i was in a comfortable spot in the first regional i played earlier this year. i was fairly new to Netrunner, having only played for ~5 months, and i really wanted to make the cut. i considered asking my opponent for a split, but i didn’t know how he’d take that. i didn’t know that the majority of players near the top (it’s at least true in America) don’t care about the rules regarding intentional splitting, and if they don’t want to, they’ll just say they don’t. i was concerned he might report me to the judge. i knew he was a very good player, and i thought there was a realistic chance he could sweep me and i’d be on the bubble for making top 8
next to me (one table below), my friend, audibly enough that i could tell, asked his opponent to split. his opponent agreed. the guy in first place was already ahead of me and guaranteed a spot, so that’s one in the cut. the two next to me have split, so that’s three. we’re comparing this to the worst case scenario (i’m swept), so that’s four. i now know, for certain, that if two of the other top tables have agreed to intentionally split (and i still don’t know if they did), i will miss the cut if i’m swept. it’s very clear that if i want to get a guaranteed regional playmat (a real accomplishment for me at the time, having been new to the game), a split is in my interests, but as i mentioned earlier, i was reluctant to risk asking my opponent
so, we play the games, and i win both. i’m now 2nd seed overall and my opponent barely missed the cut. he explained to me after, that when he mentioned we would both probably make the cut if we both won one game, he was implying he’d like to split, but of course, i misinterpreted this being in the wrong frame of mind
my opponent missed the cut that day because he did not take a split we know i would have agreed to. at least one table of players who were lower on prestige/SoS than he agreed to intentionally split, which put both of them above him. i know one table did, but i only really know because it’s very uncommon to report players for colluding. if the community were to “crack down” on it, they’d just split in a more concealed manner. in this situation, my opponent would have been rewarded for doing worse in the tournament. had he played either of the two players one table below us (or potentially others that agreed to split below them), he’d have made the cut
there is no way to police this rule, and there is MORE injustice when only some people are able to intentionally split. for every player to be on equal footing, we have to assume we are all able to ignore the rule (possible), or we all have to abide by it (impossible). i’ve never taken a split at an official FFG event (i took one in the GLC finals where i finished 1st seed anyway), but if i’m faced with another situation like i was at the aforementioned regional, i will take the opportunity to break the rules. i hope everyone else does the same