Day 2 of a Grand Prix is Porfessional REL. The rules enforcement level is very high, and the penalties for screw ups are very severe. Honestly, with money on the line, this is how it should be.
Technicalities and seemingly insignificant things have consequences for good reason. Most often, the foils in your opponents deck don't matter. But there are players who would pattern the foils in their deck for an advantage. Likewise, there are players who would use subtle markings on their card sleeves for an advantage.
It sucks that people feel that they need to fish for infractions, but no one should ever hesitate to call a judge in a big turnamount if they see anything that strikes them as fishy. As a player, all you can do is put it in the judge's hands. The judge's job is to keep the tournament fair. It is always better to call a judge then walk away feeling like you just got cheated.
I have no problem with people calling a judge on someone's sleeves as long as it is at an appropriate point in the game. If it gets to turn 3 and you can tell that your opponents lands are all bent in a certain way, etc... that is appropriate.
When you are staring down lethal Game 1 and don't want your tournament life to end so you start fishing for a game win that is just so out of line.
This happened to me round 7 (X-2 bracket) of the GP. The kid has grabbed my deck multiple times (I'm running conscription so tons of fetch lands) and when I get lethal on the board he goes into the tank and decides to call a judge to inspect my deck.
I get a warning for having sleeves with wear and tear (brand new sleeves that day) and have to resleeve my "damaged" sleeves mid game). Luckily the call did not affect our game whatsoever, and I went on to 2-0 smash my opponent (which felt insanely easy once I knew that he felt he was not going to beat me at magic that day).
Judges should be able to evaluate when players are fishing for this type of win and a warning for poor sportsmanship or something along those lines might be appropriate, just so judges can keep track if one person in the tournament is repetitively "fishing." This is not to punish those who want protection from cheaters, just to stop people from trying to steal wins when they are beat. It doesn't even need to be a warning, just some type of note to be made so judges can see if one person continually uses these tactics.
Although I guess when all is said and done, the judges did their job that day and the warning for bent sleeves was appropriate and an appropriate course of action for resolving the matter was taken (having me resleeve mid game). The judges were able to tell/understand that my sleeves were damaged due to simple wear and tear from the day and gave an fair verdict.
James Syed if you're reading this, I hope you realize how very transparent your judge call was, that it was painfully obvious that you called that judge to "fish" and in all honesty, you probably could have pulled that round out if you had just not gone on tilt and attempted to think harder about the actual game instead of the players :rolleyes:.
I just found this thread, and I feel the need to post my results. I played Warp World, and went 6-3 on day 1, missing day 2 due to having to mulligan to 5 game 3 in round 9. I beat U/W, Superfriends, Jund, Naya, and Time Sieve on my way to that. I'm annoyed though, because I really should have made day 2.
Ari Lax lost game one against him and tried to fish for any kind of penalty he could get, so he called a judge to ask if he could check for a marked cards pattern because he felt two cards bend differently. My friend's deck is almost all foil or Beta(Islands), and the judges said he had to find 4x nonfoil Dragon Fodder before his next match.
My friend beat some random dude for game 1 (round 6 I believe) and said dude being such a poor loser he called a judge on my friend because his sleeves were slightly see through and supposedly you could see the back of the cards. My friend got a game loss but proceeded to smash the other dude again.
When you are staring down lethal Game 1 and don't want your tournament life to end so you start fishing for a game win that is just so out of line. This happened to me round 7 (X-2 bracket) of the GP. The kid has grabbed my deck multiple times (I'm running conscription so tons of fetch lands) and when I get lethal on the board he goes into the tank and decides to call a judge to inspect my deck. I get a warning for having sleeves with wear and tear (brand new sleeves that day) and have to resleeve my "damaged" sleeves mid game).
At a recent nationals qualifier one of my friends had brutally won game 1 of his round against a definately less experienced player, and as they began sideboarding for round 2, the judge was called over.
My friend had done something we all considered very silly, and having made deck changes on the train journey in the morning he'd left an unsleeved Pithing Needle in his deck-box, alongside his sleeved sideboard.
His opponent noticed said card and immediately called the judge, who granted an immediate game-2 loss against my friend. The opponent was obviously fishing for a chance at victory (and gained it through my friends mana screw game 3) and, although our friends stupidity meant he lost the match, I felt his opponent petty, and lost respect for the player.
Just have to say this. I understand the need for rules and enforcement, and any legitimate mistakes should be penalized. However, if I ever felt an opponent was just deliberately trying to screw me over, as in many of the above situations, and that ended up knocking me out of the match, and it was not something legitimate, the person wouldn't be walking out of the building. They'd be carried out to an ambulance. I honestly wouldn't care if I was banned for life and in some cases I wouldn't even care if I went to jail for assault.
In short, what good is having a DCI # if the rules enforcement consists of the trash outlined above? Glad I don't play in GP's, I wouldn't want to have to buy new sleeves for every match. What a joke.
Just have to say this. I understand the need for rules and enforcement, and any legitimate mistakes should be penalized. However, if I ever felt an opponent was just deliberately trying to screw me over, as in many of the above situations, and that ended up knocking me out of the match, and it was not something legitimate, the person wouldn't be walking out of the building. They'd be carried out to an ambulance. I honestly wouldn't care if I was banned for life and in some cases I wouldn't even care if I went to jail for assault.
In short, what good is having a DCI # if the rules enforcement consists of the trash outlined above? Glad I don't play in GP's, I wouldn't want to have to buy new sleeves for every match. What a joke.
Islanders4ever and RustedKnights examples are both legitimate in the punishments. At a Competitive REL event, you should not have sleeves that are even remotely see-through, nor should you be carrying unsleeved cards in your deck case. Both of these things are cause for suspicion, and you shouldn't be surprised if you get in trouble for these things.
Nick_'s example is one of the judge being a bit silly. I, however, do believe that a deck should either be completely foil or non-foil, as it is possible to tell the difference while shuffling.
Johnny Sniper's example is ambiguous. It is possible that during shuffling some of his sleeve backings became more scratched than others, and it is common for this to occur specifically between sideboarded and non-sideboarded cards(You shuffle your non-sideboard cards more, and they get more worn out. It is easy to distinguish a sideboard card being on top of your deck). Without knowing the full extent of damage to the card backings, I think a warning and required changing of sleeves is fair.
I'm glad to see that you take this game seriously, but I would recommend some anger counciling or medication if you feel the desire to send people home in ambulances over a dispute in a card game. Just throwing it out there.
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Current Standard:
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Current Legacy:
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I'm glad to see that you take this game seriously, but I would recommend some anger counciling or medication if you feel the desire to send people home in ambulances over a dispute in a card game. Just throwing it out there.
Extrajudicial punishment isn't "justice", it's personal revenge carried out for selfish reasons. To have rules, and to have an organization tasked with their enforcement, we do have to accept that the system isn't perfect. Sometimes we get cheated, I have been cheated, and while it's frustrating and can eat at you, using violence as a means to solve a dispute over a card game simply reinforces the idea that it is a savage competition.
Is that what we want? Ultimately we are deferring to the idea that Magic, the DCI, the Pro Tour itself, is a type of community, and we, as competitive players, are a part of that community. How can we have a healthy community when infractions, or perceived infractions (as you will not always be correct in guessing someone's intent) are met with battery?
Let the judges do their work, the cheaters will not win out in the long run because the social supports will not be there for them. You only need look at the success of the ChannelFireball crew at DC and San Juan to see how a cohesive group of people who work together do more than lone individuals trying to cheat, or harboring vendettas over past slights.
-
For people who went to D.C., and people looking at future Grand Prix, the moral here is to do everything in your power to make it clear that your 75 is your 75. Carrying extra cards in your box, using old sleeves, having patterns to your foils, holding your card below the table, etc... if you would be suspicious of a stranger who did those things, why allow yourself to do them? It creates the appearance of cheating. If your goal is to be social and to play some Magic, you should do everything you can to put your opponent at ease over the legitimacy of your plays.
Actually it is justice, since it is punishment for a clear injustice. I'm not advocating others start punching people out, I just made a statement that if I knew for a fact that someone attempted to and did cheat me, and the judges protected them, I would simply not allow that to go unanswered.
Anyway, back to the thread topic.
I think the problem is that, from what we are hearing here, the judges aren't doing a fair job and/or the rules are very poor and unnecessarily strict in many situations. If someone is about to lose and THEN "suddenly they notice" something which may or may not be a legitimate complaint, that should send up red flags to the judge. They are abusing the system. "Well it doesn't matter WHEN they called attention to it" -- oh but it does matter. If said whiners tried to pull such shenanigans at the beginning of every single match, they would eventually get in trouble for all the unnecessary judge calls. That's why they only try to pull it when it is a last resort, and that's why it is an abuse of the system.
For the card sleeve problem -- it is ludicrous that any sleeve wear standards would be set so high that someone who bought the sleeves THAT DAY would get called on "sleeve wear." Either you accept that it happened or you are calling the poster a liar. "Resleeve and warning" is a lazy catch-all designed to absolve the judge of any thought process or effort whatsoever, and allows abuse of the system as indicated.
For the "unsleeved card" -- unless I am horribly mistaken, decks and sideboards are completely registered. That is the point of a deck check. Either he would pass or fail a deck check. Either he would have the proper 60+15 cards in the proper piles or he would not. "Extra/unsleeved card in your deckbox" may be a stupid thing to do, and I could see it getting a warning, but a game loss? Really? When game losses are handed out for such occurrences it devalues the entire competition IMO.
I can see the problem with foils, but I maintain that foils should either just stop being printed (since printing tournament-unplayable cards while touting them as something to be prized is kind of a slap in the face to the players) or that the DCI should just disallow foils completely. It causes nothing but confusion to allow foils into the tournament if the judges are going to behave this way about them. So why would they continue to allow them? The only logical answer I can see is that they must have an agreement with WotC to not ban these notoriously-bending foils outright, to avoid bad press and negative appearances about WotC's "exciting prized cards."
Lastly, unless I misunderstood, you referred to the stopping of thievery at GP: DC as a success? If so, I disagree. They got away scot free with at least 15 people's belongings the first day, and were only caught because they were stupid enough to come back. The fact that 15+ items were stolen just shows that event security fails utterly. Subsequent luck in catching them doesn't make that a success.
Oh, and I don't find the argument that "overly harsh punishment deters cheating" very convincing, especially in a "system of justice" with no jury, no due process and no appeals. For every cheater deterred there will be another abusing the system as shown above, and getting away with it. That is cheating as well.
I just found this thread, and I feel the need to post my results. I played Warp World, and went 6-3 on day 1, missing day 2 due to having to mulligan to 5 game 3 in round 9. I beat U/W, Superfriends, Jund, Naya, and Time Sieve on my way to that. I'm annoyed though, because I really should have made day 2.
These are commonly accepted practices and rulings are real events. These weren't made up on the spot or arbitrary. Ask Sam Black about the extra card thing. He was given a match loss for having the promo Jitte given away at the tournament still in his deck box.
If you aren't willing to accept high level RELs, you probably shouldn't go to GPs. Because personally, I would rather have stricter enforcement than more lax enforcement. If 10 people have to resleeve their decks to prevent 1 person from having marked sleeves, I'm ok with that. You should be too.
As far as foils go, you need to understand that there are other aspects to MtG than just GPs. Would you deny foils to EDH players or collectors? Foils are extras in a pack, and not taking the place of a real card. Just play real cards at a tournament and save the foils for EDH. There's no reason not to print foils.
For the "unsleeved card" -- unless I am horribly mistaken, decks and sideboards are completely registered. That is the point of a deck check. Either he would pass or fail a deck check. Either he would have the proper 60+15 cards in the proper piles or he would not. "Extra/unsleeved card in your deckbox" may be a stupid thing to do, and I could see it getting a warning, but a game loss? Really? When game losses are handed out for such occurrences it devalues the entire competition IMO.
Failing a deck check is essentially what happens when you have the unsleeved extra card in your deck box. I saw it happen to the guy sitting next to me at my nationals qualifier when he got randomly deck checked. You've essentially represented a 76th card.
Actually it is justice, since it is punishment for a clear injustice.
"Justice" implies moral righteousness according to the standards of society. Without turning this into a philosophical debate, your decision to violate the laws of society (battery), the rules of DCI (physical confrontation results in a lifetime ban), and the standards of competitive MTG (we, the pros, do not want people getting beat up over a card game) would make what you're doing far, far from "just".
For the "unsleeved card" -- unless I am horribly mistaken, decks and sideboards are completely registered. That is the point of a deck check. Either he would pass or fail a deck check. Either he would have the proper 60+15 cards in the proper piles or he would not. "Extra/unsleeved card in your deckbox" may be a stupid thing to do, and I could see it getting a warning, but a game loss? Really? When game losses are handed out for such occurrences it devalues the entire competition IMO.
He failed a deck check. You either have the 75 cards in your box that were listed on your sheet or you don't. He had an extra card. It doesn't matter if that card was in a sleeve, it doesn't matter if that card is in completely wrong colors, it doesn't matter if that card is a land. If you allow people to have additional cards in their deckbox, then there is no guarantee that they will not use those cards at some point in the tournament.
When asked to present his deck, he handed the judges 76 cards, and that results in a game loss. It ABSOLUTELY HAS TO, in fact, I would advocate for STRICTER punishment for failing a deck check. This is an area that gives people such a huge opportunity to cheat. Extra cards in the deck box and marked sleeves have to carry significant consequences to combat the advantage that would come from using such a technique.
I just found this thread, and I feel the need to post my results. I played Warp World, and went 6-3 on day 1, missing day 2 due to having to mulligan to 5 game 3 in round 9. I beat U/W, Superfriends, Jund, Naya, and Time Sieve on my way to that. I'm annoyed though, because I really should have made day 2.
Based on the way he stated it, it appears he feels that he failed to make Day 2 becuase of the mulligan to 5 in the final round of Day 1. While its a stretch to say that he should have made Day 2, he was obviously very close to doing so.
Why do people say foils allow you an unfair advantage by allowing you to cut to them? I don't get it. Your opponent shuffles and/or cuts your deck after you are done shuffling. The only person who can take advantage of cutting to a specific card is your opponent, not you.
My friend played U/r Polymorph to get 15th place, beating Thaler in the last round to lock it up. He was in contention for top8 until he lost the penultimate round to Gaudenis playing NLBant.
If anyone heard the Dragon Fodder announcement, it was because of him. Ari Lax lost game one against him and tried to fish for any kind of penalty he could get, so he called a judge to ask if he could check for a marked cards pattern because he felt two cards bend differently. My friend's deck is almost all foil or Beta(Islands), and the judges said he had to find 4x nonfoil Dragon Fodder before his next match. He had 5 minutes, and wasn't allowed to make proxies, so we ran all over looking for them. I convinced the judges to make an announcement and we found them just in time.
Lets just clear this up.
I was shuffling your friend's deck for G2 when I noticed several cards that were MUCH less sturdy than the others. These were his Beta Bolts and lands. He also had a split of foils (all bent) and non-foils, of which the non-foils included 4x Jace and his Iona, which at that point was the only Polymorph target I knew of. He also would riff his deck after shuffling, which is a very easy way to get extra info with varying card densities. The reason this did not occur before G1 was I did not notice it then and just saw variable foiling curves.
There is a very legitimate ability for your friend to gain an advantage in this situation. As a judge, I would have made a full investigation into this. I was surprised the head judge was not informed.
Honestly, your friend is lucky I'm not scum. At the least someone could cut him to a Bolt/Land every time, at worst they could stack the top of his deck all land/Bolts and flood him out.
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I was shuffling your friend's deck for G2 when I noticed several cards that were MUCH less sturdy than the others. These were his Beta Bolts and lands. He also had a split of foils (all bent) and non-foils, of which the non-foils included 4x Jace and his Iona, which at that point was the only Polymorph target I knew of. He also would riff his deck after shuffling, which is a very easy way to get extra info with varying card densities. The reason this did not occur before G1 was I did not notice it then and just saw variable foiling curves.
There is a very legitimate ability for your friend to gain an advantage in this situation. As a judge, I would have made a full investigation into this. I was surprised the head judge was not informed.
Honestly, your friend is lucky I'm not scum. At the least someone could cut him to a Bolt/Land every time, at worst they could stack the top of his deck all land/Bolts and flood him out.
Oh, ok then, it's all good. He was just tilting and punted the last match, but top16ing was better than nothing. We just figured you were fishing, but then I suppose you would have appealed all the way. Not holding it against you or anything.
I have no problem with people calling a judge on someone's sleeves as long as it is at an appropriate point in the game. If it gets to turn 3 and you can tell that your opponents lands are all bent in a certain way, etc... that is appropriate.
When you are staring down lethal Game 1 and don't want your tournament life to end so you start fishing for a game win that is just so out of line.
This happened to me round 7 (X-2 bracket) of the GP. The kid has grabbed my deck multiple times (I'm running conscription so tons of fetch lands) and when I get lethal on the board he goes into the tank and decides to call a judge to inspect my deck.
I get a warning for having sleeves with wear and tear (brand new sleeves that day) and have to resleeve my "damaged" sleeves mid game). Luckily the call did not affect our game whatsoever, and I went on to 2-0 smash my opponent (which felt insanely easy once I knew that he felt he was not going to beat me at magic that day).
Judges should be able to evaluate when players are fishing for this type of win and a warning for poor sportsmanship or something along those lines might be appropriate, just so judges can keep track if one person in the tournament is repetitively "fishing." This is not to punish those who want protection from cheaters, just to stop people from trying to steal wins when they are beat. It doesn't even need to be a warning, just some type of note to be made so judges can see if one person continually uses these tactics.
Although I guess when all is said and done, the judges did their job that day and the warning for bent sleeves was appropriate and an appropriate course of action for resolving the matter was taken (having me resleeve mid game). The judges were able to tell/understand that my sleeves were damaged due to simple wear and tear from the day and gave an fair verdict.
James Syed if you're reading this, I hope you realize how very transparent your judge call was, that it was painfully obvious that you called that judge to "fish" and in all honesty, you probably could have pulled that round out if you had just not gone on tilt and attempted to think harder about the actual game instead of the players :rolleyes:.
Just have to say this. I understand the need for rules and enforcement, and any legitimate mistakes should be penalized. However, if I ever felt an opponent was just deliberately trying to screw me over, as in many of the above situations, and that ended up knocking me out of the match, and it was not something legitimate, the person wouldn't be walking out of the building. They'd be carried out to an ambulance. I honestly wouldn't care if I was banned for life and in some cases I wouldn't even care if I went to jail for assault.
In short, what good is having a DCI # if the rules enforcement consists of the trash outlined above? Glad I don't play in GP's, I wouldn't want to have to buy new sleeves for every match. What a joke.
Islanders4ever and RustedKnights examples are both legitimate in the punishments. At a Competitive REL event, you should not have sleeves that are even remotely see-through, nor should you be carrying unsleeved cards in your deck case. Both of these things are cause for suspicion, and you shouldn't be surprised if you get in trouble for these things.
Nick_'s example is one of the judge being a bit silly. I, however, do believe that a deck should either be completely foil or non-foil, as it is possible to tell the difference while shuffling.
Johnny Sniper's example is ambiguous. It is possible that during shuffling some of his sleeve backings became more scratched than others, and it is common for this to occur specifically between sideboarded and non-sideboarded cards(You shuffle your non-sideboard cards more, and they get more worn out. It is easy to distinguish a sideboard card being on top of your deck). Without knowing the full extent of damage to the card backings, I think a warning and required changing of sleeves is fair.
I'm glad to see that you take this game seriously, but I would recommend some anger counciling or medication if you feel the desire to send people home in ambulances over a dispute in a card game. Just throwing it out there.
Current Standard:
Boros
Current Legacy:
Merfolk
UW Stoneforge
MonoUDelver(in progress)
I have a strong belief in justice.
Extrajudicial punishment isn't "justice", it's personal revenge carried out for selfish reasons. To have rules, and to have an organization tasked with their enforcement, we do have to accept that the system isn't perfect. Sometimes we get cheated, I have been cheated, and while it's frustrating and can eat at you, using violence as a means to solve a dispute over a card game simply reinforces the idea that it is a savage competition.
Is that what we want? Ultimately we are deferring to the idea that Magic, the DCI, the Pro Tour itself, is a type of community, and we, as competitive players, are a part of that community. How can we have a healthy community when infractions, or perceived infractions (as you will not always be correct in guessing someone's intent) are met with battery?
Let the judges do their work, the cheaters will not win out in the long run because the social supports will not be there for them. You only need look at the success of the ChannelFireball crew at DC and San Juan to see how a cohesive group of people who work together do more than lone individuals trying to cheat, or harboring vendettas over past slights.
-
For people who went to D.C., and people looking at future Grand Prix, the moral here is to do everything in your power to make it clear that your 75 is your 75. Carrying extra cards in your box, using old sleeves, having patterns to your foils, holding your card below the table, etc... if you would be suspicious of a stranger who did those things, why allow yourself to do them? It creates the appearance of cheating. If your goal is to be social and to play some Magic, you should do everything you can to put your opponent at ease over the legitimacy of your plays.
Spike School
Spike doesn't think. Spike doesn't feel. Spike doesn't laugh or cry. All Spike does from dusk till dawn is make the Johnnys die
Anyway, back to the thread topic.
I think the problem is that, from what we are hearing here, the judges aren't doing a fair job and/or the rules are very poor and unnecessarily strict in many situations. If someone is about to lose and THEN "suddenly they notice" something which may or may not be a legitimate complaint, that should send up red flags to the judge. They are abusing the system. "Well it doesn't matter WHEN they called attention to it" -- oh but it does matter. If said whiners tried to pull such shenanigans at the beginning of every single match, they would eventually get in trouble for all the unnecessary judge calls. That's why they only try to pull it when it is a last resort, and that's why it is an abuse of the system.
For the card sleeve problem -- it is ludicrous that any sleeve wear standards would be set so high that someone who bought the sleeves THAT DAY would get called on "sleeve wear." Either you accept that it happened or you are calling the poster a liar. "Resleeve and warning" is a lazy catch-all designed to absolve the judge of any thought process or effort whatsoever, and allows abuse of the system as indicated.
For the "unsleeved card" -- unless I am horribly mistaken, decks and sideboards are completely registered. That is the point of a deck check. Either he would pass or fail a deck check. Either he would have the proper 60+15 cards in the proper piles or he would not. "Extra/unsleeved card in your deckbox" may be a stupid thing to do, and I could see it getting a warning, but a game loss? Really? When game losses are handed out for such occurrences it devalues the entire competition IMO.
I can see the problem with foils, but I maintain that foils should either just stop being printed (since printing tournament-unplayable cards while touting them as something to be prized is kind of a slap in the face to the players) or that the DCI should just disallow foils completely. It causes nothing but confusion to allow foils into the tournament if the judges are going to behave this way about them. So why would they continue to allow them? The only logical answer I can see is that they must have an agreement with WotC to not ban these notoriously-bending foils outright, to avoid bad press and negative appearances about WotC's "exciting prized cards."
Lastly, unless I misunderstood, you referred to the stopping of thievery at GP: DC as a success? If so, I disagree. They got away scot free with at least 15 people's belongings the first day, and were only caught because they were stupid enough to come back. The fact that 15+ items were stolen just shows that event security fails utterly. Subsequent luck in catching them doesn't make that a success.
Oh, and I don't find the argument that "overly harsh punishment deters cheating" very convincing, especially in a "system of justice" with no jury, no due process and no appeals. For every cheater deterred there will be another abusing the system as shown above, and getting away with it. That is cheating as well.
That's great to hear, always a fan of Warp World.
Care you shoot a PM for the decklist?
These are commonly accepted practices and rulings are real events. These weren't made up on the spot or arbitrary. Ask Sam Black about the extra card thing. He was given a match loss for having the promo Jitte given away at the tournament still in his deck box.
If you aren't willing to accept high level RELs, you probably shouldn't go to GPs. Because personally, I would rather have stricter enforcement than more lax enforcement. If 10 people have to resleeve their decks to prevent 1 person from having marked sleeves, I'm ok with that. You should be too.
As far as foils go, you need to understand that there are other aspects to MtG than just GPs. Would you deny foils to EDH players or collectors? Foils are extras in a pack, and not taking the place of a real card. Just play real cards at a tournament and save the foils for EDH. There's no reason not to print foils.
Failing a deck check is essentially what happens when you have the unsleeved extra card in your deck box. I saw it happen to the guy sitting next to me at my nationals qualifier when he got randomly deck checked. You've essentially represented a 76th card.
"Justice" implies moral righteousness according to the standards of society. Without turning this into a philosophical debate, your decision to violate the laws of society (battery), the rules of DCI (physical confrontation results in a lifetime ban), and the standards of competitive MTG (we, the pros, do not want people getting beat up over a card game) would make what you're doing far, far from "just".
He failed a deck check. You either have the 75 cards in your box that were listed on your sheet or you don't. He had an extra card. It doesn't matter if that card was in a sleeve, it doesn't matter if that card is in completely wrong colors, it doesn't matter if that card is a land. If you allow people to have additional cards in their deckbox, then there is no guarantee that they will not use those cards at some point in the tournament.
When asked to present his deck, he handed the judges 76 cards, and that results in a game loss. It ABSOLUTELY HAS TO, in fact, I would advocate for STRICTER punishment for failing a deck check. This is an area that gives people such a huge opportunity to cheat. Extra cards in the deck box and marked sleeves have to carry significant consequences to combat the advantage that would come from using such a technique.
Spike School
Spike doesn't think. Spike doesn't feel. Spike doesn't laugh or cry. All Spike does from dusk till dawn is make the Johnnys die
Why should you have made day two?
Based on the way he stated it, it appears he feels that he failed to make Day 2 becuase of the mulligan to 5 in the final round of Day 1. While its a stretch to say that he should have made Day 2, he was obviously very close to doing so.
There is no reason to troll this thread when there is a perfectly good whining thread stickied at the top.
Lets just clear this up.
I was shuffling your friend's deck for G2 when I noticed several cards that were MUCH less sturdy than the others. These were his Beta Bolts and lands. He also had a split of foils (all bent) and non-foils, of which the non-foils included 4x Jace and his Iona, which at that point was the only Polymorph target I knew of. He also would riff his deck after shuffling, which is a very easy way to get extra info with varying card densities. The reason this did not occur before G1 was I did not notice it then and just saw variable foiling curves.
There is a very legitimate ability for your friend to gain an advantage in this situation. As a judge, I would have made a full investigation into this. I was surprised the head judge was not informed.
Honestly, your friend is lucky I'm not scum. At the least someone could cut him to a Bolt/Land every time, at worst they could stack the top of his deck all land/Bolts and flood him out.
Oh, ok then, it's all good. He was just tilting and punted the last match, but top16ing was better than nothing. We just figured you were fishing, but then I suppose you would have appealed all the way. Not holding it against you or anything.