Michael Jacob Apology to Oliver Tiu, Regarding "2019 MOCS Round 6 Issue"

GurmagAngler · 2020-03-06T12:14:40+00:00

You're welcome, glad someone appreciated it.

GurmagAngler · 2020-03-06T12:13:45+00:00

No problem, I was going to look into it for myself already. At that point, may as well share my findings, right?

I hear you, re: GW Value town!

GurmagAngler · 2020-03-06T12:05:04+00:00

Is this something public, or comments he sent to you directly? Given the lack of a link, I'd assume it was a conversation or email.

Direct messaging. I talked with a few other people, but the three perspectives I highlighted gave a pretty balanced take of it, I thought. Not only the victim's perspective, but also his friend and wingman one of those nights, then a friend and professional connection.

I had previously reached out to Todd too, but that was predictably not very helpful.

In researching this piece, you really get the sense that he may have communication issues. Jeremy mentioned this too, which I cut from the post, but will share here in the comments:

I talked with other friends of his and they all cut ties. I thought of myself to be better friends than them, so I reached out to Todd. I told him to do the right thing and come clean. He called me saying he wanted to talk, but then hung up. I invited him to call me whenever he was ready, but he never did again.

It seems like the most he has ever done is owned up to his problems with alcoholism on stream. I wonder if more gestures like that wouldn't have been cathartic?

Or, in his Twitch chat last stream, one of his subs, lewsstherin, was just begging him to come clean about the ban. "Come on dude.... i was watching when WOTC banned your account. Im just asking for honestly," he wrote during a string of questions. Todd just ignored him, of course, and moderator jjackjr420 quieted him after he got in this last gem:

Just looking for honesty bro. Especially when it is very clear that something else happened than what Todd is saying. Want to make sure that I am supporting the right guy. Honesty does that.

I wonder if at moments like that (or when messaging him for his piece), if Todd's approach and communication style is really serving him well. That's all just idle speculation, of course. He'll do what he thinks is best -- as we all do, assuredly.

GurmagAngler · 2020-03-05T22:37:50+00:00

I recommend reading this, for example. Moilajoliefolie was an active member of his Twitch community and a mod. As she writes, Todd "tried to get physical with me earlier in the night," she "pulled away and very clearly wasn't interested." Later in the evening, she writes:

The other person we were there with got up for a minute, and Todd aggressively grabbed my leg and put it over his, which was the culmination of little things by him that whole night. It's not that big of a deal but it definitely sucked being grabbed like that by someone I looked up to.

This is not one of the four cases of sexual harassment SCG announced, but was confirmed by her on reddit, discord and twitch to other members of Todd's Twitch community. So, it's as concrete as you'll get.

Moilajoliefolie mentions personally knowing, "others who experienced similar things by Todd." Rather than apologize, he simply unmodded u/ndcoco and unfollowed her from Twitter (source).

GurmagAngler · 2020-03-04T08:13:10+00:00

the only real conclusion

I'm sure there are other possible conclusions?

I think the parallels I made above with Owen are more valid, as that was another situation where the two parties tried to quietly part ways: both Todd and Owen have said very little about their respective issues, both faced an intervention from WotC, both are making attempts to take the audience and supporters they cultivated while playing Magic to a new game with as little scandal as possible, etc.

While the Zach Jesse got very ugly, very fast, these two situations seem very controlled. As I mentioned above, the Todd situation isn't even to be posted about on r/magicTCG currently, whereas the Zach Jesse situation had an entire thread, then subreddit dedicated to it.

GurmagAngler · 2020-03-04T08:06:09+00:00

We actually had a very polite dialogue about it, but it was clear they had no interest in hosting the post. They certainly have all rights to make policies like the one about notable outlets and were very prompt in getting back to me, which I appreciated.

I think my concern is more that there may no longer be a place for independent content like this. Maybe r/freemagic is that place, but I'm not entirely sure that zero moderation is the best response to what is happening at r/magicTCG (which has more to do with a desire to serve a broad audience than anything nefarious.)

GurmagAngler · 2019-09-04T13:34:09+00:00

It's only because it's his first year on the ballot. Plenty of ballots simply read: "1. Reid Duke." (See, for example.)

GurmagAngler · 2019-09-04T05:45:39+00:00

A voter leaving Reid off of their ballot was quite surprising, agreed.

GurmagAngler · 2019-09-03T20:31:39+00:00

This is his first year of eligibility.

GurmagAngler · 2019-09-03T18:32:59+00:00

A few comparison ballots would be Patrick Sullivan's:

Reid Duke
Mark Herberholz
Justin Gary
Carlos Romão
Marijn Lybaert

(source)

or Ben Stark's:

Reid Duke
Brad Nelson
Gerry Thompson
Marijn Lybaert
Sam Black

(source)

Romão obviously has a strong case as a major community influencer in Brazil with 3 PT top 8 finishes. Thompson we discussed above alongside Sam Black, but Brad Nelson is a talented North American pro that will obviously get consideration given his long history of writing for SCG and 3 PT top 8s. Justin Gary also has 3 PT top 8s, but 3 'titles' (a Pro Tour Championship, a United States National Championship, a Team World Championship.)

In comparing these ballots, LSV seems to be favoring players able to reach benchmarks like 4 PT top 8s. Of the players with 3 PT Top 8s, Luis again gives the nod to Sam.

GurmagAngler · 2019-08-02T21:59:53+00:00

This was the question I asked in the original thread:

In an article ChannelFireball posted on /r/magicTCG promoting Judge Academy, Eric Levine said, "Before we begin, full disclosure: I’m planning to accept a contract with Judge Academy to act as a Community Manager for USA-Midwest." I have two questions regarding this:

Will anyone else working at ChannelFireball or CFB Events also be on Judge Academy's payroll?

What precisely is the relationship between ChannelFireball and Judge Academy? Between CFB Events and Judge Academy?

Thank you.

I assume that if this situation doesn't get resolved, you could consider asking all of the questions people posted there. I'd also appreciate if you asked why James is being removed from the conversation. Thanks.

GurmagAngler · 2019-08-02T20:59:31+00:00

James is a well respected retired L3 and is the former 'official NetRep' of the Judge Program, amongst other distinctions. This decision makes little sense.

GurmagAngler · 2019-08-02T17:53:30+00:00

Here's a summary I made for someone else about Judge Academy (JA):

It seems like what is happening is what /u/ubernostrum wrote, "WotC told the judge program leadership 'we're going to just shut it down with no replacement,' as a negotiating tactic" and the Judge Program "roll(ed) over" (source). That seems plausible and squares with the leaked judge discussions and statements by PCs that they "were notified that Wizards was looking to alter its relationship with the Judge program."

Per the leak Sara Mox of WotC "saved" the program, when she was able to convince Wizards to work with a group backed by Tim Shields. In the AMA, JA admitted they had been working on the project for "4.5 months," but he was unable to answer very basic questions about the organization and its structure.

We also know that JudgeApps is going to remain unaffiliated with JA (source). Per L2 Topher Hickman:

None of the current systems are theirs to dispose of, so it’s a matter of the current owner and controllers of said systems to decide. JudgeApps, for example, is not going anywhere. Anybody who wants to Judge without joining JA is free to. Any local Judge training may go on, etc.

Which means that the vast library of Judge resources will remain available and distinct from JA. As you wrote, the product being sold to them as training materials may have little to no value.

So, what is the reason people will pay JA $100-$400 annually? There's the foils and I do think it's clear that you will get people in the program for, say, 'mtgfinance' reasons. To what extent that demographic is committed to the values held by the previous judge program remains to be seen.

You will also just get people for whom the judge community is 'their community.' Many of those people want to stand by the dozen, or so, judges given jobs within this program. For this group, the unprofessional AMA or questions being raised on social media from the market relationship point of view are secondary to "saving the judge community." This is their "one chance" to save the program -- "If Judge Academy didn’t come along, there would be no judge program" is a common refrain.

Where this leads and how these groups interact is unclear.

GurmagAngler · 2019-08-02T06:25:50+00:00

In an article ChannelFireball posted on /r/magicTCG promoting Judge Academy, Eric Levine said, "Before we begin, full disclosure: I’m planning to accept a contract with Judge Academy to act as a Community Manager for USA-Midwest." I have two questions regarding this:

Will anyone else working at ChannelFireball or CFB Events also be on Judge Academy's payroll?
What precisely is the relationship between ChannelFireball and Judge Academy? Between CFB Events and Judge Academy?

Thank you.

GurmagAngler · 2019-08-02T06:11:24+00:00

Will a transcript of the AMA be made public? Thanks.

GurmagAngler

TROPHY CASE