It has been brought to my attention that Igor Costa had some shady play at Worlds 2015, as evidenced by our top 8 match. The person who showed this to me did so privately and asked to remain anonymous. I have compiled everything here with time stamps, and I encourage you to watch the video and decide for yourself if you think this constitutes cheating.

https://youtu.be/S8rSHgssA5Y

Early in the first game, you can see Igor play his first two Super Scoop Ups [6:23]. From the shadow on the playmat, you can see that these cards are slightly bent. This isn’t surprising, as Black & White flat foils are notorious for warping. Igor elected to play these BW flat foils only for two cards: Super Scoop Up and Professor Juniper, both of which are game-deciding cards that could be especially important to identify in one’s prizes.

I can’t determine if these cards are marked in any other way, but it wouldn’t surprise me that, with practice, Igor could identify these key cards from his prizes. We’ll see this come up in the second game. An argument could also be made that the bend in these cards invites the opponent’s cut, allowing them to show up more often off an N.

Observe as well the pattern in which Igor takes his prize cards in game 1. He draws from the bottom, left to right, which is fairly common.

In game 2, Igor notices that one of his Super Scoop Ups is prized. At a pivotal point [28:33], Igor plays his second Super Scoop Up and is visibly and understandably frustrated at the resulting tails. I’ve amassed a favorable board position here, and Igor recognizes just how important a heads would be. Knowing his last copy is prized, he evolves to Golbat and Ultra Balls for Crobat to KO my benched Donphan. This time, Igor draws his prize card out of order. As pictured, he takes the top left card, which happens to be his last Super Scoop Up, flips heads, and turns the tides of the game. If it wasn’t cheating, ask yourself why, in this crucial moment, he chose to draw his prize cards in a different order.

Something else observed, although anecdotal, is Igor’s lack of expression, almost as if he weren’t surprised to draw this most influential prize card, which would serve to win him the game.

Moments later, in the same turn, Igor attempts to attach a second Energy, which I caught immediately. This part, apparently, was nothing unique for him that day [see John Gordon’s Virbank post calling out Igor’s multiple “accidents” day 2 of Worlds].

You might say this is all so slight, and it is. Indeed it went unnoticed by the numerous judges observing our match, the thousands of viewers on Twitch and YouTube, and it slipped by me as well, until it was called to my attention just days ago. Subtle though it is, by my interpretation, it would be no great stretch to call this behavior cheating. I am not sharing this from some lingering bitterness for a match I lost three years ago, but as an exposé of the form and scope of suspicious play at the highest level. I am convinced Igor knowingly and secretly undermined the natural luck factor of the game to gain an advantage. Be on guard that cheating may not be so clear cut as a palmed card or trick shuffle, and when executed well, can fly under the radar for years, propelling shady players to the top ranks.