Holy crap!

I just think that UDE needs to understand that their local tournament scene at shops isnon-existant. If our TO/Judge doesn't play we have 7 players. Thats it. That means someones getting a bye (woohoo for hobby league byes) Their game is struggling so hard at a local level that this stuff needs to be changed. The last thing you want to do is punishing someone for trying to promote the game in the store. I think honestly a change in policy documents (at least for Hobby League) is necessary.

My 2 cents.

There are ways of bringing up the issues of "We only have 7 players in our drafts; I'd like to be able to sanction them but I also want to be able to be the 8th player as well; Here's what I suggest for changing the system to accommodate this..." Alex took the short cut (like many of us would in his situation) and broke the rules. It's a shame how things turned out, but choices have consequences and based on the choices made, there wasn't really a way to get away from the consequences.

I'd just like to once again applaud you for your poise and openness in handling this situation.

I don't completely agree with your opinion - we all have our bias, and ours conflicts in this matter ;) - but I think you handle yourself brilliantly. Thank you for setting an example, even 'on the gallows', so to speak.

People break the rules in this game all the time. Even when UDE is aware of it some are punished, some are not. I have seen stuff that is just as bad, but no one was punished for it. I too have lost a lot of faith in this game and I am a huge fan. I have tried to revive the game in my area but I think too much faith has been lost here. I hope things get better but currently without a source for product locally I am not sure.