Jon Elden Does Not Deserve a Lifetime Ban From Magic

My name is David Elden. If you recognize the name, it’s probably because last weekend, my brother became embroiled in a cheating scandal that set the twitterverse aflame. A lot of the comments made about the incident seem to focus on how despicable of a person Jon is or how long he should be banned for, but I feel that people are missing a lot of significant details about the incident that paint a completely different picture. I realize that being his brother introduces a certain amount of bias into my perception of the events. However, my long history with Jon, as well as my being the only member of his regular playgroup who was in attendance at Detroit put me in a unique position to comment on Jon’s play style, skill, and character.

For example, a lot of people assume that because this incident was caught on tape, Jon must be a habitual cheater. A search of his DCI number reveals a different story. The last big event he attended was GP: Indy a few months ago. Before that, it was States – in 2009. Jon has very little experience with big tournaments of any type and had never top eighted or won any prize in a big tournament before Detroit. If he is a habitual cheater, he clearly isn’t doing it for personal profit. Even his FNM record (a combined 8-4-2 for the last four events) is far from impressive.

Given his inexperience with big events, it seems reasonable for him to be nervous and play sloppily as a result, especially in his first match under the cameras, and especially when he was fighting for a spot in the top eight. In addition, Jon was trying to play this second game fast, since there were only about 15 minutes left in the match at the time. Every action in the supposed cheat has a completely reasonable, non-sinister alternative explanation. Individual cards sometimes stick to tables when decks are picked up. People forget to untap permanents all the time. Seeing a stray card an inch away from the rest of his hand, it was easy to assume that it had merely been brushed aside. If poker players can muck winning hands and chess grandmasters can commit game-losing blunders, why wouldn’t we believe that Jon could fail to recognize the extra Batterskull in his hand?

A couple years ago, I read a post on a discussion board for Super Smash Brothers Melee, a fighting game that I used to play competitively. Someone had written a frame-by-frame analysis of his favorite player’s latest game, explaining that the player was playing masterfully, executing each move at the game-theoretically perfect time. Everyone was singing the praises of this player until he showed up and posted that he hadn’t done any of those things on purpose, and if he had been playing perfectly, it was by coincidence. A similar thing happened to Jon. A lot of small, but perfectly reasonable mishaps and accidents combined to create the illusion of a skillfully-executed cheat.

A lot of people concede that Jon putting the Batterskull into his hand could have legitimately been a mistake, but that he cheated by not calling a judge when he noticed this. These people generally propose that anyone would have immediately noticed the extra Batterskull in his or her hand, especially given that Jon’s list had only one. However, when you look at this version of events with scrutiny, something doesn’t add up. Imagine you were in that feature match. If you noticed an extra card in your hand, what would you do? Your only choices are to call a judge, or try to get away with it. What Jon does is completely different. He immediately plays the Batterskull. As soon as he untaps from Sword of Feast and Famine, he plays it, exposing his error to the table judge, the commentators, and thousands of online viewers. He doesn’t wait to draw a few cards or shuffle his library. He plays it as soon as he can.

If Jon was trying to get away with moving the Batterskull into his hand, he would have hidden it, and hoped to win without it. He was in a good position in the game, having a Stoneforge equipped with a Sword of Feast and Famine facing down an opponent with an empty board and only a Flusterstorm (known from his Vendillion Clique that turn) in hand. In all likelihood, he didn’t need that Batterskull to win.

Even if Jon did need the Batterskull, he could have played the Stoneforge Mystic in his hand to get it legitimately. Instead, detractors ask us to believe, Jon boldly perpetrated a complicated cheat in front of his opponent, a table judge, a video crew and two commentators, a knot of spectators, and thousands of online viewers. All to get a card he probably didn’t need, and could have legitimately gotten. To me, this is the strongest evidence that Jon didn’t cheat. If we are to believe that Jon had the sleight of hand skills and guts necessary to pull this off, shouldn’t we also assume that he has the common sense necessary to recognize that he would be running perhaps the stupidest cheat in Magic history?

I have known Jon all his life. I’ve been playing Magic with him since Kamigawa. In all that time, Jon has never been accused of cheating. Because I live in the same house as him, I saw all the preparations he did for SCG:Detroit. He spent hours playtesting, reading articles, spreading his deck out to optimize his configuration of the build. I have never seen him practice sleight of hand or put in any of the “thousands of hours” of practice cheating that he has been accused of. Jon isn’t normally a very emotional person, but seeing him over the last two days would be all the proof any one of you would need to conclude that he did not intentionally cheat. I’ve never seen him so miserable.

Jon Elden is a good player and a good person. His sloppy play in that game resulted in a series of events that looked like a well-practiced cheat. However, while his actions are suspicious, the circumstances are not. Jon didn’t need to cheat, and he doesn’t have what it takes to execute it, either psychologically, to defraud his opponent, a judge, and Magic players around the world, or physically, to execute the sleight of hand required.

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35 Responses to Jon Elden Does Not Deserve a Lifetime Ban From Magic

  1. William Montanaro says:

    While I appreciate your post, and am thankful someone is trying to explain this from his side, I (and I assume many others) would like to hear from Jon himself. The big question to me is: what went through his head when he picked up his hand and saw the Batterskull?

  2. geekdoc says:

    Well written. This is why we have prosecution AND defense in our (U.S. and many, if not most, other nations) court systems.

  3. Mason says:

    One glaring problem with your theory. He saw it in his hand when he KNEW it should have been in his library. He CHOSE not to reveal the error. Out of nerves or not, intentional or otherwise, it was in his hand when he absolutely had to know that it should not have been.

  4. Cody King says:

    Thanks for posting this. I’ve been defending Jon the entire time. But it seems defending Jon translates, in some peoples minds, to defending cheating.

  5. Mark says:

    I don’t think the DCI is buying ‘he was just nervous’ in this situation. He had a 1of Cliqued to the bottom of his deck. It shouldn’t have been in his hand and he should’ve known it. If you’re good enough to top8 an Open you’re good enough to notice this. The DCI is going to draw a line as to what looks like an accident and what looks like cheating – where do you think they’re drawing the line.

  6. Mtg God says:

    Nice try Jon Elden

  7. marie smith says:

    your logic is flawed. “If Jon was trying to get away with moving the Batterskull into his hand, he would have hidden it, and hoped to win without it. ” the whole intent of cheating is to get the advantage so therefore had he not played the card it may have given to the “accident theory”.

    are you trying to argue that your brother had no clue that he had an extra card by mistake?

  8. joe says:

    nawwww yur bro cheated deal with it he deserves lifetime ban

  9. Water_Wizard says:

    Thanks for the article. I came to much the same conclusions as you did (he made a mistake and didn’t handle it correctly by reporting it to the judge). The only advantage (perhaps this needs to be addressed in your article) of placing the Batterskull into his hand (vs. finding it with SFM) is it allows the Batterskull to come into play a turn earlier (which, as you mentioned, probably doesn’t matter given Jon’s dominate game state).

  10. Raj says:

    As a brother myself, I will give you the benefit of the doubt. I know many people won’t and that’s probably the sad thing about this. In the end I do agree that it should not be a lifetime ban, as that’s just stupid. Here’s what I hope happens. He gets 6 months or a year. Takes the punishment like a man and then if he wants to come back and play the game of magic. It will take time to rebuild his reputation and there will be many bumps and bruises along the way. But if he is humble and understands why people think the way they think, there is no reason to think he won’t be able to continue with his magic career.
    But as they say, individuals are smart, people are stupid, and you are dealing with many people here.

  11. Sauceman says:

    I’m somewhat torn by what I believe as a result of this article. As someone who was recently wrongly accused of cheating, I want to give him the benefit of the doubt. (My incident was at FNM in Top 8 where I was playing with my phone during a match that, with my boardstate, I couldnt lose. A friend was beind my opponent in a group of 5-6 other spectators texting someone. My opponent took the opportunity to say that he was texting me his hand. While my friend revealed his phone to show the conversation he was having with someone else, I refused to reveal my phone on principle, which I later conceed was a mistake. The result was a stigma as a cheater and a one month ban, which was self imposed to help allieviate the situation)

    The big difference is that this was at a huge event with alot of money at stake. While I understand boardstates can get confusing, and I have made plenty of mistakes, it’s really hard to think that he didnt realize the same card that he just lost was back in his hand. You say if he was really cheating, he would have hidden it and not played the card, but then why do it in the first place? You say that by playing right away, he was “essentially admitting the mistake”, but the undertone to that is he was testing to see if he could get away with it, which he did, and he continued to play. That is just as wrong as cheating in my book.

    After watching the video several times, it’s my opinion that he didnt intend to cheat. I feel like right up until he picked up his library and noticed the card on the table, he had every intention of playing straight. However, he saw an opportunity to close the game out quickly by scooping the Skull into his hand, and he took the opportunity. This may seem like a loose explanation, but it could be feasable.

    Whether he did cheat intentionally or unintentionally, he deserves a ban. If it was a series of unfortunate misplays, not immediately pointing it out and attempting to play it off is ban-worhty. I would hope that SCG bans him from their events for 2 years, and I think that WOTC should also take corrective action and impose a 3-6 month ban on his DCI involving FNM’s as such. It might seem harsh, but whether we are to believe your story, or that he did it intentionally, the rsults are the same: he did cheat. If it was intentional, beyond a shadow of a doubt, I would say a lifetime ban would be appropriate. However, after reading this article and seeing that it could have been a poor choice to take advantage of the situation, I’d be willing to give him another chance down the line.

  12. O RLY says:

    So essentially you’re suggesting that he accidentally ended up with the Batterskull back in his hand. You’re saying that when he saw the card sitting there next to his hand, he thought it was part of his hand, and he just scooped it back in there. It then strikes me as quite the stretch of the term “sloppy play” to imagine a player seeing a Batterskull magically appear in their hand, and not realize that something went wrong.

    “I sure wish I had something that would win me this game. I wish my Batterskull was still here. Wait, another Batterskull? Was this in my hand the whole time? I didn’t draw it, it must have been in my hand! HOT DAMN!”

    Truly, I can’t imagine that anyone would have been oblivious to this.

  13. GQ says:

    A few counterpoints:
    -One does not need to play tournaments to cheat. There are cheaters who cheat in casual games. He may not play many tournaments but he is well versed in the format, experienced in the game, and a good player (as you have stated).
    -its nearly impossible to NOT notice a relevant card that makes its way into your hand. He only had a few cards (I believe).
    -Terrible comparison considering the formats of the games. So you say that it was incredible coincidence that your brother skillfully placed a card that almost assures a win into his hand and not noticed it when there was only a few cards in his hand? That’s the explanation huh?
    -“A lot of people concede..”? More like a very few people based on my observations online. John had more choices than the two that you stated since he did choose a different path. He played the card b/c it was the correct line of play which puts him in the best position to win. He did it b/c he thought he could get away with it or that people think that he runs two in the deck (Like Adrian Sullivan first thought).
    -Hiding the card would have been more blatant. Cheaters take every advantage they could. They cheat at any point of the game whether they are ahead or not.
    -Its not the dumbest cheat of all time. A lot of people either did not catch it or thought he was running two Bskulls or he drew his second one. Things he all assessed before hand. Who has access to his decklist? There is a reason why one would practice that sleight of hand- to decieve people.
    -He is miserable because of the attention it got. He was not expecting the backlash that this story has gotten. All his preparation leads me to believe that he would not make the mistakes that you said he did.

    I like to ask you a few things:
    Do you believe that John should be punished? There are penalties for even unintentional cheats.
    Why hasn’t John responded? There are literally dozens of sites where he can make his case. Why you?

  14. koro says:

    Well, a stick to playing yu-gi-oh then.
    Cheator minotaur!

  15. jon fickle says:

    Haha video don’t lie.
    Cheaters gonna cheat!!

  16. d says:

    When he slides that bottom card of his deck into his hand, it’s pretty obvious thats its intentional cheating you retard

  17. Drew says:

    Jon played at my store for the past several years. He played in events that mostly I judged. I never once, for a second thought he did that on purpose. I hope he comes out of this okay and everyone else can see this for the witch hunt it is. Good luck Jon.

  18. Eboy says:

    No matter what way you look at it, cheating occurred. Even if it was a mistake up until he noticed the extra card, the cheating started when he didn’t notify the judge of the mistake, and that’s a hard sell. It’s good of you to stick up for your brother, but I think if anyone should address the public it should be Jon.

  19. Steve McQueen says:

    Nice try master cheater #2! Just kidding, I don’t think any of makes a whole lot of sense either.

  20. Jeff says:

    The only thing that hurt him, was the fact that he played it. If he had called a judge, he wouldn’t have gotten in ANY trouble. Hey I accidentally i picked up this card thinking it was in my deck. But he pulled it ONTOP of his deck with his other hand, while reaching across the table to grab his deck. I understand he is your brother, but that looks very bad on his part. If he accidentally picked up the card, it happens. But choosing to play it, was the cheat. No matter how the card got into his hand illegally, it was the decision to play the card, that he didnt need to win, that was the cheat. No he doesn’t deserve a life time ban, but he does deserve a punishment from the DCI to stop him and other players from doing this in the future. I understand that fighting for the top 8 is HUGE, specially for someone who does not play at a lot of these tournaments. He had a good chance to win it all. ALL he had to do, was call the judge, and explain what happened.

  21. Felipe says:

    In my opinion, he did cheat. He put the batter skull from the bottom of his deck into his hand. Not only that, but he also casted it pretending it was a miracle topdeck or so. He should be ashamed of himself, and you too because you are trying to defend a cheater.

  22. Lee says:

    He cheated bro

  23. I don’t buy it!
    I saw the play over and over and I have to say I can’t believe a word from your post.

  24. tomy_stoned says:

    u are so ugly u have already a lifetime women ban

  25. DeluxeTea says:

    ” If you noticed an extra card in your hand, what would you do? Your only choices are to call a judge, or try to get away with it. What Jon does is completely different.”

    The fact is, he knew he only had a single Batterskull, it was supposed to have been sent to the bottom of his library but ended up in his hand, and he still cast it.

    “He immediately plays the Batterskull. As soon as he untaps from Sword of Feast and Famine, he plays it, exposing his error to the table judge, the commentators, and thousands of online viewers.”

    Because the spectators and his opponent doesn’t know how many Batterskulls he is running. Only he knows.

    “In all likelihood, he didn’t need that Batterskull to win.”

    Still doesn’t excuse his actions.

    You yourself has mentioned at the beginning of your post that there is a certain amount of bias into your interpretation of events. Because of that, your defense of your brother holds little weight. Of course people would always say that their family members/relatives are good people.

  26. rabid says:

    You certainly make a compelling argument and I already found the cheat slightly odd. He probably should get some kind of ban but a permanent ban is probably too much given the amount of doubt in this case.

  27. David, please contact me. I am interested in getting ahold of Jon to give him a chance to publicly tell his side of the story either in one of my articles, on our podcast, or both.

  28. @MarcelMTG says:

    My name is Marcel, I co-host a podcast called Brainstorm Brewery. We would like to have your brother on the podcast for an intelligent conversation. We have no need to demonize your brother, so he would be entering a hostile environment. We all do believe he intenentionally cheated but are willing to have our minds changed. If you brother is in terested or not, please contact me via email or twitter. thank you.

  29. Ty says:

    apparently jon asked the judge where the cameras were pointed when he sat down for the match. please explain.

    • mtgelden says:

      I enjoy watching scglive and was always into the camera angle where they zoom into the guy’s hand when they get thoughtsiezed. I didn’t see how the overhead camera could get this angle so i asked where the cameras were. Then the judge said that the overhead camera zoomed etc. then he showed the player cams which i thought were to show the players hands. I was excited about this because i haven’t seen scglive over the summer and assumed that people at home could see people’s hands now. Turns out they are just there to show the player’s faces.

  30. thsgtbhj says:

    horse shit hes a filthy cheater

  31. Wow, awesome article! Thanks for providing this completely different perspective on the events that took place, since I can say I was one of the probably thousands who only saw what was on the surface.

    This is completely unrelated, but what was your SSBM tag? I’m a part of the Melee community and a co-developer of SSBM Online (http://ssbmo.com) and I find this a really interesting coincidence, haha.

  32. Voila Viola says:

    1. He should be aware of what’s in his hand
    2. He only has 1 Battleskull in his Deck and knows it was places on the bottom so um wouldnt it magically reappearing in his hand make him think “oh wait I shouldnt have this”
    3. He was very slick to make people believe he drew the Battleskull… he didnt just play it… he played a card that allowed him to shuffle his deck…. then drew a card and made people believe he shuffled and had his Battleskull put on top…”

    sorry I know he’s your brother and all and he may have been a nervous wreck, but none of that stops him from cheating at a Big Event. I don’t think he should be banned for life. 1 Year sound fair to me.

  33. michael says:

    i appertice you and brother attempt to make this sound right, ive wacthed video many times and im pretty conived he cheated.. that being said i dont think he should be banned for life. i think i a lifetime ban is too harsh.. but i think a year is fine

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