Er Della TCG copied barczek's free guide and sold it for $12: banned from Metafy

by Riccardo Emanuele Eustor·Riftbound Zone

📸 In the image above, the same «Mulligans» section in both guides: on the left the free original by barczek, on the right the copy sold for $12; in the middle, Er Della TCG. Guide screenshots published by @barczeek on X.

On June 9 the international Riftbound community stopped to discuss a topic that sooner or later touches every competitive scene: content plagiarism. barczek, a Polish player who made Top 8 at the Lille Regional Qualifier and the author of widely read guides, publicly showed that a Master Yi guide sold for 12 dollars by the Italian creator Er Della TCG reproduced his free Set 2 guide word for word. The author of the copy admitted everything within hours, took the guide down and apologised. And if you paid for it, there is a way to not lose out.

Source: public post by @barczeek on X, June 9, 2026 (over 25,000 views), with screenshots of the two guides, plus the public replies in the thread. Quotes are lightly edited for length.

The caseWhat happened

In April barczek published the «Master Yi Lille Top8 Set 2 Guide»: a complete guide — recommended decklist, battlefield choices, mulligans, game plans, matchups — available to everyone for free. And it is still up on Metafy, free for everyone. In early June a «Master Yi Definitive Guide» signed Er Della TCG appeared, updated to Set 3 and sold for 12 dollars. The problem: entire sections were identical to the original, with the same structure, the same paragraphs and the same sentences. What changed were mostly the card names, adapted to the new set — Guardian Angel becomes Zhonya, Trinity Force becomes Doran's Blade — and the tournament references (from Lille to Bologna).

📖 Read barczek's original guide for free

On June 9 barczek went public: «Plagiarism is something that I have always taken very seriously. What sucks the most here is that members of the community paid this person $12 to see my FREE Set 2 guide».

The evidenceThe two guides side by side

The screenshots published by barczek place the «Mulligans» section of the two guides side by side. The text matches line by line — even the sidebar table of contents has the same entries in the same order.

Update, July 15 — After this article was published, Er Della TCG wrote to me disputing one point: he claims he took just one paragraph from barczek's guide, and that calling the guide copied is therefore false. So I wrote to barczek asking for further evidence, and he provided me with previously unpublished screenshots of two more sections, published here for the first time: the matchup and play pattern chapters are also identical word for word — here even the card names stayed the same. The «Mulligans» section was not an isolated case. On the left the free original, on the right the copy sold for $12.

The responseImmediate admission and apology

To his credit, Er Della TCG did not hide. His public reply under barczek's post came the same day: «In the guide I specified at the beginning that it was inspired; I should have specified more and you are right. As soon as it was pointed out to me I immediately removed the guide. I am sorry for what happened and I really have no excuses».

barczek accepted the apology, while putting that premise into perspective: «I think "inspired" carries way more weight than it should here. But I am glad you are taking responsibility for your actions — respect». The Italian community also clearly distanced itself from what happened; barczek's closing note, though, was pure class: «it sucks to have bad apples, but it does not mean anything in terms of the community at large».

The decisionEr11deSettembre's position

The case had consequences in Italy as well, albeit a month later: the story blew up in the international community but had gone almost unnoticed here, and I only became aware of it in recent days. Today, July 14, I removed Er Della TCG from the community: the decision was mine — Er11deSettembre, owner of Riftbound Zone and author of this article. It is a community built on trust and respect for other people's work: I cannot give visibility to someone who creates Riftbound content this way, nor allow behaviour like this to be associated with the project in any way. The decision is final.

When I reached out before publishing, he did not dispute the facts and claimed to have settled the matter privately with barczek. Metafy, the platform where the guides are sold, did not stand by either: CEO Josh Fabian stepped into the thread publicly — «Unacceptable. Addressing this now» — and Er Della TCG has been banned from the platform.

Unacceptable. Addressing this now.

— Cruecial (@JoshFabian) June 9, 2026

The lineInspiration or plagiarism?

The case sparked a useful discussion for anyone creating content: where does inspiration end and plagiarism begin? Borrowing the structure of a good guide — which sections to include, how to organise matchups — is normal and even encouraged. In the thread, creator siri, author of a free Vi guide, told it well: she openly took inspiration from the format of barczek's guide so as not to forget crucial sections, while writing every word herself. And barczek himself confirmed: «That's an awesome thing to do when you start creating content — I do it too».

Copying the text, changing a couple of card names and putting a price tag on it is a different thing. The lesson is simple: crediting your sources costs nothing, and in a community as small and passionate as Riftbound's, trust is the only currency that really matters.

Source: public thread by @barczeek on X (June 9, 2026). Guide screenshots: @barczeek. barczek's guides are on Metafy.