For those of you who need a definition of “Gamesmanship”, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamesmanship for a brief read.
Now before I continue any further, let me first say that I will not use any names in this post, nor will I state where I come from. I want to at least give those people some dignity, the little from what is left of it, and may be they would get a clue.
The acts these people have done are wrong and contributed to bad gamesmanship, and they have not only done them once, they did it over and over again, consistently from Battle Road to Battle Roads, Cities to Cities, Provincial to Nationals, for the past two years.
The following is just from my observations from this year alone so far done by these players, whether they are playing against me, or playing against other players.
- Played Kingdra against me, Kingdra active after KO one more my Pokemon. Just before my turn begin, counted out loud to 11 at his discard pile, “claiming” to 11 Water Energies in his discard pile. Before I pushed a Pokemon up, I checked his discard pile myself and only found 6. I turned the other cheek on this one and continued playing. Do not ask me why I did that.
- Observed, His opponent uses Gallade's Psychic Cut against his active, knocking it out by flipping one prize, which was a Ralts, his opponent flashed the Ralts and picked it up and his prize for the KO. Just as his opponent does that, he raised his hand and called judge and claimed he didn't showed the prize. Needless to say, his opponent was very crossed for getting on him for a technicality.
- Constantly asking a judge for Raichu Lv. X's Link Lightning ruling about its non-existent time delay, on several occasions, Cities after Cities with different judges, when they clearly knew what the card is and are just stalling for time.
This is just few examples of things these players have done and have gotten away with, and it doesn't stop with gamesmanship. Their basic tactic is to distract judges by chatting with them, and sometimes intimidate their opponent (like the Kingdra example above). They have done this a lot, and have perfected the ways to perform them with little to no delay. More often than not, the judges that arrives at a conflict are confused and they will winded up getting away with it.
I have complained (among a few people) to the tournament organizers, but it is hard to get their attention since gamesmanship is a delicate issue that is hard to deal with. Also, the people that played against him did not wish to come out to the TO with a testimony of sorts, and also that I am a bad sportsman (at certain times, and working on improving it over the years), that didn't go over so well with them, I would suspect.
Honestly, sometimes what these people do is absolutely ridiculous. His opponent has a cold and sneezed, he then asks a judge to bring a Kleenex, the judge done so, and then he has the nerve to ask for a 5 minute extension because of the “delay”.
Also, they are infamous for being “fake” humble after a game, usually a good sportsman will just say “Good Game” after he wins, but this one person from their group says something along the lines of “I learned a lot from playing with you! Thank you so much for a great game!”, when actually he was just playing against another player who has a bad hand playing Machamp, and he was playing Machamp as well. (rolls eyes)
Me and a few of my friends have almost had it with these people, when they are in any of the tournaments, all the players have to constantly deal with their stalling, rulesharking and general poor gamesmanship. For me, I have more fun talking about the things with my friends they have done in the car ride back, then actually dealing with them at the tournament.
I made this post so I can bring some of the things that I have said to light and ask those of you who are judges and Pokemon Professors for advice on what can be done, is there anything in the rules that can be used? One of my friends is a Professor, and he said that these acts can be called on and penalized. If so, I would love to hear it so I can suggest them to the TOs in our tournaments.
And If you are reading this, and actually somehow got a clue that I am talking about you, stop. Because the next time if you and your players do something like this, I would have to resort to reporting to the TO immediately at the tournament.
Now before I continue any further, let me first say that I will not use any names in this post, nor will I state where I come from. I want to at least give those people some dignity, the little from what is left of it, and may be they would get a clue.
The acts these people have done are wrong and contributed to bad gamesmanship, and they have not only done them once, they did it over and over again, consistently from Battle Road to Battle Roads, Cities to Cities, Provincial to Nationals, for the past two years.
The following is just from my observations from this year alone so far done by these players, whether they are playing against me, or playing against other players.
- Played Kingdra against me, Kingdra active after KO one more my Pokemon. Just before my turn begin, counted out loud to 11 at his discard pile, “claiming” to 11 Water Energies in his discard pile. Before I pushed a Pokemon up, I checked his discard pile myself and only found 6. I turned the other cheek on this one and continued playing. Do not ask me why I did that.
- Observed, His opponent uses Gallade's Psychic Cut against his active, knocking it out by flipping one prize, which was a Ralts, his opponent flashed the Ralts and picked it up and his prize for the KO. Just as his opponent does that, he raised his hand and called judge and claimed he didn't showed the prize. Needless to say, his opponent was very crossed for getting on him for a technicality.
- Constantly asking a judge for Raichu Lv. X's Link Lightning ruling about its non-existent time delay, on several occasions, Cities after Cities with different judges, when they clearly knew what the card is and are just stalling for time.
This is just few examples of things these players have done and have gotten away with, and it doesn't stop with gamesmanship. Their basic tactic is to distract judges by chatting with them, and sometimes intimidate their opponent (like the Kingdra example above). They have done this a lot, and have perfected the ways to perform them with little to no delay. More often than not, the judges that arrives at a conflict are confused and they will winded up getting away with it.
I have complained (among a few people) to the tournament organizers, but it is hard to get their attention since gamesmanship is a delicate issue that is hard to deal with. Also, the people that played against him did not wish to come out to the TO with a testimony of sorts, and also that I am a bad sportsman (at certain times, and working on improving it over the years), that didn't go over so well with them, I would suspect.
Honestly, sometimes what these people do is absolutely ridiculous. His opponent has a cold and sneezed, he then asks a judge to bring a Kleenex, the judge done so, and then he has the nerve to ask for a 5 minute extension because of the “delay”.
Also, they are infamous for being “fake” humble after a game, usually a good sportsman will just say “Good Game” after he wins, but this one person from their group says something along the lines of “I learned a lot from playing with you! Thank you so much for a great game!”, when actually he was just playing against another player who has a bad hand playing Machamp, and he was playing Machamp as well. (rolls eyes)
Me and a few of my friends have almost had it with these people, when they are in any of the tournaments, all the players have to constantly deal with their stalling, rulesharking and general poor gamesmanship. For me, I have more fun talking about the things with my friends they have done in the car ride back, then actually dealing with them at the tournament.
I made this post so I can bring some of the things that I have said to light and ask those of you who are judges and Pokemon Professors for advice on what can be done, is there anything in the rules that can be used? One of my friends is a Professor, and he said that these acts can be called on and penalized. If so, I would love to hear it so I can suggest them to the TOs in our tournaments.
And If you are reading this, and actually somehow got a clue that I am talking about you, stop. Because the next time if you and your players do something like this, I would have to resort to reporting to the TO immediately at the tournament.
)
