Hearthstone streamer and Magic: The Gathering player Jason "Amaz" Chan was recently disqualified at the Grand Prix Las Vegas (Limited) for a non-game offense. Amaz already shared his statement on Twitter explaining why he was disqualified and how he feels that he didn't deserve the ruling. According to Amaz, the head judge disqualified him for his aggressive behavior despite apologizing after Amaz walked past the judge to cut through the play area. While the judge who allegedly bumped into Amaz may seem extreme for disqualifying him, some Reddit users pointed out the rule that Amaz broke.
As Redditor Lambda_Wolf points out, the rule for Professional REL (Rules Enforcement Level) is that no one is allowed in the aisles except for judges, and players on the way to or from their assigned seat. The rule is meant to prevent spectators from slipping valuable information to players.
"Assuming Amaz's account is reasonably truthful and complete, it seems an awful lot like the judge was trying to enforce this rule but didn't properly communicate it to Amaz," the Redditor explained. "Amaz seemed to take it as, 'No dude, I'm not going to step out of your way.' I'd bet that the judge was trying to convey 'the aisle a no-foot-traffic zone under the rules' and, unfortunately, resorted to physically barring Amaz from proceeding instead of making his request clear verbally."
Amaz said in his statement that the disqualification was for Unsporting Conduct - Aggressive Behavior, and the definition of the infraction, as a retired judge on Reddit points out, is "A player acts in a threatening way towards others or their property". You can check out the procedure for disqualification here. The initial warning for Amaz's unsportsmanship conduct seems warranted enough but how the head judge escalated it to disqualification seems potentially harsh since according to the Infraction Procedures Guide (IPG), there are only four kinds of infractions that carries disqualification as its penalty (Aggressive Behavior, Cheating, Stalling, and Theft of Tournament Material; though Unsporting Conduct).
The Redditor went on to explain the procedure following a disqualification:
"DQ is followed by a report to the Player Investigations Committee, which will review the Head Judge's statement, statements from the disqualified player(s), any involved judges, other players and witnesses, and then decide whether to take further action (such as suspending the player from tournament play). This process typically takes 2-3 months and may involve the committee contacting involved parties for further information. During this time, judges involved in the case are instructed not to comment publicly on it. For some high-profile disqualifications, Wizards of the Coast or major Tournament Organizers sometimes issue a brief public statement at the time the disqualification occurs or shortly afterward, but it's not required to do so."
Now, people in the Magic community are wondering what the was the actual incident and how the Head Judge upgraded the penalty to a disqualification. Perhaps there's a missing detail not said in Amaz's statement.
There's still no official statement from Channel Fireball or Wizards of the Coast about this infraction but this is a lose-lose situation for the people involved. If Wizards of the Coast sides with Amaz, it makes the judges the Channel Fireball look incompetent for escalating the penalty to a disqualification. If Wizards of the Coast decides not to respond, it could break the relationship with Amaz and upset the Magic community.
MagicFest Las Vegas turned out to be a memorable event thanks to the success of the Command Zone but it also shared its fair share of lows with the alleged cheating of an Old School Championship player.
Related: Watch This Magic: The Gathering Player's Epic Win With Double Gutshot at Grand Prix Las Vegas 2019