Wizards of the Coast
Last week, Wizards of the Coast released a statement regarding Yuuya Watanabe's disqualification from Magic: The Gathering's Mythic Championship II, explaining its decision to ban the Japanese player for 30 months as well as remove him from the Magic Hall of Fame and the Magic Pro League. The statement has an interesting bit about how the DCI "reviewed recordings of matches from Mythic Championship II as well as past tournaments", so a Redditor decided to watch Yuuya's recorded matches on YouTube to find evidence of his infraction, and he pointed out the orientation of Yuuya's deck changes that he found suspicious.
The Redditor, who goes by the name Express_Mulberry, compared Yuuya's preferred deck orientation from past Pro Tour events to Mythic Championship II and he noticed a difference. At the Mythic Championship II, he observes that he starts the "deck at a 45-degree angle, with the left edge of the deck facing him. Once he draws all three of his combo pieces or has a way to get them like 2 lands and Expedition Map / Sylvan Scrying, he will move his deck back to his preferred orientation." His preferred deck orientation that he noticed in previous Pro Tour events is for the deck to be straight with the long edge of the deck facing him.
The video observer also noticed that Yuuya would often make a small adjustment to the position of his deck when it was at a 45-degree angle. "This could be him adjusting it to get a reflection of the lights on the right spot of the deck, so it would make the marks easier to spot," the Redditor wrote.
The explanation also contradicts Cygames' defense of Yuuya's deck positioning at the Mythic Championship II. Cygames wrote that "Whenever Yuuya has a match, he plays with his deck turned so that he can see the left side of his sleeves. Because of his tendency to place his library this way, the bent corners of the sleeves in question would be facing his opponent, not himself." but the Redditor says that it's not true and pointed out to a photo that shows the marks on the left side of the deck, so they would be facing Yuuya and not his opponent. "This feels like they are trying to misdirect the public from looking at the orientation because it doesn't look good," the Redditor wrote.
The Redditor went on to share YouTube links to illustrate his point about Yuuya's change of deck positioning before forming "Tron" (a strategy that involves having all Urza's Mine, Urza's Power Plant, and Urza's Tower in play to produce additional mana) and after forming "Tron".
Round 7:
Game 1
Pre-Tron https://youtu.be/pYbZcPPzT0w?t=53
Post-Tron https://youtu.be/pYbZcPPzT0w?t=88
Game 2
Pre-Tron https://youtu.be/pYbZcPPzT0w?t=1703
Never draws Tron
Game 3
Pre-Tron https://youtu.be/pYbZcPPzT0w?t=2309
Post-Tron https://youtu.be/pYbZcPPzT0w?t=2370
Round 12:
Game 1
Pre-Tron https://youtu.be/RtvVG1hvqRY?t=43
Post-Tron https://youtu.be/RtvVG1hvqRY?t=237
Game 2
Pre-Tron https://youtu.be/RtvVG1hvqRY?t=942
Has two pieces + Expedition Map to start
Game 3
Pre-Tron https://youtu.be/RtvVG1hvqRY?t=1753
Post-Tron https://youtu.be/RtvVG1hvqRY?t=1938
Round 15:
Game 1
Pre-Tron https://youtu.be/Objo3vhahLc?t=2099
Post-Tron https://youtu.be/Objo3vhahLc?t=2381
Game 2
Pre-Tron https://youtu.be/Objo3vhahLc?t=2640 (adjusts deck after draw)
Post-Tron https://youtu.be/Objo3vhahLc?t=2770
Game 3
Pre-Tron https://youtu.be/Objo3vhahLc?t=2799
Has two pieces + Sylvan Scrying to start
I have to thank the Redditor who took the time to share his observations. It's a shame that a renowned Magic player was caught cheating at a high-level tournament.
What do you think about these observations? Do you think these clips prove that Yuuya cheated? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
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