After determining a player intentionally committed a game rule violation with Nethergoyf, Wizards of the Coast disqualified the player after Round 13 of Pro Tour Modern Horizons 3.
The game rule violation occurred on camera, and even the commentary crew didn’t notice what had happened until a few turns later. The offending player was Bart Van Etten, who initially claimed victory over his opponent, Javier Dominguez.
Here’s exactly what happened according to MTG’s official statement:
In Round 13 of Pro Tour Modern Horizons 3, player Bart Van Etten was paired against Javier Dominguez for a Feature Match. On turn three of Game 3, Dominguez played Phlage, Titan of Fire’s Fury to deal 3 damage to Van Etten’s Nethergoyf, which was a 2/3 creature (with two card types in Van Etten’s graveyard). In response, Van Etten played Not Dead After All targeting Nethergoyf, tapped it, and put a Wicked role token on it, indicating the Nethergoyf had died and been returned to the battlefield by the spell. However, Not Dead After All was in the graveyard as the third card type so Nethergoyf was a 3/4 creature when when the Phlage, Titan of Fire’s Fury trigger resolved. Nethergoyf would not have died and, therefore, should not have received a Wicked role token.
MTG Statement on Round 13 disqualification of Bart Van ettan
The incident can be watched in the timestamped feature match video below, between Bart Van Etten and Javier Dominguez (ignore the thumbnail graphic).
Nethergoyf Cheat Explained
So what happened in plain speak?
- Nethergoyf had three toughness.
- Javier played Phlage, Titan of Fire’s Fury to deal three damage to Nethergoyf.
- Bart cast Not Dead After All on Nethergoyf, which increased Nethergoyf’s toughness to 4.
- Bart put a Wicked Role token on Nethergoyf. This was incorrect because Nethergoyf never died, so it never should have returned with a Wicked Role token.
In this instance, the issue was raised to tournament judges who investigated the incident. After interviewing both players, the head judges determined that Van Etten had “intentionally committed a Game Rule Violation.” They disqualified him from the tournament, resulting in Javier Dominguez recording a win for the match.
This type of interaction is very common with Nethergoyf and Tarmogoyf. It’s been well established for over a decade that if you Lightning Bolt a Goyf, you need to be mindful about pumping its toughness in the process, as Bolt will hit the graveyard before damage resolves.
In this case, Bart actually wanted his Nethergoyf to die so he could get a Wicked Role token attached to it with Not Dead After All. At the pro level, this kind of game rule violation could be determined to be intentional, but at the FNM level, these kinds of mistakes happen all the time. The next time you are playing with or against a Nethergoyf, keep this interaction in mind.
If you want to stay current on other MTG rules, you may also be interested in Tricky Reconnaissance MTG Rules To Know for Modern & Commander.
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