With the impending release of Worlds 2010 format (DP-UL), it would be nice to also get the 2011 pre-mid season rotation format (Majestic Dawn thru Call of Legends).
Does this format have a following? I know 2012’s HS–NVI is one of the few mid-season formats some players enjoy, but what’s special about this 2011 format?
It has a niche following similar to HS-NVI. MD-CL has some unique archetypes that aren’t available in 2010 or 2011 formats such as Gengar/Vileplume and Magnezone/Regirock. There are also archetypes from 2010 that play differently with access to the rest of the HGSS card pool. For example, Gyarados gains Junk Arm, Seeker, and Rescue Energy.
Ah, this is the Vilegar format! Spiritomb + Vileplume in the same format is pretty nasty. That was my favorite deck during 2011.
A lot of people also enjoy SUM-LOT, the November 2018 format, which came right before Tag Teams. This format is yet another mid-season format that fills the “right before the big change” niche. The YouTuber Whimsicast is one of the biggest advocates of the format, creating deck profiles (Gardevoir is STILL Good - 2018 SUM-LOT Gardevoir GX Deck Profile), tabletop videos (Gardevoir GX vs. Vikavolt / Rayquaza GX - Pokémon TCG 2018 SUM-LOT Tabletop), problem card analyses (The Problems (& Fixes) of the 2018 SUM-LOT Format), and even a video respectfully debunking misinformation inadvertently spread by TrickyGym during a SUM-TEU tabletop video (Misinformation resulting from the fact that TrickyGym and his opponent from that video didn’t play fun decks during the SUM-LOT format and was unaware of the diversity of the format)(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhPK_gavdV4&t=6s).
As for MD-CoL, here are the resources I’m familiar with.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLq7QtV1IlV1YviVqBXTSVvY7MYBsez6Vi
I would personally love to try MD-CoL format as MewPerior looks like a fun deck and Gyarados is at its strongest. I’ve played a few games of SUM-LOT using the Sun and Moon Series, and it’s also an interesting format. Whimsicast has plenty to say about its merits if you want to check him out.
P.S. As for the argument about not wanting to have too many formats on TCGONE, we already have 30 formats, and when people don’t know what to choose, they just ask the player base what formats are cool or popular, default to something more modern, or even choose a Career format if they like the idea of Career (That’s probably one of the reasons why most of the Wizards formats are more popular in Career than in QuickPlay). And most people coming here probably have a specific format in mind.
At this point, the wishlist for formats besides 2010 is Prop 15/3, e-card Series, Diamond and Pearl/Platinum Series, MD-CoL, XY Series, and SUM-LOT (PRC-GRI also has a solid following, since not everyone thought Gardevoir GX, Golisopod GX and Guzma were healthy for the game, and TrickyGym, Whimsicast and Snowpoint Cast have all made videos for the format). That’s six or seven additional formats, and they will only encourage people to play on TCGONE, rather than pushing players away.
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From what I can remember, wasn’t that Sabledonk format?
You’re probably referring to MD-BW my guy
MD-BW was the Sabledonk format, MD-CoL was the format of decks like VileGar, Turtwig GL and MewLock. Although ironically Gyarados is possibly the best deck in both formats (RubyRetro points out that it can still take some donks in MD-BW but doesn’t lose on the spot if you don’t win on the first turn, so it’s more of a midrange donk deck that gets the best of both worlds (or just the best)).
Here’s an article on MD-BW, but I’m guessing we’re probably not implementing it.
If you want to read about mid-season formats, this article mentions the popular ones (And a few that the author thinks are neat but points out as not being very popular).
The “before Tag Team” format is also a format I stopped playing at. The Tag Teams were just too game changing and I had personal stuff going on, so I couldn’t keep playing. I stopped until a few years ago and got back in at the end of Sw/Sh. Playing the decks I had used back then on this site is a bit difficult because they don’t use a lot of the more recent cards that had been released after I stopped playing. So, I guess I’d vote for this format to return, too.