Pokemon TCG — Tord Reklev Disqualified From LAIC as Community Debates Slow Play

There seems to be no end to controversial rulings in the Pokemon TCG competitive space. We break down the latest news of Tord Reklev's DQ at the Latin American International Championship

International Pokémon TCG champion Tord Reklev was disqualified from the Latin American International Championship and the community is conflicted.

Reklev tweeted about his disqualification over the weekend, explaining that judges kept issuing him losses for his pace without prior warnings. At one point, Reklev stated that after losing a round in a best-of-three, judges pulled him aside and gave him a match loss. He added that the floor judge “greatly exaggerated” when speaking about the pace to the head judge.

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“I just wish the judges had been more communicative as both my opponents and I saw no issue,” he wrote. “Just getting handed match losses and DQs without any indication that was my pace was ‘not good enough’ is against guidelines for judges in the first place, but as a player I don’t have much power.”

DQd from LAIC pic.twitter.com/RBwOKkqDHo

— Tord Reklev (@TordReklev) November 18, 2023

Immediately, many competitive players and fans came to Reklev’s aid on social media, calling out the judges in Brazil for being biased and making a lot of other suspicious decisions prior. They noted that the deck Reklev was running was bound to be a bit slow based on its playstyle but felt he wasn’t purposefully dragging on his turns at any point.

Our game felt completely fine before the judges pulled you out of it. Game 1 went kind of long but that’s just how Gardy vs Lost Tina goes. At no point in our set did I ever feel like you were taking advantage of the clock. I am sorry this happened to you.

— Jacob Stillwell (@PRG_RaisinToast) November 18, 2023

Spoke to both his day 2 opponents. He won 2-0 into gardy mirror round 1 with 15 min remaining. His round 2 opponent said tord won game 1 and was about to win game 2 by a landslide with 15 min left when some judges came and took him away. Both said he was not playing slow.

— mario 🔜louisville (@marioyobro) November 18, 2023

Meanwhile, however, some Pokémon players — including some that have played against Reklev at tournaments before — noted that the top player does have the ability to manipulate how time is used during his games. This technique was actually highlighted in an article written by permabanned player Jacob “Jay” Lesage, who called the pace manipulation done by top players “an open secret” among the best of the best competitors.

From my personal experience you are able to drastically change your pace of play in order to take advantage of time, which is a grey area in the Pokémon TCG. Personally I dislike it, don’t know if it was the case, but I have seen you slowplay, and I think it should be punished.

— Pedro Pertusi 🇧🇷 (@PedroPertusi) November 18, 2023

Imagine slow playing finally catching up to you

— Tyler Mathews (@urtzuub) November 18, 2023

As the drama continued to pick up, some Pokémon pros stood up for the judges at the LAIC, stating that there was a sense of xenophobia in the way that ‘mon competitors were targeting this specific event.

“Events are run extremely well everywhere, and just like everything life, things aren’t without flaws. Flaws that are not exclusive to LATAM and also they are not deterrents to 99% of everyone attending having a great time and playing fairly,” said top pro player Pablo “Tablemon” Meza.

The amount of xenophobia and racism towards LATAM this weekend from the community is incredibly disappointing. All stemming from incredibly ignorance too.

— Tablemon (@tablemon) November 19, 2023

Since the disqualification, Reklev has shared the deck he used at LAIC and has urged the community “not to spread hate.”