The recently concluded CosXPop Event this March 2, 2024 sparked controversy after a known Vanquished Soul player was caught in the video during grand finals adding a "mystery card" from the top of his deck to his hand cards, on which he is not supposed to.

Although the game had already concluded, and game cannot be recalled anymore, players are showing off their rage towards the result of the event due to the said player winning as champion.

Referred to as "John Lloyd", this is a terminology used by Yu-Gi-Oh! OCG players from the Philippines, meaning "lowkey cheater" or "cheating", "magician", or sometimes being referenced to "locking the opponent" out of something.

Originally posted in Malinis! - Online Rambulan, a private Yu-Gi-Oh! group, the post gathered more than 80+ reacts and over 60 comments, and is still increasing.

The cropped video was posted by a concerned duelist (in which we hide the name and profile picture for privacy) with the caption

"Heto po ba yung destiny draw?

Dangal or 4 packs, 1 deck box, 1 playmat?"

which means "Is this the destiny draw? Honor or 4 packs, 1 Deckbox, and 1 Playmat?" in which he was pertaining to sacrificing his "honor" or "dangal" for such prize.

In picture: The player showing the "victory card" in the last part of the video, being edited to be a meme

Not Surprising Turn of Events

Although these things might be controversial to most players, these scenarios, are in fact, quite normal in competitive scene.

Often referred to as "misplays", in which players sometimes forget the effects, resolve the effects wrong, or accidentally doing illegal moves which can result to game state being "irreparable". These things, whether on cam or not, happens to players, and in the heat of the duel, things are usually forgotten, and players cannot maintain the prior game state due to pressure, combos, and sometimes fatigue. As Ph players play the game with Japanese card texts, most of the time, if not, players often omit some card effects, restrictions, or even misread them on some extent.

A Lesson to Learn

The video was originally posted by MJ Anthony Agura, a concerned duelist from Mindanao. MeiOCG team reached out to him and asked about his thoughts regarding posting of the clip, and according to him, and he quote: "...things like misplays are okay, I had already seen them during the semis of the tournament, they are pretty normal during events, but upon seeing the last video, from which I jumped onto, to see what would be the winning deck, as I forwarded the clip, I suddenly noticed a weird behavior, and so I decided to replay, from that point I realized, 'wait.. that's a a John Lloyd ah!'"

From this part of the video, he noticed how the Vanquished Soul player allegedly added a card that he accidentally pushed from the top of his deck via his long sleeves, to his hand, after viewing it around twice.

He added, "Even if the Tenpai duelist won't stood a chance with that game, with you being caught doing that action with a proof, it would be a shame winning and it would just tarnish your own reputation".

On the interview, he also added that the player "probably" misplayed intentionally, as when he was trying to resolve the effect of Vanquished Soul Caesar Valius, he showed 2 fire monsters, which is actually different from what its original effect was.

Ultimately, his only reason for posting the said video is to make players aware of the things similar to this situation, in order for them to be more vigilant and responsible in resolving their card effects.

In picture: A meme depicting the effect of Vanquished Soul Caesar Valius

Courtesy: Huswa Curiano

A Legendary Duelist

MJ was praised by the community after posting the video, and gathered much support, for standing up to condemn such actions. Although players have mixed reactions, most are supporting his motive while others are wondering whether he had a beef with the player he posted. He clarified that he does not have anything, nor bad intentions in posting the clip, but rather posted it to spread awareness.

via: MJ Agura

Ultimately, according to him his intentions are pure: to spread awareness and to make sure these things will be resolved in the future.

Bringing The Community Together

On the very positive side, this issue sparked the community to come together and have a great time, which seem to be a real battle for the "ultimate memer". Shown below are some of the memes they posted:

courtesy: Malinis! - Online Rambulan

**CosXPop Sparks Controversy amidst "John Lloyd" Allegations during Finals**