Pokemon TCG player disqualified from tournament and loses $3K in “warpgate” scandal

A Pokemon TCG player was disqualified from the Milwaukee Regional Championships after a huge scandal involving “warped” cards that saw him miss out on top 8 and at least $3,000.

The Milwaukee Regional Championships of the 2026 Championship Series Events took place earlier in October, with Jackson Ford taking the crown, but an incident before Top 8 is rocking the community.

On October 12, Luke Smith found himself in a Pokemon version of the NFL’s infamous ‘Deflategate’ scandal after the player’s cards were deemed to be “warped,” with tournament officials believing he was cheating.

However, the situation has resulted in quite a lot of controversy over how judges handled the situation.

Pokemon TCG gets its own ‘Deflategate’ scandal

According to Luke’s brother, Hunter Smith, on the first day of the tournament, Luke was issued a warning for “four visible imprints of the card through the sleeves, under the right lighting.”

Although the cards weren’t of any significance, Luke wanted to fight the warning, but a judge assured him there was no way to avoid it, so he moved on and accepted it.

However, the next day, he was disqualified after two different cards in his deck were marked or warped despite no prior warning being issued for those cards.

“During the initial deck check, the judges never brought up anything about the Fezandipiti or Squawkabilly and only gave a warning on sleeves,” he said.

Furthermore, Hunter believes that, because the cards are holos, they can warp more easily and suggested that if the judges look at everyone’s decks, they’d find warped holos.

As reported by content creator and player Dan Squared, as a top 8 finisher, Luke had already earned $3,000, but because of the DQ, he not only lost that money, but the chance to win $10,000 if he won the whole event.

Dan would later share a video of the shape of the card, raising more questions about the validity of the disqualification.

“Stuff like this makes me so happy to be a VGC player,” one commented.

“Judges are out of hand like sports officials that make games about them instead of the competition. Hold them accountable for every decision they make and start taking away credentials,” another blasted.