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Sympathy for the Devil

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A couple weeks ago something rather peculiar happened during an SCG feature match. A player was Thoughtseized, and when he laid his hand on the table he placed one card almost directly over another card. You can find discussion on the event and a link to the video on reddit.

If you want a more reasoned discussion, I would recommend listening to the CEDTalks that touches on the matter. Reddit involves people calling out a "cheater", while Pat Sullivan and Cedric actually discuss what happened.

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Sometimes we have the option to spend a lot of time thinking about something, but most of the time it's easier to just apply Occam's Razor and move on with our lives. In cases like this, I believe that people are attempting to apply this principle, but do so incorrectly. When you have a player like Alex Bertoncini who is often in strange situations, it makes sense to just say that it must all be intentional. The series of coincidences that would lead to all of the video evidence of him just constantly screwing up is so much more complex and less likely than him just being scum.

However, when we have a player who we know nothing about in one odd situation, it doesn't make quite as much sense to shortcut to calling them scum. As Cedric and Patrick point out on CEDTalks, it's just way more likely that a nervous dude on camera did one silly thing once. Human beings err, and to not acknowledge that this happens frequently is an ironic way to err yourself. It's also notable that the Hero's Downfall isn't even that good in his hand and that he didn't exactly perform well at the GP. Actual "savage cheaters" usually have a trophy or two to show for it.

It's also not for nothing that when we have situations like this where a player who probably didn't cheat is being called a cheater, it harms the community's legitimacy when it comes time to call out actual cheaters. People defended the aforementioned Alex Bertoncini even after his first ban, and people being overly aggressive when crying scum in general surely were a factor in this.

Lastly, and the first thought that I had when I watched the video, is that Linde and everybody else should be picking up their opponent's hands when they cast Thoughtseize. If we can tell that there are cards stacked from the video, how obvious must it have been sitting at the actual table? Ask your opponent how many cards they have before you cast the spell, write everything down and make sure that you have identified the number of cards that you're looking for. Take a second to hold their cards and think on it better. By no means am I saying that people who actually get scummed in a similar vein deserve it. I'm just pointing out that this entire situation was easily avoidable just by doing something that you probably should be doing anyway.

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Ryan Overturf

Ryan has been playing Magic since Legions and playing competitively since Lorwyn. While he fancies himself a Legacy specialist, you'll always find him with strong opinions on every constructed format.

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One thought on “Sympathy for the Devil

  1. If there’s a Magic forum that needs to be utterly stricken from the earth, and have its fields made barren, it’s /r/MagicTCG

    People make mistakes, and that sub will jump all over the slightest little one. I agree with you though. I have made some serious misplays due to nerves.

    For those interested, cut to right about 30 minutes in on the podcast.

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