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If 2014 was anything for Magic, it was the year of the cheating controversies. And while most of them are actually good stories of cheaters being thrown out of the game, it's an issue that has presented itself over and over.
Most recently, at Worlds Week.
In response to everything that went down, Patrick Chapin wrote a really insightful article over at Star City Games, which has now made the article free-to-read for the public instead of having it behind the paywall as Chapin's article usually are.
It's an extremely relevant read, and I highly suggest you give it a few minutes. You can find the article here.
After reading it, I just don’t know how I feel about it. I saw many people saying, “Patrick Chapin, based on his past, isn’t a good champion for this cause” etc etc. That’s not really my issue. As far as the Carvalho issue goes…exiling a card then forgetting to put it back into your MD seems completely plausible. Game loss? I can see that, but a DQ? Seems a little heavy handed. I understand he has a past. However, it is just that. A past. I honestly really just don’t know how I feel about it. To slam Carvalho, then two paragraphs later champion Tian seems a little sketch. I hate that I constantly get the feeling from the PT community that they are basically one giant in bred metagame that covers to ensure they all stay in it. I understand a lot of these players are legitimately amazing but certain things that occur seem biased.The only thing I completely agree with is the last article about Dezani. This isn’t a rules violation. However it is a huge ethical violation on his and the vendors part. Honestly if I were a TO I would issue a suspension for that vendor, and while it’s an ethics violation, TOs I believe can limit who is allowed to attend and I would definitely issue Dezani a warning that while not a game rules violation that he would not be allowed to attend if further unethical behavior happened on site. What he does off site is one thing, but what he does on site, that the TO is paying for is another.
First reaction…It’s not an article on cheating.
The only part that sounded interesting is the first : strip mine shuffling, double nickel…
The rest is a boring litany Of the author trying to make people think the way he does and giving intertwining facts with moralizing sentences (”
I put it in 3 sentences the way i would summarize the messages from the flow of wording :
Portugese team should have been disqualified as well
2nd player is innocent
3d player is also a cheater
The whole is cleverly written and the wording is never giving an edge for contradictors to criticize the arguments… Except a comment on facebook showing his way of thinking : comparing the 3d named player with a robber
“Patrick Chapin – Scouting is legal, but breaking into someone’s hotel room and going through their bags is too far. Where to draw the line is something not everyone agrees on.
Yesterday at 11:21”
…does he think he is a judge or some kind of general attorney ?
Dezani was playing an angle and was not breaking any rules. Chapin and others don’t like what he did, sure whatever, but the DCI should not be involved at any level.
those are some personal attacks. The irony is in the fact that SCG has integrity according to him, but still think it’s OK to publish an article with very personal attacks on their own site.
Yea, honestly, an article on cheating and how to catch it and how to protect yourself is one thing. This article felt like a smear campaign the whole time…
I was surprised by the candidness as well.