Wizards of the Coast
Several well-known members of the Magic: The Gathering community have already tweeted their opinions about Yuuya Watanabe's disqualification from the Mythic Championship 2 for having marked cards, and now, his fellow Japanese pro player Yuuki Ichikawa has shared his thoughts during a Magic Online livestream on Twitch.
Ichikawa, who's also a member of Team Cygames, expressed his reactions, saying that he was shocked that Yuuya was disqualified for having marked cards at the Mythic Championship II at London.
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You can read the full response translated in English by Redditor Sirotama below:
From 1:23:38 of the livestream:
About Watanabe... I can talk about Watanabe.I was really shocked at first.It was the most shocking moment ever in my magic career.for me, I have a two contradictory opinion.One is my opinion as a friend and.... the other is as a competitive player.like, the first of all, as a friend, I think he would never have made a mistake like that.In my view, I think he's a Best player in the world,There's no way that Yuuya Watanabe, the best and cleanest gentleman, could do cheating.however if, he can't prove he's not doing it...here, as a professional player, I definitely want him to suspend it.because the existence of a marking on the three keycards is clearly an advantage compared to other players and is ridiculous.so, If they don't suspend him, it will be hard to taking this game seriously and being professional anymore.so I'm not convinced that this is just one tournament disqualification.like what if he's not gonna get suspended because he is a MPL player?i would definitely not convinced it.that being said, I still believe he didn't cheat.Who knows. i can only wait for more additional investigate and judgement.
From 1:32:07 of the livestream:
To be honest.The worst scenario is in case he didn't actually cheat.Isn't it scary? That means anyone can kill my entire career, anytime literally.Like if i was the Top8 this Pro tour, then my career ends. it would happen in this scenario Imagine the judge calls you and says "Your Aether Vial is marked." all of a sudden.I'd be like "eh wtf?" *laugh*If that happens, I would have to going to live through with a lot of people saying, "I'VE ALWAYS THOUGHT HE WAS SUSPICIOUS." or "I'M GLAD THAT DIRTY CHEATER LEFT THE MAGIC FOREVER."it's so scary actually. it's Not even Avoidable.and That's about to happen to Watanabe now. in the very worst case.About the deck check. though. i don't even know how do they deck check so i don't have any opinion.however, if there is a time when judges will be able to touch the deck alone,then i simply think the system has a some problem.so If they're able to touch the player's deck alone while nobody is watching, I think they should change the system.because with the increasing prize money for tournaments, it's a bit scary to leave everything to judges' morals.If, of course, they say they're doing it together, this is pure nonsense though.The situation surrounding competitive magic has changed a lot compared to years ago so.
That is a scary thought. Wizards of the Coast said that they would investigate the infraction but they haven't shared an update yet. They might remove Yuuya from the Magic Pro League, the 32 players each with $75,000 contracts to stream and compete but at this point.
Cygames recently published Yuuya's statement concerning his disqualification.
Other MTG pro players and content creators have also shared their thoughts on Twitter:
What do you think about Ichikawa's opinions? Share your opinions in the comments section below and check our latest Magic Arena video:
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