I feel that in this specific instance he may not have been cheating, it may have been a mental shortcut. Vidi points at jace then at kira and Alex immediately begins to pick up before 2 things happen: Jace wasnt even put in the graveyard yet, and the scroll nor mana to use scroll had been tapped. It is possible that Alex mental shortcuts and doesnt think about the ability getting countered, because he is frustrated. The only reason I say this is because he goes to do the exact same thing the next turn. Vidi points at Jace, points at Kira and then Alex immediately goes to put it back in his hand. Only this time Vidi notices, and points out the actual sequence of plays.
If he was cheating why would he have tried to play the Kira again? He knows he is on camera, he knows the commentators have his deck list. He also knows that the Kira would be bounced and shot again the next turn if he played it. Had the same thing happened the following turn where his Kira went back to his hand do you believe if he were cheating he would have played the same Kira for the 3rd time? Clearly he didnt have 4 in his deck and Vidi knew the other cards in his hand. Do you think Alex would have thought that Vidi would believe he just top decked 2 Kiras in a row after 2 others had died? So why would he have tried to cheat the same way 2 turns in a row unless he was just making a mental error?
The only way the cheat (if it was a cheat) would have worked was with Vidi not having another Jace in hand. We know Alex didnt know this when he picked Kira up the first time. So it is possible that he may have been thinking he could gain the advantage he need to win with another Kira on the board with no Jace in play. The only thing wrong with this line of thinking is that he played the Kira again into the second Jace. This doesnt seem like the action of a cheater in this particular case. Why risk getting caught on the cheat when you are in the same position you were just in the turn before? I believe a reasonable person who cheats would just concede that his plan didnt work and not follow through any further.
I cant say for sure one way or the other simply because Alex is the only person who really knows what he was thinking at the time. I do believe however, that there is a logical thought process that can be taken in breaking down the entire sequence of events that could show that it was possibly an honest mistake.
Darthparrish, it works because Vidi doesn't have his decklist and therefore doesn't know he doesn't have 3 kiras. He played merfolk in every scg open from mid summer to this point - he knows how kira works. Furthermore, like you pointed out he binned the first one the same way. He's playing to tiny edges that his opponent won't catch the play and still have plausible deniability.
maybe ive been front loaded but during his shuffling before the second game it looks like he fans out the top cards of his deck and looks at them and then continues shuffling possibly not happy with what he sees.
If he was caught here, he could make the argument that Vidi resolve the Jace unsummon to resolve before putting the Cursed Scroll activation on the stack. Therefore the scroll pops the shield, and Kira gets bounced. It's a hard sell, but he does have an out.
watched the game from 32 min--> didnt find the cheat and cant even make out what cards they have in play. why so bad quality. can someone tell what time exactly is the cheat happening?
Wednesday, January 19, 2011 at 12:13PM
Reader Comments (13)
Great bit of cheats by Alex Bertoncini in round 7, putting Kira in his hand insetad of his graveyard due to a cursed scroll activation.
how did no one laugh at the "Vidi without his top on" joke, i thought that was funny
-best S.T. Dupont pens wholesaleOrdinary people think merely of how they will spend time, a man of intellect tries to use it.
I need to fast forward to 32 minutes into round seven. Fix your video player.
How did no one see him blatantly put the Kira back into his hand? He didn't even get close to the bin.
I feel that in this specific instance he may not have been cheating, it may have been a mental shortcut. Vidi points at jace then at kira and Alex immediately begins to pick up before 2 things happen: Jace wasnt even put in the graveyard yet, and the scroll nor mana to use scroll had been tapped. It is possible that Alex mental shortcuts and doesnt think about the ability getting countered, because he is frustrated. The only reason I say this is because he goes to do the exact same thing the next turn. Vidi points at Jace, points at Kira and then Alex immediately goes to put it back in his hand. Only this time Vidi notices, and points out the actual sequence of plays.
If he was cheating why would he have tried to play the Kira again? He knows he is on camera, he knows the commentators have his deck list. He also knows that the Kira would be bounced and shot again the next turn if he played it. Had the same thing happened the following turn where his Kira went back to his hand do you believe if he were cheating he would have played the same Kira for the 3rd time? Clearly he didnt have 4 in his deck and Vidi knew the other cards in his hand. Do you think Alex would have thought that Vidi would believe he just top decked 2 Kiras in a row after 2 others had died? So why would he have tried to cheat the same way 2 turns in a row unless he was just making a mental error?
The only way the cheat (if it was a cheat) would have worked was with Vidi not having another Jace in hand. We know Alex didnt know this when he picked Kira up the first time. So it is possible that he may have been thinking he could gain the advantage he need to win with another Kira on the board with no Jace in play. The only thing wrong with this line of thinking is that he played the Kira again into the second Jace. This doesnt seem like the action of a cheater in this particular case. Why risk getting caught on the cheat when you are in the same position you were just in the turn before? I believe a reasonable person who cheats would just concede that his plan didnt work and not follow through any further.
I cant say for sure one way or the other simply because Alex is the only person who really knows what he was thinking at the time. I do believe however, that there is a logical thought process that can be taken in breaking down the entire sequence of events that could show that it was possibly an honest mistake.
Darthparrish, it works because Vidi doesn't have his decklist and therefore doesn't know he doesn't have 3 kiras. He played merfolk in every scg open from mid summer to this point - he knows how kira works. Furthermore, like you pointed out he binned the first one the same way. He's playing to tiny edges that his opponent won't catch the play and still have plausible deniability.
Darth, he couldn't have put it into his hand because the unsummon fizzles.
maybe ive been front loaded but during his shuffling before the second game it looks like he fans out the top cards of his deck and looks at them and then continues shuffling possibly not happy with what he sees.
This is disgusting
If he was caught here, he could make the argument that Vidi resolve the Jace unsummon to resolve before putting the Cursed Scroll activation on the stack. Therefore the scroll pops the shield, and Kira gets bounced. It's a hard sell, but he does have an out.
watched the game from 32 min--> didnt find the cheat and cant even make out what cards they have in play. why so bad quality. can someone tell what time exactly is the cheat happening?
Here´s an article about the cheats of Alex Bertoncini. It explains and shows a bunch of his cheats.
http://mixedknuts.wordpress.com/2011/12/12/unlocking-the-cheats-of-scg-player-of-the-year-alex-bertoncini/