Wizards of the Coast
Yuuya Watanabe, considered to be one of the greatest Magic: The Gathering professional players of all-time, from the Mythic Championship II: London last night after the judge staff noticed that the sleeves for Tron land cards in his deck were marked during Round 15. The Japanese Hall of Famer has taken it to Twitter to respond to his disqualification, saying that he did not notice that they were marked and went on to apologize for letting down his supporters.
Check out the tweets from Yuuya below (translated via Reddit):
Tweet 1:
Original Tweet: MCロンドン、最終戦終了後にヘッドジャッジから失格処分を受けました。 使っていたデッキの特定のカードに印が付いており、判別できる状態でゲームをしているという裁定でした。 そのような状態になっているのは自分では気付いておらず、ジャッジに呼ばれてカードの状態を見て初めて気付きました。
Google Translate: MC London was disqualified from the head judge after the final match. It was a ruling that a particular card on the deck I was using was marked and I was playing the game in a recognizable manner. I was not aware that I was in such a state, and I noticed it only when I was called by a judge and saw the state of the card.
Human Translation: At MC London, I was given a disqualification by the head judge after completing my last match. The decision made was that certain card(s) in my deck were marked in such a way that I could recognize them during play. I did not personally notice they were in such a state, and I first realized it upon them being pointed out to me by the judge.
Tweet 2:
Original Tweet: 状況証拠的にヘッドジャッジの言い分は正しいと思うので、今回の裁定には納得しています。 普段から応援して頂いてる方の期待を裏切るような結果になってしまい、本当に申し訳ありません。
Google Translate: Since I think that the head judge's case is correct in the context of evidence, I am convinced by this decision. I am really sorry to hear that the result has been betraying the expectations of those who support me from day to day.
Human Translation: I agree with the head judge's argument for circumstantial evidence, and accept this decision. I am truly sorry for letting down all of my supporters.
Yuuya was actually one of my favorite Magic pro players I looked up to and part of me wishes this was not intentional. Wizards of the Coast said that the infraction will be further investigated by the MPL so we the company might make a follow-up announcement about the disqualification soon. If he's guilty, he might be kicked out of the Magic Pro League, a group of 32 Magic pro players with player and streamer contracts by Wizards of the Coast, where they reportedly receive $75,000 per year. If that happens, he would be the 2nd person to be removed from the MPL for the 2019 season but so far, it looks like he's still in the MPL.
Earlier this week, American Hall of Famer Owen Turtenwald was replaced by England's Mythic Championship I winner, Autumn Burchett for a spot at the Magic Pro League.
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