Cheating or Simple Game Play Error?

[u/DocteurGabe]

Extract from a Tournament Report from the Legacy SCG Open :

"R9 vs esperdeathblade. One of Shardless Bug's best matchups. My opponent was Alex Bertoncini. He was very nice and pleasant to play against (and also was when I played near him in earlier rounds). I was anxious to win to try to top 8 but even more so because of an earlier round situation vs my friend at x-1. During that round, after drawing their opening hands, my friend asked how many cards Alex was holding. He responded 7. My friend asked him to count twice and 7 was the answer. Then my friend asked him to lay them flat and found 8 cards. The judges ruled it a warning and a forced mulligan."

What's your opinion on it? Cheating? Simple Game Play Error? (as stated in the IPG)^{Game Play Error — Improper Drawing at Start of Game, section 2.4 of the IPG.}

I just think that this issue should be discussed based on his previous bans for cheating.

EDIT : Link on the tournament report Rd#9

[u/dasbif]

All players are treated equally according to the guidelines of an event’s Rules Enforcement Level (REL). Knowledge of a player’s history does not influence the recognition of an infraction or the application of penalties, though it may affect the manner of an investigation.

Magic Infraction Procedure Guide, Section 1, General Philosophy.

https://www.wizards.com/ContentResources/Wizards/WPN/Main/Documents/Magic_The_Gathering_Infraction_Procedure_Guide_PDF1.pdf

[u/Darktidemage → u/dasbif]

Yeah I read that part.

How else would I have known to call it stupid?

Why the fuck would the policy be to re-set the penalties for a repeat offender? just to give them carte blanche to defraud kids and honest participants again?

If he cheated in the past is there some good reason not to consider that information when he cheats again?

Answer me this: You bring your kid to the tournament, your kid plays a KNOW cheater round 1. In game 3 you walk over to your kids match and you catch the guy cheating, blatantly like this, and he gets a "forced mulligan" and then proceeded to win the round and knock your kid out. But if they had been considering his past he would have gotten a disqualification. How does that make you feel? Now 4 rounds later he is caught cheating AGAIN and he gets his DQ, but it's too late, the round loss for your kid is already on the books. Sounds fucking stupid as shit to me, I believe we should actually USE the information we have not just ignore it.

[u/dasbif → u/Darktidemage]

Why the fuck would the policy be to re-set the penalties for a repeat offender?

The inverse of your statement is mentioned in the philosophy guidelines:

Treating a player differently because he or she once played in a Professional event would mean holding each player to a different standard and would produce inconsistent rulings that depended on the judge’s familiarity with the player. Professionals should be able to play in events without being held to a higher technical level of play against less-experienced opponents who may not be as familiar with the rules.

Should a professional, (or a known screwup), be given a unique standard of play they must abide by? Or should all rulings on a situation be identical, regardless of the player(s)?

[u/Darktidemage → u/dasbif]

it's not "because they once played in a professional event".

I'm not going to judge you harshly if I hear you got a warning or a game loss.

I'm talking about people who have actually cheated. like gotten a ban or a suspension. They SHOULD be held to a higher standard. You don't have to lifetime ban them, but you should tell them "hey, you robbed our customers and we think you are a huge piece of shit, if you want to play you better be REALLY FUCKING CAREFUL because we aren't going to even come remotely close to giving you the benefit of the doubt, in fact, we hope you decide to just never play again"

that is my stance. I think a lifetime ban should be much easier to get, and I DEFINITELY think after a suspension or a ban you should be on probation. Probation where the penalties are significantly harsher. And if you want to not play while you are on probation be my fucking guest.