Magic the Gathering!

Magic the Gathering!: How to Cheat

aloehart:

zombiecreaturetoken:

For those who are interested, here is an article by Michael Flores about the effectiveness of different kinds of shuffling and how certain kinds of shuffling can be used to stack one’s deck. Flores advises players to avoid these kinds of shuffling…

To be honest I don’t really see why it matters. When the deck is offered up to cut, it is allowed for you to shuffle the deck. Pick it up and shuffle the cards yourself. Problem solved. If anything, you just killed their “perfect stack”

The reason it matters is because it is a rule. When you present your deck, you are presenting it as perfectly random. It’s basically signing a contract saying “I have done nothing to stack this deck.” If someone sees another stacking their deck and then they offer it for cutting (cutting isn’t good, but it isn’t generally enforced is beyond me), I am within my rights to call a Judge for Insufficient Randomization/Cheating.

Here’s the ruling from the Tournament Rules, section 3.9:

Decks must be randomized at the start of every game and whenever an instruction requires it. Randomization is defined as bringing the deck to a state where no player can have any information regarding the order or position of cards in any portion of the deck. Pile shuffling alone is not sufficiently random.

Once the deck is randomized, it must be presented to an opponent. By this action, players state that their decks are legal and randomized. The opponent may then shuffle it additionally. Cards and sleeves must not be in danger of being damaged during this process. If the opponent does not believe the player made a reasonable effort to randomize his or her deck, the opponent must notify a judge. Players may request to have a judge shuffle their cards rather than the opponent; this request will be honored only at a judge’s discretion.

If a player has had the opportunity to see any of the card faces of the deck being shuffled, the deck is no longer considered randomized and must be randomized again.

At Competitive and Professional REL tournaments, players are required to shuffle their opponents’ decks after their owners have shuffled them. The Head Judge can require this at Regular REL tournaments as well.

Source: zombiecreaturetoken