I received a ban from competitive One Piece events in April 2025 for playing under a different account at a store event in San Antonio. My friend got into the event that I was waitlisted for but he ended up not being able to play and asked if I wanted to play on his account to skip the potential waitlist and I naively and regrettably said yes. I got reported for doing so after the event. and the penalty was a permanent, no-appeal ban. I fully accept the punishment of my wrongdoing, but have reached out in hopes of getting the ban overturned after some time or working on a path to reinstatement. Sadly despite my efforts, there has been little to no communication on the possibility. Many community members have advocated on my behalf, submitting contact forms to organizers about the situation and asking them to reconsider. They stated that despite the ban, I am still heavily involved in the OPTCG community. I regularly attend events, teach new players, and create content (youtube videos, guides, a OPTCG podcast) that supports the continued growth of the competitive scene, but they all have also been met with no response. You may ask, “Drago, didn’t you play at Nats 1 and Miami?” I did! Here's the story on that. I kept receiving notifications about using my Nationals invite, so I assumed I’d either been unbanned or that the ban had never been fully entered into the system. Since BOP had not responded to my emails since April, I reached out to Cardass instead. The first screenshot shows the response I received. After that, I attended Nationals and finished Top 64 without any issues about my eligibility. I went on to compete in online Regionals, finished Top 4 in Miami, and still no concerns were brought to my attention. Then, on the Friday before the Fort Worth Regional in December, they finally contacted me. They told me that I was still banned, and that the ban had not been properly applied due to an administrative error. At that point, I had already traveled there for the event and booked my accommodations. To clarify, I never had any intention of trying to circumvent my ban from official One Piece competitive events but the timing and notices about Nationals led me to believe I was in the clear. It's been an awesome ride competing in OPTCG, and I am so grateful for the friends I’ve made around the globe and the places I got to visit. I will never fully disappear because I love One Piece and I LOVE OPTCG, but I simply can’t hide this secret forever. I am beyond grateful I was given permission by @PlayTCGOfficial to attend Red Bull Double Don Finals as a spectator to have the chance to watch all the amazing friends I've made in the scene play and feel the energy of a competitive event that I miss so dearly. Hopefully I can go to future events as a spectator only so I can support my friends and see the game I've come to love so much. I made a video with more specifics and will link it below. I want to end off by saying that I 100% take accountability for the mistake I made and understand the responsibility that Bandai / BOP / Play has in maintaining integrity.