According to this post on reddit, Alex Bertoncini's ban was going to be lifted a week so he can play at GP Providence as a gesture of goodwill. Instead, he got 6 months added for simul-streaming the scg open and making fun of the players as they played this past weekend.
Just confirms what a total jackass he is. I say good riddens . Should ban him for life if you ask me.
Aside from that, I wonder how long it will take for this thread to turn into a train wreck and get locked?
Riddance
But yeah, OT I'm torn between feeling like players who do stuff like this are horrible for the community and I'd be glad to just see him perma-banned and feeling like you can't just ban someone for being a d-bag.
He learned nothing from his suspension. He openly mocked the suspension and said that he was quitting magic. What's he doing back?
I agree 100% of the extension. Pro players are representatives of the game and community. Its an offence to mock someone, intimidate, insult others at tournaments. Doing it in the privacy of your own home is no longer private when you broadcast it. I hope scg doesn't permit him to play in any of their events.... ever.... I could accept a 10 year ban though
1. Glad they extended the suspension. He needs to grow up.
2. I'm also glad they didn't make it lifetime. He should get the opportunity to grow up and come back.
Agreed. They should make it "indefinite", and have a process that he could apply for reinstatement. Does anyone think he'd actually be making the character changes needed in 6 months?
The NFL routinely fines or suspends players who represent the league badly. League of Legends holds pros to a higher standard.
WotC supports a pro magic scene for one reason only: it helps promote the game. Having a cheating jerk as a pro magic player hurts them. They're well within their rights to suspend him for representing the community poorly.
Now, it IS a slippery slope... but the thing is, the argument "Don't do X because it's a slippery slope" is a fallacy. It does not follow that if they ban him for being an obvious jerk while already serving a suspension for cheating , eventually they'll end up banning average players because they'll be so overly sensitive that even average players who get frustrated will set them off. As long as they stick to only punishing for situations like Bertoncini's, they're fine.
So now DCI can ban you for not breaking any rules? Sounds super shady to me.
DCI is not a court and they don't have to act like one. They should act with the game's and its players' best interest in mind, and that is what they have done here. Bertoncini is as things stand a detriment to the Magic community, and the decision is therefore correct, from my point of view.
Don't want your Magic-playing rights trampled? Don't cheat + act like an enormous jerk. Really rather easy for most of us, and therefore nothing to worry about
DCI is not a court and they don't have to act like one. They should act with the game's and its players' best interest in mind, and that is what they have done here. Bertoncini is as things stand a detriment to the Magic community, and the decision is therefore correct, from my point of view.
Don't want your Magic-playing rights trampled? Don't cheat + act like an enormous jerk. Really rather easy for most of us, and therefore nothing to worry about
QFT
Its not like the DCI is some secret police banning innocent players in the middle of the night. This is a well-known cheater and a poor sportsman who made it a point to mock the community. If someone publicly mocked your family would you let them into your house? Apparently so, because they're well within their right to do so, and didn't break any laws.
As a sidenote, to those saying "well yeah he acted like a jerk but he didn't break any rules!": being enough of a jerk actually IS against the rules. The IPG has a section on Unsporting Conduct, and it basically translates as "being enough of a jerk to potentially make a significant number of people of you not want to be there". Between the visibility he has, and how he was behaving, and the fact that he was only there because WotC was essentially giving him a second chance...well, he clearly blew that second chance, so I'm not going to be shedding any tears, and I don't think anyone else really needs to be feeling bad for him either.
It should be clear from this thread that someone cares. Bertoncini was a visible person in the Magic community for a long time, so it should be fairly understandable, I think.
It is also completely understandable that some don't care about it (or other prominent figures within the community) at all. We care about different things within the game
They should have just banned him longer in the first place.
But extending the ban and saying its because he insulted people on the internet is just absurd.
If speaking your mind on the internet and not being entirely polite online were a banable offense then most Magic players who use online forums would need to be banned.
He was banned for cheating. Ban him longer for cheating. But dont ban him for posting something on the internet. Thats just wrong.
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Aside from that, I wonder how long it will take for this thread to turn into a train wreck and get locked?
his last tweets confirm this.
was this on twitch? anyone have a link to his stream?
He cheated and was caught
Being a jackass shouldn't be cause for extension of a ban, though.
Practice for Khans of Tarkir Limited:
Draft: (#1) (#2) (#3) (#4) (#5)
Two Explore.
This wasn't the only one, but definitely the most famous.
Riddance
But yeah, OT I'm torn between feeling like players who do stuff like this are horrible for the community and I'd be glad to just see him perma-banned and feeling like you can't just ban someone for being a d-bag.
R.I.P. Sundering Titan (6/20/12) and Braids, Cabal Minion (9/12/14)
2. I'm also glad they didn't make it lifetime. He should get the opportunity to grow up and come back.
So they should ban whomever they find disagreeable?
Now that's a very slippery slope
I ain't crying over this but I do think that extending the ban for no reason other than him being a dbag is wrong.
I agree 100% of the extension. Pro players are representatives of the game and community. Its an offence to mock someone, intimidate, insult others at tournaments. Doing it in the privacy of your own home is no longer private when you broadcast it. I hope scg doesn't permit him to play in any of their events.... ever.... I could accept a 10 year ban though
Agreed. They should make it "indefinite", and have a process that he could apply for reinstatement. Does anyone think he'd actually be making the character changes needed in 6 months?
WotC supports a pro magic scene for one reason only: it helps promote the game. Having a cheating jerk as a pro magic player hurts them. They're well within their rights to suspend him for representing the community poorly.
Now, it IS a slippery slope... but the thing is, the argument "Don't do X because it's a slippery slope" is a fallacy. It does not follow that if they ban him for being an obvious jerk while already serving a suspension for cheating , eventually they'll end up banning average players because they'll be so overly sensitive that even average players who get frustrated will set them off. As long as they stick to only punishing for situations like Bertoncini's, they're fine.
DCI is not a court and they don't have to act like one. They should act with the game's and its players' best interest in mind, and that is what they have done here. Bertoncini is as things stand a detriment to the Magic community, and the decision is therefore correct, from my point of view.
Don't want your Magic-playing rights trampled? Don't cheat + act like an enormous jerk. Really rather easy for most of us, and therefore nothing to worry about
There's precedent: dr8sides
Yeah, WotC has a pretty tough stance against 'cyberbullying'
Being suspended means you can't play. Letting him play kind of defeats the purpose of the punishment. Right?
QFT
Its not like the DCI is some secret police banning innocent players in the middle of the night. This is a well-known cheater and a poor sportsman who made it a point to mock the community. If someone publicly mocked your family would you let them into your house? Apparently so, because they're well within their right to do so, and didn't break any laws.
Yes, another list of decks sig.
R Daretti, Scrap Savant
WBR Zurgo Helmsmasher Equipment
BBB Erebos, God of the Dead Goodstuff
UBG The Mimeoplasm
URG All Creatures Animar, Soul of Elements
WB Teysa, Orzhov Scion sac and combo
WUB Sydri, Galvanic Genius
WUG Rafiq of the Many Aggro-Control
UBR Nekusar, The Mindrazer
WRG Mayael, the Anima
Casual:
BB Ad Nauseam Combo
BB Burn
Think of it as parole. Just a small reward for good behavior while he was suspended.
Plus they don't lose anything by doing it, but get an extra entrance fee revenue at the GP
It should be clear from this thread that someone cares. Bertoncini was a visible person in the Magic community for a long time, so it should be fairly understandable, I think.
It is also completely understandable that some don't care about it (or other prominent figures within the community) at all. We care about different things within the game
But extending the ban and saying its because he insulted people on the internet is just absurd.
If speaking your mind on the internet and not being entirely polite online were a banable offense then most Magic players who use online forums would need to be banned.
He was banned for cheating. Ban him longer for cheating. But dont ban him for posting something on the internet. Thats just wrong.