Banter Behind the Throne - Episode 37 - Banter Behind the Thrawn

Regarding the intentional draw, I wouldn't DQ. I would just say that they both dropped since that is what they did. No DQ needed.

Passive aggressive, I love it.

Full disclosure: I was the TO involved.

I am convinced that the coinflip was the right decision, given the circumstances. Allowing the ID to stand would have disadvantaged the other players playing for a position in the cut, but DQing or Game Lossing any of the three players involved would have led to accusations of me abusing my power as a judge, especially as I would have personally stood to gain from any of the players involved receiving a game loss (As I was on 3-1, and there was going to be a fight for the cut on Strength of Schedule).  Ultimately, the decision fell upon me, as it is the head judge who makes final decisions on severe infarctions of the rules, which i nthis case, were the ID, and the outside involvement in a game.

I would definitely have handed out game losses, and probably even a DQ or two, if I had not been playing in the tournament.

No love for A Heroes Journey?

Personally I was banking on Across the Anoat Sector.

Hi guys.

I'd like to add a semblance of accuracy to your report on the "drama" at a London SC (slow day for news, eh?).

Penultimate round of Swiss, I am playing my friend X, both of us unbeaten. I say "well, wheover wins this can relax and ID the final round". X wins and if anything, I realise his deck is a bad match-up.

Final round, X and Y are sitting next to me and agree an ID with no coercion. Looking back, this was bad for me as it means I may have to play X in the semis again. Whilst if X beat Y, my highest SoS would make me 2nd and I would be spared meeting him until the final.

My own game's start is so good, I'm confident of joining them in the cut. I'm looking around and X offers to play his spare deck against Y (who has not brought a spare deck). This is where I tell Y "don't play your tournament deck, you are giving vital information to both X and me". If anything, my only interference (and they were not in their official game) was to put myself at a disadvantage.

I certainly never told them to ID though I did mislead X in the prior round with my ID comment (which I believed to be true and would have done myself, had I won).

When the TO asked for a coin flip (a fair decision), I was praying for X to win the coin flip so that I would be second and would not meet him until the final. But he lost. There was a delay as they worked out who among the 3-1s (all of whom I had played and were already SC winners) would not make the cut. I promised X that if it was him who lost out, I would drop out so that he made it because I misled him at the start of our game with my comment about "the winner IDs the next round".

As it happens, X beat me in the semis and then beat Y in the final to deservedly win (Y got the bye as the only non-SC winner in the cut) so everything ended up right.

Now if they had been disqualified (and me apparently from the post above), would that have been a fair result? Would the winner have felt like he had won fairly?

I think the INTENT of these infringements should always play a part in the TO's decision. It's for situations like this, when it is plainly pointless to play, that the ID rule was made (I personally don't agree with it, especially with the tournament cut rules, but there you go).

Btw, I believe I am the only one among the 3 involved with a Magic background, so another minor inaccuracy.

Thank you for all your hard work producing the show. I find the show rather entertaining (in a Benny Hill way) and particularly like listening to it whilst twisting my knickers typing out a long post on CGDB.

Do keep up the good work, chaps!

Love the show guys, keep it up!

It was not pointless to play.  The person who won the coin flip had a far lower SoS than any of the other people who ended up on 3-1.  It he had lost the game, he would not have made the cut.  In no way, shape or form was that match "pointless".  It is rare for one of the people on 3-0 at the end of round 3 to have a weaker SoS, but it DID Happen.

Ultimately, what happened was illegal, according to the rules at that time, and even if it was after the 2nd of April, was still illegal, given that they did not call a judge to witness the Intentional Drawing and make sure that the IDing was entirely above board.  The question of what the winner of the tournament feels if three players were disqualified is entirely irrelevant, and is not something I take into account when making judge calls.

I find your attempted defence of this particular IDing incredibly distasteful.  The players involved were clearly in the wrong, and you neglected to mention that the ID was done incorrectly  If you want to apply a rule, at least apply it correctly. The behavior of the players involved seriously baffled me.  They were not only both presumptuous to assume that the ID rules were in place, yet seemingly did not make any effort to learn exactly how to do it properly.   And yes, I took intent into account, and the intent was clear; not playing a round of AGOT to leave yourself fresher for the elimination round.  

Good to see some solid Star Wars LCG content here. Great stuff.

Also, I didn't realize how much I missed Craven until this episode, glad he's back.

Thank you for all your hard work producing the show. I find the show rather entertaining (in a Benny Hill way) and particularly like listening to it whilst twisting my knickers typing out a long post on CGDB.

 

Do keep up the good work, chaps!

Well thats quite alright.

I think Tom and Ray's comments above are probably enough to clarify the aforementioned issues & provide a bit more perspective on it - broadly speaking I am against the ID as you have probably gathered. But, there we go, thats how it happened, its now a non issue, water under bridge etc etc. I think the discussion was still useful from a judge theory point of view anyway.

Still, thanks for the kind words. I'm not sure how I like the Benny Hill comparison (I'm wittier than that... right? ). Always interesting to hear about a man wearing knickers to work. Do you do the same for tournaments or is it a 9-5 thing?

I'm looking forward to having a cheeky pint with the man behind the hawk soon. Your posts alternately infuriate and inspire me so I'm looking forward to facing the storm in person.

Disclaimer: I have been to the pub.

Good to see some solid Star Wars LCG content here. Great stuff.

 

Also, I didn't realize how much I missed Craven until this episode, glad he's back.

Cheers. Love a little bit of Star Wars.

I miss Craven too, but sometimes he has 'more important' things to do, like work or illness. Its not really appropriate to be honest

Personally I was banking on Across the Anoat Sector.

It was tempting but Tyrion'd out and missed the cut.

I'm not a fan of bland paint by numbers Jedi though so Hero's Journey can do one.