Renton, WA:
An ex-Wizards of the Coast employee (Digital Games division), who wishes to remain anonymous, released the following exclusive statement to MTG Lampoon:
During my time at Wizards of the Coast, I was part of a team expressly tasked with ensuring that certain matches were determined by pre-programmed patterns, not fair play. We called it the “Doom Switch” and programmed it to activate in one of two ways. First, if a player had not visited the Store to purchase cards for a certain period of time, there was a percentage chance their account would automatically be Doom Switched. Second, any player the programmers or higher-ups wished to target with a Doom Switch could be targetted.
Once the Doom Switch is turned on, it doesn’t matter how good a player’s deck is or how perfectly crafted their mana base, that player will not receive a reasonable ratio of spells to lands during the course of a game or match.
We followed up with the whistleblower to try and learn more about why the shuffler was being rigged and why he chose to come forward now.
The thing you’ve gotta understand about the people who run MODO is that they like to play God. At first they believed the only way they would be successful was to have reasonable prize support and a random shuffler, but as time went on they eviscerated prize support and saw revenue continue to grow. They were receiving emails alleging shuffler rigging early and often in the early days of the program, so when someone proposed that they just go ahead and rig it to piss off certain customers they didn’t care for, no one batted an eye.
Wizards of the Coast declined to formally comment when we contacted them, other than to say that the allegations are “totally false.” Players we spoke to aren’t so sure. “I’ve been saying it for years, it just isn’t random,” said Brad “GraveB0rnIdentity” Stockley, 24, of New Brunswick, NJ. “The first time it happens you just assume you’re ‘running bad,’ but the second time, the third time, the fourth, you’ve got reason to believe something’s not right. I’ll be seeking a refund for past events, and if Wizards denies the story, I’m cancelling my account.”
Jernej Štrumbelj
June 29, 2011
We all know Brad won’t cancel his account because we are all addicts.
blehster
October 7, 2011
What a crock of shit
Dude’s just mad he got his ass fired, then said the one thing EVERYBODY would think of to say to cause some controversy.
NacatlFleetfoot
October 9, 2011
Yeah, load of crap. Why would would Wizards want to even take the chance of doing something like this, have it leaked like so, and then losing all their business or be sued?
Jamo Champerlin
February 25, 2012
Clearly nonsense.
jim
April 1, 2012
i feel he is telling the truth everything he sadi happens to me i am literally doom switched
alex
June 19, 2012
it is proven that magic online caters to new players. that is why new players often have beginner’s luck, and win consistantly. they believe they are good players and invest in the site, then they dont open any good rares and get terrible draws constantly. on the other hand, if you win a lot because you are a good player, you will get doom switched to let the newbies win, therefore spending more money. there you go. magic online is rigged, and only cares about helping noobies.
james
January 3, 2013
This is 100% accurate, when i started a few months ago I was opening mythics right and left and winning alot of games. Since then I open .05 cent rares and when I draft a good deck I get the doom switch. If ever I open decent rares, it was after buying tickets at the store and I get doomed switched again shortly after a semi good run. When u have 18 out of 40 cards in your deck lands and always get mana screwed or flooded, u know u are being targeted.
SOMEBODY
January 18, 2013
MTGO IS A FAKE ASS SITE_ WITH FAKE ASS PEOPLE_ I SWEAR ON A STACK OF BIBLES I WISH I COULD MEET ONE OF THE ORC’s ID SMASH THEIR FUCKIN FACES IN WITH A HAMMER, PISS IN THEIR MOUTH, SHOVE A MAGIC CARD UP THEIR CUNT, DRAG THEM INTO THE FIELD AND BURY THEIR FAGGIT ASS>
Mike
January 26, 2013
It is obviously not random or they would just let it be independently audited just like all of the poker sites have been after they found basically none of them were random back in the early 2000’s. The fact they have never been audited is a complete and utter joke. Would you go to a poker site that wasn’t? Then why would you play on another site that is basically also gambling that isn’t?
João
August 24, 2013
This is all true. I am one of the best players and yet sometimes I 2-2 or worse many Dailies in a row because of screw/flood. Also some players have a Doom Switch reverse on. They get many times good draws and their opps get bad draws many times. Bukatov is such an exemple, He might have won the mtgo championship despite his lack of skill but when he went to play live he failed with many misplays in the player of the year tournament.
ModernFrittata
August 6, 2014
Sadly and despite that this has been published on a satire website, everything is true. I have been playing MTGO since 2006 under different accounts. If you curse a bit too much or you berate other players, after a certain number of incidents your account will be put on the so called “doomswitch”. I have been going through this numerous times and the best way to deal with it is to get a new account possibly registered on the name of a family member with different address or some fake account. The reverse switch is also true. WotC love streamers and they need certain player entertaining characters to attract more crowd and to promote the game. These players get better draws and perform much better in events, qualifying for higher events like the MOCS Championships, even if they make mistakes (like prolepsis or numot). This is something that could never be accomplished by common players.
CHCID
March 11, 2016
Even if this was true it would never be admitted to because it would lead to a huge lawsuit.
Will Guess
May 7, 2017
this is true, all of its true and i hope somone someday audits them.
socialcontractlawyer
January 22, 2020
this is definitely true
mtgo employees seem to monitor games and decide who draws what,
in addition to the algorithms they use to automatically skew games
for example, my 5+ land draws and 2- land draws are 250%+ more frequent than they should be over 300+ games
it’s just impossible, if the game had a million players all playing that much (it doesn’t) you wouldn’t expect one of them to have that luck
not to mention all the other crazily overrepresented results that at much harder to track objectively
here a little life hack – people like Mark Rosewater – jews – …everything they touch goes bad. They’re evil. Everything they’re involved with is a ploy to destroy everyone who isn’t a jew.
If you see a jew in charge of something, you know the whole operation is pure evil on every level.