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FNM is SRS BSNS

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With the good vibes from the prerelease weekend slowly fading, it's time to get our weekly dose of drama in. Remember folks, FNM may seem like a totla blowoff and a good way to kill time on a Friday, but it's still a sanctioned event. Tread carefully.

So we were playing the 5th round of FNM and we were both 2-2. Whoever won our game was getting into top 8 due to draw shenanigans and such, so it was a pretty intense game. He was playing Azorius control, I was playing Naya superfriends. He was playing some Dspheres that were altered to look like pokeballs and convincingly beat me with them.
After the match ended, he turns to the person next to him and says "The girl that altered these cards used crappy paint...I can feel the paint through the sleeve." I told the judge about it, and he got disqualified.
Now he went all Jerry Springer about it, and admittedly I did feel like a little bit of an asshole. Would you guys have done the same thing?

Full Story Here

What's your view? Is OP a tryhard and a dingleberry for involving the 5-0 in this situation? Is he a sore loser? Was he correct to involve the judge? Is a DQ too harsh for FNM? Weigh in below.

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Jason Alt

Jason Alt is a value trader and writer. He is Quiet Speculation's self-appointed web content archivist and co-captain of the interdepartmental dodgeball team. He enjoys craft microbrews and doing things ironically. You may have seen him at magic events; he wears black t-shirts and has a beard and a backpack so he's pretty easy to spot. You can hear him as co-host on the Brainstorm Brewery podcast or catch his articles on Gatheringmagic.com. He is also the Community Manager at BrainstormBrewery.com and writes the odd article there, too. Follow him on Twitter @JasonEAlt unless you don't like having your mind blown.

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7 thoughts on “FNM is SRS BSNS

  1. FNM is supposed to be about hanging with friends and having fun with some prizes on the line.

    Im struggling with an answer for this because I agree that you have to call a judge (assuming a judge is working the event, ours dont have a judge working but we have multiple judges who play and assist with calls), but on the other hand its FNM and he could have just gave the guy a head’s up to fix his cards because if it WAS a competitive REL he could be DQ’d.

    Also only getting one side of the story, it sounds like there may be more to this story (“villain” is not well liked at the LGS)

  2. It’s FNM.
    Judge should follow the JAR document. this mistake is obvious not on purpose. Teach him why this is bad news, and teach him to use other cards. Explain the player that he gets in trouble in a competitive event. disqualification on FNM? that’s only for cheaters. Cheating is always on purpose!
    But also for players, this is FNM, you should teach eachothers the ins and outs. It’s clear it’s not on purpose so explain your opponent why this could end bad in competitive.

    But again, this is FNM, how can this take 5 rounds and have a T8??

    (I’m a L2 judge)

  3. A cheater is a cheater, if he can feel the cards what cards are what, thats not exactly fair, even if it is FNM. However at the same time was he like stacking the cards? Its kinda hard to know. Its a tough call. However is someone is caught cheeting foreal even FNM there needs to be punishment because if they can get away with it on fridays it may lead to cheating in bigger events.

  4. This, I think OP went too far on this. It’s a casual event made to have fun. His/Her opponent was complaining that he could feel the cards to another person and was annoyed by it. It shows he wasn’t actively trying to cheat, just have something cool to play with. I probably would advise him to use others for the top 8 and if he couldn’t for x reason, lend him some (if I had my extra’s on me). Otherwise, move on.

    If OP felt the cards and noticed and asked his opponent about it and admitted to it, without anything negative said about it in the same fashion. Then getting a judge involved might be a good thing.

    I just don’t feel like the u/w player was trying to cheat, by the way he was talking to his friend.

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