Less than two weeks ago, one of the greatest Magic: The Gathering players on earth, Yuuya Watanabe was disqualified from the Mythic Championship II in London when a judge ruled post-game that his deck of cards had marks. 

At the time of the incident, Yuuya Watanabe was favored to win the tournament and he has been a fixture at the top of the MTG community for years. The Magic: The Gathering Hall-of-Famer initially posted on social media following the disqualification saying that he “thinks the head judge’s case is correct in the context of evidence,” but a recent statement by Watanabe seems to say otherwise. 

The defensive tacting by both Watanabe himself, and his management team -- they posted a weirdly accusatory “timeline of events” from the Mythic Championship II -- doesn’t go very far to buy the slightly scuffed public opinion of the once-heralded player much repair. 

Instead of sympathy, the public statement posted on the Cygames website reads more like an attempt to save face. Though, it is interesting to point out that no one has really come forward to claim that Watanabe marked his cards on purpose. 

Rather than “cheating” outright, the situation in London that saw his disqualification was more a situation that should have been addressed by either the player or his team. There is nothing that points to the fact that Watanabe even noticed the marks on some of his cards and this is more evident when you consider the fact that the judges didn’t even notice it until later in the day. 

“It doesn’t make any sense for me to throw it all away at this point in my career. There is too much at stake for me to be thinking about cheating.” - Watanabe

It has yet to be announced by the league if there will be any further punishment to Yuuya Watanabe or his team. The next Mythic Championship (III) has yet to be announced with a date or location. From where we sit today, we would assume that Watanabe will be afforded the opportunity to compete in Magic: The Gathering again in the future, even if the judges pay a little bit more attention to his deck.