Potential Abuses with Agents

[zarathustra]

I've noticed two potential abuses of the fact that agents are played face-down. Not sure what to do about them, especially the 2nd one. The 1st can be checked, I think.

(1) I want to get cards out of my hand, but I have no playable hazards. So I put a number of cards -- resources, spare avatars, hazards, whatever -- face down and say "agent". I never reveal them, so my opponent never finds out. I think this is cheating, and it could even be caught if for some crazy reason a player used Here is a Snake!, but that doesn't seem a sufficient check. After all, if I see three agents hit the table, I'm pretty much assuming that one of them is Baduila, so the seemingly harmless bluff / cheat, to draw cards can have additional effects on the game.

(2) I'm playing as a FW, and so I have both the hero and the minion version of sites in my site deck. My agents, of course, have to use hero sites, and I cannot use those sites if the minion version is in play or in my discard pile. Now, if I reveal the agent and show him moving to a site that I actually have on the table in the alternate alignment, say, Gladden Fields, there's no problem. It's obvious that the movement is illegal. But what if I go to the minion gladden fields to get a Regiment, move baduila to the hero fields, move away from the minion gladden fields, continue to run baduila around, and eventually reveal baduila to force my opponent home? Maybe he remembers that I tapped and discarded the minion gladden fields. Well, good, but maybe he doesn't. Also, maybe I never tapped it, or I've already exhausted, so that at this point I can in fact point to the minion version in my site deck. Again, very hard to say I've cheated.

The solution to (1), which a number of people have pointed out in the past, is to require that all unrevealed agents be revealed at the end of the game. Or, in a less paranoid vein, a player may request that the tournament director look at unrevealed agents at the end of the game. Either should suffice.

The solution to (1), though is harder. You cannot be required to show that you have the minion version in your site deck as well, since then your opponent will know what site you're sending the agent to, and from that, probably also which agent it is. So what is there to do? I think we basically just have to go on trust this time....

[Manuel]

Some other players has pointed this to me during tourneys.

The solution to (1) is quite clear IMO. If you feel you're opponent is cheating, call a judge.

I'm afraid there's no solution for (2). We'll just have to go and trust people. However, sometimes there will be players that won't know that they can use the minion version of a site with a company and the hero version with an agent, and will cheat unintentionally...

[zarathustra]

If a player suspects that his opponent is playing cards face down as agents, but that these cards are not actually agents, he may ask the judge to check his opponent's purported agents

Although it may sometimes be possible for a fallen-wizard player to get away with using both the hero and the minion version of a site -- hero for an agent, minion for a company -- this is considered illegal. There is no game mechanic which makes such illegal play obvious, and no easy way to check that cheating has not occurred, so we leave it to the honor of fallen-wizard players around the world to refrain from this sort of behavior.

[miguel]

Do we really need a ruling on these? I mean, obviously a player can ask the judge to check his opponent's cards any time he feels there might be foul play, even in situation (2).

[tharasix]

Yeah, I see no reason to make a ruling on either of these. They're both cheating, and judges can be involved if necessary.

[zarathustra]

OK, in that case, I guess this is done.