The following document contains information originally provided by Monsuporn Lauhaphand
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1. Before deck swap
1.1 Cheating with card pool
What could a player do?
- Bring extra card(s) to add to the deck to make it stronger
- Exchange some card(s) with a friend to make the deck better. Prevention : This can be prevented by swapping the deck.
- Exchange a money rare with a worthless one (stealing of a card)
In Bangkok, we have this problem a lot. To prevent this, we make an announcement to let players open the boosters first. Players do not register the cards yet but take a look at each other’s rare / mythic / foil.
After registration, the deck/deck registration sheet is swapped to check if the registration is correct. There is no penalty for any corrections during this window. After the actual deck swap, if anyone found something wrong then we will verify with both players who registered and checked. If both players agree, then a failure to follow the official announcement will be issued.
Question
Seems too much for a Prerelease? What about GPT or GP?
1.2 Cheating with decklist
What could a player do?
1.2.1 Exploit an advantage from incorrect registered card pool
The cards are still in the pool but the deck registration does not match the actual pool. What is the impact?
If the actual card in pool is a better card, player will call a judge to correct problem. What’s about the registration card is stronger card and the actual card is unused card? Can player find the card somewhere? The decklist look clean and judges will not realize something is wrong.
Prevention
This can be prevented by swapping the deck/deck registration sheet to verify
1.2.2 Registering less than 84 cards, leaving at least 1 slot open
Please see detail in 2.2
2. After deck swap.
2.1 Prepare a pre-constructed deck for a sealed deck tournament.
How they do that?
Prepare a deck and decklist from home. After the deck swap, the player will write the name and dci ofthe person who registered the deck away from the table (e.g. corner of the hall) and submit the deck registration sheet.
Prevention
This can be prevented by using a marked decklist. i.e. using a different font for some cards; only the deck check team of the judges will know. At shop level, the store manager can write the name of the event before photocopying it and/or
– Use a marker to mark the side of the pile of deck registration sheets
– This is important. We have to protect the decklist.
Question – if a judge knows and helps a player by giving him a deck registration sheet, what can we do?
What about a judge who is sorting the decklist swap the decklist for his friend, how can we make sure that judges do not help players cheat in this way?
2.2 When player receiving a decklist with less than 84 cards registered.
What can he possibly do?
- Player who received the deck can add extra card(s) with the same rarity
- If a common slot is missing, he can add a foil
Problem
If a player says a card is in the pool but the player who registered says it is not (and vice versa). Who do we believe?
Prevention
We can mitigate this problem by letting players verify the decklist during registration.
3. During the game
3.1 Before the start of game 1
A player can change his deck by adding extra cards into his deck at any time.
Prevention
Judges can prevent this by performing deck checks at the beginning of the round.
3.2 After game 1 during sideboarding
What can a player do?
A player can add outside cards into his deck.
Prevention
In order to prevent this, judges should perform mid-round deck checks to serve as a warning to players. Players will acknowledge that judges may randomly check and may think twice if he wants to add cards before presenting his deck to his opponent.
Some additional solutions
Encourage honest play by putting sideboard (e.g. in a deckbox) on the table in the opponent’s view.
Concern
Do we r1 deck check.
4. Extras
Any questions and/or suggestions for other cheating methods?