Current Situation: Governance Crisis

How did we arrive at this crisis?

The Committee has always been a collegial institution, whose Core Members, the decision-makers, represented different approaches to the game. This structure is supported by various institutional components: Consultants, Community Managers, and a somewhat unique position, the Technical Coordinator.

The former Technical Coordinator held this role for about ten years. This person has seen many members come and go, but was a historical pillar of the format, whose original function was to take care of the website and our various communication channels. In practice, their dynamism and availability also led them to take on the role of what could be called a manager. Above all, their commitment led them to regularly participate in substantive discussions, even though this was not originally part of their role.

In recent years, however, strong tensions arose between this individual and the rest of the team, first over the direction to take, and then in the human dimension of our exchanges.

1) Regarding Duel Commander's Direction

Our conceptions of the game tended to drift apart gradually. The Committee team wanted to support the game's evolution through the releases proposed by WotC, while the former coordinator felt it was necessary to radically restructure the format to limit its transformation. For example, they felt it necessary to ban a minimum of 150 cards, or to remove the ban list and replace it with a points system (Black Lotus being worth 100 points, etc.). We disagreed with these proposals, especially since this was not part of their role as technical coordinator. Their insistence on systematically bringing these projects back to the table at every meeting was detrimental to the quality of our work.

2) Communication Difficulties

Communication with this person became increasingly complex over the years. Their tendency to dominate conversations and discussions, without respecting others' speaking time or opinions, led us to gradually exclude them from our exchanges, which should have been the case from the outset given their position within the organization. Gradually, exchanges became increasingly confrontational. As a result, they felt marginalized, seeing themselves excluded from a role that was not originally theirs, but which they had become accustomed to occupying.

The Critical Issue: Administrative Control

This latent conflict could not be resolved through dialogue, despite repeated attempts on our part and numerous requests from the entire extended team. The situation was all the more critical as this individual was the sole holder of administrative rights for all our official channels. Our disagreements were also reflected there: they were the sole master of these tools and refused to modify them in line with the changes we wanted to make.

As this arrangement was not sustainable for an organization of our size and nature, we wanted to centralize access to these channels in a shared account, a form of legal entity with shared rights. We therefore collectively asked the former coordinator to step down from the institution and transfer these rights to the group.

Current Situation

This individual is currently isolated in their split project: the entire team, from Consultants to Core Members to Community Managers, remains united around the format, and the former coordinator represents only themselves in this matter. Their claim to want to set up a parallel entity is, unfortunately, exactly the type of crisis we wanted to avoid.

We are doing our best to resolve the crisis as quickly as possible and arrive at a satisfactory solution for the community, in particular by re-establishing effective and collegially managed channels of discussion.

A Human Note

The former coordinator has, in fact, done a great deal for the committee during their ten years of service. They have worked hard, both on the technical side and in a quasi-managerial role for teams that were not always easy to work with. We haven't forgotten what they have contributed, but it seems that the last few years have been very difficult for them, as they have been outnumbered in their vision of the game and relatively marginalized by their communication difficulties.

They are now isolated, plunged into what can only be described as a state of distress; we do not wish to overwhelm them or encourage anyone to attack them in any way. Our priority remains, above all, to return the institution to its community and to prevent this type of problem from arising again in the future.

— Crimelune, on behalf of the entire Duel Commander Committee team

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