Subject: "Practice Evades!!!!" (Cheating Article)
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1998 02:09:49 EDT
From: Izznop@aol.com
To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com

Welcome to my world.

People have to watch there own backs here.

People can't rely on others to protect them.

And so is the world of magic.  Many people have a problem with people cheating
against them.  This disturbs me as well.  However, I don't whine about.

Cheating is as much a part of magic as tournament play.  They're both
optional, yet are utilized by many.  Is cheating good?  Well, I can't answer
that.  I've cheated before.  I've been cheated against before.  In all cases,
if I win I feel okay about it.

However, I have found that people have a hard time cheating against me.  I'm a
member of Team Escape.  Our team practices a lot.  Involved in this practicing
is cheating on occasion.  I don't get angry when others cheat.  I practice so
I can catch them.  Odds are, cheaters will get caught when they play me.  I
don't rely on a judge to check and see if my opponent is cheating.  I make
sure they don't.  The only time I fell cheating negatively affects my mood is
when I don't catch it and realize that it happened later.

As for the Mike Long Incident.  I don't exactly know all of the incidentals,
but I feel Long should probably not have cheated.  Mike wasn't caught and
gained an advantage.  But the advantage was only gained becuase he wasn't his
opponent didn't catch his sickness.

Some people think that cheating ruins Magic.  People think cheaters should be
more harshly punished.  Team Escape currently has a suspended member.  He was
suspended because he Legacy's Allured a Tim in a PTQ NY tournament and forgot
to give it back.  Poor judiciating called for this Team Escape member to be
removed from the tournament, then removed from the DCI for a year.  All this
for an accident.  They didn't even ask his former opponent if his story was
true.  Sickness like this make me believe that judicial punishment isn't the
answer.

I believe the answer is practice.

Practice may not make perfect, but it can make damn good.

Please send comments.

Sincerely,

Jed Drewiske
Team Escape
izznop@aol.com

P.S. Beware ofThe Bublitz
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Created By Matt Bublitz and Team Escape