One of my last articles touched on different forms of cheating - specifically, cheating when you let your opponent play the game incorrectly (referred to as "passive cheating"). There is also cheating as it applies to you playing the game correctly, whether you know it or not ("unintentional cheating"). In this article, I intend to delve into passive cheating as an observer, by not helping with unintentional cheating in a match.

I have a bit of an anecdote to start this story, as it seems to set the stage:

I'm sitting at a side draft at a recent PTQ, not participating in the draft, but watching a friend. His opponent casts Blinding Beam with Entwine, targeting my friend's one untapped creature and proceeds to swing in with his creatures.

**break to present time**

Now, personally, I hate outside interference. The thought that my opponent might be getting an edge from a friend observing drives me crazy. I asked three people to please leave my side of the table that Saturday. (It clearly didn't win me the PTQ, so this enforcement may be bad for your karma.) However, in this case, my friend's opponent was clearly cheating - intentionally or not.

**return to PTQ**

I say, "Blinding Beam needs two valid targets." My friend and his opponent both read the card and confirm that this is correct. His opponent says, in a stern, vaguely-threatening voice, "Thanks, outsider."

The last word hung in the air, drifting through the stink that permeates these events. He was clearly adding, "Your help is not welcome here. Don't say another word. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry."

(As an aside, I found the term "outsider" rather humorous, which I don't think was the guy's point. It reminded me of Children of the Corn and the term "outlander." I thought about asking him where his parents were, but figured the obscurity of the reference would preclude it from being funny. Maybe, just maybe, there was a joke there that would have been funny.)

Anyway, I did not take his verbal warning to heart and continued to watch the match. I was waiting for him to specifically ask me to leave, which I would have done had he asked. It's like asking for your lawyer when you're arrested; sure, they'll get you one, but you have to ask first.

As the match progressed, I was given the opportunity to correct a couple of other game state problems. Specifically, a life total discrepancy and some creatures that were not supposed to hit the 'yard returning to play. I should have let these things go, right? The players are responsible for their own game state, and if they screw it up, it's theirs to screw up!

Unfortunately for me, I have this compulsion that needs the rules to not be broken. I think that it comes from playing so much Magic Online. You just can't do those types of things online; you can't decide to just not take some damage, or not let your creature die, or have your opponent's creature die when it didn't. You can't not draw during your draw step, or not lose life from your fetchland, or play spells with not enough valid targets. Why should you be allowed to do these things in paper play?

Some will argue that this is what separates the good players from the bad. Bad players make these mistakes and they should not be corrected. If there were a judge at the table, these mistakes would be corrected. I guess that's why it seems like an obligation to correct them.

None of this, of course, should be construed as advocating giving advice during a match. This is a cardinal sin of observing. If you tell your friend that they can draw a card from their Farsight Mask (since it's a"may," not a"must"), or that they should reequip their Bonesplitter after combat, or anything of that nature - that's breaking the rules. Maybe this is why people get mad at observers, as they feel that any game state help is advice. There is a distinct difference between rules enforcement and advice.

At the same PTQ, I saw a player ask an advice question from a judge. Basically, he was asking a stacking question, but asking it in a way that the judge could not answer without saying, "Yes, you should do that, you moron." Eventually, after the guy didn't get his question answered and made the wrong play, some bystanders told him the information he was looking for. His opponent chimed in with the bystanders, not visibly annoyed that the same game state could repeat itself in the match and one of his advantages had been removed. Clearly, you should have a complete grasp of stacking rules before entering a PTQ. In this case, the player could have gotten the answer to his question if he'd have known how to ask it.

This whole incident made me wonder about how the Magic community at large feels about bystanders. Most players I talk to think that unless the bystander is a judge, at that tourney, you should shut your piehole. It isn't your place to adjudicate every Magic game in your community. Playing by the rules in real life is optional, because it makes it harder to win if you have to play by all the rules all the time.

Do you think you should be an enforcer when you aren't playing?

Andrew Cron
cronac@comcast.net