Monday, November 3rd, 2014
Wizards of the Coast Director Helene Bergeot announced on Thursday that Jared Bottecher, 2013-2014 Magic the Gathering Rookie of the Year, “may have engaged in in activities that violate Wizards of the Coast’s Code of Conduct and Magic’s tournament floor rules.”
As a result of the ensuing DCI investigation, those accusations were confirmed and Mr. Bottecher was suspended for a period of four years and his Rookie of the Year title revoked. Video and photo evidence can be found here as well as Mr. Bottecher’s reaction to his suspension, courtesy of David Levitt at [Boston] Examiner.com.
The Rookie of the Year title will pass to Raymond Perez Jr., who earned 33 Pro Points during that tournament season, qualifying him for Worlds 2014.
This comes during a time of apparent “scandal” – now being referred to as #shufflegate – in which two other high-profile player suspensions occurred, that of Trevor Humphries and Alex Bertoncini (see “Player at SCG Worcester Suspected of Cheating“).
What do you think of #shufflegate and the recent high profile player suspensions? Are these sentences appropriate? Does the overwhelming community outcry create a sense of a witch hunt? Let us know what you think in the comments below!
Tags: Cheating, DCI, Jared Bottecher, Magic the Gathering, MTG, Rookie of the Year, Shufflegate, Wizards of the Coast
Posted in Blog, Card Games, Featured Post, Magic: The Gathering, Popular Posts | No Comments »
Monday, October 20th, 2014
10/30/14, 6:06 PM – UPDATE: Trevor Humphries is suspended for a period of four years. In addition, Alex Bertoncini is likewise suspended for a period of three years.
Last weekend, retailer and event organizer Star City Games of Virginia hosted their well-known tournament series, the SCG Open, in Worcester, MA. Earlier today, a post on reddit.com surfaced in which the eventually winner, Trevor Humphries, is allegedly caught on camera stacking his opponent’s deck by sliding cards to the top of his opponent’s deck while shuffling.
Unfortunately, we can’t embed a Twitch.tv video, but you can watch the match in question by clicking here. Specifically, watch Mr. Humphries shuffling his opponent’s deck during the second game.
Here is a .gif of the alleged issue in close detail, courtesy of redditer J_Golbez.
Furthermore, additional evidence has supposedly surfaced in which Mr. Humphries may have employed the shuffling tactics in question during the SCG Invitation earlier this year. You can see for yourself by clicking here.
Jared Sylvan, Level 4 Judge and Organized Play Manager for Star City Games, posted this to reddit.com:
“We have reviewed the footage of Mr. Humphries and concluded that there is enough evidence that we have submitted an investigation to the Judge Program. We have contacted Mr. Humphries to notify him of this and to request a statement for inclusion in the investigation.
This also activates our Prize Hold policy for players under investigation meaning that Mr. Humphries’ prizes will be held, pending the completion of this investigation. If the investigation results in a suspension, his prizes will be donated to charity.
Jared Sylva StarCityGames.com Organized Play Manager”
What do you think? Did Mr. Humphries deloy a cheat during his high profile match? Is Star City Game’s response adequate? You be the judge and let us know in the comments below.
We’ll update this story as it develops. Stay tuned!
Tags: Cheating, Magic the Gathering, MTG, Open Series, reddit, SCG Worcester, Star City Games, Trevor Humphries
Posted in Blog, Card Games, Events, Featured Post, Magic: The Gathering, Popular Posts | 11 Comments »
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