Legacy Adepts or "Good ol' Boys Club"?

[the jack]

Long time lurker, first time poster. I seem to find that these adepts are all either real-life friends or come from 1 general region of the globe (northeastern US) with very few, if any from other parts of the world. Why is that?

What makes an Adept an "Adept"? To quote CavernNinja, it is the ability to "...show the ability to create or redefine a deck to become a strong contender" or "... is someone who can compete and also has shown interest in supporting the advancement of the format and this forum". If this is truly the criteria to be an Adept, then there should be more adepts than what I've seen simply because I've seen more insightful posts on these forums from non-adepts than from most adepts. Also, there are definitely some that have been given "Adept" status which should no longer be one or should have never been given the status to begin with.

A list of "Adepts" and Mods from my manual search:

1. Afro
Legacy Adept (Regular poster)

2. Akki
Legacy Adept (Level 2 judge...but what else does he contribute? Nothing.)

3. Anusien
Legacy Public Relations (Regular poster)

4. AnwarA101
Legacy Adept (Regular poster and contributes to deck disucussions)

5. Bardo
Legacy Adept (Regular poster)

6. Bastian
Legacy Adept (Occasional poster)

7. BoTS
Legacy Adept (Regular poster)

8. braves54321
aka Norm (Moderator. Doesn't partake in deck discussions anymore)

9. CavernNinja
Haven't played in decades (Regular poster)

10. CopperLeaf
Legacy Adept (Who? Only has 51 posts)

11. CorruptedAngel
Avoids tournaments like the Plague (Occasional poster)

12. DavidHernandez
Legacy Adept (Who?)

13. Deep6er
Hold on. I have a response. (Inventer of Solidarity [Reset High Tide]. Sparse poster, usually only on Solidarity)

14. Diablos
Master of Disaster (Administrator. Posts in mish-mash and in deck threads he creates)

15. Ewokslayer
The Sole Legacy Player in Brooklyn? (Contributes to most promising deck threads.)

16. FakeSpam
Cardboard Messiah (Who? He hasn't had a good contributing post since before the major bannings)

17. frogboy
Moderator (never heard of this guy until he became a moderator)

18. Garvman
Legacy Adept (what has this guy contributed in the last year or two? I think the first post he had in a year was in the "Rush" thread in Mish-Mash

19. GodzillA
You are Japan. (Owns the site. Takes special interest in his pet decks and contributes to Legacy discussions)

20. GreenMycon
100% Awesome (Administrator. Only really posts in Mish-Mash)

21. herbig
EPIC Storm Trooper (203 posts. Won [split for first/second, actually] a couple of tournaments recently. Only comments on Solidarity seriously. Every other post is crap)

22. Jander78
Moderbator (Mod. Barely heard from these days, usually on his own decks and in Mish-Mash)

23. Kadishack
Team Sexy's Mascot (Contributions? Held 2 tournaments. Whoopee! I could to the same)

24. kimberley
Legacy Adept (Who? When was his last post?)

25. kirdape3
Legacy Adept (Meandeck guy. Usually has insightful posts)

26. legacyplayer0
Legacy Adept (110 posts. Regular contributor lately.)

27. LinkXwing
Legacy Adept (Haven't heard from this guy in a while)

28. LunchBox
Legacy Adept (389 posts. What/when was his last constructive contribution?)

29. Machinus
Legacy Adept (330 posts. Has done a ton of posting lately. Usually insightful.)

30. Mad Zur
Legacy Adept (Occasional poster. Helped with reformatting the Threshold deck threads in LMF)

31. MattH
Legacy Adept (Regular contributor lately.)

32. Mr. Nightmare
Origami Adept (Probably our newest moderator. Usually contributes to discussions)

33. munkie
Legacy Adept (Um, WHO? I don't think this guy has logged on in years)

34. Obfuscate Freely
The snake on your motherfuckin' plane (I see his name a lot. Regular poster.)

35. overlord95
Legacy Adept (Regular poster.)

36. Peter_Rotten
I'm an avatar changing nazi (Administrator that doesn't play magic anymore and doesn't contribute to actual discussions outside of Mish-Mash)

37. Phantom Tape Worm
Legacy Adept (29 POSTS! Who is this guy? Went apeshit with posting more than 2 years ago talking about how Dragon with Spoils of the Vault was broken as hell. Haven't heard from this guy since. Why is he still Adept?)

38. quicksilver
King of Beatdown (Regular poster lately.)

39. Ray D 3
Legacy Adept (from what I have found, hasn't contributed anything positive lately)

40. Ridiculous Hat
Legacy Inept (Plays on the Pro Tour! Top 8'd a Legacy Grand Prix! But I haven't seen any real contribution in these forums from this guy)

41. scrumdogg
Old Man Rogue (Regular poster. Has interest in beatdown decks and Legacy Issues, too.)

42. Setnakt
Legacy Adept (Adept? What has this guy contributed to?)

43. Slay
Bakalakadaka Street (Don't know what this color represents, is he adept? Usually contributes to discussions)

44. SpatulaOfTheAges
Birds are dying! (Usual poster. Can get insulting/condesending with some of his posts, though)

45. T is for TOOL
Silmeria (Moderator. I only see him moderating posts these days)

46. TeenieBopper
Fuck you all (contributed absolutely "ZERO" to the format for more than a year and a half. Why is he still Adept? Is it because he's one of the "Good ol' boys"?

47. TheInfamousBearAssassin
King of Legacy (Arrogant, but a regular poster. Usually makes sense but stubborn)

48. tux
Legacy Adept (25 posts total! Why is he still adept if he doesn't contribute?)


Did I miss anyone?

I have seen far more insightful posts from non-Adept members here than from the ones we already have.

Are the 34-ish good Adepts and Mods out of 1800 members enough to really be the be-all-end-all voice to The Source and why aren't there any regular updating/auditing of adept status? I feel that if you really have nothing to contribute to Legacy as a whole, you should not be in a select group of people that are a 'tier above' others that are far more passionate about that format. This looks to be much more of a "good ol' boys" club (they all know each other in real life and have created their clique) than anything else.

Thank you for reading.

[Lukas Preuss]

Did I miss anyone?

Yes, you missed me. But since I'm one of the newest Adepts, this is not a big deal. I can only speak for myself (and maybe kimberley) since we represent the German metagame among the Adepts (obviously, we don't belong to said "good old boys' club" and don't know any of the other Adepts in real life). Our main task is to be the voice for the German metagame, since it differs somewhat from the American. Kimberley has been quite inactive lately, since he became addicted to WoW, though.

You won't see many, many posts from either of us though, because it is not as easy for us to write high quality comments in English as it is for you guys, since it is not our native language. This doesn't stop us from contributing to important discussions or interesting decks, but we won't post everywhere we can, I guess, since it is much more "work". :)

I understand your point that some of the Adepts seem to be quite inactive, I personally have never heard of some of them either. This might actually be an interesting discussion.

[CynicalSquirrel]

Well I agree with you that some people are adepts seemingly only because of their friendships with administrators or other adepts, some of your reasoning for people not being adepts is ridiculous. For example, you say that kimberley shouldn't be an adept because he only has a little over 100 posts. Every post I see from kimberley is high quality, and I respect pretty much everything kimberley has to say about a deck. It shouldn't be about someone's post count, and posting every five seconds shouldn't be a part of being an adept.

I sort of agree with you on the thread and think it might have been a good idea to bring up, but you come off as an arrogant dickwad.

[herbig]

I think your observation that many of the adepts are real life friends stems from the fact that nearly every major tournament is held on the east coast, and most Source members go to them. This makes tournaments very familiar and you tend to develop friendships with everyone because you see them at every major event.

Because this is a community, most can already relate to people they don't see physically because they have a sense of who they are from the forums. At Kadi's tournaments in Syracuse, we have a tradition of going out to Hooters afterwards. Most sourcers are people I don't hang out with outside of the Magic scene, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't count anyone I meet at tournaments as a friend.

Also, what is your definition of "insightful posts." Looking into your own post history, I see only a single rant about a topic with which you have little knowledge.

Overall, I believe you have wasted a large amount of time pouring over the posting history of other members. Adept status holds no priviledges aside from a different color name.

Edit: I also noticed you say I have 203 posts. My 203rd post was on September 4th. How long have you been compiling this information?

[edgewalker]

Many of the Adepts or admins were around when the site first started back when Glow and Mycon created it. I know I was in the first 10 people to join or something. (where's my adept status?) It's true many people don't contribute anymore but is it hurting anyone? I see the titles on the inactive members as a means of remeberance of what they've done for the format. Much like a Legacy Arlington Cemetary. You also have to remember theres a seprate forum us normal folks don't see. So who knows what discussion goes on in there.

EDIT: I agree with Herbig, you come off as an arrogant dick wad. I didn't want to say it in my post but I'll do it anyways. You need to complain about something else. Maybe make more than 1 post.

[SillyMetalGAT]

Yeah, I have to kind of agree, but its understandable. I think if someone hasnt POSTED in a long time, they should be taken off. It is kind of a priviledge, I mean dont you guys have a whole other forum? And I know someone has the power to demote someone, just look at Evil Roopey. I dont really agree with some of the poeple you said stuff about. Herbig definately posts quite a bit lately. But some people ive never even heard of.

[Anarky87]

Sorry to jump on the bandwagon, but this topic does come off as somewhat arrogant. Like, "If you haven't made an insightful post recently then you're pretty much worthless." Also, since when does a post ALWAYS have to be insightful and contributing? For instance:


21. herbig
EPIC Storm Trooper (203 posts. Won [split for first/second, actually] a couple of tournaments recently. Only comments on Solidarity seriously. Every other post is crap)

Who are you to say what is and isn't a crap post? The man can post what he wishes in any forum. Whether it's crap is left up to the moderation staff. I met Herbig at Gencon inbetween rounds and he's a good guy.


23. Kadishack
Team Sexy's Mascot (Contributions? Held 2 tournaments. Whoopee! I could to the same)

I think you severely downplay the quality of tournaments and hard work Kadi puts into these events. I sincerely doubt that you could pull together the kind of support and price payouts that his tournaments bring. I can't attend them, being that they take place on the east cost, but from what I read, they are superbly run. Their results also end up on SCG, so unless you can as easily pull together two high quality tournaments like that, I think it best to keep uninformed comments that you have no knowledge of to yourself.

I don't really see the Adept title as some special prestige or clique of 'Good 'ol Boys,' but more as individuals who've established themselves and their reputation as people to go to with Legacy discussion or advice. Sure, there are other people I think could possibly deserve an upgrade to Adept, and they may get it, I don't know. But to make a thread where you basically flaunt your opinion of who should and shouldn't be an Adept and their worth to the community, really isn't a grand way to enter into the community. I may not know personally half the posters/adepts/mods/admins or whatever, but from reading their posts, I would take what they have to say and consider it seriously over, say, some random poster.

[Caboose]

I think the original poster is feeling a wee bit o' jealousy. Also, Herbig never posts crap. His posts are the basis from which every other post is measured against.

[Volt]

Blah. Titles, shmitles. Who gives a crap?

[Peter_Rotten]

Re: Legacy Adepts or "Good ol' Boys Club"?

You should make a thread about it.

[herbigtoo]

50. herbigtoo
Not an adept, not a mod, like three posts (wtf who does he think he is posting if he's only got three?) Twin brother of herbig (crap poster) and far better at Solidarity although he's never picked the deck up in his life. Has a huge cock.

[cathl]

If people want to become adepts or mods or whatever, they'll submit resumes or simply start their own site. There is no reason to force people to become adepts or to force current adepts to recruit more adepts.

Yes, there are cliques here, but there are cliques everywhere. Having a "club" is neither good nor bad inherently.

[Zilla]

Opening post edited for accuracy.

A few points:

1. We don't demote inactive Adepts. Not because it's the right or wrong thing to do, but because we're lazy, and when it comes right down to it, who cares?

2. Why is this issue relevant enough to do as much research as you have, and why does it warrant a thread?

3. Given that the current system for deciding Adepts (in most cases) is based upon nominations by an existing Adept followed by a vote for or against the nominee by all Adepts, there's going to be natural slant towards friends or aquaintances of the existing pool of Adepts. Does that make it a "good 'ol boys club"? Maybe, depending on how cynical you are. Again, why does it matter?

4. Welcome to the Source.

[AnwarA101]

3. Given that the current system for deciding Adepts (in most cases) is based upon nominations by an existing Adept followed by a vote for or against the nominee by all Adepts, there's going to be natural slant towards friends or aquaintances of the existing pool of Adepts. Does that make it a "good 'ol boys club"? Maybe, depending on how cynical you are. Again, why does it matter?


Legacy Adepts "vote" in the sense that we fill out a suggestion box that is taken under advisement by the Moderators and Administrators. Mods and Admins run this show. Legacy Adepts are just minor characters. Legacy Adepts are not a "Good ol' Boys Club" and many of us don't even agree with each other that often. I'm pretty sure if it was such a Club I wouldn't be a member. Don't worry about the Adept situation there are more important things to spend time on. Its just not that important, trust me.

[TheInfamousBearAssassin]

47. TheInfamousBearAssassin
King of Legacy (Arrogant, but a regular poster. Usually makes sense but stubborn)



The Jack:
Posts: I dunno. I can't be bothered to scroll up the page.
Uses incomplete sentences when describing the King of Legacy. Unacceptable.

[Citrus-God]

16. FakeSpam
Cardboard Messiah (Who? He hasn't had a good contributing post since before the major bannings)


He made Rifter and 1.5 Battle of Wits... you are such a bastard, he paid $30 for those sleeves. And yes, he did somewhat contribute after the bannings. It was the era of UW Landstill and the discovery of Vial Goblins. It was also the era when I was with my "Do Do Do Do Do" Rock n' Roll gal... goddamn that was random. Posting at 9 am rawks.

[quicksilver]

Being an adept is not all it's cracked up to be. The most important thing we get is the ability to see users in invisible mode. So don't worry one bit if you arn't one. Sure we got our own forums but the only thing that goes on it in there is the ocasional "I slept with your mom" jokes, and like no one has posted in it for like 2 months. Also the reason many adept know each other in real life is because we all met at tournements since many of us are regular attenders to large tournements.

[herbig]

So any response from the jack? He hasn't even logged on since posting, but he is likely lurking. Was this a joke?

[Nightmare]

More likely to be a long-time member who was on a rant.

[herbig]

More likely to be a long-time member who was on a rant.

I figured as much as well. Come forward sir, I'm sure we could make you an adept. All you need is constructive posting, hard work, and not be a cocksucker.

/fixed - Di

[URABAHN]

More likely to be a long-time member who was on a rant.

Roopey, you're so silly!

[My Name Is Scott]

WHOIS much?

[TheAardvark]

Long time lurker, first time poster. I seem to find that these adepts are all either real-life friends or come from 1 general region of the globe (northeastern US) with very few, if any from other parts of the world. Why is that?

What makes an Adept an "Adept"?

as·i·nine
Pronunciation: 'a-s&-"nIn
Function: adjective
Etymology: Latin asininus, from asinus ass
1 : extremely or utterly foolish <an asinine excuse>
2 : of, relating to, or resembling an ass

/lesson

[Evil Roopey]

Roopey, you're so silly!

I wish I could claim for this but alas it was not me this time.

[TeenieBopper]

46. TeenieBopper
Fuck you all (contributed absolutely "ZERO" to the format for more than a year and a half. Why is he still Adept? Is it because he's one of the "Good ol' boys"?



No,it's becuase despite the fact that I hardly play anymore, I'm still better than and know more about the game than at least 95% of the posters on this site. I don't contribute because there's really nothing to contribute too. Have you seen most of the threads in the open forum? They're a joke. Hell, if you know anything about any other constructed format, then you know what to do and what not to do in any particular deck.

In short:

me>you

[herbig]

Have you seen most of the threads in the open forum? They're a joke.

Fluctuator is getting close to optimal.

[Bane of the Living]

I don't contribute because there's really nothing to contribute too. Have you seen most of the threads in the open forum? They're a joke.


Its obviously retarded to have Legacy Adepts with this mindset.

Its my understanding that from time to time an adept should be involved with our open forum discussions and want to further develop and aid others with decks. Not just claim to be an all knowing omnipotent figure on the source. "im better than you" is not the spirit we should keep running with here on the source but seems to be all the rage nowadays. Reading tournament reports like Gearharts only solidify this.

Its a real shame.

[NoGameShow]

Its obviously retarded to have Legacy Adepts with this mindset.

Its my understanding that from time to time an adept should be involved with our open forum discussions and want to further develop and aid others with decks. Not just claim to be an all knowing omnipotent figure on the source. "im better than you" is not the spirit we should keep running with here on the source but seems to be all the rage nowadays. Reading tournament reports like Gearharts only solidify this.

Its a real shame.



QFT I think furthering the format should be any adepts main concern not arguing over how much better they are than anybody else at the game. Maybe some of the higher ups should consider some kind of system to stop this because in my humble opinion it has no place here. In closing just because you think you're the best at the game does not make it true and I bet there were people who thought that our current decks to beat were utter crap and I bet they're eating their words now.

[Di]

Fluctuator is getting close to optimal.

I want to sig this so bad, but I'm not going to violate my own signature.


I don't contribute because there's really nothing to contribute too. Have you seen most of the threads in the open forum? They're a joke.

I sorta agree with this, but it's only because I'm too busy/lazy/high to post all the decks I have that could fuck shit up.

[troopatroop]

Its obviously retarded to have Legacy Adepts with this mindset.

Its my understanding that from time to time an adept should be involved with our open forum discussions and want to further develop and aid others with decks. Not just claim to be an all knowing omnipotent figure on the source. "im better than you" is not the spirit we should keep running with here on the source but seems to be all the rage nowadays. Reading tournament reports like Gearharts only solidify this.

Its a real shame.

That fact is... It doesn't matter if they're elitist if they're right. Gearheart is an amazing magic player. Teeniebopper will always be better than you. These things are facts, and until you can prove them otherwise, just deal with it.

[SillyMetalGAT]

That fact is... It doesn't matter if they're elitist if they're right. Gearheart is an amazing magic player. Teeniebopper will always be better than you. These things are facts, and until you can prove them otherwise, just deal with it.

Thats a pretty fuckin ignorant statement. You obviously dont have anything to base this off of. David Gearhart made a deck he couldnt top 8 with at a tourney until now. Michael Herbig > David Gearhart and Herbig didnt make the deck. Teeniebopper doesnt even play anymore. Seriously dude, every post you write, your shoving your head further up your ass you ignoramus. Get a fuckin life and stop shitting on people cuz you cant compensate for shit. And before you spout off with a bunch of your top 4 postings and shit, any idiot can do good with a deck, just look at Calosso.

BTW, Gearheart ISNT an amazing player. He only plays one deck. It doesnt take anything more than practice to get good at a deck. When you only play 1 deck, you get good at it. Ill give him credit for Solidarity, but nothing else.

EDIT: The Adept status is given to people that work on contributing to the format. Sure the guy made Solidarity... whoopdie do! Its not like Solidarity was completely original, theres always been something called High Tide Combo! At least Bane has done a shit ton of work on Loam decks. They may not be the best decks, but hell people pack hate for them. What the fuck have you done other than harrass people and look like a dick to everyone?

[FakeSpam]

I respectfully disagree with my evaluation.

A quick scan of the "great source quotes" thread will show exactly what I contribute here.

[URABAHN]

Thats a pretty fuckin ignorant statement. You obviously dont have anything to base this off of. David Gearhart made a deck he couldnt top 8 with at a tourney until now. Michael Herbig > David Gearhart and Herbig didnt make the deck. Teeniebopper doesnt even play anymore. Seriously dude, every post you write, your shoving your head further up your ass you ignoramus. Get a fuckin life and stop shitting on people cuz you cant compensate for shit. And before you spout off with a bunch of your top 4 postings and shit, any idiot can do good with a deck, just look at Calosso.

EDIT: The Adept status is given to people that work on contributing to the format. Sure the guy made Solidarity... whoopdie do! Its not like Solidarity was completely original, theres always been something called High Tide Combo! At least Bane has done a shit ton of work on Loam decks. They may not be the best decks, but hell people pack hate for them. What the fuck have you done other than harrass people and look like a dick to everyone?

Sounds like you're doing the exact same thing now. How ignorant are you to think that just because someone doesn't make Top 8, they're bad. Phil Mickelson has only won a couple of PGA Majors. Tiger and Jack have won over 20 combined. Does that mean Phil Mickelson is terrible? What about the folks in the Magic Hall of Fame who don't play anymore, are they terrible because they haven't made Top 8 in years? Is Pikula terrible because he hasn't made Top 8 since GP Philly?

GAT, if you and Bane have a problem with who's an Adept, take it up with Zilla, Peter Rotten, Mr. Nightmare, or whoever's responsible. Don't start killing the Adepts because of the way they act online or because their performance hasn't been up to your high expectations.

[SillyMetalGAT]

Sounds like you're doing the exact same thing now. How ignorant are you to think that just because someone doesn't make Top 8, they're bad. Phil Mickelson has only won a couple of PGA Majors. Tiger and Jack have won over 20 combined. Does that mean Phil Mickelson is terrible? What about the folks in the Magic Hall of Fame who don't play anymore, are they terrible because they haven't made Top 8 in years? Is Pikula terrible because he hasn't made Top 8 since GP Philly?

GAT, if you and Bane have a problem with who's an Adept, take it up with Zilla, Peter Rotten, Mr. Nightmare, or whoever's responsible. Don't start killing the Adepts because of the way they act online or because their performance hasn't been up to your high expectations.

I dont give a shit either way. I think its wrong for Troopatroop to come on here and insult someone because they havent top 8'ed, since he obviously is saying that to Bane directly. Dont come on here and talk shit to people youve never played against, because there may come a day where you play against them and you get your ass handed to you and your the one with egg on your face. Seriously people, there seem to be people that honestly deserve the title of Adept (Quicksilver, Herbig) mainly because they have GOOD input and they are very active members. Good for them. They say its just a status thing, but you know what? A lot of people on here judge your imput on whether or not you are one. Also, you really think people want to read a tourney report like the joke of a one that Gearheart wrote? HES A DICK! Straight up Id be pissed if I was someone that played against him. All he did was trash talk people. Thats the entire thread, Gearheart building up his ego because he FINALLY top 8'ed with Solidarity. Hes an egotistical fuck, not an amazing player and a well respected member of the Legacy community. Teeniebopper is the same, but hes not that much of a fuck. Im not judging anyone either, he displays those characteristics quite obviously to everyone. And BTW URABAHN, Im not saying shit about people not being good cuz they didnt Top 8. I was saying that because Gearheart flaunts his first top 8 like he does it all the time! Have you ever seen Bane Top 8 at a big event? NO! But is he a good player? One of the best I know in Mass easily. So I dont even know where you get off on trying to point out shit thats not even there.

And I dont think posting respectfully and putting some thought into your posts is a high expectation either. I may not be the mst respectful person around here, but when it comes to hellping out, I sure as hell try. I may not be the best player either, but I do know what im talking about for the most part. Everyone needs to stop having these pissing contests about how amazing they are. I dont give a fuck about your TOP 8. I wanna hear some good ideas, not just believe what you write because your rating is higher than mine.

[Machinus]

Wow, this is like the worst thread ever - and there is a lot to choose from.

If you think the Adepts are wrong in not paying attention to you, then defeat them at the next tournament, with the ideas you claim are important. Results are the only thing that matters. Pursuing pride and ego are not honorable, so prove yourselves better than the Adepts who do so. I would be happy to see less of this at every user level.

[Getsickanddie]

Hes an egotistical fuck, not an amazing player and a well respected member of the Legacy community. Teeniebopper is the same, but hes not that much of a fuck. Im not judging anyone either, he displays those characteristics quite obviously to everyone.
[/SIZE][/SIZE]


Teeniebopper is a dick, but that is what makes him so darn loveable. Granted he doesn't play anymore, but when he was active in Magic he was the tightest technical player I've seen in the 1.5 community.

[SillyMetalGAT]

Teeniebopper is a dick, but that is what makes him so darn loveable. Granted he doesn't play anymore, but when he was active in Magic he was the tightest technical player I've seen in the 1.5 community.

My bad on the last comment, I meant that in reference to Gearheartless.

[Zilla]

This thread is fucking retarded. I wish someone would lock it. Oh. Right.