Discussion Your Cheat Encounters?

Godbert

Godbert

Aspiring Trainer
Member
I was wondering what your encounters have been with cheaters before.

Here's mine. Recently I was at a local league tourny that had prizes for the top few spots. The second round had me go up against a regular with a reputation for being something of a narcissist. In any case, he had mostly been friendly around me so I tolerated him. We were about turn 3 into the second round (I won the first), when I realized he had a World Championship card in his sleeves. The backs of the sleeves were mildly transparent, but it was there. Turns out he was running two WC Shaymins out of four.

I got up and reported him immediately. While he wasn't booted from the tourny outright, he did take a double loss. He was supposed to swap them out for two energy I believe, but he apparently borrowed two of his friends' Shaymins to finish the match off. That much went unreported. He and his friends have been behaving super salty ever since. It's amusing too, because they're all adults who have put a lot of money into the game. It makes me wonder how often this sort of thing occurs and how many people get away with it when nobody is really paying much attention.

Big issue with me is after the fact I was wondering if I jumped the gun, but we also had a lot of younger players that day and he has been playing at the shop much longer than I have. He knew the rules and ran the cards anyway.
 
I can't tell you what I have noticed, because I was never any great shakes at spotting it. I've learned a lot of it since, thanks to articles on the matter. The worst cheating will be stuff that is almost impossible to prove, like an opponent stealthily drawing an extra card alongside the amount they were supposed to draw. Also the clever "Did I do [insert once per turn action]?" ploy; the player knows he or she has already done it but by asking, they hope you lost track so they can do it again with your consent.

I will fess up to a bit of cheating I have done. I am not proud of it, but better I fess up and warn others.
  1. Weaving
    Back in 2001, before I understood that the point of a shuffled deck was to be sufficiently randomized (which meant you might get clumping, droughts, etc.), I thought I was doing a "good thing" by making sure my cards alternated Pokémon-Trainer-Energy. I even shamefully "taught" a younger player to do it, thinking I was helping. >_< Thankfully, this only went on for one or two League sessions before I was "caught" (I wasn't trying to hide it - it only took that long because League was short and people were busy). Another adult player set me straight, thankfully.
  2. Incorrect text interpretation/rulings
    It is very, very easy to lie to yourself and then try to convince the other player as well, that a particular card effect or ruling should happen in a manner that benefits yourself. The clearest examples of this I still remember was a Yu-Gi-Oh! match where I convinced another player that a card's effect worked when it attacked or was attacked, and not just the latter. (For those familiar with the game, it was Wall of Illusion).
 
I haven't really encountered any "cheating" per say, just not knowing what cards do.

I was playing Gyarados against a Sableye deck in expanded, and my opponent attached a Head Ringer to my Gyarados. I think we both forgot that Head Ringer can only be attached to Pokemon-EX, so I attached two Float Stone to my Gyarados just so Head Ringer couldn't be attached. Later in the round I looked at the Head Ringer card and realized that it couldn't be attached. Then again, It probably wouldnt've affected the match, since my opponent kept attaching Life Dew and playing Enhanced Hammers. :)
 
Does running 2 ACE SPEC count as cheating? :p

Anyway, same as Ninjamezor, I don't see a lot of people cheating or I don't notice, though I have had some funny game errors happen. It's mainly game errors. I want to tell y'all this though, it's kinda funny. So basically me and this guy were fighting, mirror match with Dragonair/Darkrai. It was pretty intense, and at one point, I played an N. except, when we went to draw, I had no Prizes! :p it's was pretty funny, and we both laughed and I won the game. Super funny expierience
 
My roommate used Parasect (FRLG) and Ho-Oh ex (UF) in the same deck. While the combination itself isn't illegal, targeting Ho-Oh ex with Parasect's Energy Powder attack is. Neither of us realized it in our testing, and neither did his first three opponents of the States we went to; he crushed all of them, going 3-0 before his fourth round opponent reminded him of his error. He went on during that game to drop down four Energy Switch at once to allow Ho-Oh ex to wipe his opponent's board, taking his last four prizes in two turns and winning the game anyway.

We both felt pretty stupid for not realizing the illegal play, but at least we weren't the guys who lost to him doing it.
 
At a league cup my opponent got a mulligan but didn't show his hand. I asked and then there was a Hoopa-EX there. He said he didn't see it, but I simply don't buy it.
 
I think cheating is define as an intent to do a play knowing that it is not correct. but again sometime I think people convince themselves that cheating is okay then to them their definition has been completely redefine.
 
Well sadly you might get people who say it's an honest misplay but you have to be the one to catch it if they did it on purpose. I mostly play in a good area but I'll give an example of a time when I misplayed and caught myself(and got a gameloss). At nationals I played N but shuffled my hand along with the N into my deck. This is a trick that many people could try if they wanted the actual playing of N is often followed by the user quickly shuffling there hand Into there deck and sense the other player does so as well the attention to whether the card is actually played down or not is not very high. I called myself on It and lost the game when I was winning but at least I have a clear conscience. Bottom line is the great thing about people legitimately cheating is that if you pay enough attention to your opponent and have a good knowledge of the often seen but misunderstood card effects you will be able to catch your opponent in the act be it accidental or otherwisw
 
crystal_pidgeot said:
How are we defining cheating here? There is a huge difference in misplaying and cheating.
Click to expand...

"Misplay" can have multiple definitions as well; does it mean
  • Making an illegal move without the intent of cheating?
  • Making a suboptimal play, possibly one that is actually quite damaging to your chance of winning?
  • Both?
Many folks just do not notice cheating very well, or do but are hesitant to share the experience lest they "out" someone. So it the closest they can come are times when it would have been cheating had it been intentional.

Then there are the many cheats that are pass off as what you call "misplays". I realize that when a person asks if he or she had already attached an Energy this turn, they could be sincere. I would assume most actually did just forget, but it can be used for cheating and at least a few players have confessed online to using it that way. So mentioning a misplay can still be useful for spotting a potential cheat.

Finally, there are the folks that cheat but can't admit it. I legitimately did not realize I was cheating by stacking; it was a logic fail. >_< When I fast-talked my opponent with a bad ruling, that was intentional but that was a rare occurrence. Normally, I not only give what I think is the right answer, but it is the right answer. I've even helped an opponent defeat me from time to time by giving good advice (though I believe those were just Pre-Releases, lest I sound too kind XP). So it is hard for me to be honest with myself, let alone others, that at least a few times and cheated. I can't do this kind of thing on the PTCGO, and I haven't played IRL in almost a decade now, so that helps. And while it might sound really rude, I'm confessing because I suspect a lot of folks are like me, either now or then. Maybe it is easier to report a "misplay" than an actual cheat. So... let them. ;)
 
Calcab said:
At a league cup my opponent got a mulligan but didn't show his hand. I asked and then there was a Hoopa-EX there. He said he didn't see it, but I simply don't buy it.
Click to expand...
A similar thing happened to me, back when everyone was running Exeggcute and had the risk of starting with a 30 HP Pokemon. They neglected to show their hand; I didn't say anything (benefit of the doubt) but the judge caught him. Same "Oh, I didn't realize I had that" excuse.

That's the only case of outright cheating I've experienced in my 15ish years of playing, iirc. Usually it just ends up being an unintentional misplay or misreading.
 
well back in 06 the holon engine was all the rage, i was only 12 at the time so i didnt know about all the card i was still playing with older cards from like emerald/dx and all that jazz, so this guy the whole game was drawing 4 off of holon adventurer and me not realizing it you can only draw 4 if you discard a pokemon with the holon symbol on it, he would discard energies and stuff like holon's castform/voltorb (which dont have the delta species logo) so eventually my stepbrother got done with his game and came over to watch mine (i think i was playing politoed ex) and when he did it again my step brother told him about it and i said he was doing it the whole game, then he told the judge right away that he was cheating the whole time and he got a warning XD so that was really the only time i ever encountered cheating in real life

51XVscicS7L._SY450_.jpg Holon's_Castform__44_110__EX_Holon_Phantoms.jpg 51eDoWLBYhL._SY450_.jpg
 
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