New Errata on Verdant Catacombs
Modern forum
Posted on June 17, 2015, 2 p.m. by MollyMab
It now reads "Tap, Pay 1 life, Sacrifice Verdant Catacombs: Search your library for a Swamp, Ghost Quarter or Forest card and put it onto the battlefield. Then shuffle your library."
In all seriousness, what do you think to this? (Context: http://i.giphy.com/3oEdv2j274LsPjI2cw.gif )
It looks super dodgy and this guy is a big name in magic. It could easily of been a mistake as he was short cutting a lot and they were low on time, but it was a mistake that opened up a good line of play for him (having more basics in his deck for his opponents GQ and being able to GQ his opponents GQ or manland to protect his own manland) As one of my judge friends said "From the IPG, for someone to cheat they have to break a rule (he did), know that what they did was breaking the rules (he probably did) and intend to gain an advantage (almost impossible to tell in this scenario).".
Either way I am expecting some kind of official announcement within a week or two.
He'll likely get a pretty light penalty for that, considering it's an Open and not the PT. But I could see a 1 month suspension or something like that.
It might go up depending on if he ended up using the Ghost Quarter to blow up a utility land at some point.
June 17, 2015 2:11 p.m.
ThisIsBullshit says... #4
My question is how didn't his opponent notice and say "hey wtf that's not a swamp or forest"
June 17, 2015 2:24 p.m.
JakeHarlow says... #6
Needs penalization. Not saying this was on purpose though.
June 17, 2015 2:31 p.m.
NoPantsParade says... #7
It kind of looks like it was purpose by how his hand was covering it like fluffybunnypants said. He also fetched the GQ pretty quickly then immediately attacked all too quickly for his opponent to notice. Although, they were running low on time, so maybe it was just the circumstances for why he did everything so quickly.
June 17, 2015 2:35 p.m.
Servo_Token says... #8
Defo-s is cheating. Brad Nelson is now a scumbag in my ever-flexible and constantly changing opinion.
After reviewing the tapes a few times, all of his actions indicate that he clearly knew what he was doing. The hand covering the picture on GQ immediately after combat and lingering until the opponent's turn, the instant attack and shortcutting to keep the opponent on edge, this was no accident. Also, this is on camera at a large GP. If you're going to cheat like this, don't do it on camera.
June 17, 2015 2:37 p.m. Edited.
FAMOUSWATERMELON says... #10
Wether it was on purpose or not, it deserves penalization. It was an illegal play that gave him some sort of an advantage in the game. The discussion about "Did he do it on purpose?" is more open though. I personally think that he did, since it was sneaky and well executed, also the fact that I don't think that a professional MTG player could make a blunder that big. But I don't watch professional MTG, so I could totally be wrong on that.
June 17, 2015 2:49 p.m.
FinchFalcon says... #12
I agree this looks like cheating. He never activated GQ though, so I'd expect maybe a small penalty, since it didn't result in any change to the game.
June 17, 2015 2:53 p.m.
FinchFalcon it opened him up a line of play though. If he got GQed, he could GQ his opponents manlands in response and still get a basic out of his deck. If his opponent didn't GQ him, he could GQ his opponent's GQ and save his manland.
June 17, 2015 3:03 p.m.
Schuesseled says... #14
He may well have picked it and put it down by accident. The fact that he covered it up with his hand just says to me he noticed his mistake (or did it on purpose.)
You certianly wouldn't cop to making a mistake like that when a judge can give the game to your opponent.
June 17, 2015 3:06 p.m.
Watching the video feed on twitch, it wasn't cheating. He had no need to use a Ghost Quarter in that game and never used it anyway. Tough to judge but to me it didn't look bad, and it didn't affect the game outcome at all either.
June 17, 2015 3:07 p.m.
Getting GQ literally had no affect on the game though, lol. He did still cheat though, whether on purpose or not, and should get some sort of penalization. It definitely looks like he was trying to hide it after he fetched for it, but it was possible he meant to get a legal target but accidentally grabbed GQ then after he realized it he tried to cover it up. I mean, he's on camera at a GP with spectators watching him and a probably well experienced opponent (I don't watch tournaments so idk who either of them are), you have to pretty arrogant or dumb to try something like that in that situation, it had to have been blind luck that no one noticed during the game.
June 17, 2015 3:12 p.m.
IMO should be penalized whether or not it was a mistake.
IMO it was not a mistake. I think it was a pretty blatant attempt at cheating. It's one thing for people to overlap lands to the point that you only see the red half of Steam Vents for example, but quite another to totally cover any otherwise visible part of a land with your hand.
Really though it's an illegal move. I don't know what the actual rules are but if my opponent did this and didn't automatically lose to me i'd be pretty ticked. I don't want sketchy scrubs like this in the top 4 where I play MTG at.
June 17, 2015 3:14 p.m.
I just saw this but LOL at them both being Jund players!
June 17, 2015 3:16 p.m.
selesvyaloverer8 says... #19
he admitted to it on twitter after and it seemed like he just made an honest mistake
June 17, 2015 4:44 p.m.
APPLE01DOJ says... #20
I made the mistake once of accidentally shuffling my SB into my deck & I have accidentally grabbed the wrong card while fetching only to notice it a few seconds too late. Stuff does happen.
June 17, 2015 7:41 p.m.
CanadianShinobi says... #21
I'm going to chalk this up to a mistake, but even so it requires some form of punishment. Rules are rules.
ThisIsBullshit says... #2
That's, uh, quite the misplay.
June 17, 2015 2:06 p.m.