Subject: Matt Vienneau and extra cards Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1998 14:39:44 -0400 From: Kevin Denelsbeck To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Hmmm, Matt says that the best thing to do is flip a coin. Why not start the game over, after the usual reshuffling? No sideboarding (or unsideboarding) allowed. You obviously have an illegal game situation. Besides the fact that one player has gotten more cards than he should've, there's also the matter that both players have made decisions predicated on the game as it (illegally) stands, not as it should be. The game, in some sense, is "corrupted". It's like having a false start in the 100m dash; you don't let the guy who got the false start off with a warning, you start the race over. As far as Matt getting a warning when it was the other guy who did the Bad Thing, well... Matt should shoulder *some* responsibility for letting the game get to its illegal state. I'm not claiming that it is ultimately the players' responsibilities to do adjudication, only that it is typically not that hard to make sure that your opponent observes the more basic rules of the game: play phases in order, draw one card per turn, play only one land per turn, etc. I realize that it was a kooky and confusing situation, but in general don't you watch these things like a hawk in a tournament? And Matt's behavior AFTER the warning certainly was worthy of a warning, if not worse, so perhaps it kind of worked out after all. Matt, you sound a fun player who is generally on-the-ball about strict play but you've gotten snakebitten a couple of times. Don't let things get you down, dude! I have a friend who gets the worst service in restaurants, through no fault of his own -- there just seems to be a black cloud following him around on that score, causing wait staff to forget to bring salads, soft drink refills, etc. The same sort of thing seems to happen with you and important Magic matches. Suck it up and move on, guy! Kevin Denelsbeck Random Chumly and proud of it -- Kev @ UNC _|_ A pig in a cage denelsbeATcsDOTuncDOTedu | on antibiotics www.cs.unc.edu/~denelsbe | GO HEELS! /"\ -- Radiohead