Pile Shuffling

At a Pro Tour Qualifier (competitive REL), you’re watching Andrew shuffle for the beginning of round 1. After several different shuffles, Andrew finally does a pile shuffle, then presents his deck.

What is the appropriate infraction, penalty, and and possible fix?

View Answer

Andrew has done nothing wrong here. Though pile shuffling is not an acceptable method of randomization, it doesn’t negate any previously done randomization. If Andrew’s initial randomization methods were sufficient, then the deck will still be randomized. Therefore, there is no infraction or fix required.

It’s also important to note that there is no minimum number of any type of shuffle for a deck to be considered randomized. Instead, you should look to see that the player has made a strong effort to make sure the deck is random, and has no way of knowing the position of any one card.