Cheating…

Premeditated or absent-mindedness either way you slice that is what it is. What you do about it is totally another matter. Such is the case with the Overall Winner of the very first NovaOpen. Tony Kopach 16 year old wunderkind was playing with an illegal 2003 point list when it should have been 2000.

A minor infraction? In most settings this is really nothing to get worked up about. What about when prizes are on the line or tickets to Vegas? What about when fairly or unfairly an event is placed on a pedestal as the “competitive” tourney messiah– shouldn’t this behavior be taken a little more seriously? The vociferousness at which Mike Brandt defends his baby you would think that a zero tolerance for any cheating would be in effect? Even if it was caught after the fact? Instead, most of the Internet talking heads (funny many of them were given the red carpet to attend) seem to have given a collective shrug for this infraction.

How can an outsider  judge the effect of three point swing that happens to be the winner of a tourney?

Last time I checked Warhammer 40k is a game of  dice and results can end up completely different with even the most minor list changes. How could Tony’s list been different with 3 fewer points? One less piece of wargear that is how different. One less melta gun to blow up a tank. A lesser saving throw for an IC. That doesn’t even go into how a player or opponents tactics could change. Even if his opponents didn’t think this made much difference they are not taking into account a simple chaos effect. Of course time machines have not been built to check out whether Tony would of lost a game because of just three points. Just don’t pretend like it couldn’t of made a difference.

So instead of getting really ranty on this Blood of Kittens is curious what people think, because Blood of Kittens is not really sure if this sort of things requires pitchforks.

If you were a TO how would you deal with such a dilemma? Here is hoping Nova junkies will take a breath before attacking anything that dares to call into question the certitude that the NovaOpen is God’s gift to “competitive” 40k and just ask what would Brian Boitano do?

Consider as well what the Internet response would have been if other large events had the same thing happen to them?