For those not in the know, Watanabe is Japan’s most prominent Magic: The Gathering player and has several accolades under his belt including being named Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year (the latter on multiple occasions). He was also voted into the Hall of Fame with little resistance, but now it seems there could be a serious investigation underway for his acts during this tournament.
Watanabe was running a modern TRON deck which focuses on control and pumping out large amounts of mana quickly. By getting a Mine, Power Plant, and Tower land card into play quickly, it is possible to have 7 mana on turn 3, typically leading to a quick victory. These are the Magic: The Gathering cards that Watanabe marked, so he could get them into play as quick as possible.
This marking was discovered during a deck check in round 15 where his land cards were marked in a unique way even from each other, but this marking was not found on any other card in his deck or sideboard. Because the chances of this being accidental are slim-to-none, the Magic: The Gathering judges disqualified Watanabe. Wizards of the Coast has also issued a statement that this infraction will be investigated.
As it stands, little is known about Watanabe’s motives behind this cheating or if this was a one-time thing or not. Considering the insane value of some MTG cards and the prize money behind the tournament, the temptation is easy enough to see, but regardless, this does not seem likely to shine a good light on Watanabe in the long run.
Magic: The Gathering can be played by assembling a deck of cards for physical play, or digitally in Magic: The Gathering Arena on PC.
Source: Reddit
