Dies to Removal

jokes on me

This speaks to James's integrity and how the pressure to produce affected it. I see a lot of people on Twitter and Facebook trashing him, yet I doubt they've ever been in the same position. I'm not condoning cheating. Rather, I'm suggesting that when under that kind of pressure, people react in unpredictable ways. This was how James reacted, and it was a very human reaction.

I just want to hear his (honest) motivation for it. The guy wrote this: viewtopic.php?f=96&t=602, why he thought he needed to cheat is beyond my comprehension.

because he's a cheater

was he caught cheating before or something? i only know of the flipped sideboard game loss thing.

Man, what a time to come back to the game, new set and new events. My two cents is I guess I'm just never as surprised or as harsh on dudes who end up like this due to card swapping because thats how I grew up playing the game and why it took me so long to move from casual to competitive. When your first events are in the 95-99 era @ Neutral Ground you grow as a player learning that some people care a hell of a lot more about the game then you do. Tons of guys from that era went on to be pros, so my entire feeling is 'meh'. My friends and I at the time used to refer to decks also having a 'Secret Sideboard' lol

Pressure gets to us all Z, I'm still in your corner.

A friend of the guy that James cheated against said on Reddit that James did the cheat twice. The first time he did it, it aroused the suspicion of the player (Matt, i think his name was) and he talked to a judge in between sideboarding. Then the judge observed the following game from afar and caught James in the act on the second time around.

Cheating is bad for the game, bad for the people associated with him, and, when he gets caught, bad for him.

He deserves flak people throw at him because he represents a much bigger problem than just manifesting cards into his lap. Is it unfair that people are going to loudly browbeat him? Yes, he's not the only cheater that was or ever will be and he should not bear the ire of everyone's hate for the people that do. But oh well, I don't seem to remember him being upset when the pendulum swung the other way and people were riding his dick for being notable for being good at magic.

This speaks to James's integrity and how the pressure to produce affected it. I see a lot of people on Twitter and Facebook trashing him, yet I doubt they've ever been in the same position. I'm not condoning cheating. Rather, I'm suggesting that when under that kind of pressure, people react in unpredictable ways. This was how James reacted, and it was a very human reaction.

He's a better player than they are so really he was just making sure the right person rightfully won out in the tournament.

He's your friend and all but look at this objectively for a second.
There's a guy who in hard times goes out to 50 job interviews and stays up late doing the research and grinds until something works for him and there's the guy who in hard times holds up a liquor store.

Sup d00ds.

Saw the social media shitstorm and dropped in to wave a support flag. I've watched Arthur palm cards, swap draws, and hypnotize people with charisma ("Untap, upkeep, tell me more about your life..."). Arthur's rationale was pretty similar: he'd cheat to overcome variance against someone he judged to be a lesser player. I told him it'd be fairly obvious over time that he tended to lay down nuts more often than his deck should provide them.

Although competitive health suffers, but it's pretty amusing to watch two people sit across from each other to play very different games.

/neutral

Honestly, the only thing I feel about the whole situation is disappointment and a tinge of sadness. It's a lose-lose for everybody.

I just hope that James can bring a little positive spin on this by reflecting on his break and reforming.

This speaks to James's integrity and how the pressure to produce affected it. I see a lot of people on Twitter and Facebook trashing him, yet I doubt they've ever been in the same position. I'm not condoning cheating. Rather, I'm suggesting that when under that kind of pressure, people react in unpredictable ways. This was how James reacted, and it was a very human reaction.

lack of integrity you mean?

Yes, I suppose so. This has all been quite disappointing.

Changing gears here for a sec. For the trading minded, I dropped something in the private thread as a gift to the clan.

Sup d00ds.

Saw the social media shitstorm and dropped in to wave a support flag. I've watched Arthur palm cards, swap draws, and hypnotize people with charisma ("Untap, upkeep, tell me more about your life..."). Arthur's rationale was pretty similar: he'd cheat to overcome variance against someone he judged to be a lesser player. I told him it'd be fairly obvious over time that he tended to lay down nuts more often than his deck should provide them.

Although competitive health suffers, but it's pretty amusing to watch two people sit across from each other to play very different games.

/neutral

this is the funniest post I've ever read

This speaks to James's integrity and how the pressure to produce affected it. I see a lot of people on Twitter and Facebook trashing him, yet I doubt they've ever been in the same position. I'm not condoning cheating. Rather, I'm suggesting that when under that kind of pressure, people react in unpredictable ways. This was how James reacted, and it was a very human reaction.

lack of integrity you mean?

http://www.reddit.com/r/spikes/comments ... es/cpgld26

Integrity in that he publicly owned up to cheating and did not try to blame anyone or anything else for his actions. Credit where credit is due.

That being said, it was an incredibly stupid move on his part, pressure or not. He had everything to lose, and he did.

With Z's absence I need a new alpha male to glom onto

Reposting this, my search continues.

Integrity in that he publicly owned up to cheating and did not try to blame anyone or anything else for his actions. Credit where credit is due.

That being said, it was an incredibly stupid move on his part, pressure or not. He had everything to lose, and he did.

When there's no other face-saving option other than to admit it, I don't think it has anything to do with integrity

With Z's absence I need a new alpha male to glom onto

Reposting this, my search continues.

I'll raise the ham boy

Too many squeal like a pig jokes. . .

viewtopic.php?f=75&t=3240

Enjoy my clanmates, not useful for just me but when shared with the whole clan should be quite helpful.

With Z's absence I need a new alpha male to glom onto

Reposting this, my search continues.

Felt my ears burning...

Srsly though, how's everyone? Last time I was here, my life was chaotic. Times are simpler now; all I do is work. Going to prerelease on Saturday and it'll be the first time I play magic since a drunk draft @ work in October '14.

All worship LP and Khaos! I for one, welcome our new alpha as fuck overlords.

Speaking of which, GP: Las Vegas.

I wish I could

If there's one in NY / NJ / upper US I could contemplate it.

Madding will be there

yup

It's good to know it takes Zem cheating and getting banned from Magic for Nuwen to post on DTR, that's the kind of friend we need

At least she doesn't pretend to hate us lol.

What about the kind of friend that gives away shit, can I be that guy?

I logged into MODO for the first time in ages and realized I never hocked my collection. Some relevant gems like Chandra & Sylvan Caryatid, mostly jank. Trying to pay it forward. http://leighjohnson.me/mtg/modo.csv

Many feels for disappearing from a community that taught me, and supported me in a rough patch of life.

I've spent the past nine or ten months shouldering my way into the gaming industry. 50-60+ hours/week crunchtime and maneuvering into a tightly knit entirely-male team took aaaaallll my energy. I didn't want to turn 25 without kicking my career into full-swing. Now that I've accomplished what I set out to do, I'm off to repair all the relationships I let slide and re-focus on hobbies. Totally understandable if you guys think I suck, am a fair-weather robot. Let it out and take some free shit?

I'll forgive you if you come play mafia again.

+1

As an aside, Zem can still play MTGO. If I were him I'd put all my time and effort there (like he used to). If he succeeds, it proves he can do so without cheating, since you can't really cheat on MTGO.

Or can you?

Madding will be there

Now i really should go.

if your willpower is strong enough and your desire to cheat is pure enough, you can move a card from your lap to your MTGO screen

at least that's what I've heard

If I were zem I'd stop playing Magic for a while. Nobody really wants to see him playing, and it would be good for him to take some time off. He said he did it because of pressure, so he probably just wants to walk away for a bit.

On the other hand, the Mtg community looks like a bunch of great card analyst for taking this so seriously, like every other time there has been a story about a cheater.

Lol that censor