helpoemer316
Will game for food
Wow, I can't believe I'm just seeing this now... I guess it's time to vent a tad bit.
I was the head judge at the EEN preview in Richmond.
I can't remember the names of those involved, but there's no need to mention them, I can't remember which flight it was during the day... I just know it was one of the later ones, could have been the last one we ran. And I can't remember what round it was (I just know it wasn't round 1, could have been round 3 I believe). Anyways...
Early in the day one of the guys who I know very well to be a trustworthy player walks up to me and says "Man, look at how many of this common I pulled from those five packs." I look at it and he's got 7 of the same common... not unbelievable considering the set is 60 cards packed randomly with 8 commons and 1 rare. 5 packs would make up 45 indivdual cards, which is almost 80% of the set. Of course, you're not getting every rare in the set, but you've got a good chance to get almost every common, so when you look at commons, figure there are maybe half as many commons (not sure of the exact number), so that's 30, with a guarantee pull of 40 commons. Since the packs are randomly assorted and put together you have a very good chance of getting 7 of a single common in your deck.
Anyways, back to the story... Dave showed me something I knew wasn't completely impossible, maybe a little unlikely in some cases, but not impossible by any stretch. Well, later in the day I get a call from one of the judges that they needed some help in a situation.
One kid (couldn't have been more than 12) was accusing another kid (about the same age) of cheating and having had a deck that was impossible to construct with the 5 packs they recieved. The argument was that the kid was running 7 of one of the common 1850 attackers from the EEN set and that there was no way he pulled 7 of the same common. Well, things got worse as the accusers father decided he wanted to butt in as I was trying to explain that there is a slight possibility, however unlikely it may seem, that a person could pull 7 of the same common from 5 packs, all they need to do is have an extra one in 2 of the packs they got to reach that number, not entirely impossible to get 2 of a single common in 2 out of 5 packs, remember the percentages folks in the random world of a 60 card set. Well, it got to the point that I was telling the father and son that "I can't prove that he's got a deck here that he didn't create with the 5 packs since it's possible to pull 7 of a single common. Without proof, I'm not gonna give any sort of penalty to anyone." The father wanted to butt in everytime saying "I have a better chance of being struck by lightening than pulling 2 of a single common from 1 pack, ever... right... And I've got a better chance to win the lottery, I guess I should have won it a hundred times by now.
It was annoying, the father wanted a way to contact UDE, I gave him the general player@upperdeck.com email address and he wanted my name as well, which I willingly gave. I wonder if he ever got an answer from UDE... Oh well, just sharing my fun with a father and son. I guess I should have broken down the percentages right there in front him for him to see, but of course, time is of the essence so I didn't have that time.
He's lucky I was leniant in the lease with him though, I don't bend or break when it comes to penalties and follow them to a tee as far as who gets what and when and why. The father almost cost his son the entire flight with his reactions and rejections of my exlanations on why I couldn't penalize another player. Reason being it is possible to penalize a player for Unsporting Conduct for fishing for penalties, if I feel that a player is purposely trying to fish penalties so they can try and have the opposing player DQ'ed and get a win, I'll penalize that player, something you judges should really look out for in tournaments.
But yeah, that's my experience, John's right. You think it's hard being a player and having to deal with other player's parents, imagine being a judge and dealing with them.
I was the head judge at the EEN preview in Richmond.
I can't remember the names of those involved, but there's no need to mention them, I can't remember which flight it was during the day... I just know it was one of the later ones, could have been the last one we ran. And I can't remember what round it was (I just know it wasn't round 1, could have been round 3 I believe). Anyways...
Early in the day one of the guys who I know very well to be a trustworthy player walks up to me and says "Man, look at how many of this common I pulled from those five packs." I look at it and he's got 7 of the same common... not unbelievable considering the set is 60 cards packed randomly with 8 commons and 1 rare. 5 packs would make up 45 indivdual cards, which is almost 80% of the set. Of course, you're not getting every rare in the set, but you've got a good chance to get almost every common, so when you look at commons, figure there are maybe half as many commons (not sure of the exact number), so that's 30, with a guarantee pull of 40 commons. Since the packs are randomly assorted and put together you have a very good chance of getting 7 of a single common in your deck.
Anyways, back to the story... Dave showed me something I knew wasn't completely impossible, maybe a little unlikely in some cases, but not impossible by any stretch. Well, later in the day I get a call from one of the judges that they needed some help in a situation.
One kid (couldn't have been more than 12) was accusing another kid (about the same age) of cheating and having had a deck that was impossible to construct with the 5 packs they recieved. The argument was that the kid was running 7 of one of the common 1850 attackers from the EEN set and that there was no way he pulled 7 of the same common. Well, things got worse as the accusers father decided he wanted to butt in as I was trying to explain that there is a slight possibility, however unlikely it may seem, that a person could pull 7 of the same common from 5 packs, all they need to do is have an extra one in 2 of the packs they got to reach that number, not entirely impossible to get 2 of a single common in 2 out of 5 packs, remember the percentages folks in the random world of a 60 card set. Well, it got to the point that I was telling the father and son that "I can't prove that he's got a deck here that he didn't create with the 5 packs since it's possible to pull 7 of a single common. Without proof, I'm not gonna give any sort of penalty to anyone." The father wanted to butt in everytime saying "I have a better chance of being struck by lightening than pulling 2 of a single common from 1 pack, ever... right... And I've got a better chance to win the lottery, I guess I should have won it a hundred times by now.
It was annoying, the father wanted a way to contact UDE, I gave him the general player@upperdeck.com email address and he wanted my name as well, which I willingly gave. I wonder if he ever got an answer from UDE... Oh well, just sharing my fun with a father and son. I guess I should have broken down the percentages right there in front him for him to see, but of course, time is of the essence so I didn't have that time.
He's lucky I was leniant in the lease with him though, I don't bend or break when it comes to penalties and follow them to a tee as far as who gets what and when and why. The father almost cost his son the entire flight with his reactions and rejections of my exlanations on why I couldn't penalize another player. Reason being it is possible to penalize a player for Unsporting Conduct for fishing for penalties, if I feel that a player is purposely trying to fish penalties so they can try and have the opposing player DQ'ed and get a win, I'll penalize that player, something you judges should really look out for in tournaments.
But yeah, that's my experience, John's right. You think it's hard being a player and having to deal with other player's parents, imagine being a judge and dealing with them.
