June 23rd (once again!) marks a few important things for me: my birthday, the first full day of my summer job at Virginia’s Latin Academy, and the two year anniversary of Thraben University. Honestly, I’m amazed at everything that’s happened in the past year. Here’s a small recap of things that have happened on the site, though I’m sure I’m forgetting some things:
~24 new articles
Expansion of the matchup section
Significant revision of the matchups from last year
Creation of some useful tools and references pages (e.g. Math of Splashing page)
Significant revision of some of the splash pages
Significant revamping of the decklist tab
Reorganization of materials
More cooperative content than ever, including podcasts and guest articles
Creation of new tabs on the site, like Coming Soon
Organization of the first in-person D&T meetup at a major event
D&T mulligan survey that resulted in a heavily updated mulligan page
Creation of a stream
Creation of an accompanying Youtube Channel
Joined the Cardhoarder Network
Production of ~300 hours of streaming content
Accumulation of over 900 followers on Twitch
Active involvement in the D&T Discord Channel
Looking back at my goals from the previous year, I’m very pleased with how things have progressed. There were a few bumps along the way, but that’s just life. The stream didn’t get started up as quickly as I anticipated due to technical difficulties; accordingly, I didn’t quite make my goal of hitting Twitch Partner status (I’ve been sitting on the cusp of that for months though, so it’s inevitable). I have a few planned changes that didn’t happen due to some unforeseen stressors in my life the past two months or so; accordingly, I didn’t have much time to meet up with someone and work through some of the layout and technical changes to the website that I have planned. Those changes are coming, don’t worry, but I’m not sure exactly when I’ll get around to them.
But enough with the past, let’s look to the future!!!
First, the immediate future. I’ll be teaching Spoken Latin at Virginia’s Governor’s Latin Academy from June 22nd to July 15th. During that time, my streaming schedule will be sporadic. My summer job is going to take priority over the stream, but there will still be a good number of streams. I teach every other morning, so there’s the possibility for streams prior to noon every other weekday. I have Sunday mornings off as well, so unless I’m dead tired (which is a real possibility!), I’ll be planning on Sunday morning streams. Above all else though, I do need to avoid burnout, as my summer job is extremely intensive and has long hours. My afternoons and evenings will be almost entirely filled with various activities for the academy, so unfortunately it is extremely unlikely that there will be any late streams during my time there. If you haven’t followed me already on Twitch, it’s probably a great time to do so, as getting push notifications for when I’m starting up is probably the best way to catch when I’m streaming for the next month.
Now let’s look ahead to the remainder of the summer. This year my collaborative content was very well received, so I think it’s time to crank that up to 11. I’d like to announce that I am now accepting applications for exhibition streams! That’s right! You now have your chance to take on “The Dean” on stream for the enjoyment of the Legacy community. My goal is to showcase Legacy at its highest level and produce some high caliber content to promote interest in and growth of Legacy as a format. I’m intending these streams to be educational; they should showcase how to optimally approach and play a matchup. Anyone is welcome to submit an application, but I am looking for players who are masters of their decks and/or other Legacy streamers. I’d love to be able to stream both sides of a matchup, so that players can watch concurrently or take a look at the other side of the matchup later to see how things are playing out.
I intend for the bulk of these exhibition streams to take place between July 16th and August 5th, as I will have a great deal of scheduling flexibility during that time. That being said, I have no doubt that some of these will trickle over into the rest of August and perhaps the months to come. I won’t be able to accept every application, but I’m very excited for this opportunity. If you’d like to submit an application, please click here or complete the Google Form embedded at the bottom of this article. Feel free to pass on this form as you see fit.
Finally, let’s look ahead to my long-term plans for the next year. I want to really invest in the stream in the year to come. I’ve had so much fun interacting with the chat in the last six months, and I’d like to do some things to really improve that experience. Here’s the direction I think I’m going in the next year and my set of goals given my anticipated growth.
1. Finish upgrading my stream setup by buying a pair of new monitors.
2. Create a donation queue of some sort to clearly track my donation decklists and donation content.
3. Add some new graphics to the stream (e.g. stream starting soon screen and bathroom break screen)
4. Hit Twitch Partner Status
5. Hit 2000 Followers
6. Find a good balance between D&T and non-D&T content.
7. Increase my range as a Legacy player by playing more decks.
8. Increase average number of weekly streams from two to three.
9. Try to stream once a week at a non-evening time to allow others to catch me live more frequently.
10. Play in some Legacy Challenges.
I’d like to take this opportunity to give a shout out to a few people who have really helped with my content over the past year.
Kerry Milan– He’s one of my closest friends and my tech support. He helps me get Thraben University up and running again anytime something weird happens.
Zach Koch– He’s been one of my primary sounding boards for prepping D&T decklists for events.
MTGO User Piroko139 and Source User ZTurgeon– These two players were incredibly helpful in helping me learn Red Prison at a higher level. Zach gave me some great sideboarding notes, and Piroko139 was my sounding board for my various Red Prison questions.
My subs and donors– Thraben University is profitable now, whereas last year it was largely just self-sustaining. I can now justify putting more time and effort into both the stream and the website itself. I can’t tell you how much it means that I have such an opportunity. Thank you.
Cardhoarder– Cardhoarder gifted me with a large loan account, allowing me to play a wide variety of Legacy decks other than just D&T. This really opened up my audience beyond just those players who love D&T. I’m very grateful for that.
I hope you all have enjoyed my content over the past year, and here’s looking forward to another great year of Legacy content!
XOXOXXOXO
-Phil Gallagher
