The Gardener's Gazette, edition 20

[align=center][img]https://i.imgur.com/Xy793Fy.png?1[/img] 
[color=#1f8b4c][size=300][font=timesnewroman][b]The Gardener's Gazette[/b][/font][/size][/color][/align][float=right][box][b][u]LINKS[/u][/b]
- [url=https://discordapp.com/invite/4rw98Aw]Discord Server[/url]
- [url=https://forms.gle/1aiwFN2Tfseb2hU89]Membership Application[/url]
- [url=https://github.com/dithpri/RCES/raw/master/userscripts/auction/Gardener%20Highlighter.user.js]Society Member Highlighting Script[/url]
- [url=https://www.nationstates.net/page=deck/nation=epleho]EpLeHo[/url]
[/box][/float]

Welcome to the twentieth edition of the [b]The Gardener Gazette[/b]! The Gazette is released monthly and keeps gardeners and guests alike informed on the happenings within the Card Gardening Society.

[hr][color=#1f8b4c][size=133]Garden Insight[/size][/color]
by [nation]Giovanniland[/nation]

The Garden Insight is a monthly piece with the goal of informing people about the key happenings in the Society during the last month, this time the month of January 2022. As I write, I realize how much time has passed since the Gardens were founded by [nation]The Unified Missourtama States[/nation] on April 7th, 2020—it has been 19 months since the publication of the [url=https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1398259]first Gazette[/url], and 22 months since the overall founding of the Gardens. Soon we will have our second anniversary, so stay tuned for the celebrations!

Moving on to actual happenings of January, it is worth noting that the Society was far more active during January, which is great! The Greenhouse alone had 855 messages during this month, as opposed to only 252 during December. Early in the month several Gardeners wished a Happy New Year to others, as well as congratulating giveaway winners as well. The [url=https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1645344]19th edition[/url] of the Gazette, published on the 13th of January, was subject of much commentary as it featured a long-awaited retrospective on all giveaways of 2021, which plenty of data, graphs and other fun statistics for Gardeners to appreciate. Stats were discussed, such as people with most or least wins, while an interesting discussion about poetry also appeared.

Later in the month, both cards and non-cards topics were discussed amid an activity increase. An interesting discussion about timezones, daylight savings time, and the overall measurement of time into hours, minutes, seconds, etc happened; a truly timely discussion as it happened one day before the Time Lord's birthday, also known as myself. Meanwhile, a common topic about cards was the general decrease in season 2 legendary cards' prices, a common sign of the overprinting of cards due to delays in the game getting Season 3 released, although some players have actively tried to combat this through backing certain cards. The [i]Card Question of the Week[/i] prompts were temporarily suspended, although it is my hope to get them back into action by the start of March, while the server had some new panda-themed emojis added and some other minor cosmetic changes in channels.

Channels such as the Garden Displays and the Farmers' Market continued active, with [nation]Vylixan[/nation] talking in the former about their collection of historical figures, named [url=https://www.nationstates.net/page=deck/collection=32423]“A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history”[/url] and containing over a hundred cards. Meanwhile, activity in the Toolshed revived after a months-long rest. Vylixan, also known as Sitethief, announced a new version of their Sitethiefs Card Utility Manager Script, including a button for turning on or off the Process Mode, and a new config menu with some of the available settings. There was some interesting discussion about its uses later, with some suggestions of new things to add made by fellow Gardeners.

Last but not least, it is a tradition to mention in this Garden Insight the names of new members that joined the Gardens recently! We had a major increase in members this month, most likely to renewed advertising in the main trading cards marketplace server, or simply the Society being mentioned in casual conversations there, which is directly tied to the surge in activity explained earlier. Welcome to new members [nation]Andusre[/nation], [nation]Kyorgia[/nation], [nation]Ioavollr[/nation], [nation]Furballland[/nation], [nation]Neim[/nation], [nation]Dogecoinlando[/nation], and [nation]Aerilia[/nation]; as well as returning member [nation]Elegarth[/nation]! Stay tuned for the next edition of this summary.

[hr][color=#1f8b4c][size=133]Winners of the Month[/size][/color]
by [nation]Giovanniland[/nation]

January had twelve giveaways, one less than December 2021. Nevertheless, many notable cards were awarded—the first legendary giveaway of the year on January 1st featured [url=https://www.nationstates.net/page=deck/card=336467/season=2]Season 2 Kaboomlandia[/url], while one day after my birthday I decided to celebrate by gifting a copy of [url=https://www.nationstates.net/page=deck/card=373091/season=1]Season 1 Kyldellian Halon[/url]. One interesting happening was that there was no Gardener winning more than one giveaway during January, which is a drastic change in comparison to December, during which three members won two giveaways each. Therefore, twelve separate members each won either a Legendary card or a nice Epic package, and the full list of them can be seen below:

[table][tr][td]Nation[/td][td]Number of Wins[/td][/tr]
[tr][td][nation]Economichunger[/nation][/td]
[td]1[/td][/tr]
[tr][td][nation]The Cosmic Mainframe[/nation][/td]
[td]1[/td][/tr]
[tr][td][nation]Vylixan[/nation][/td]
[td]1[/td][/tr]
[tr][td][nation]9003[/nation][/td]
[td]1[/td][/tr]
[tr][td][nation]Grea Kriopia[/nation][/td]
[td]1[/td][/tr]
[tr][td][nation]Apatosaurus[/nation][/td]
[td]1[/td][/tr]
[tr][td][nation]Varanius[/nation][/td]
[td]1[/td][/tr]
[tr][td][nation]Andusre[/nation][/td]
[td]1[/td][/tr]
[tr][td][nation]Elegarth[/nation][/td]
[td]1[/td][/tr]
[tr][td][nation]Seanat[/nation][/td]
[td]1[/td][/tr]
[tr][td][nation]Grand Abaco[/nation][/td]
[td]1[/td][/tr]
[tr][td][nation]Neim[/nation][/td]
[td]1[/td][/tr]
[/table]

[hr][color=#1f8b4c][size=133]Monthly Contest Results and Update[/size][/color]
by [nation]Giovanniland[/nation]

The final article of this edition will talk about the monthly Garden contests, a key activity where many members participate. January saw a [b]Collection Bracket[/b] happening, a novel idea put forward by [nation]Marxmeans[/nation] in response to one of December's [i]Card Questions of the Week[/i]. Gardeners had a two-week submission period, though actually extended by two days due to real life difficulties, to link me one collection that they owned either in their main nation or puppets. After that, pairs of collections would compete through popular vote—and this article will also explain how it went, starting by presenting the seven submitted collections.

[nation]Panagouge[/nation] was the first Gardener to submit a collection, namely their [url=https://www.nationstates.net/page=deck/collection=37626]Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra[/url] collection. Following right after was [nation]Indusse[/nation]'s submission, which is a collection of current or former site staff that have cards in Season 2. These were the only two to submit on the day the contest was announced, but later, both [nation]The United Peoples of Centrism[/nation] (UPC) and [nation]New Makasta[/nation] also joined in. UPC decided to enter their [url=https://www.nationstates.net/page=deck/collection=40755]self-collection[/url], with 164 copies of their card as I write, while Makasta chose their [url=https://www.nationstates.net/page=deck/collection=16930]friends collection[/url].

The three other entrants were [nation]Economichunger[/nation], [nation]Vylixan[/nation], and [nation]The Unified Missourtama States[/nation] (TUMS). Just like UPC, Economichunger's [url=https://www.nationstates.net/page=deck/collection=41753]collection[/url] was also composed of only one card, though it was not a self-collection. As for Vylixan, they decided to join the contest with a collection named [url=https://www.nationstates.net/page=deck/collection=32602]“Intricate design, each step unfolds in order, the end captivates”[/url], which is difficult to even describe. Last but not least, founder of the Gardens and former head adminstrator TUMS submitted their collection of [url=https://www.nationstates.net/page=deck/collection=17419]class cards[/url], which is in a process of being rebuilt. 

The bracket was then housed in a Discord channel open only to Gardeners, #collection-bracket. Firstly, since 7 is not a number that allows a perfect bracket, one collection was chosen to be slightly ahead of the others, namely Panagouge's. That was the only random part of the contest however, as even the chosen collection had to go through popular votes in further rounds. Three matches were then hosted for the first round of the tournament, and all Gardeners voted within a period of three days from January 28th to 31st. Vylixan won the match against Economichunger 10-1, which was the largest margin by then; UPC prevailed 6-5 over Indusse in a close match; and TUMS defeated Makasta 9 votes to three. 

These winners went to the semifinals, where Panagouge faced UPC and won 10-5, while Vylixan achieved a large margin of votes when defeating TUMS 13-3. As for the final and 3rd place match, Panagouge prevailed over Vylixan 10-6 in the former, while TUMS won against UPC 12-4 in the latter, and the top three collections won legendary cards as prizes. First place [nation]Vylixan[/nation] was awarded [url=https://www.nationstates.net/page=deck/card=18072/season=1]Season 1 Soops[/url], second place [nation]Panagouge[/nation] received [url=https://www.nationstates.net/page=deck/card=35884/season=2]Season 2 Drasnia[/url], and third place [nation]The Unified Missourtama States[/nation] won [url=https://www.nationstates.net/page=deck/card=4/season=2]Season 2 Reploid Productions[/url]. In order to celebrate their win, Vylixan even decided to open their [url=https://www.nationstates.net/nation=vylixan_theika_dora/page=deck]giftbasket collection[/url] from [nation]Vylixan Theika Dora[/nation], from which any Gardener could pick a card to be gifted to their nation.

Anyways, this first collection bracket was a very great competition! I thank not only the seven Gardeners that submitted their collections to the bracket, but also the many voters that decided which collections would win each match, with a peak of 16 voters in the final and 3rd place match. Talking about collections, the next contest may not be a bracket one, but instead we're bringing back the good old [b]Collection Contest[/b]! February's contest will have the timely theme of [b]Valentine's Day[/b], which is a little over two days away for me as I write. The collection doesn't need to be specifically about the day, instead it can also collect cards that fit into the broader concepts of love, friendship, and any other that you can think of while being on topic. The rules are of course similar to previous collection contests:

1. We're accepting any and all collections regardless of size and card rarity, provided they can be reasonably included in the contest theme and follow Card Gardens and NS rules. 
2. You can choose a collection you already have, or build one and submit later.
3. Submissions must be sent by Discord DM or telegram to [nation]Giovanniland[/nation], closing at 23:59 UTC on Saturday, 5th March.
4. The winner will win a shiny legendary card, and additional prizes may be awarded if there is a high number of entries.

Good luck collecting, and may the best collection win! 

[hr]See you all next month for another Gardener's Gazette edition. Credits to [nation]Giovanniland[/nation] for leading the newspaper publication and writing the articles! If you want to contribute to the Society, apply to join the Sub-Administrative Committee, or donate cards to [nation]EpLeHo[/nation]! Feel free to ping @administration on our Discord server for more details.