My name is Jared Sylva and I am both the Events Manager for Star City Games and a Level 3 Magic Judge.There have been concerns that Star City Games has not taken action independent of the DCI regarding the allegations involving Alex Bertoncini. I would like to issue this formal statement to clarify our policies regarding these matters.
Star City Games has a policy of deferring to the DCI for all investigations resulting from disqualifications or other tournament related incidents at our events and we apply this policy equally for all players. We ensure that our Head Judges at all Star City Games Events are provided the resources necessary to submit any investigations resulting from our events to the DCI in an expedient manner. Additionally, we have gone out of our way to provide the DCI with any relevant evidence to aid them in ongoing investigations.
The reasoning behind our policy of deferring to the DCI is that Magic: the Gathering Organized Play already has an official channel for addressing infractions of this kind. It would be disrespectful and unnecessary for us to supplant this process – we have full faith in Wizards of the Coast and the DCI to reach an appropriate decision on a case-by-case basis. Additionally, although we feel that our judgment is impartial, we recognize that any independent suspensions issued by Star City Games could be viewed as tainted because of our direct involvement in the affected events. While I can empathize with the desire for swift action, the process that is in place is designed to provide a fair, reasoned, and impartial response to illegal actions taken during DCI sanctioned events.
Please note that there are other, non-tournament actions for which Star City Games does remove players from our events. These include, but are not limited to, theft, aggressive or disruptive behavior, and conducting illegal activities on-site. The important distinction between these actions and the allegations against Alex is that the actions that we independently act upon do not involve a person’s conduct within a DCI Sanctioned match. These additional actions can be committed by attendees who are not enrolled in any event, which removes them from the jurisdiction of the DCI and places them squarely as the responsibility of the Tournament Organizer.
We have been cooperating with the DCI since an investigation was opened regarding Alex Bertoncini, and we have been informed that this investigation will be resolved soon. We fully support the DCI in their efforts on this matter, and will adhere to any decision they may reach at the conclusion of their investigation.