Last night, Matthew Foulkes announced on Twitter that he had been suspended for 18 months by the DCI for stealing a Flooded Strand promo.
https://twitter.com/matthewfoulkes/status/1039984182037032963?s=20
The event in question took place at English Nationals in August. According to Foulkes, no one had collected his decklist before Round 1, and when he went to go turn it in, the judge asked if he had received his promo. Foulkes lied and said no, was caught, and disqualified from the event.
Usually, an infraction like trying to steal a promo and lying to a judge wouldn’t become the talk of the international Magic community. Unfortunately for Foulkes, his DQ and subsequent tweet publicizing the incident came during a week where cheating was the hot topic.
It just so happened that that very same weekend, notorious cheater Alex Bertoncini Top 8’d Grand Prix Los Angeles, who got booed during the Top 8 announcement. And on top of that, Foulkes’s DQ came during one of the most contentious Pro Tour Hall of Fame balloting periods in history, in which many well-respected pros launched accusations of cheating at other well-respected pros, like Sam Black accusing Brad Nelson of stalling and a whole bunch of American pros accusing Lee Shi Tian of intentionally missing his own Chalice of the Void triggers.
18 months is the standard punishment for a player’s first major violation. Foulkes reacted to his ban by saying that Magic had become less fun and he had been thinking about stepping away from the game anyway.