Shuffling at Regular Level

Introduction: So a local TO posed several detailed questions by e-mail concerning shuffling. I found myself responding with several paragraphs of text, so I thought I'd take those e-mails and build a judge article. This is the result.

So Shuffling. The bulk of the relevant information is in the MTG  tournament rules, section 3.9. The point of shuffling is to bring the deck to a state where no player knows the position of any card(s). Each player is responsible for doing this for their own deck. By presenting the deck to their opponent they are making an implicit statement that their deck is legal and sufficiently randomized.

Exactly how a player reaches this state is up to them. It could be 7 riffle shuffles, but it could also just as easily be a pile shuffle followed by 4-6 mash shuffles. Or just mash shuffles, or mash shuffles with over/under shuffles, or really any combination. As long as the deck is sufficiently randomized.

When your opponent presents their deck to you, you are always allowed to cut or shuffle it further. At competitive levels and higher you actually *have* to shuffle your opponents deck.

Any FNM, Game Day, or other regular level events "Insufficient shuffling" - even after a search is something that we can point out to players, educate them to improve upon. IE: warnings. I'm pulling this from the Judging at Regular document under the heading 'General unwanted behavior'.

Let me just be clear, just about any kind of shuffle is OK, so long as the end result is that the deck is sufficiently random. As a Judge, I'm concerned more with the end result than the process (unless of course that process leads me to believe that the deck is not sufficiently random, or worse - someone is attempting to cheat).

If a player is uncomfortable with how their opponent is shuffling their cards, it is permissible to get a judge involved. Remember that even at regular levels there is a judge present. This is either the TO or someone they appointed, and at regular level does not have to be someone who has any kind of certification. As a judge if faced with this situation I would either shuffle it myself, or politely ask the player to simply treat the cards /better/ than their own; or instruct them to do something different.

Instead of describing all the shuffles that are OK, let me instead list 3 things that would raise my personal yellow flag. If I see any of these things, I'm going to intervene.

(1) Any number of pile shuffles, excluding anything else. A single pile shuffle can be used to set the deck. Something called the "double nickel" which involves making five piles, twice - can also be used to stack the deck. Also at higher levels *only* pile shuffling is never considered sufficiently random. So while players *can* pile shuffle, it should be mixed with some other technique.

(2) 1 -2 shuffles of any kind, then done. Obviously not sufficiently random, but doesn't stink like rotten fish.

(3) Shuffling 'face up'; No Seriously I saw this at a PTQ once. Obviously if the faces of the cards are 'up' the position of various cards is probably known to both players.

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If you or any of your players are focusing on this issue a bit too much:
Remember that Regular events like FNM and game days are supposed to focus on education and fun. Any player(s) that are /that/ picky with shuffling (among other things) may be outgrowing that kind of event, and are probably going to get more out of larger competitive events (GPT, PTQ, Grand Prix, etc) - where more technically correct play is expected and enforced with a system of penalties.

===Judge Resources:
Comprehensive Rules (103)
Judging at Regular (general unwanted behaviors)
Magic Tournament Rules (2.3; 9.4; 2.9)
Infraction Procedure Guide (3.4; 5.4)

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