“Stop cheating!” – Dragonlord Kolaghan (translated from Draconic)
Watching the pro tour is one of my favorite parts of Magic: the Gathering. Seeing the best players bring the latest deck technology to the highest level of competition is exciting. I know I’m not the only one who feels this way. A lot of people have been watching the pro tour coverage on Twitch. Yet all these eyes watching doesn’t stop some players from trying to cheat their way to victory.
Pro Tour Theros champion and 2013–14 Player of the Year Jérémy Dezani was disqualified from Pro Tour Dragons of Tarkir for “misrepresenting the game state to judges.” This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Dezani acting shady, but being underhanded isn’t necessarily cheating.
And if I may digress while we’re on the topic of what isn’t cheating, we have the now infamous game loss handed to Patrick Chapin in Round 6 of Standard in his match against Michele Ancona. I’m a fan of Chapin. He’s a fantastic player. He made a few mistakes that round: He cast Read the Bones and put the top two cards of his library in his hand without scrying; he played two lands in one turn (same turn as the Read the Bones blunder, in fact); and later failed to reveal the card he put in his hand from Ajani, Mentor of Heroes‘ ability, which ultimately led to the head judge handing him a game loss, and consequently a match loss, given that the loss occurred in game 3. If there’s a positive side to this, it’s that we can take some comfort in knowing that even the best players in the world make mistakes and have days in which they’re just off their game, so the rest of us shouldn’t be so hard on ourselves.
Chapin made mistakes, but making a mistake isn’t the same as cheating. Mistake implies accident; cheating implies intent. He clearly wasn’t trying to cheat when he made the mistake that led to his game loss. Did he have a moment of weakness during such a close game that he played that second land so he could cast Elspeth, Sun’s Champion that turn? I don’t know, but I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Seems to me that it just wasn’t Pat’s day. I’ve certainly had my share of off days. I make mistakes on good days. I made a few mistakes at FNM yesterday, and I had a winning night with my U/B Silumgar Control deck.
“Humble brags.” – Dragonlord Silumgar (translated from Draconic)
I don’t envy the judges’ job at these events. They endure the scorn and criticism of the public when they make rulings like this (whether such a ruling is right or wrong is certainly a matter that can be debated), and they have to deal with the cheaters and scumbags. While Patrick Chapin is neither a cheater nor a scumbag (in my estimation), the judges of Pro Tour Dragons of Tarkir have had their share of tricksters and deceivers. Along with Dezani, Stephen Speck was disqualified from Pro Tour Dragons of Tarkir for “Manipulation of Game Materials.” Stephen had palmed seven cards and presented a 53 card deck to his opponent. Talk about shady. Then there’s Felipe Valdivia who picked up a Temple of Deceit he had already played so he could play it again next turn for an extra scry. Last I heard, that incident is currently being examined:
But hey, if he cheated, at least it’s flavorful cheating. Felipe picked up his Temple of Deceit, after all.
[UPDATE: Felipe released a statement about the incident, and says he’s innocent.]
What can be said of all this cheating and deception? It hurts the game. It hurts the community. It tears down trust in the system. It creates discord and casts doubt on anything these players have accomplished in the past. All of this and more was already said when the MtG community endured the transgressions of Trevor Humphries and once-but-no-more Rookie of the Year Jared Boettcher. I had hoped that the nonsense of Trevor and Jared (not to mention Alex Bertoncini) would have given the other players perspective, and we would be able to move beyond yet another controversy involving multiple cheaters.
But cheating is habitual: if someone is caught cheating, there’s a pretty good chance it’s not the first time that player has cheated. That’s what makes cheating such a shot to one’s reputation. Dezani was player of the year. He’s a pro tour champion. From now on, the best we can do is add a parenthetical phrase to the end of his accolades: he’s a champion (who might have cheated to get there). If a Rookie of the Year can do it, so can a Player of the Year.
We could discuss the psychology of cheating: how it can bring a rush of dopamine from doing something risky or “dangerous,” or how such behavior becomes reinforced when it leads to positive outcomes (like winning), or how some people feel justified in cheating, as though they “deserve it” because they think the system is broken or the universe owes them something, or how the pressure of success and the demands of high-level play can lead to desperate acts such as cheating, even if it means running the risk of cheating on camera.
I’d rather discuss what we as a community can do to fight the problem. I suggest a three-fold plan: 1. Own it; 2. Disown it; 3. Dethrone it.
OWN IT. Accept that it’s a problem in our community, and don’t be afraid to speak up about it. No group is perfect. We have our flaws. We have our cheaters, our jerks, our drama, and that butt crack guy. Ignoring the problems won’t make them go away.
DISOWN IT. Once we’ve acknowledged the problem, one of the best ways we can help other people is to speak up about it. Cheaters hurt everyone. We can help mitigate the damage by being vocal, and let people know that there are a lot of people in our community who are good people who can be competitive and still have dignity and show respect and courtesy toward others. We possess the ability to nurture a caring environment.
DETHRONE IT. This means we take the power away from the negative parts of our community. We don’t laugh at the butt crack guy, or use play mats with half naked women on them, or let Magic be defined by those who have abused the privilege of playing it. The cheaters do not represent what Magic: the Gathering is, or what the community of MtG players represents, or who we are as people. If we focus our energies on the positives while we work to improve our flaws, all of us will be better off in the long run.
Bud Johnson
MTG Philosopher 