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Competitive REL » Post: Seeing cards when the opponent shuffles his deck

Seeing cards when the opponent shuffles his deck

Nov. 28, 2013 07:03:54 AM

Toby Hazes
Judge (Level 2 (Judge Academy))

BeNeLux

Seeing cards when the opponent shuffles his deck

If Nagisa accidentally sees the bottom card of Akio's deck while he shuffles it and thus knows that card's position when the deck is presented to her, what is and isn't she allowed to do?

Nov. 28, 2013 04:36:33 PM

Alex Zhed
Judge (Uncertified)

Russia and Russian-speaking countries

Seeing cards when the opponent shuffles his deck

She must shuffle the deck per MTR 3.9, and if she doesn't, she clearly risks to be DQed for Cheating, as she's a) gaining advantage and b) doing something illegal. Also, if she does shuffle, but tries to control where that ‘bottom card’ would be after she finishes, it's also Cheating, however, it's pretty hard to notice.
If I were NAP, I'd either ask AP to shuffle a bit more because I've accidentally seen the bottom card, or shuffle AP's deck a lot more throughly to be sure that I can't tell now where that card is.

Nov. 28, 2013 04:42:51 PM

Alexis Hunt
Judge (Uncertified)

Canada - Eastern Provinces

Seeing cards when the opponent shuffles his deck

She's required to call a judge or point it out to her opponent. A deck is not considered shuffled if any of its cards were visible to any player, so Akio presenting the deck was illegal. Nagisa has noticed an error committed in the match, and therefore must draw attention to it either by indicating to her opponent that she saw the bottom card, or by calling a judge.

Nov. 28, 2013 05:11:10 PM

Stefano Ferrari
Italy and Malta

Seeing cards when the opponent shuffles his deck

Even after shuffling again, can a LEC Warning be issued to Nagisa?
I had this issue at a PTQ while I was going to deck check a random table, and a LEC Warning was issued.

As Alex hints, however, I would also consider that (even upon Warning and reshuffling) that player may have a little knowledge of what kind of cards the opponent is playing, and this could be a little adavantage if we're having this issue when starting Game 1. That could possibly move things to a DQ for cheating, but it's a long shot without an investigation.

Nov. 28, 2013 05:52:16 PM

Joshua Feingold
Judge (Uncertified)

USA - Midatlantic

Seeing cards when the opponent shuffles his deck

In what sense has this player not Looked at Extra Cards? How would you justify not giving this warning just because the player has since shuffled more?

Nov. 28, 2013 05:55:23 PM

Sam Sherman
Judge (Uncertified)

USA - Pacific West

Seeing cards when the opponent shuffles his deck

well, if this was Looking at Extra Cards, it would be a good idea to always
show your opponent a card from your deck when you shuffle, then call a
judge and have them get a warning. do this 3 times in a match and it's a
free match win. seems like a pretty stupid system if it works like that, eh?

Nov. 28, 2013 06:00:40 PM

Gareth Tanner
Judge (Level 2 (UK Magic Officials))

United Kingdom, Ireland, and South Africa

Seeing cards when the opponent shuffles his deck

Who has done something wrong? Akio for showing their opponent cards or Nagisa for being shown cards?

Nov. 28, 2013 06:00:48 PM

Chris Nowak
Judge (Level 2 (Judge Academy))

USA - Midatlantic

Seeing cards when the opponent shuffles his deck

Does it make sense to get a GPE before the game has actually started? This doesn't feel like an LEC to me.

This looks like the definition of TE-Insufficient Shuffling: “A deck is not shuffled if the judge believes a player could know the position or distribution of one or more cards in his or her deck.”

Nov. 28, 2013 06:03:01 PM

Joshua Feingold
Judge (Uncertified)

USA - Midatlantic

Seeing cards when the opponent shuffles his deck

I had some antecedent confusion there. If your opponent shows you his deck, that's not LEC. And you don't have to say anything. You can't go out of your way to see his deck, but if he shows it to you, that is not your problem.

I had initially read this as seeing a card accidentally while I shuffle my opponent's deck.

Nov. 28, 2013 07:00:46 PM

Niki Lin
Judge (Uncertified)

BeNeLux

Seeing cards when the opponent shuffles his deck

Well the rules about presenting a deck say that neither player can know any order in any part of the deck. Since (because of an accident) you saw the bottom card as it gets presented to you, you technically know too much. When the opponent presents his deck at that point, the MTR even states that you should call a judge. (This probably to prevent remarks like: “Sorry man, but I saw your bottom card accidently, you will have to reshuffle”, that could lead to an agitated opponent himself calling a judge for L@EC upon his opponent)

I would give Akio a warning (TE - Insufficient Shuffling), simply to remind her that it's her responsibility to shuffle “better”, without revealing her cards. If we wouldn't give a warning to Akio, it could be a signal that purposely flashing a card while shuffling can be used for some type of weird tactic.

In the case were Akio accidently shows a bottom card while shuffling, but keeps shuffling and the location of said card is “random” again I would not give a warning to either player.

Edited Niki Lin (Nov. 28, 2013 07:04:37 PM)

Nov. 29, 2013 12:43:59 AM

Scott Marshall
Forum Moderator
Judge (Level 4 (Judge Foundry)), Hall of Fame

USA - Southwest

Seeing cards when the opponent shuffles his deck

Just confirming what a lot of people have said.

If you know the position of a card in a deck, and manipulate that deck during “shuffling” to control where it ends up, you're Cheating. If you simply shuffle it away? No harm, no foul, nothing to see here, move along.

And, to be realistic, this happens ALL THE TIME, and players just shuffle away that knowledge they gained. Players have imperfect shuffling techniques; as long as they're making a reasonable effort to arrive at a randomized state, we're not going to be heavy-handed with Warnings for little things like showing or seeing a card.

d:^D

Nov. 29, 2013 10:42:30 AM

Joel Goggin
Judge (Uncertified), Scorekeeper, Tournament Organizer

USA - Northeast

Seeing cards when the opponent shuffles his deck

Not to make this too off the topic, but there was an instance during a team sealed event. Team 1, Player A, saw Team 2, Player C's bottom card and relayed the information to Team 1, Player C. Is there even an infraction in that case?

Nov. 29, 2013 02:53:28 PM

Jasper Overman
Judge (Level 2 (International Judge Program)), Scorekeeper

BeNeLux

Seeing cards when the opponent shuffles his deck

No, because Team 1, Player A didn't commit an infraction when flashing a card. Team 2, Player C didn't commit an infraction when seeing a card. Team 2, Player C didn't commit an infraction when relaying the info, as teammates can share info (assuming Team 2, Player C is still in his seat fom the match). Team 2, Player A didn't commit an infraction, neither for recieving nor using information from his teammate.

Nov. 29, 2013 04:41:50 PM

Toby Hazes
Judge (Level 2 (Judge Academy))

BeNeLux

Seeing cards when the opponent shuffles his deck

Unless player A uses that information to cut the bottom card to a certain position I reckon =)

Edited Toby Hazes (Nov. 29, 2013 04:43:49 PM)