I own a small FLGS, i mean small. 1 employee, me. Sometimes my wife or son watch the places for me for a few hours. Small town too, <9,000 population.
I have had a player coming into the shop for about a year now, he was new to magic. He is one of those WAAC (Win At All Costs) players. He has recently decided he is no longer going to buy magic cards, only print them. A while back he asked me about doing this. I explained the difference between a proxy (when you own a card, but play with a fake because the card is valuable, or possibly damaged) and a counterfeit (you do not own the card, and play with a fake). It is against Wizards' rules for WPN/Play stores for us to allow counterfeit cards for any sanctioned event.
Tonight was my shop's first night hosting the new Two-Headed Giant Commander format. I was playing with a friend vs this guy and another customer. This guy was sitting diagonally from me (and my eyesight is not great) so i could not really see his cards. I cast something that allowed me to destroy up to two artifacts, so i was looking at his cards to decide what to destroy, when i realized every single card he had out was a fake.
When I kicked him out, he did the typical "but i buy a soda every week from you!" BFD, I make 50¢ off those, 75¢ if i get them on sale,
In almost 7 years of being open i have kicked out 3 players, and banned 2. This guy being the second ban, the first one shit himself and ruined a chair.
Was this Two-Headed Giant night a DCI-sanctioned event?
No, because DCI went away fully in '22. But it was an official WOTC Play event, the system that replaced DCI.
Out of curiosity, I assume official WOTC play events mandate authentic cards the same way?
Yes. The software we use to record events changed, and DCI numbers went away replaced with Wizards accounts. Everything else is largely the same.