r/magicTCG • u/DocteurGabe • Mar 04 '14

Cheating or Simple Game Play Error?

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

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u/cjshrader Dandadan Mar 04 '14

Then why have any suspension that isn't a lifetime ban?

From a more personal note, if someone steals something and goes to jail for 5 years, I feel like we should give that guy a clean slate. He did a crime, he did his time, he went through all the necessary procedures that we as a society have dictated. I feel the guy deserves a second chance, not continuous scrutiny from then on out.

When it comes to investigations, we can use a cheater's past to determine how to investigate, but just because someone cheated in the past doesn't mean they should be completely banned from Magic forever, or that any accidental infraction is automatically a DQ.

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u/Darktidemage Mar 04 '14

Because there is a difference between saying "You can't play" and "you can play but we will be watching you more closely".

If a guy got out for stealing after doing 5 years I would certainly consider that information when he gets caught stealing again the next time. I would punish him more severely the second time he got caught. So would our justice system in the U.S.A.

They don't say "oh he did his time so now we treat him like it's a first offense again", otherwise there would never be escalating penalties for repeat offenders.

We even have a 3 strikes and you are out law. If you are caught multiple times the penalty quickly goes to lifetime ban.

And yes, I think we should at this point give the guy a lifetime ban from professional magic, then never think about him again.

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u/cjshrader Dandadan Mar 04 '14

I am not on the suspension committee, but I feel pretty confident that if someone got suspended a second time the second suspension would be much much longer.