Last night my LGS did a 6 pack sealed 10 players showed up. One player had a folder filled with duals, foil promos, legacy and modern staples and was trading before the tournament. He sat in a corner with his son surrounded by a few back packs of cards and items to keep his son entertained while he built his deck. He was not a regular but I have seen him before more likely at a GP's and other large events within a few hours of driving.

I got paired with him round one and about a third into his deck he had played Bolas Dragon-God, Nissa, Who Shakes the World, and Sarkhan the Masterless. I survived until Sarkan hit the board and then conceited to go to game two. Game two he drops Gideon Blackblade and Ajani, the Greathearted. I lose and ask to deck check him. I count his commons and uncommons and the counts are good.

His rares were
God-Eternal Oketra
Gideon Blackblade
Sarkhan the masterless
Nichol Bolas, Dragon-God
Foil-Ajani, the Greathearted
Nisa, Who Shakes the World
Awaking of Vitu-Ghazi.

There was one uncommon planes walker Jiang Yanggu, Wildcrafter.

Three mythics and a foil planeswalker. All limited excellent cards. I couldn't prove that he brought the cards in and swapped them. I showed the store owner and he was allowed to continue to play. I told him if he ever comes out for a limited event a store employee will witness him opening packs.

He proceeds to win the tournament without losing a game.

Today I remembered a comment he made. I told a newer play they would get 6 planes walkers since you get one in every pack. He stated that you could have seven if it was a foiled. I know rare planeswalkers drop the uncommon but I don't think the foils do. He should have had two uncommon planes walkers to go with the two non planeswalker rares. I think that should have been enough to DQ him for cheating.

My question. How would others have dealt with this? Should he have been DQ'ed? At the time I didn't think so but looking back this morning I am questioning it.


Edit:He played green white with two swamps for a third color. Planeswalkers could be cast from any color in the tournament. I should have spent time questioning him on what cards he opened together, which order he opened them, where any other fioils were opened.

Edited Mike Slabaugh (May 27, 2019 11:12:02 AM)

Post moved to Regular REL (from rules, as it's not really a rules question and discusses handling an issue in a regular REL event).

First item I would like to say is that I advise caution when it comes to basing a cheating decision on the strength of a sealed pool. I've been a judge a long time, and I've had MANY calls from players who wanted me to “check his list, because his pool seemed way too strong”! It happens. As an example, my own pool this weekend for PW weekend had:

Domri, Anarch of Bolas
Vivien, Champion of the Wilds (foil)
Vraska, Swarm's Eminence
Ral, Storm Conduit
Kaya, Bane of the Dead
Ugin, the Ineffable
Liliana, Dreadhorde General
God-Eternal Oketra

Domiri and Vivien were in the same booster, by the way. I played RW and didn't bother with a third color, because… planeswalker rules, and insane sealed pool.

So, here's where it gets interesting. You have to do some investigation.

Did the player react to opening a good pool or pack or card? That's can be a clue as to authenticity… but absence of this reaction is not a condemnation. Maybe a reaction is not this person's character, or maybe they just go to “poker face”. You mention you've seen this person at big events, and they were not a regular so maybe he just contained his excitement or didn't share it.

Did they do anything to make you suspicious before you knew the pool? Did he have other cards on the table along with the pool while building? Did he unsleeve/resleeve other cards while doing so? It sounds like most of the good cards were in binders. Did they have sleeves in the binders? Swapping cards in or out of a pool is a lot harder if they are in a bag or backpack, sleeved differently. I can tell you that keeping counts right is often a weakness of players who sneak cards into their decks, but again no guarantees. There are some good cheaters out there.

Your idea of casually asking what cards he opened together, which order he opened them is reasonable… just know that he may not remember the exact order so not remembering is also not necessarily an indication of cheating. I can tell you that I opened Vivien in the first pack and Oketra in the last one, and which one had the foil and rare together, but that's about it. It's normal for humans to remember the first and last thing the best. And sometimes, having TOO MUCH detail is a red warning light. There are a few people that I know who have spent years honing memory skills, but those are generally the exception.

Did anything else happen while playing? If a person is going to go to this length to cheat at a casual event, they're probably going to do some other things like find a way to manipulate the library.

To sum up… It's natural to question a pool that seems “too good to be true” and it can be healthy, even. Just be careful to not talk yourself into a DQ without anything else to support it. This person played in a 10 person event with a fun rule. The reward for cheating here is probably not high but the risk of being asked about his “too strong” pool might be.

It's possible that you missed something, but you can't beat yourself up about it. Just use it to think about how you can investigate better in the future should something like this happen again.