Zak's DQ

A few things before I go into recounting what happened on December 30, 2018.

- This is realistically my first bit of free time with access to a computer since the event to type this up.
- This all happened very fast. The pressure of a high stakes game and the immediate investigation about my match have made me less than 100% certain about the exact things that happened.  While I'm 90%+ certain about most of it, I am not attempting to misconstrue what happened.  I'm making this post in the interest of maximum transparency.
- Keep in mind that this is my recounting, and as much as I will try to remain objective, I do obviously have certain biases.

On the Sunday of GP Vancouver, I registered for the PTQ after having failed to make day 2. The format is Guilds of Ravnica team sealed. 5 rounds of swiss, with a cut top top 4 teams. Top 4 is to be played with the same sealed decks, and top 2 is a team draft. My team is Jon Sliva and Chantelle Campbell. I am the A player, Chantelle is C, and Jon is in the middle.

The Game:

We finish the swiss rounds 4-0-1 in 3rd place. I have a very strong UB deck.
I don't have the whole list on me right now, but some relevant highlights include
2x Dead Weight
2x Notion Rain
2x Deadly Visit
2x Watcher in the Mist
2x Hired Poisoner
2x Burglar Rat
2x Devious Cover-Up (1 foil).

My deck's Game Plan is to trade resources early, and then chain Devious Cover-Ups to ensure I don't stop drawing all my best cards. I have tons of surveil cards so I am able to go through my deck very quickly.

In the quarter finals, my opponent is on an Izzet deck that seems fairly solid.  I keep a slow hand, on the draw, game 1 in the dark, and they beat me down with a reasonably aggressive start before I can stabilise.

For game 2, I board out one of my two-ofs, I believe a Notion Rain.  I again keep a slower hand, but it's better than the previous one and I'm on the play, so I keep.

Similar to before, Izzet presents an early clock, but this time I'm able to stabilise.  My opponent topdecks Ral, Izzet Viceroy to attempt to get back in the game, but I'm able to develop my board a bit more with Whisper Agent, and they hit an unlucky string of 3-ish lands, and I kill the Ral.  At this point I believe I am slightly ahead, but my life total is low.  I remember being scared of a possible Inescapable Blaze for lethal.  When deciding how to surveil at one point, I count my lands in play, hand and graveyard and determine I only have 1 land remaining in my deck.  So I mill a couple of mediocre spells because the chances I'm drawing gas anyway is incredibly high.


My opponent casts a relevant spell (I believe it was a Hypothesizzle) and I cast Devious Cover-Up. I wanted to make sure I didn't randomly deck myself, and add additional copies of my best cards to my deck so I was more likely to draw them. Furthermore, I had another Counterspell in hand (I believe it was Sinister Sabotage). At this point, my library is very thin, around 4-6 cards before resolving Devious Cover-Up. I shuffle in some of my better cards, I believe Dead Weight, Watcher in the Mist, Deadly Visit and the 2nd Devious Cover-up. Cover-Up and Dead Weight I'm 100% sure about, the others less so, but they were all very good cards that I wanted to draw to make sure my opponent couldn't. I'm fairly certain I had my other copies of these cards remaining in my library already (I had cast one Devious Cover-Up already this game).

So I select the 4 cards I want to shuffle back in, and place them on top of my small library.

Now here's how I normally shuffle my library. The judges and I agreed that this is how I normally shuffle. I put my deck into 2 parts, and riffle the 2 halves together. I do this process several times. Then, after I perform what some people refer to as the yu-gi-oh shuffle. For an example, see this gif: https://pa1.narvii.com/6547/e24f4fe668de2c1850e72f9de3d48bc424847d00_hq.gif. Basically, you take a chunk of your deck from the middle with one hand and then put it on top, and I repeat this process a few times before presenting.

However, during this time my library is very small, (8-10 cards roughly) and it's very hard to riffle shuffle a library that small.  So because of that I perform the overhand portion of my shuffle a few more times before presenting to my opponent.  They cut and we continue to play.  At this point I have 0-1 lands left in my deck so my draws are statistically very good.  I cannot remember if I drew/surveilled the last land in my deck.  I Dead Weight a League Guildmage, and I believe kill another creature.  I eventually add some power to my board and am able to win. We start sideboarding for game 2, and then present.

The Investigation:

After I present, a judge asked to talk to me away from the table. I sit down and they perform a very thorough investigation about the entirety of our match. They then bring up my shuffling. I demonstrate to them my normal riffle/overhand combination and they agree thats how I had been shuffling up until the Devious Cover Up. I initially didn't even remember/notice that I had done anything differently with the low card count. The judges brought up that was the only time I did just the overhand method and asked me why. Upon reflection, I said that it must have been because my library was so small, and it's physically difficult to riffle a small library. They then informed me that this was insufficient randomisation of my deck, and the cards I drew the next few turns were all cards I had shuffled in. Their line of questioning heavily implies that I was drawing exceptionally well following my shuffle, and I pointed out that my deck had 0-1 lands in it, and number of duplicates of my better cards. I asked how I was supposed to shuffle a small deck and they said I should have mash shuffled in addition.

After a few more questions, they went and interviewed my opponent.  After they returned, I was informed that the situation and shuffling had potential for abuse (which I agree exists), and that they didn’t believe me when I said I was not intentionally trying to insufficiently randomise my library.  I was then disqualified from the tournament for cheating, without prize and our team was eliminated. I was given the opportunity to make a written statement, which I did.

I asked them why they did not inform me when they believed my shuffling was insufficient or request that I re-randomise my deck and apply a penalty for insufficient randomisation.  The answer given to me was that the game was close and they wanted to see what happened to determine if I was cheating.

I understand the ruling. I did something against the rules, that appeared to be done to gain an advantage and did so knowingly. I would contest the latter 2 points, in that I was not doing it to gain a specific advantage by knowing the order of my deck, and that at the time I believed my library was sufficiently randomised. But as the judge (fairly) pointed out, the evidence certainly looks like I checked all 3 of those boxes.

Why I Wasn't Cheating:

I've always prided myself on the amount of work I put into Magic, both the game and the community. I've acted as a judge for many years and have attempted to better the community as a whole where I can. While I like to think that I want to go back to the Pro Tour more than anyone, I have always believed cheating isn't fulfilling or validating in any way. It takes away the value of the hard work and hours that I and others have put into the game to achieve success, which I take great pride in.

Furthermore, the vast majority of my social circle is from Magic, and while I love the magic, it wouldn't be the same without the gathering. I'm not interested in throwing away my reputation in the community that I've build up for over 11 years for some short term gain. Fair competition is so incredibly important to me and I have no intent of changing that value.

While I certainly can't force or even expect anyone to take my word over that of the very qualified judges who gave their ruling, I hope that you consider what I've said.

What's Next:

I am told I will find out on either February or March 1st of 2019, depending on how long the paperwork takes to process. That is when I will find out if I will be suspended and, if so, for how long.

In the interim, I will not be playing in or judging any Magic events.  While I am still allowed to do those things, I don't want to foster an environment where my opponents feel the need to watch me extra closely or anything like that, such that it would reduce anyone's comfort level. Once I have found out that I'm not suspended (or have served my sentence) I will consider returning to competitive Magic.

I had previously booked flights for the Pokemon TCG regionals in Dallas in a couple of weeks, so I'm going to be giving my all in that game, and being exceptionally careful and thorough when randomising my deck there.

Thanks everyone for reading this. I'm lucky to be part of such an amazing game and community, and hope to rejoin you all at the tables soon.

Finally, I know that some of you are upset by this (Some even more than me), but I must ask that you do not harass, bully or otherwise inconvenience any of the staff involved in my ruling. Furthermore, I hope that you don't think less of Jon or Chantelle because they teamed with me. They are arguably the real victims here.