In Sealed Deck tournaments, the Head Judge may require players to perform a Sealed Deck pool registration procedure prior to deck construction:
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- Each player is distributed the appropriate number of booster packs. The boosters should be marked in a way that distinguishes they came from the Tournament Organizer for that tournament.
A quick and easy way to mark the boosters can be to run a marker down one of the sides. This is easy and scales well to large events like Grand Prix, if Grand Prix were still a thing, or even if large sealed Comp Rel events were still a thing. For smaller events Judges and TOs can use more personal touches like stickers to better uniquely identify the packs as belonging to the event.
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- Players on one side of each table open their boosters (Player A). The player directly across (Player B) observes this. Both players will observe and verify the contents of those boosters. After this process, the opened cards are stacked face down in a single pile and placed near Player B.
When making announcements, it is important to let players know who is going first and who is going second. An easy way to denote this would be to tell players on a side of the table relative to a certain point, like the main stage or the Head Judge. For example “all players sitting on the sides of tables further away from the main stage will open packs first, followed by those closer.”
- Player B will now open their boosters. Player A observes. Both players will observe and verify the contents. After this process, the opened cards are stacked face down in a single pile and placed near Player A.
- Player A then sorts and registers the contents of Player B’s pool, and vice versa.
- After registration, each player returns the registered card pool to the player who originally opened the pool.
- Players construct and record decks as normal.
Sealed Deck Swap procedures are typical in Competitive Rules Enforcement Level events requiring decklists and help ensure that no one is trying to slip extra cards into their pool. By having other players register and observe the opening of the pool, we help minimize the ability of a player to slip additional cards in discretely. By seating players randomly for this, as is the norm, we help prevent collusion from friends who may get regularly seated together due to similar last names.
Previous methods went to even greater lengths to randomize the pool that a player would obtain to build, but lead to other problems. Details on the reasons for this change can be read about here.
We have realistically asked players to sort the pools for easy verification for some time now. Now we are making it more formal by requiring it via this document! It may be worth noting that some players may have trouble sorting the pools in a timely manner. If so please allot any resources available to help those players and keep the flow of the tournament moving.