Magic: The Gathering Player Disqualified at Pro Tour Aether Revolt

Image credit: Wizards of the Coast

Pro Tour Aether Revolt, the second Pro Tour of the 2016-16 Season, took place in Dublin, Ireland on February 3-5, and Mardu Vehicles dominated the competition, with 6 of the Top 8 running the aggressive deck archtype.

In the fifth round of the event, competitor Brock Parker was disqualified from the Pro Tour for intentionally misrespresenting the game state to his advantage, Wizards of the Coast reports.

Here's the statement provided by the head judge:

"Brock Parker crewed a Heart of Kiran that had just come into play that turn, and attempted to attack with it, forgetting that he was unable to do so. Parker's opponent believed he was attacking with the creature that was used to crew the Heart of Kiran. When damage went to resolve, Parker wrote down the life total reflecting damage that was done by the Vehicle, while his opponent wrote down damage as though the crewing creature had attacked instead.

At that stage of the turn, rather than point out the discrepancy, Parker went along with his opponent's recognition of the game state as his opponent saw it. The game state as Parker intended in his actions was illegal. The game state as his opponent interpreted the actions was legal, but not the intended line of play. This was observed by a judge, at which point the game was halted, and the judge staff investigated the situation. Because the misrepresentation of the game state benefited Parker, he had an obligation to inform his opponent that he had crewed his vehicle and dealt no damage. He could not allow the opponent to take 3 damage. The penalty for not bringing attention to this error was disqualification from the event."

Based on that statement, it's clear that Parker was intentionally cheating, and I'm glad that the judges caught that. It's such a shame that players at the Pro Tour cheat. I just looked up Brock Parker on Google, and it seems that he's a professional Poker player too. Hopefully, he doesn't cheat when playing Poker.

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