Subject: One American's View of Pisicchio Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1998 01:01:10 -0400 From: Chris Pikula To: "'fkusumot@ix.netcom.com'" As one of the outspoken crusaders against cheating, I thought it might be a good idea if I wrote something about the Pisicchio situation (I also have been pretty bored lately). I should start off with what I knew of Pisicchio going into Worlds. I've only played against him once; he defeated me at Worlds 1997. The only thing that stands out is something that is typical of Italian players: his English is not very good. I don't mean this as an insult; his English is certainly better than my Italian. I only bring it up because I know that the language barrier causes severe problems whenever there is any allegation of improper play. In the final round of Pro Tourney 1, I faced Andrea Redi, another Italian with poor English skills. While shuffling his deck, I noticed a marked card and asked that he have it replaced. The judge that was called over (Tony Parodi) went through the deck and pulled out 3 more marked cards. The whole time I was having trouble understanding the explanation Andrea was attempting to give me, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt and told Tony that I didn't want my opponent to get a severe penalty. Anyway, Tony turned over the 4 marked cards (all 4 had a very obvious bent corner) and all of them were Strip Mines! The cards were replaced and no other penalty was given I was pretty upset, and thought that Redi got away with it because both me and the judge felt unable to evaluate the situation correctly because of Redi's English. But, I can also see that if Redi had been slapped with a penalty he could view the situation as him being penalized because he was not able to properly state his side of the story. So, the point to this is that I think that the language barrier makes it very difficult for a judge to accurately evaluate a given situation. That is one unavoidable complication of any situation involving Pisicchio. The other thing I had heard about Pisicchio is that he had been caught with his lands and spells facing different directions in the top 8 in Germany. It is my understanding that Head Judge Jeff Donais was reprimanded for not giving Pisicchio a stiff penalty on the spot. Pisicchio does not address these allegations in his post, all he mentions is the way Weissmann and Hacker spoke of him on the net afterwards. I will agree with him that Weissmann and Hacker were somewhat out of line in their reports; they were quite obviously pissed about losing. But, that still leaves a big question about the top 8 scenario. Finally, I heard that Pisicchio had been caught doing something sketchy at PTNY or LA, I don't recall which. Either way, I went into Worlds 98 thinking that Pisicchio was one of 2 things: a cheater or a very careless, sloppy Magic player. Regardless of the past, I think what happened to Pisicchio at Worlds is ridiculous. To have the judges tell you your deck was marked and then have them refuse to show you how is unreal. If that is standard procedure, I think we need to speak to Andrew Finch. That is simply unacceptable in my opinion. Did Pisicchio cheat at Worlds? I have no idea. I certainly didn't see his deck. I would like to go over some things that I see as being facts in this situation: 1) Pisicchio has, on multiple occasions, been in a situation where it looked as if he could be cheating. Most PT players feel at this point that this should be enough to punish someone. I pretty much agree; if the DCI is going to get serious they had to punish Pisicchio. This is assuming, of course, that his deck was marked at Worlds. 2) I think that, in this case, the punishment may have been to harsh. The loss of Worlds plus his hometown event (PT Rome) should be enough to get the point across. 3) More than anything else, I think this shows why people need to stop doing this seperating the deck into lands and spells bullshit. I could go on about this all day. There are only 2 reasons to do this in my opinion: 1) you want to cheat 2) it gives you some irrational sense of security. Neither of these are valid. Random is random; the starting position of your deck should not matter. I have very little sympathy for someone who gets screwed by this shuffling method. All the seperating does is make you look like a cheater. There is no reason to do it, so don't. 4) Another tip: pay attention, don't play sloppy. You should make sure your cards and your opponent's cards are all facing the same way. You should make an effort to not mark your cards. You should examine your deck as the tournament goes on to make sure nothing fishy develops. WOTC is giving us money for playing a game; we can put in a little effort from our end. 5) I think that the Italian/American animosity shown in these posts needs to stop. No American thinks all Italians cheat. No American was out to get Pisicchio; any emotion about finally getting Pisicchio is all just built up Mike Long frustration. We Americans certainly recognize our own cheaters. Finally, nobody thinks that Italians are all mafia and spaghetti. Who started this crap? 5) The judges and the DCI are getting better about dealing with cheating, but alot of work still needs to be done. So, that is my view of things. Nothing too groundbreaking. I'd like to point out that I read all the pleas from the other Italians, and I did feel sympathy for Pisicchio after reading his post. But, I've forced myself to try to avoid taking these pleas into account. I've been betrayed before by cheaters who I would have supported myself on the Dojo at one point, and I've read defenses written by those same cheaters that sound plausible. I'm not saying this situation applies to Pisicchio, I'm just pointing out that you can't believe everything you read. That goes for things on both sides of the story. Chris Pikula Team Deadguy