McShep Match

McShep Match was a Stargate Atlantis challenge community on livejournal that was modelled on Snarry Games, in which two teams competed to see who could best fulfill both the individual prompts and the team themes. 
During the lead-up to the main event, there are smaller challenges, such as a drabble tree and icon contest. 
On May 8, 2013, the Match mods announced that the seventh McShep Match would be the final one.May 8 2013. Mod post, McShep Match 2013 Teams, Schedules and Captains (Accessed June 18, 2014) There is a McShep Match collection at the AO3 with subcollections for each year of the challenge.
To read experts from the interviews, see McShep Match Interview Series.
==Team Angst vs. Team Romance==
The first McShep Match went live in August/September, 2007, just before the season four premiere. Team captains were trinityofone for Angst and lamardeuse for Romance. The winners were Team Angst by a very small margin.September 17, 2007. Mod post, And the winning team is... (Accessed July 22, 2011)
Response was high for the first Match, with several of the early fics getting over a hundred comments and signs of reader interest remained steady throughout the fest.
Masterlist of entries
See Team Angst, Team Romance: 2007 Fan Interviews.
==Away Team vs. Home Team==
The second Match went live in June/July, 2008, just before the season five premiere. Team Captains were blueraccoon for the Away Team and thegrrrl2002 for the Home Team. The Home Team won, again by a small margin, though with a bigger lead than the previous year.July 17, 2011. Mod post, McShep Match 2008: And the winners are ... (Accessed July 22, 2011)
Feedback was nearly halved across the board for the second Match, and interest waned towards the end. Some cited a lack of good stories, while others felt the definitions of home and away were too vague, or that there were too many AUs.July 17th, 2008. lavvyan, The Great Author Reveal. (Accessed 16 October, 2008 - as of July 22, 2011, the post is locked) The change in time of year likely had an impact on readership numbers as well.
Masterlist of entries
There were no fan interviews conducted for this year.
==Team War vs. Team Peace==
The third Match returned to a later posting schedule and went live in August/September, 2009. Team Captains were lavvyan for Team War and Kass for Team Peace. Team War won by a small margin.October 1, 2009. Mod post, McShep Match 2009: And the winners are ... (Accessed July 22, 2011)
Masterlist of entries
See Team War, Team Peace: 2009 Fan Interviews.
==Team Work vs. Team Play==
The fourth Match went live in August, 2010. Team Captains were kisahawklin for Team Work and danceswithgary for Team Play. Team Work won by a higher margin than the teams in the previous years.September 9, 2010. Mod post, McShep Match 2010: And the winners are... (Accessed July 22, 2011) But to put the voting in perspective this higher margin is a score of 23.7 to 23.1, making the 2010 results like all the other years something that could be described as a virtual tie. 
The mods tried to encourage commenting by creating a Top Commenters contest with small prizes.
Team Work filled up extremely fast, which led to the perception that it was "the popular team." 
Masterlist of entries
See Team Play, Team Work: 2010 Fan Interviews.
==Team McKay vs. Team Sheppard==
In May 2011, the mods announced a rules change for the next McShep Match: in addition to naming the teams after the characters (instead of using a poll like in previous years), team membership would be determined randomly. This led to some controversy: people were concerned about not being in the same team as their friends and the objectivity of votes. In a clarification post the mods said, "everything we're changing this year is in order to address specific concerns voiced during/after last year's fest"May 19th, 2011. fluffyllama, McShep Match 2011 - Clarifications. (Accessed 22 July, 2011), but denied that they were blaming a specific team. After a poll about the voting format they decided not to include the question about the portrayal of the team character.May 19th, 2011. fluffyllama, Poll on voting format. (Accessed 22 July, 2011)
Sign-ups were screened, but noticeably slower than in previous years.
The Match went live in August 2011. Team Captains were velocitygrass for Team McKay and cesare for the winning Team Sheppard. 
Masterlist of entries
See Team McKay, Team Sheppard: 2011 Fan Interviews.
==Team Time vs. Team Space==
The team captains for the sixth McShep Match in 2012 were busaikko for Team Space and neevebrody for Team Time. Team Space won 15.38 - 15.30.August 31, 2012, Mod post, McShep Match 2012 - The Results. (Accessed June 18, 2014) 
Masterlist of entries
See Team Space, Team Time: 2012 Fan Interviews.
==Team Cool vs. Team Fine==
The 2013 teams for the seventh and final McShep Match were Team Cool, captained by melagan and Team Fine, captained by reddwarfer. Team Cool won 15.59
to 15.27.August 30, 2013, Mod post, McShep Match 2013 - The Results. (Accessed June 18, 2014)
Masterlist of entries
There were no fan interviews conducted for this year.
==References==
Category:Slash ChallengesCategory:Slash Journal Communities
Category:Stargate Challenges Category:Fiction Writing
Category:Stargate Atlantis Communities
Category:2007 Challenges
Category:2008 Challenges
Category:2009 Challenges
Category:2010 Challenges
Category:2011 Challenges
Category:2012 Challenges
Category:2013 Challenges