it! You can only imagine how frustrating that was... moreso when I couldn't get help to get it resolved sooner but thankfully, our amazing Montenzi was able to step up and help out - Thank You!

First thing's first; since I was not able to post here on UC, I've gotten a bit behind and opening of voting will now be pushed back until Monday, Jan. 18th - I will update all necessary posts to reflect that and will start rolling out marketing across social media on Monday. We're a bit behind but I'm honestly working around the clock to get the DOTYs ready for y'all.

Anyways, not being able to post most certainly impeded progress on DOTY stuff here at UC but I've got some AMAZING big news that I can finally share with you all and have been beyond excited to!

This year, we have secured an absolutely HUGE opportunity to officially partner up with Portfolio52 in helping to grow our DOTY event and make it bigger and better than ever! Since I was not able to post here on UC, I've moved nominations over to the P52 platform and, this year, most everything regarding the event will be run through there as I do not have time to re-do everything twice over since having been blocked from posting and only *now* being able to again... ugh. But the good news is that this partnership brings greater visibility to our small community as well as validation for what we're all about in making our Awards one of high regard within the playing card world! How freakin' amazing is that!

Now, I know many might already have concerns of this partnership jeopardizing the independance of the event and/or bias due to a conflict of interest regarding to the involvement of a designer and his platform having a role in the Awards but I can assure you that this has been thoughtfully considered, addressed and thoroughly discussed among the admins of our community; It has been definitively decided as a term of agreement upon this partnership that Alex Chin of Seasons playing cards gracefully recuse himself, his decks and any other associated projects he may have been a part of from eligibility in participation of the DOTYs. Other terms and conditions are also set in place to maintain the integrity of the event and it will still largely be run and managed by the community with much oversight to ensure a fair and honorable event.

With that said, now on to the *really* big news...

This year, for the first time ever in DOTY history and only made possible through this amazing partnership with Portfolio52, we are going to be offering a new, custom and incredibly easy voting system to participants that is being built just for this event! We worked very hard together to find a developer and have it built from the ground up with the exact specifications of the DOTY event as our guide and with the ease of usability for voters at the forefront of it's design as this was and has been our biggest deterent in participation. This project was not cheap but we truly believe it is going to be well worth it to continue on the annual community tradition of the Deck of the Year Awards for many many years to come! Guys, I'm seriously so excited and y'all should be too! We're under a really tight time-pressure and are working around the clock to bring you the best DOTY experience we can and most definitely owe a TON of gratitude to Alex in particular for making this all a reality! This past week, we reviewed a test video of it's function and are still working on the build to get it up and running in time for when voting opens on Jan. 18th but let me explain how this will all work:

Basically the voting system is being built into the Portfolio52 platform, both for use on desktop and via mobil app; in a similar way of being able to click on decks as normally done through the P52 platform that brings up a deck's information, there will be a seprate DOTY voting system in which participants will be able to click open those decks that have been nominated within each of the DOTY categories and see pictures of that deck and then easily click to submit their votes. Not only will this be WAAAAY easier for participants to vote but this system will also DRASTICALLY improve the efficiency of tabulation - No more manual DMing! No more manual counting of votes! No more waiting or uncertainity of whether your vote has been counted or not! Guys, this is game-changing and are y'all getting as pump'd up about this as I am? If not, you def should be! Now granted, this is the first year we're attempting to take on something like this and it is something completely new and different from what we've always done so we're anticipating hiccups as there has been with every year of this event as it's grown, but we're excited to finally be able to try out something new and hope y'all are too!

In all honesty, this past year has been a real struggle; physically, mentally, emotionally, financially; and there were many times that I was uncertain if this event would even be able to happen at all... I myself, as I'm sure many of you all, have felt defeated and discouraged at one point or another over the past year and, with so much social and political turmoil atm, delving into our beloved hobby of playing cards has truly been a salvation in coping with all the craziness of the world. Since connecting with Alex and seeing first-hand his firm devotion and passion in this hobby not just as a designer/producer, but even more so as a fellow collector himself as evident in the development of the Portfolio52 platform, I've re-discovered the sense of togetherness that I had lost in the people that make this hobby as amazing and fulfilling as it is even when only through the absurd shared love and appreciation of something as seemingly trivial as playing cards.

The Deck of the Year event is so much more than handing out awards to all our favorite designers; this a time for all of us to come together and we're proud to be able to do so in a collaborative partnership with Portfolio52! This is OUR time to let our voices be heard and celebrate the hobby no better way than we know how than with this event! YAY! Let's go DOTYs!

[Adonael]

All good news. I fear I may have missed the relevant thread, but since this is happening soon, I just need to re-emphasize the absolute necessity of a 'Best Use of Foil' category. Not only was it already relevant and necessary the past two years despite being ignored for other less relevant categories, as well as garnering a large amount of support for adding it, now with so many decks having foil and it being used in so many new ways it would be downright disrespectful to the hobby as a whole and completely out of touch to neglect to recognise it.

[PipChick]

All good news. I fear I may have missed the relevant thread, but since this is happening soon, I just need to re-emphasize the absolute necessity of a 'Best Use of Foil' category. Not only was it already relevant and necessary the past two years despite being ignored for other less relevant categories, as well as garnering a large amount of support for adding it, now with so many decks having foil and it being used in so many new ways it would be downright disrespectful to the hobby as a whole and completely out of touch to neglect to recognise it.

just out of curiousity; by what standards would you suggest we use to define a 'Best Use of Foil' category?



So there's quite a few reasons why I really don't think inclusion of this category would be a good idea;

1.) Too vague & subjective

• What I hate most about this category as well as the 'Best Use of Color' category is that it is so vague and wildly subjective... like, is best use of color just simply a ton of different colors? If so, wouldn't/shouldn't a rainbow deck just win every year? Is it use of neon bright colors? Is it use of only one really well-fitting color to a theme?... I feel like this would be the same for foil but even broader in the sense of also how well the foil is applied which is a.) completely out of the hands of the designer and b.) more importantly, could and does vary widely from deck to deck as seen in the inconsistencies of USPCC registration of their MetalLux...

2.) Too exclusionary

• Nearly every other category is open to all decks - from more standard basic bikes to premium decks in terms of quality in manufacturing/blinged-out features... a category like best use of Foil would be excluding a large majority of decks solely on this one specific feature making it really a category for more high-end premium decks that feature foil which just feels wrong.

3.) Slippery Slope

• 'Best Use of Foil' opens the door for other potential categories like 'Best Use of Metallic Inks' or 'Best Use of UV Spot Ink' or 'Best Use of Blacklight-Reactive Ink' or 'Best Use of the Color Red'... see the problem?

Thoughts?

[Strag]

Best use of Gilding, best use of seal, best use of packaging materials... yeah there are probably too many categories as it is don't see why this one warrants inclusion.

[Harvonsgard]

We have best use of colour so, I'm with Adonael, it only makes sense to have best use of foil.

Since Cartamundi introduced its (I suspect inline) cold foil process, and now EPCC/LPCC stepping up the game as well, it has become a feature that is quite common amongst decks. Therefore the point it being to exclusive is not true imo. Is there even one deck without foil on at least the tuckbox these days?
I don't see the slipery slope point either. If we apply that logic then the DOTYs would have to be cut down to Deck of the Year and Artist of the Year plus maybe Rookie of the Year.
If this award aims to be a representation of our industry then I say best use of foil has to be in.

[MagikFingerz]

It's a nay from me. I also think that if we ever were to cut anything, Best Use of Color should be the first to go (though I'm not saying we should).

I don't see the slipery slope point either. If we apply that logic then the DOTYs would have to be cut down to Deck of the Year and Artist of the Year plus maybe Rookie of the Year.

No, if we apply that logic, we simply don't add the category and maybe cut Best Use of Color. But cutting categories is not what's being discussed, adding one is.

[Harvonsgard]

But cutting categories is not what's being discussed, adding one is.

That's way points were made for it (being an integral part and almost a standard of current custom deck design) and points against, which - no offense - imo aren't really solid with the last one being the weakest.

[NativeTongue]

Noticing Tough Luck isn't on the Master List

[IAmTheChin]

For this year new categories not currently listed won't be put in the DOTYs mostly because we have no time to gather nomination entries for any new categories.
In the future we can always discuss adding or changing these categories as long as we have enough lead time. Personally I'd like to cut Best Pips and Best Use of Color mostly for people new to the DOTYs that get daunted by how many things to vote for, but I understand that some people feel passionate about it.

Having less but broader categories promote higher quality entries and make it easier to focus rather than splitting up concepts into more and more niche categories. Having 100 different categories would take away the value of winning a DOTY because it would be so commonplace. IMO if a category can be encapsulated by an existing category it should. I would imagine Best Tuck would absorb best use of foil or best embossing.

If every deck has foil I wouldn't necessarily conclude that we should make a new category for it because one could say the same about ink or paper. The end goal is to award the people and the designs created. Any extra categories feel like it would dilute attention and possibly take away from this main goal. Just my 2 cents.

Noticing Tough Luck isn't on the Master List

No worries it's been nominated and in the system. I actually just cleaned up the file for it into the site.

[NativeTongue]

Noticing Tough Luck isn't on the Master List

No worries it's been nominated and in the system. I actually just cleaned up the file for it into the site.

Oh really?! Dang, ok then. Carry on... lol

[Jocu]

Hey guys are nominations open/have they closed already? There’s usually a sticky prompting people to submit but I’ve not seen anything this year...

[Harvonsgard]

Since voting is already open, I highly doubt that nominations are still possible.

[Jocu]

Since voting is already open, I highly doubt that nominations are still possible.

Ah I see it's mainly over at P52. Fair play the voting setup looks slick and much more user friendly!

[shkorc]

Why is there no mention of UC over at the P52 DOTY page?

I couldn't find any info on when's the voting deadline?

I couldn't find any info on the prize giveaway competition that should motivate new and old members to join and vote?

[Harvonsgard]

Should be all in one page. Like one ballot with all categories. Having to select every category by itself isn't slick imo.

+ @shkorc

If Matt wouldn't have mentioned the voting in his instagram stories I might have missed it.

I know that this IP blacklist bug kept Pip from posting here but it felt a bit weird this year.
Felt more like food served in a cantina, *slaps mashed potates on the plate*
"There you go, keep moving"...

[sms69x]

The new voting page looks slick Congrats.
I see that my nominees are not there, don't know why, as I sent the votes in time.

One problem I found is that Vittoria playing cards are nominated in several categories, but that deck was delivered in 2019...