I get this frequently, but it happens during the match. At anytime, during my turn or theirs, with and without lag or any performance issues the game will 'crash' to title screen with error message in an instant. I get the same exact punishment as outlined in the OP. It has happened in the past not ever launching the match, but recently it's only anytime after initial deal of starting hand. I play on Xbox NA.

Two most occurring messages are the "Unexpected internal error" apology and the "unable to connect to game server......check that you have a valid network connection" disconnected from server alert. I can usually get right back into the game without doing anything but pressing A to start, and as soon as seeing a little more than 8 minutes still to go from the now named Tales of Tribute deserter penalty countdown. Kinda fishy seeing as the penalty is 10 minutes, and in less than 120 seconds I'm "disconnected" and "reconnected" back into full swing without doing anything to cause or fix it. I know for fact I don't ever actually lose connection in the first place just based on the screen it "crashes" to, making the error message a direct slap in the face insult to go with the penalty compounded with the maximum loss of rank points.

The unexpected error and prompt to contact support is acknowledgement of this being a known issue, imo. However still comes with the penalty and points loss anyway, effectively punishing you without cause or explanation as to why you were picked to be screwed, and how to prevent it from occurring again.