Garcia's Blog 2/20/14- 2013 is Now Available/Fluke Cards
Posted: Thu Feb 20, 2014 9:44 pmHey guys,
The 2013 season is now available! Due to the hard work of our team we were able to get this set out a full week earlier than last year. You can view more details on the new player set here.
Some of you have asked for us to speak a little about how we determine which cards are to be considered "Flukes" which are removed from the Standard set and included only in the Unleashed set. The official explanation of this process can be found at this link:
http://somonline.wikia.com/wiki/Fluke_cards
Also, in response to the perennial debate over whether we made the right calls on the omitted Flukes, it might be worth revisiting this discussion from 2 years ago just after we launched the 2011 season: http://forum.onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/archivesn/viewtopic.php?t=628723. The responses to all the concerns begin on page 10 (look for posts by bernieh).
To summarize: yes, our decision process for identifying which cards to exclude from the Standard set is indeed subjective, and thus not perfect, but it is clearly the best method, as it would be impossible to come up with strict stats-based guidelines that would handle the issue better.
With our offering of both the Standard and Unleashed sets, we believe we are accommodating practically all needs, from the more casual managers who don't want to see Fluke cards causing extreme statistical aberrations, to the "let them play" die-hards who want to see all the cards, to keeper leagues who are empowered to make their own omission guidelines. Lately we have been leaning to become more inclusive with fluke cards to the standard set. However if you are in a league that doesn't happen to agree with one or more of our Fluke card decisions and would like to include/exclude certain cards from your pool on a more "official" basis than just verbally agreeing upon their usage, let us know and we'll be happy to try to accommodate your needs on an individual league basis.
I'll stop here to let everyone get going with their draft preparation! Enjoy the season and as always, if you have any questions please let us know at onlinegamesupport@strat-o-matic.com. Talk to everyone next week!
-John
The 2013 season is now available! Due to the hard work of our team we were able to get this set out a full week earlier than last year. You can view more details on the new player set here.
Some of you have asked for us to speak a little about how we determine which cards are to be considered "Flukes" which are removed from the Standard set and included only in the Unleashed set. The official explanation of this process can be found at this link:
http://somonline.wikia.com/wiki/Fluke_cards
Also, in response to the perennial debate over whether we made the right calls on the omitted Flukes, it might be worth revisiting this discussion from 2 years ago just after we launched the 2011 season: http://forum.onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/archivesn/viewtopic.php?t=628723. The responses to all the concerns begin on page 10 (look for posts by bernieh).
To summarize: yes, our decision process for identifying which cards to exclude from the Standard set is indeed subjective, and thus not perfect, but it is clearly the best method, as it would be impossible to come up with strict stats-based guidelines that would handle the issue better.
With our offering of both the Standard and Unleashed sets, we believe we are accommodating practically all needs, from the more casual managers who don't want to see Fluke cards causing extreme statistical aberrations, to the "let them play" die-hards who want to see all the cards, to keeper leagues who are empowered to make their own omission guidelines. Lately we have been leaning to become more inclusive with fluke cards to the standard set. However if you are in a league that doesn't happen to agree with one or more of our Fluke card decisions and would like to include/exclude certain cards from your pool on a more "official" basis than just verbally agreeing upon their usage, let us know and we'll be happy to try to accommodate your needs on an individual league basis.
I'll stop here to let everyone get going with their draft preparation! Enjoy the season and as always, if you have any questions please let us know at onlinegamesupport@strat-o-matic.com. Talk to everyone next week!
-John