Magic: The Gathering Player Disqualified From Pro Tour 25th Anniversary

Magic: The Gathering's Pro Tour 25th Anniversary took place at Minneapolis, MN last weekend, featuring three days of Team Trios Constructed (Standard, Modern, and Legacy) as well as a whopping $850,000 prize pool! Allen Wu, Ben Hull, and Gregory Orange of Team Hotsauce ended up winning the whole tournament but before they won the ultimate prize, the event had a lot of moments worth highlighting, and one of them is the disqualification of Magic player Dan Ward.

Wizards of the Coast announced his disqualification, and explained the reason, saying that the judges determined that Ward was trying to undo his mistake by misrepresenting Meddling Mage's ability.

"During Round 7, Ward's opponent activated Æther Vial. Ward allowed the ability to resolve, which his opponent used to put a Meddling Mage into play," Wizards of the Coast explained. "Ward attempted to then cast Path to Exile on another creature "in response" to Meddling Mage naming a card when there was no window to respond."

"During the investigation, Ward argued he thought Meddling Mage's ability was a triggered ability upon entering play. However, after investigation, judges determined Ward knew that Meddling Mage was not a triggered ability and that his statements to his opponent and the judges were attempts to undo his mistake of not casting Path to Exile in response to the Aether Vial activation."

Since this is a team pro tour, Dan Ward's team was disqualified as well.

A Redditor pointed out that he's the same player who put a land into play untapped (on camera) from his opponent's Path to Exile and used it immediately to cast a Slippery Bogle. When he was called out, he picked up his opponent's Path to Exile card as if he didn't know how it worked. You can watch the moment at the 49-minute mark in the clip here:

Watch Grand Prix Toronto - Day 2 - Modern from Magic on www.twitch.tv

What do you think about Dan Ward's disqualification?

Read more: Channelfireball Teases A New Magic: The Gathering Show 'Zero to Hero'