Esper Spirits in Modern

I've reached the end of my chain of RPTQ qualifications, so I'm back on the PPTQ grind. Hopefully I can get the last pro point I need at GP Minneapolis this weekend to get to Bronze and stop playing PPTQs again.

For once I wasn't looking forward to Modern season. I've played very few games at all since the PT in February, and I was actually enjoying playing Standard. The few times I played I didn't really enjoy it. I think M19 changes that. It has a surprisingly high amount of cards that I want to play in Modern. The top of the list is Militia Bugler and Supreme Phantom.

The Deck

I played one league with an Esper Spirits list that 5-0 recently. I went 2-3, but the cards excited me and I could see with some tuning there might be a solid contender. Image, Drogskol Captain, and Lingering Souls all reminded me of one of my favorite standard decks of all time. However I was focused on Sealed prep for the GP and didn't know I would be able to play Modern PPTQ. When I found out Saturday afternoon I could go to the Sunday PPTQ, I made some adjustments to the list from some theorycrafting. This is where I ended up:

4 Mausoleum Wanderer

4 Rattlechains

4 Supreme Phantom

3 Selfless Spirit

3 Phantasmal Image

4 Spell Queller

4 Drogskol Captain

4 Lingering Souls

4 Path to Exile

4 Aether Vial

2 Mutavault

4 Seachrome Coast

4 Flooded Strand

2 Polluted Delta

2 Marsh Flats

1 Watery Grave

1 Godless Shrine

1 Hallowed Fountain

2 Island

2 Plains

1 Swamp

Sideboard:

3 Stony Silence

3 Collective Brutality

3 Unified Will

3 Damping Sphere

2 Geist of Saint Traft

1 Kataki, War's Wage

This deck has many similarities to Humans and Merfolk, but many key differences. Spell Queller is the effect that the other two decks don't have access to. Also all of your creatures except Mutavault have flying. It is slightly less explosive that either deck. It is less disruptive than Humans but better than Merfolk in that regard. It is more resilient than both. You get to play really good sideboard cards.

I have never played the Green version of Spirits, so I can't 100% say this version is better. I do think the card Collected Company is not what I want to be doing in a deck like this. I actually bought all the cards for Bant Spirits a while back and then never played it after I did a math problem. I wanted to know what the odds of a Company in response to a Supreme Verdict would find either Selfless Spirit or Spell Queller. The answer is somewhere around 65%. This is not high enough to make me want to cast the card in that situation. If you miss you probably lose, though if you hit you win. However you can use the Company after the Verdict resolves to rebuild and still possibly win. There are obviously lots of factors that go into it, but I wasn't happy with this math so I never tried it out.

The Games

Just a few quick recaps:

R1 vs RG LD - G1 I make an overly aggressive attack when I think his hand must be air, but turns out he was playing his creatures around my Wanderer activation so he drew the sixth land he "needed" to cast Stormbreath Dragon and kill me when I could survive and likely win by leaving a guy to block. I win G2 with two Vials vs his two Blood Moons. G3 is very close but I'm able to force through lethal in the air before he can take over with Pia and Kiran + Tireless Tracker.

1-0

R2 vs KCI - I have Spell Queller for his KCI G1 and he dies. G2 he has Aether Grid and I lose most of my team, then he combos me. G3 I have Stony Silence and he never finds an answer.

2-0

R3 vs Tron - We split the first two games. G3 I'm in a situation where he is at two life and I have Wanderer in play. He has Ulamog and I have 23 cards left in library. After the game I counted I had twelve outs to win but I drew Mutavault and lost to his Ghost Quarter. Moorland Haunt would have been better.

2-1

R4 vs Mardu - G1 we're both empty handed but I draw two Drogskol Captains in a row and he can't deal with them. G2 I draw two Lingering Souls and his Collective Brutality has to take one. Despite a strange judge call that I won't get into here I manage to win the game easily with the Spirits.

3-1

R5 vs KCI - Simliar to R2, I have Queller G1 and Stony G2. I turn an almost guaranteed win into a possible loss by following up with Kataki (a card I think is unplayable but only put in the SB because "it's a spirit!") allowing him to draw cards from his Stars, Terrarions, and Wellsprings. I still have a Damping Sphere and he soon dies, though it was closer that it should have been.

4-1

R6 vs Storm - Exactly 64 players so all the X-1s have to play. I have two Wanderers and Lingering Souls G1 and he can't go off. G2 I have Spell Queller for Past in Flames and my team is Hexproof so he couldn't get out without Anger, which he wasn't playing.

5-1

1st Seed

Quarterfinals vs Scapeshift - G1 his draw is slow and I can do exactly 20 the turn before he gets to seven lands. G2 I Unified Will his first Primeval Titan. He draws a Valakut and uses fetch to kill my Wanderer. I play two Supreme Phantom, hoping to untap and hold up second Unified Will. He draws another Valakut, which doesn't do anything but makes subsequent Mountain draws very scary. I Image the Phantom and put him to 1 life on the attack, and he draws a third Valakut (probably the only bricks left in the deck) and I win.

Semifinals vs Tron - G1 he doesn't draw any Tron lands that he doesn't search for, and I have two Spell Quellers to counter his searchers and he dies. G2 he has two Ugins and I don't draw a way to stop either. G3 he has turn three Wurmcoil and I put a bunch of creatures into play with Souls. I hold up Queller for a possible Oblivion Stone which he doesn't have. I play it EOT to try to draw a lord for lethal. I don't draw it but attack him to two life anyway. He has Ugin again and I lose.

The Takeaway

I liked all the spirits except Geist of Saint Traft and Kataki. These cards aren't playable in my opinion, especially Geist. I never knew when I wanted it, and lord + Lingering Souls was usually more than enough pressure that couldn't be blocked. 

Aether Vial was just fine. I sided it out quite a bit to bring in Stony Silence, and I was happy to have 22 lands to play in the games without Vial. I can see the want for a card like Noble Hierarch, as playing Spell Queller on turn two then protecting it with Rattlechains or Drogskol Captain is very appealing. 

I didn't activate Mutavault at all during the tournament. It could have been solid but only playing two means it won't come up too often. I could be interested in Moorland Haunt in a split, or just Haunt and more colored sources.

All the non-creature SB cards were great. I think I want to play a couple of Ceremonious Rejections and possible some enchantment or artifact removal. I had no answer to Ensnaring Bridge in the 75, and Blood Moon was tough. Collective Brutality was the weakest of the others and still very good, though I don't know if you need three.

I might try to play a four color version with both Noble Hierarch and Lingering Souls.

Props Slops

Props:

Spirits
Eddie Eng for lending me Supreme Phantoms

Michael for winning the PPTQ with Infect

Kyle Evans for being a great HJ and my good luck charm. I think I've top 8 the last 4 PPTQ I played where he was HJ

Slops:
Haibing and I for both losing in top 4

Tron. The games just aren't interesting on either side.

Thanks,

Ty

Green Blue Hadana's Climb at Pro Tour Dominaria

I played at Pro Tour Dominaria in Richmond Virginia this past weekend. I went 9-7 overall. This is my personal best result over the eight Pro Tours I've played in. My constructed record of 7-3 was by far the best I've ever done at a PT.

Draft Rounds

I went 2-4 in draft, going 1-2 in each draft. I think in both drafts my deck was okay or better, but in each draft it could have been much better. I've never been able to get the UR decks to work in my practice drafts, and my unfamiliarity with the archetype made it harder for me to see that is the colors I should have been. I think if I had found the right line to end up in UR I would have had closer to 5 wins in the limited portion. My two decks can be seen here and here.

I made the worst play of my life in the last round of the second draft that prevented me from salvaging a .500 draft record. My opponent had just attacked me with two Serra Disciples and then played a Cabal Paladin. He was tapped out except for his Paladin and a Knight of Grace. My board was D'Avenant Trapper, Juggernaut, and Relic Runner. I missed the fact that his Paladin gave his Knight +1/+0, so when I played Aesthir Glider I tapped his Paladin and then attacked with Juggernaut and Relic Runner. He blocked my Juggernaut and killed it with first strike damage, I pass the turn slightly embarrassed. The embarrassment was even worse when I looked at my hand and saw Seal Away.

My Constructed Deck

I supposed I always knew I would play a green deck. I fell in love with Jadelight Ranger in the only standard event I'd played prior to testing for this. Also Llanowar Elves was reprinted. I was willing to play anything, but I'd obviously have a slant towards green. I'm not I'm good enough to intentionally go against my bias to make sure I'm evaluating properly. Also I didn't have much time to prepare.

Goblin Chainwhirler is warping the format, but it's more than that. The strength of all the red creatures in combat makes it very difficult to stabilize against the red decks by deploying your own creatures. Chainwhirler, Kari Zev, Earthshaker Khenra, and Ahn-Crop Crasher are almost impossible to block with the creatures you can play in other colors for similar mana costs. If you are able to stabilize by playing your own dudes, Hazoret and Glorybringer and Chandra means you won't be stabilized for long. The only way to beat the red decks is to either legitimately answer all their threats (eg. UW Control) or to go over the top and kill them. The best way to go over the top and still be able to stabilize that I found was Verdurous Gearhulk.

A few things I found when testing: Karn wasn't as good as I had hoped. We had a list very similar to the CFB UG Constructs but never got it to consistently beat anything. I also tried BG Snake, but the liability against Soul-Scar Mage was not my favorite, and the upside wasn't quite enough to consistently go over the top. I tried out a list with Bristling Hydra and Hadana's Climb and quickly realized no one could beat Bristling Hydra. Adventurous Impulse increased the amount of Hydras in the deck, so I added them.

In order to play Hydra, you need to play Servant of Conduit. The energy was far more valuable in pumping Hydra than in drawing random cards with Glint-Sleeve Siphoner. Also if you cut Winding Constrictor you wouldn't need your second color mana on the first two turns. Lack of interaction didn't hurt since the BG decks were cutting back on it already. The only concern I had was not having Ravenous Chupacabra for other green decks. Once I figured out how good Skysovereign, Consul Flagship was in the mirrors (and against red), I knew my deck would be a good choice for the expected metagame. I wasn't expecting much UB Control at all, so I didn't need multiple Blossoming Defense. I played enough countermagic in the sideboard to have a decent shot against UW control. Kefnet's Last Word and Commit / Memory helped me answer Scarab God and Ghalta that otherwise would destroy me. Maximum Hadana's Climb never really was an issue, and I didn't mind drawing two.

This is what I registered:

If Adventurous Impulse could find Skysovereign, I would consider playing a second or third in the main. The second one in the main still probably better than a Spell Pierce or something in the current metagame.

Constructed Rounds

Its hard to tell whether the red decks I faced were mono-red or red-black midrange, or something in between. I think at least two I played were straight mono-red, and two were the midrange variant. The other two were probably more aggressive with a black splash for Scrapheap Scrounger. Overall I went 4-2 against Chainwhirler decks.

I played against UW Control three times, going 2-1. The matches I won were not particularly close, especially when I get to bring in 13 cards from the sideboard. Despite that, I still lost a match when I didn't draw any SB cards after losing game 1.

The third archetype I played against was UB Midrange. I got game 1 with Skysovereign before he could get Scarab God online. Game two he used Gonti to cast Verdurous Gearhulk on his Gifted Aetherborn, but I had Kefnet's Last Word to take it and win the game.

Going Forward

I'm still undecided if this will be in my lineup for the Team Unified Standard RPTQ. The blue counters take away from UW control, though maybe you can get away with just Spell Pierce. Perhaps the default lineup of GB, RB, and UW is still the best. I'll be working with my teammates to try to figure it out.

Thanks
Ty

Leveling Up

I’ve played a few magic events since the last time I posted. During these events I’ve actually learned (or relearned) quite a bit. The highlight of these events was making the top 4 of the RPTQ for PT Dominaria. This means I will be attending my 8th Pro Tour at the beginning of June. This is also the third time I have managed to qualify for back to back PTs, and I feel like something is different this time. I feel like I have leveled up.

SCG DFW – Modern Open

For the main event of the SCG Open, I played a Bant Evolution list of my own design. It is very similar to the list I played at GP San Antonio, but I added Jace, the Mind Sculptor. I also cut the red mana, only being able to get Kiki-Jiki into play via Edritch Evolution (or multiple Birds of Paradise). I did not have a successful tournament, going 5-4 in matches with one win being an opponent no-show.

What I learned from the main event was nothing big, but it was still important. I learned that just because I have a brew and I’ve had success with my own variants before, doesn’t mean everything I come up with is tournament ready. I knew going into the event the deck still needed work, but I was committed to playing Jace in the event.  I acknowledged this before the event as well, knowing I wasn’t there to win just to have some fun.  Since I’ve sold my MTGO collection, I no longer have that outlet to play the wacky early stage brews at low risk. I don’t know if that means I should not play brews at all, or only at local store tournaments, but I also knew exactly what I was doing.

SCG DFW – Standard Classic

Instead of running it back on Sunday with a deck I knew was not good (with some updates, like the 4th Jace), I was able to borrow a Tier 1 Standard deck for the Classic. I played Sultai Climb to a 5-2 finish. I lost one match to my unfamiliarity with the format and one match to a very good draw from the mono-red opponent. I’m very glad I was convinced to not play Modern because I learned some important lessons.

The first lesson I learned was that Standard is very good right now. The games were refreshing after a mono-Modern diet I had myself on. All the decks seemed interesting, powerful, but not broken, and all decks had many ways to interact. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

The second lesson was how much margin for error is available in a tier 1 deck. My experience with fringe decks in Modern like GW Ghost Quarter usually required almost perfect play and a bit of luck for success, something that I was able to achieve but also very draining to attempt. I made many more mistakes in Standard, but none of them felt like they cost me the game on the spot the way they can in Modern. Also, playing good decks has always been a strength of mine that I forgot I had. I’m naturally good at pressing a deck advantage into a board advantage without much to worry about from the opponent when they are outclassed (either on deck or play skill, but much easier on deck).

RPTQ Dominaria

Going into the RPTQ, my sealed experience had me wanting to open just a few cards (outside of the bomb rares). All I wanted was 4x Legion Conquistador and 3x Sun-crested Pteradon. The deck I opened was very close. I had 3x Conquistador, and 1x Pteradon, but also had 2x Forerunner of the Empire and a Needletooth Raptor. The rest of the deck was various removal splashed over four colors thanks to 3x Evolving Wilds and a Traveler’s Amulet. I picked up a loss in round 3 and an draw in round 5, but managed to win round 6 and sneak into 8th place on tiebreakers. I think this is the first time in a while picking up unintentional draw didn’t leave me in 9th/10th at an event of this size. Also luckily for me the draft pairings were random, so instead of having to face Limited Legend Haibing Hu (the only player in the top 8 I think I’m <50% against) in the 1st seed, I got paired against another player. I drafted a medium Wb vampire deck with 2x Famished Paladin to go with 2x Moment of Craving and a Mark of the Vampire. I was able to win my match against a UG merfolk deck in the top 8 to secure the invite.

What I learned from this event was that I still have what it takes in sealed and draft. While limited is no longer my preferred format, all those years of experience put me way ahead of the average RPTQ player. Also listening to the Limited Resources podcast about sealed gave me some good insight to building my deck that I might not have had otherwise that paid off (like splashing for Recover).

Nexus ESports Event

I played 5 Color Humans at the Nexus ESports opening event. Zach Krizan has a great space and I was glad to go support him and his store. I lost in the top 4, with both losses on the day coming against Bogles.

What I learned was once again playing tier 1 decks is a different story than playing my own brews. The deck also killed incredibly fast, and I found myself with almost 40 minutes to kill between rounds several times. It’s been quite a while since I’ve had that kind of time. Also despite tier 1 lists being fairly stock, the sideboards are generally pretty bad, at least to me. I’ll have to redo the SB if I play the deck again.

Main Takeaway

Looking back after the RPTQ win, I realized I’ve been having quite a bit of success in the events I’ve chosen to play dating back almost a year. I’ve tried to pinpoint exactly what I’ve done differently, and how I can still achieve things like PT invites when I’m playing so much less than I did at my peak.  I think there are two main reasons.

The first is being more confident in my own deck building decisions. I’ve had success with decks that were completely my own (naya evolution) or partially my own (the GW GQ deck) that involved me personally justifying the existence of every card in the list. I also know what I want to do and how to achieve that.

The second reason is probably the main reason as it ties everything together. I’ve become much better at the time I spend thinking about Magic and preparing for events that doesn’t involve actual playtesting. With less time to spend during the week and no Magic online collection, I’ve had to make good theory decisions before the event to be adequately prepared, and I think I’ve been doing a good job of this. Finding the right things to think about before the events can be hard but I think I’ve proven to myself it’s doable. It’s not ideal but when it’s all I have, I have to be happy with that. I’m also much more accepting of making mistakes in game since I know ahead of time they are all but guaranteed to happen.

Going Forward

I hope I can apply these techniques in preparation for the upcoming Pro Tour. I’m also optimistic that there is more time to prepare than for other PTs I’ve played in the past, so at the least I shouldn’t have an awful deck.

Follow Up to The Worst Rule in Magic Today

There was great response and discussion to my previous article about the current penalty for Drawing Extra Cards. Much was expected, some was unexpected, but most all of it was quality. I want to address two common misunderstandings about what I said in this follow up (the urge to respond to all the comments is strong, but I don't have the time or patience to attempt such a fruitless task).

Follow Up #1 - About my Proposal

I want to clarify that the suggestion I made on how to improve the rule is just that, a suggestion. Maybe I wasn't clear by putting it under the heading "My Suggestion", but the main point of the article was to illuminate the flaws with the current situation, not to delve deep into the many facets of possible solutions. I'll reiterate here that my issue is the current rule is extremely exploitable and serves to aid cheaters while doing little to protect the innocent players because innocent players rarely find themselves in Example D.

As for the critiques on different angles that could exist using my suggestion, I think if the alternative would be perfect they would have already implemented it. There is a tradeoff in how these penalties are written in all situations, and to accept the status quo as being perfect or good enough is a disservice to the community. We should always be striving to do better, and I believe those that write these penalties agree, otherwise we would not have reached this point.

A common critique of my suggestion goes like this: If player A draws an extra card and player B notices, player B will now have an incentive to wait until its too hard to determine the source of the extra card in order to get a game loss penalty for player A. I agree this incentive would exist, but I do not think it would be as common as those who mention it think, nor do I think it makes my proposal automatically invalid. To explain, I'll actually have to go to Uncle Ty's Old Timey Magic Stories.

Prior to the implementation of the "Thoughtseize Solution", game loss was the standard penalty for drawing extra cards. This often led to "feel bad" moments when a player would draw two cards with sleeves stuck together or similar dexterity error. In a somewhat notable event, Patrick Chapin activated Ajani, Mentor of Heroes on camera at a Pro Tour and put the card into his hand without revealing it. While it was caught immediately, there was no path available for the judges to downgrade the penalty from a game loss to a warning. These kinds of incidents will still be warnings under my system.

My experience through 15 years of play has been when the count is off someone was very likely cheating, and the "feel bad" game losses occurred when the player caught it but it was too late because the card had hit the hand already. That's why i think it's a big difference in situations and one size fits all isn't working. Maybe this isn't the common experience everyone has, but this is where my suggestion is coming from. 

Follow Up #2 - About the judge call

Some have suggested I'm only upset because I lost the match and that's why I have an issue with this rule. While I am upset that I lost the match, this is not the only reason, nor even the major reason. It was perhaps a catalyst to finally write the thoughts I've been developing over the last two and half years. I didn't just come up with all of the previous post overnight. I'm on record on Twitter (@ceciliajupe) criticizing the change when it happened in 2015.

I am aware that despite saying "they would be mostly powerless to do anything" they still had the power to disqualify the player if they thought he was cheating. Disqualification is always an option, I didn't think I needed to say that. I think that judges at the higher levels like GPs and PTs are more likely to do the things needed to make the current rules work. At lower levels like PPTQs, the weaker judges will struggle to make the best decisions. If you think a different judge (maybe you) would have made a different ruling in this situation, I'm glad to know that but I think most judges would not. We can write the rules to protect weak judges from hurting innocent people who make mistakes, or we can write them to protect them from being exploited by dishonest players. I am not a judge and I do not know which way should be preferred.

Since writing the article I learned that the player's previous disqualification was for a similar situation where he was found with extra cards. Perhaps the Head Judge of that tournament was more thorough than the judge at the Hunter Burton event. Perhaps the player had learned through experience what not to say when trying to explain away his cheating. Perhaps the system failed to have a proper penalty to lower the incentive to cheat. What's done is done, I can't change the past. I just want to ensure this doesn't happen in the future.

So yes, I was upset because I lost, but I lose all the time. I was more upset because I got cheated. I was more upset because a cheater was allowed to continue and do well in an event that so many people love. I was more upset because we had caught a known cheater red handed and couldn't bring him to justice. 

The discussion doesn't end here

I want to thank everyone for reading the previous article, and especially thank those who engaged in discussion about it. I also want to thank the great people that put on the Hunter Burton Memorial Open. I hope none of my anger perceived as directed at them; it was a fantastic event overall. Unfortunately, I don't think as many people will read this post as the previous one.

Thanks,
Ty

The Worst Rule in Magic Today - and How to Fix It

This past Sunday, I played the Hunter Burton Memorial Open. I was looking forward to playing this wonderful event for quite some time. The recent unbannings of Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Bloodbraid Elf added to the anticipation. Despite playing ten rounds of a fresh Modern format, hanging out with friends all day, and winning $100, I came away with a bad taste in my mouth. Unlike other times I’ve been cheated in the past, the sting isn’t dissipating as time goes on. The more I think on it, the angrier I’m getting.

What Happened

After I won game one against Human Aggro, my opponent started game two with Unclaimed Territory into Aether Vial. His turn two play was Seachrome Coast, Vial in Champion of the Parish, cast Kitesail Freebooter. His turn three play was to deploy two Meddling Mage naming the cards he saw in my hand with Freebooter. At this point I noticed he had three cards in hand, along with seven permanents in play. Ten total cards on turn three, having played first. So an extra card appeared somewhere in three turns. Either he started with eight, drew an additional on turn two or three, or had an Aether Vial in his lap or something.

My opponent was a player who I know has been disqualified in the past. When I called a judge to ask a question away from the table, the first thing I told the judge was “My opponent has a history of being disqualified, I think my opponent is cheating, he has an extra card in his hand.” The details of the rest of the investigation don’t really matter to this because I knew despite my best effort to clue the judges in and actually catching him in the act of cheating, they would be mostly powerless to do anything.

By the end of the judge call, the head judge had determined that there was indeed an extra card in his hand, and no one could explain how it got there. The remedy was to have me look at his hand and shuffle a card back into his deck (I will call this the “Thoughtseize Solution” for the rest of the article). I chose a card, he shuffled it into his library. I continued the game but being unable to play the spells in my hand, I was dead in another turn.

The Worst Rule in Magic Today

The current penalty for drawing extra cards is covered in the Magic IPG under Hidden Card Error. The penalty is a Warning with an additional remedy that “If a set affected by the error contains more cards than it is supposed to contain, the player reveals the set of cards that contains the excess and his or her opponent chooses a number of previously-unknown cards sufficient to reduce the set to the correct size. These excess cards are returned to the correct location.” I believe in most cases this remedy is simple enough and corrective enough to be fine. The Hidden Card Error lists six examples:

A. A player draws four cards after casting Ancestral Recall.

B. A player scries two cards when he should only have scried one.

C. A player resolves a Dark Confidant trigger, but forgets to reveal the card before putting it into her hand.

D. A player has more cards in his hand than can be accounted for.

E. A player casts Anticipate and picks up the top four cards of her library.

F. A player, going first, draws for his turn.

One of these things is not like the others. Examples A,B,C,E,F are things that can happen due to brain farts, dexterity errors, or sticky sleeves. Option D by comparison is much more suspicious. We don’t know where this card came from, but we are okay with that? All my opponent had to say to avoid further penalty was “I don’t know how this got here.”

Without getting too much into Uncle Ty’s Old Timey Magic Stories, this penalty wasn’t always this way. The “Thoughtseize Solution” was only implemented in 2015. Prior to that, Drawing Extra Cards had its own entry in the IPG with a penalty of Game Loss (with some situations for downgrades).

The powers that be do a great job writing the IPG and keeping it up to date for an ever evolving game. They have priorities of ensuring a fun experience for everyone that plays. As a competitive player, I understand that my focus (or paranoia) about cheaters is not shared by those at the DCI, so we may disagree fundamentally about the philosophy behind this penalty. Still, I think with regards to example D, they are way off base.

A Confusing and Contradictory Philosophy

The IPG exists to provide a reliable consistent response to common situations. When you implement the “Thoughtseize Solution”, it is anything but reliable or consistent. At one extreme, the removal of a key card can make a game lost on the spot. In other situations, the card removed might not matter at all (as in my situation). And when it comes to Example D, we can’t even be certain the extra card is in the zone  we think it is.

The philosophy behind this remedy says “Though the game state cannot be reversed to the ‘correct’ state, this error can be mitigated by giving the opponent sufficient knowledge and ability to offset the error so that it is less likely to generate advantage” (my bold for emphasis). They are acknowledging the rule can generate an advantage, and they seem to be okay with that. They know they can write the IPG to prevent advantage generation (because it worked this way before), but they choose not to. They are okay with you getting a “feel bad” when you get cheated if that means you don’t get a “feel bad” when you make a mistake.

An Oversight of Incentives

As the rule is currently written, the player has no incentive to report a discovery of a mysterious extra card. The penalty will be a “Thoughtseize” the turn he catches it, and it will still be a “Thoughtseize” five turns later when the opponent happens to catch it. Obviously, knowingly hiding it is cheating, but as you can see by now this is next to impossible to prove, or even consider it possible. Good Magic players will know the advantage of waiting as long as possible to get the best option.

Through all those years and events, I’ve accidentally drawn seven cards after a mulligan, I’ve had sleeves stick together when casting Ponder, and I’ve eagerly untapped and drawn a card when I thought my opponent had said “Go” when really nothing had been said at all. But I’ve never had a situation where I had a mysterious card appear in the count on my side of the board. The current penalty does nothing except protect cheaters.

My Suggestion

I think the rule should be changed to have a separate penalty when there is no known source of the extra card. Example D should have a penalty of a Game Loss, with a possibility to downgrade if self-reported.

Let’s Discuss 

At the event, I had a conversation with a level three judge whom I respect a great deal about my concerns, including much of what I've said here. He dealt with my frustration at the time (which has only increased in the past twenty-four hours) and heard me out. He too had an experience similar to mine that had him questioning the way the penalty was written. If you are also concerned with not being cheated at your next event, share this post and have these conversations with other players and judges in your community.

Thanks for reading,

Ty