Subject: Dallas Regional team event rebuttal Date: Mon, 18 May 1998 17:18:06 -0500 From: "Edward Fox" To: G'day ,I would appreciate the opportunity to respond to the accusations of cheating during the NON-SANCTIONED team event, and complaints of the cost of the event. As a Level 3 judge I WILL not put up with cheating at my events period, does it happen...YES do I like it NO!! Do I do something about it YES. The alleged cheating was brought to my intention first by the Judge for that NON-Sanctioned event, he also gave me his take on the situation then about 5 min later some of the players from 2 teams came up and complained to me .AT NO TIME DID I SAY DONT WORRY ABOUT IT. after listening to them for about 10 min and asking them Questions I told them to give me 10 mins and come back and I would tell them what I had decided. They don't know what went on behind the scenes . 1) a judge conference was called in the staff room consisting of myself Edward Fox certified Level 3 Gere Camper certified Level 3 Doug Montalvo certified level 2 Leon Leithoff certified level 2 Jim shuman judge of the Team event Gere and I being most familiar with the OK players did a breakdown of what we knew about the players some of the things that were brought up were that 1) none of these players had been accused of this type of behavior before and we have judged them a fair bit at tourneys 2) At the stronghold pre-release 9 of the top 16 were players from this same group (not a team at that point) 3) at the Mirage pre-release 1 of the team OK had placed 2nd to Matt Place and at various PTQ's in Wichita KS and OKC ok in limited format events these guys tended to play very well. Also discussed was A) The fact that there was really no motive that was a realistic reason for cheating as it was a small (only 4 teams) tourney, NOT SANCTIONED, the prizes weren't anything huge . in other words WHY cheat B) the fact that Gere Camper (L3J) having also played against many of these players numerous times did not feel that they were of the attitude we usually found of cheaters and liars they were more of the fun player class of players and he has always considered them very good players IN ANY FORMAT! so in conclusion: I concurred , not having played against them as much but having made rulings against them as a judge they had never reacted in any way other then with a great attitude so we just had nothing to go on that could lead us to make any other decision then we did. I'm sorry that the other players thought that team OK was cheating but there was nothing to substantiate that accusation some of the comments from the losing teams were such that we felt that although Team OK A did have some good rares and the other teams didn't, I played in the Atlanta pro-tour team event do to my rating at the time and we did a lot of practicing as a team to develop 5 decks in 45 min out of 350 cards (not including land) and we saw some good,and the bad and the very bad while practicing for that event. As those of you who if you were going to cheat in a sealed event most of us would want those select few COMMONS not rares to win. When it came down to it the losing teams had the fact that a good team of sealed deck players got better decks then them built better decks and played them better, and because of this and the fact that the Houston & fruity Ass teams had "not played or herd of theses guys from OK before" (quote) & "They are from Oklahoma for Christ sake" (quote) As much as I would like to make an example of a cheater(s) these guys weren't cheaters I'm sure that this wont deter the teams involved from continuing to preach this accusation but I wanted to inform the other players out there because I hate to see defamation of someone's character and slander as much as I hate cheaters.TEAM OKLAHOMA A & B have a lot of credibility as honest players with me and my staff. Good RARES does not a cheater make!!! I do appreciate the fact that the other teams brought to my attention their thoughts on the matter and I welcome all players at my events to do the same . I apologize if it seemed that I didn't care about their concerns, I did what I thought was right. P.S: I didn't "cough up" a second place prize it was always going to be handed out. P.P.S The concerned players never came back to me after we discussed it the first time as I had asked of them so I could give my reasons for not doing more. My events are always run with the utmost concern for the rules and for the enjoyment of the players, at the same time trying to make a profit for my family. I WILL NOT APOLOGIZE FOR TRYING TO MAKE A PROFIT WHEN I RUN A BUSINESS!! Lets deal with the cost. Short form = 4 teams = $400 (income) product for them = $297 (worth of starters & boosters) prizes for them = $331.15 (37 starters ) figure it !! Long form= 5 player team cost $20 per player - $15 of which was product and $5 for tourney fee 1 TE starter 8.95 2 SH boosters $2.95ea =$14.85 retail so we have $5.15 left per player for prize fund. we had 20 players so we had a fund of $103.oo and we gave away 37 starters of tempest worth $331.15 , 25 to winning team 12 to losing team. Needless to say I expected more players for the event then i got. Edward Fox DCI Level III Judge T.O. for Southern Regionals in Dallas May 16th 98 Dallas & Wichita Exodus Pre-Releases 2 day events June 6th & 7th 98 PTQ for Chicago Dallas July 18 and in Wichita August 1st Super Series Challenges Dallas July 18th Wichita August 1st E-mail : Aussiefox@msn.com Web: Http://www2.southwind.net/~foxter