Rookie of Year Revoked from Jared Boettcher
General forum
Posted on Oct. 30, 2014, 11:37 a.m. by fluffybunnypants
The Rookie of the Year 2013-2014 title was revoked by WotC. He's also suspended for 46 months.
Cheating at the highest level of Magic and he got away with it for quite a while it looks like.
The question in my mind is: was he smart enough to only use it sparingly or is this a continuation of a witch hunt?
slovakattack says... #3
Was this the guy who fixed his opponent's cards while shuffling the deck?
October 30, 2014 11:50 a.m.
God. Most of these guys sound like absolute scumbags.
October 30, 2014 11:59 a.m.
fluffybunnypants says... #5
This is a good place to start with answering that question.
October 30, 2014 12:05 p.m.
GreatSword says... #6
Here's a damning video of him manipulating his opponent's deck on-camera. Shuffling 20+ times without changing the top cards? Pretty big red flag.
October 30, 2014 12:07 p.m.
lol, Which obviously was bs because he responded on the 24th and the WotC article was written on the 30th.
Soooo he obviously failed to provide evidence to support his cause.
October 30, 2014 12:14 p.m.
fluffybunnypants says... #9
Sometime last year he was suspended but cleared.
October 30, 2014 12:18 p.m.
JakeHarlow says... #10
Friggin cheaters. As for a witch hunt, if there are witches around, let's hunt them down. The integrity of the game is important. Besides, I don't see many unsubstantiated accusations floating around.
October 30, 2014 12:32 p.m.
EndStepTop says... #11
He's from my area actually, and the feelings are mixed. People who knew him for a while say it's hard to believe, but the people who knew him from playing magic seem to be happy it's happened.
October 30, 2014 12:44 p.m.
JakeHarlow says... #12
To be honest, people do things in competitive environments that aren't always consistent with their character. I'm not saying he's a fundamentally bad person, but he certainly seems to have exercised poor judgment and given into temptation. There's sufficient evidence for this. We all make poor choices and deliberately do wrong at times, but there's got to be a penalty, both to provide justice to those injured by the wrongdoing, and to discourage the perpetrators from repeating their mistakes.
October 30, 2014 12:56 p.m.
I want someone to show me a link that shows him looking down at the cards and then putting the bottom card on top. All the links I've seen only show him shuffling in a supposedly suspicious manner, but nothing concrete
October 30, 2014 12:59 p.m.
EndStepTop says... #14
JakeHarlow I'm in no way defending him, very consistently have I heard the opposite about his character before this broke. I have yet to play against him and probably won't given this ban. However I apologize for poorly wording that post, knowing people who have and seeing the damning evidence that he does things like this regularly (from the accounts of others) I'm not surprised he got it.
October 30, 2014 1:02 p.m.
EndStepTop says... #15
http://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/comments/2k7s2e/summary_of_suspect_jared_boettcher_shuffling/
October 30, 2014 1:05 p.m.
EndStepTop says... #16
There's more dual view gifs/videos on that reddit link. I realized after I hit post that the embedded video doesn't show him physically looking.
October 30, 2014 1:05 p.m.
Fact of the matter is, he is an idiot. Why risk this when you know damn well a camera is recording your every motion? Cheating is the equivalent to stealing or lying in the terms of statistics. eventually the odds are no longer in your favor.
Me and a semi-pro from a LGS were discussing this yesterday and the ramifications it has on a pro-tour and pro MTG in general. How long has this been happening, how many people have done it? How many secured Top 8, Top 4, First place from shuffling mechanics? This instantly raises the flag when thinking about prior tour or tourney losses when your deck seemed to betray you shuffle after shuffle. Was this due to an unlawful player using mechanics?
IMO this breaks the competitive aspect and a solid solution needs to be found. It is a tough one to find though. Unable your opponent to shuffle after a search, and then that places a light on you. Allow them to and that places a light on them. Judge shuffling? Auto-Shufflers? I dont know about you guys but if I was sitting at a a legacy/vintage table with a deck the equivalent of a small mortgage, I would not want an auto-shuffler handling my cards.....
October 30, 2014 1:07 p.m.
JakeHarlow says... #18
I understand, Gspot. I wasn't calling you out at all. I was just trying to soften my stance towards people who have cheated. Penalties are necessary, but these folks who want to engage in ceaseless character defamation aren't helping the community heal from these activities. I do get what you're saying.
October 30, 2014 1:08 p.m.
vampirelazarus says... #19
Take it from a card shark of sorts: you don't need to look to keep the top cards on top.
October 30, 2014 1:09 p.m.
@ Gspot @ Goody You cannot tell me from that video that he did not know that bottom card was a land. You can see the way he picked the deck up. Once he noticed it was a land he then moved it to the top where it stayed for the remainder of the shuffle trying to ensure that his opponents next draw was a dead one.
October 30, 2014 1:10 p.m.
EndStepTop says... #21
"IMO this breaks the competitive aspect and a solid solution needs to be found."
A lot of this is being found out because people can see overhead and notice what people are doing(Humpheres or whom ever the other guy doing slight of hand was caught the same way) . Having a judge cut each players deck would help but be very costly for the tournament organizers. Hopefully people start calling judges more for suspected cheating to weed out people who do this. And No one wants an auto shuffler for their deck, it's just not worth it.
October 30, 2014 1:11 p.m.
EndStepTop says... #22
xGhostx again, I'm not defending him or play devil's advocate just clarifying the video didn't literally answer Goody's question.
October 30, 2014 1:13 p.m.
Gspot I agree. Maybe limiting opponents interactions to "cut only" is the solution. I am not sure....
October 30, 2014 1:13 p.m.
I've always viewed competitive play as something that allows me to prove my worth, not to anyone else, but to me. This just makes me sad.
October 30, 2014 2:17 p.m.
JakeHarlow says... #26
Couldn't agree more. It's deplorable. Whenever these facts come to light, especially in quick succession like this, it really harms the competitive scene.
October 30, 2014 2:23 p.m.
TheNinjaJesus says... #27
I've been advocating revoking the "opponent shuffle" rule to Mark Rosewater once all these occurrences broke. They poison the well of competitive gameplay AND more relaxed gameplay. What the game needs at the pro level is professional shufflers who will shuffle each deck, absent of manipulation by the players who have a stake in winning. What the game needs at the relaxed level is a rule that says you can only cut an opponent's deck. Now, whenever I get a player that shuffles my deck, I find myself asking- are they just too fast for me to notice?
October 30, 2014 2:38 p.m.
JakeHarlow says... #28
I agree, it's not a good feeling. To be honest, though, I'm not sure how feasible it would be to get dedicated shufflers at all these events. It's a great idea, but it seems very difficult to implement.
October 30, 2014 2:42 p.m.
TheNinjaJesus says... #29
Hire former judges/casino employees as temps. Trained to spot cheating and manipulation, while providing an extra layer of insulation from accusations of cheating.
October 30, 2014 2:46 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #30
Really, you can avoid the problem by doing two simple things:
1) Shuffle your own deck sufficiently before presenting it to your opponent.
2) Maintain eye contact with your opponent while you shuffle one another's decks.
Why introduce a complex solution to a simple issue?
October 30, 2014 2:46 p.m.
EndStepTop says... #31
TheNinjaJesus that theory would work but it is VERY costly at gps or pro tours. It's one of the best ways to stop deck manipulation but its not a financially sound idea.
October 30, 2014 2:48 p.m.
JakeHarlow says... #32
Aren't some of these guys good enough to still manipulate a deck despite these precautions, Epochalyptik? Or could it in fact be the case that the folks who were cheated weren't sufficiently vigilant?
October 30, 2014 2:51 p.m.
TheNinjaJesus says... #33
1) If they are quick enough and see a land at the bottom, then do a card force, good shuffling won't matter.
2) If they're good enough, eye contact won't matter. And even then, they might not meet your gaze, and even then, they might, and just be manipulating it so the top quarter stays the same, since a shuffle is always helpful to a player. If the top quarter remains unshuffled, then in essence, they're manipulating the game against you.
Having professional shufflers is not overcomplicated. What it is, is expensive. But when the alternative is everyone accusing everyone else of cheating (whether accurate or not), prizes getting denied their proper winners, and a general lack of trust for Wizards and DCI's capability to police, that might end up being a good faith investment.
October 30, 2014 2:56 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #34
Which is why you are responsible for monitoring your opponent. And even if they only shuffle part of the deck, you should have sufficiently shuffled it yourself. You need to be attentive enough to catch potential misconduct and address it before it affects the game.
October 30, 2014 2:59 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #35
And, I submit, having professional shufflers is indeed very complicated. You need space for all of these individuals, you need them available immediately for any situation in which a shuffle is required, you need to have some way to hold them accountable, etc. Why put that extra load on a system that can solve at least the majority of the problem with existing resources?
October 30, 2014 3:01 p.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #36
The next time I go to a tournament, I'm honestly just going to ask a judge to shuffle my deck after my opponent does. I believe that's legal, and I don't want to be cheated.
I really liked Jared Boettcher. What an ass.
October 30, 2014 3:01 p.m.
At least at the highest levels of play, I don't think it would be too much to ask to have your deck to be shuffled by people outside of the game itself.
October 30, 2014 3:05 p.m.
TheNinjaJesus says... #38
You need people who have no stake in the game to handle the decks of the people that do, is what it comes down to. Whether that's a 1 judge per table rule, or professional shufflers, or whatever, the current guidelines are not providing enough control and oversight to prevent cheating.
October 30, 2014 3:14 p.m.
JakeHarlow says... #39
I'll likely be requesting a judge shuffle myself in the future. I'm attentive, but I don't want to get cheated.
October 30, 2014 3:18 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #40
You're not really thinking about practicality here. What happens in a tournament environment, where two decks need shuffling at the beginning of every game, and when there are effects that require decks to be shuffled mid game (especially outside of Standard)? The quantity of shuffles to be performed vastly outnumbers the quantity of judges who could perform them. And it's simply not practical to have people standing by waiting for shuffles because of the space and cost associated with that option.
October 30, 2014 3:41 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #41
Whether or not you think that the current guidelines are insufficient (and really, is it realistic for ANY set of rules to completely prevent violations?), the fact of the matter is that any answer worth implementing must be simple, efficient, and effective.
October 30, 2014 3:42 p.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #42
I wasn't proposing an answer. I was just saying that I plan to do so in the future. When it comes to it, avoiding cheating is a matter of trust, as there is no way tournament organizers will have nearly enough resources to stop cheating at each and every match. Players taking more note of their opponent's actions is the best route right now.
October 30, 2014 3:45 p.m.
October 30, 2014 3:50 p.m.
Epochalyptik definitely has the right of it. Don't worry about it so much. Extra worry never helped anyone.
October 30, 2014 4:20 p.m.
ChiefWannaHacka says... #45
It is my opinion that a judge's job isn't to shuffle everyones' libraries. We're arbitors to ensure correct gameplay and manage tournaments and ALL PLAYERS needs. Being late for calls, or extending rounds, because we had to shuffle 45 decks is taxing on not only us, but the tournament and other players. If you really want to ensure your top deck is safe, just politely ask your opponent to cut your deck after shuffling.
October 30, 2014 4:24 p.m.
TheNinjaJesus says... #46
I thought cuts were not allowed or frowned upon.
October 30, 2014 4:27 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #47
Cutting is not sufficient by itself because it does not effectively randomize a deck, but there is no reason to disallow a cut provided that it is performed in addition to a proper shuffle.
October 30, 2014 4:43 p.m.
ChiefWannaHacka says... #48
I apologize guys. I meant after they shuffle, if you feel the top of your deck was manipulated just ask them to cut.
Generally you do want more than cuts to shuffle/randomize your deck.
October 30, 2014 4:55 p.m.
JakeHarlow says... #49
Yeah, that's true. And there isn't a sure fire method to cut out cheating completely. Epochalyptik is right. Practical and simple solutions have to begin with the players themselves, not the judges.
October 30, 2014 4:59 p.m.
Named_Tawyny says... #50
With what, three players banned in the last two weeks, I wonder how widespread this actually is.
It would be awful if this turned into the CCG version of steroids in sports.
Asher18 says... #2
what did he do though?
October 30, 2014 11:48 a.m.