The Importance of Descriptions (especially for EDH Decklists)
TappedOut forum
Posted on July 23, 2014, 1:26 p.m. by flyinginovals
I want to put this out there as a PSA. I'm tired of clicking on EDH Decklists, scrolling down to see the description, and meeting two lines reading "This is my Aurelia deck in progress. Any suggestions appreciated." When I see this kind of description, I hit the back button and go read someone else's Decklist. Why? Because EDH Decklists are long. There are typically 60-80 unique cards in an EDH List, and before I start poring over them, I want to be given an overview of how the deck is designed to function. Simply seeing the Commander is not enough. Are you attempting to use Aurelia to take advantage of "When CARDNAME attacks" abilities? Maybe her ability to untap all your creatures gave you the idea for a deck that takes advantage of tap abilities or inspired? Or maybe it's a theme deck based around the concept of War? Before I sort through the Decklist, I want to see what the intention of the deck is, and how that intention is being executed.
These are the things I really look for in a description:
-What the central idea of the deck is (i.e. Why the cards that are in the deck were chosen)
-How certain cards/groups of cards in the deck fit that theme
-(if you have play tested it) How certain elements of the deck have been performing so far.
-Any quirks or restrictions on the deck, i.e. Made for tournament pods or french banlist.
Those are my thoughts. I welcome any replies or alternative ideas, as long as they are politely stated. Thanks!
P.S. I promise I'm not hating on Aurelia. Just giving an arbitrary example.
GoldGhost012 says... #3
See, there are those decks that don't give you a lot/any information, then there are these that give you an overload of information/story. It's a good thing I asked how to format those buttons, because I don't think anyone would stick around if the description was as long as it could be.
July 23, 2014 1:54 p.m.
harassment of users is not allowed except harassing them to give better descriptions.
July 23, 2014 2:23 p.m.
MagicalHacker says... #5
I think this applies under personal preference, since I don't usually look at descriptions unless it's a video posted there that's partially on-theme.
I just click spoiler view and bask in the glory (or shame) of the deck.
July 23, 2014 3:31 p.m.
OcelotProblems says... #6
I'm a big fan of descriptions, especially for combo decks. Even a simple Channel + Fireball = Boom! Haha Yolo! is better than nothing. At least we know what you are gunning for as a win condition, but then again, I'd downvote anything with Yolo in it if I could....
If you want to share your muse, your story, etc - Awesome, but I recommend keeping it brief. There is no way I'm watching 20 minutes of anime videos, or reading a chapter of fan fiction. However, I absolutely LOVE the fact that people take the time and effort to include those things - it makes the deck theirs, not just a collection of cards.
I feel the same way about forum posts in deck help. Give a clue about what the heck you need help with, instead of "Need help! Deck New! Much Fail!". Anyways, I'll just go ahead and get off the soapbox.
July 23, 2014 4:13 p.m.
Grimgrinner says... #7
Is this a good example? (also plugging)
The Ooze of Doom Playtest
Commander / EDH*
SCORE: 10 | 0 COMMENTS | 7536 VIEWSI think it's a little long-winded, but for anybody that cares to read through it, there's a lot of good info and some flavor too. I rather like descriptions like this.
July 23, 2014 4:36 p.m.
It's funny when a deck's title says "help needed" then you look at their deck and they don't know what their plan is. How am I supposed to help ya, brah?!
But in all seriousness, a description is essential to help others who ight be interested in the same general/style or for others to be able to help suggest cards for the deck.
Grimgrinner the description on my Trostani deck is longer, lol. I don't know if people actually read my descriptions, though.
July 23, 2014 5:10 p.m.
flyinginovals says... #9
Grimgrinner, I agree that that's a good amount of description (nice deck btw). I wouldn't be surprised if it was too much for some people, but I definitely am more tolerant of too much description than too little.
When I write a description for maximum readability, my general length rule for myself is that the whole description needs to fit on my screen at once with space to spare, and shouldn't take more than two or three minutes to read. But especially when someone posts a flavor-based deck, I looove it when they go into detail about the story behind it.
Glad to see that others in the community shares a similar view about this!
July 23, 2014 5:42 p.m.
asasinater13 says... #10
I don't always read overly long descriptions, but I would rather have that to skim through than no description. Generally skimming will get the idea of the deck, when there's a longer description, and one can look at where cards are mentioned specifically to see the interactions intended. I would always prefer too wordy to too short.
Schuesseled says... #2
If there ain't a pretty picture, I ain't sticking around.
July 23, 2014 1:51 p.m.