So I was playing at FNM last week and my opponent did something that bothered me quite a bit. After our game 1 we shuffled up and presented our decks to each other to cut. My opponent picked up my deck and shuffled it face up (you know so you can see the cards) and he then kind of slowly let all the cards fall from one hand to the other. I dont know really how to put it into words but essentially he looked at my entire deck. Is this legal? I thought about calling the judge but I was really unsure and didn't want to be "that guy".
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Would Dark Confidant still be good if he punched you in the face for 5 damage a turn?
How would I prove it? How would he be reprimanded? I mean at that point if he just gets a warning then he would be playing with unfair information at little to no consequence.
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Would Dark Confidant still be good if he punched you in the face for 5 damage a turn?
You immediately call a Judge. If your opponent looks at your cards when shuffling, they are committing a game violation, if not outright cheating. If it's unintentional, it's a warning. If it's determined to be intentional, it's cheating, and they can be disqualified from the event.
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"If you don't wear your seatbelt, the police will shoot you in the head."
- To my youngest sister when she was 6.
Everyone knows that good luck and good game are such insincere terms that any man who does not connect his right hook with the offender's jaw on the very utterance of such a phrase is no man I would consider as such.
Whenever a mistake or suspicious behaviour happens during a game, the answer is always "call a Judge". There is no such thing as "that guy"; you want to play Magic, in a tournament, then you play Magic, which has rules. If you break them, you're the jerk whose risking being banned.
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"If you don't wear your seatbelt, the police will shoot you in the head."
- To my youngest sister when she was 6.
Everyone knows that good luck and good game are such insincere terms that any man who does not connect his right hook with the offender's jaw on the very utterance of such a phrase is no man I would consider as such.
You immediately call a Judge. If your opponent looks at your cards when shuffling, they are committing a game violation, if not outright cheating. If it's unintentional, it's a warning. If it's determined to be intentional, it's cheating, and they can be disqualified from the event.
Note that this was FNM according to the OP, which means there are no Warning penalties (the only possible penalties at casual rules enforcement level are match loss for tardiness, and disqualification). If the judge considers it cheating (i.e. they believe that the player knew he couldn't do that), it's cheating, which is a disqualification no matter the rules enforcement level; if the judge genuinely thinks the guy didn't know he was doing something wrong, all he does is inform the guy he can't do that in the future.
I'm a former judge (lapsed), who keeps up to date on rules and policy. Keep in mind that judges' answers aren't necessarily more valid than those of people who aren't judges; what matters is we can quote the rules to back up our answers. When in doubt, ask for such quotes.
When in doubt, always call a judge. Any opponent who tries to imply that calling a judge is being "that guy" is probably trying to do something shady. Judges are there to help players first, not just to hand out penalties.
What your opponent did in this situation was clearly a violation of the rules. At FNM, he would get a good talking to by the judge, explaining to him why this behavior is wrong, and instructing him on the proper way to shuffle your opponents deck. However, it would not be a penalty in most cases.
At competitive REL, this would usually be a Game Rule Violation for Looking at Extra Cards, which would result in a warning. If he continued to do it or the judge thought he was intentionally trying to gain an advantage, it could be considered cheating, but if he was just shuffling casually without thinking about what he was doing, it would just be a warning the first time.
In any case, don't ever hesitate to call a judge if you have a question or if you believe something is amiss. At competitive REL and above you can actually get penalized for NOT calling a judge when something goes wrong. Remember, we are here to help both players understand the game better and enjoy playing Magic!
How would I prove it? I mean at that point if he just gets a warning then he would be playing with unfair information at little to no consequence.
Don't worry too much about proving it. The fact that you're calling a judge is what is important; it shows your opponent that he won't be able to get away with this kind of thing. Judges are smart people, generally; they know that if you're calling them, you aren't blowing smoke and have a legitimate complaint.
If this ever happens at a competitive event, you can always request a table judge- basically someone official who will watch the whole match. If all this does is keep your opponent from cheating, then mission accomplished; he now has to play Magic instead. If it doesn't, then the opponent will be DQ'd and again, mission accomplished.
Don't ever be afraid to call a judge, as has been stated. Cheaters exploit people's fears of calling judges to get away with stuff like this. Always, always call a judge the minute you suspect or see something like this happening.
If this ever happens at a competitive event, you can always request a table judge- basically someone official who will watch the whole match.
While you can certainly request this, it is unlikely that the judge staff will have a judge available who can just stand and watch your entire match. Floor judges are expected to move around and answer judge calls from all players, and numbers of staff at an event would rarely be large enough for a judge to sit on one table for an entire round.
Also keep in mind that even at FNM, if either player has a chance to see any of the cards in a deck, then it is not sufficiently randomized. If a card flips over during shuffling, the deck should be given back to its owner, and should be shuffled and presented again. So if your opponent turns the whole deck over, he is completely defeating the purpose of the shuffle, as it all needs to be done again.
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L2 Judge
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― Anthony Bourdain, Kitchen Confidential
I will always firmly stand by the belief that Magic is a game first and a collectable second.
- To my youngest sister when she was 6.
- To my youngest sister when she was 6.
Note that this was FNM according to the OP, which means there are no Warning penalties (the only possible penalties at casual rules enforcement level are match loss for tardiness, and disqualification). If the judge considers it cheating (i.e. they believe that the player knew he couldn't do that), it's cheating, which is a disqualification no matter the rules enforcement level; if the judge genuinely thinks the guy didn't know he was doing something wrong, all he does is inform the guy he can't do that in the future.
What your opponent did in this situation was clearly a violation of the rules. At FNM, he would get a good talking to by the judge, explaining to him why this behavior is wrong, and instructing him on the proper way to shuffle your opponents deck. However, it would not be a penalty in most cases.
At competitive REL, this would usually be a Game Rule Violation for Looking at Extra Cards, which would result in a warning. If he continued to do it or the judge thought he was intentionally trying to gain an advantage, it could be considered cheating, but if he was just shuffling casually without thinking about what he was doing, it would just be a warning the first time.
In any case, don't ever hesitate to call a judge if you have a question or if you believe something is amiss. At competitive REL and above you can actually get penalized for NOT calling a judge when something goes wrong. Remember, we are here to help both players understand the game better and enjoy playing Magic!
Doing it face-up is a pretty direct violation of rules. He is not to know the possible card order of your deck before playing. Call a judge.
Don't worry too much about proving it. The fact that you're calling a judge is what is important; it shows your opponent that he won't be able to get away with this kind of thing. Judges are smart people, generally; they know that if you're calling them, you aren't blowing smoke and have a legitimate complaint.
If this ever happens at a competitive event, you can always request a table judge- basically someone official who will watch the whole match. If all this does is keep your opponent from cheating, then mission accomplished; he now has to play Magic instead. If it doesn't, then the opponent will be DQ'd and again, mission accomplished.
Don't ever be afraid to call a judge, as has been stated. Cheaters exploit people's fears of calling judges to get away with stuff like this. Always, always call a judge the minute you suspect or see something like this happening.
When in doubt, call a judge.
Objectivist here. Hit me up to talk philosophy.
While you can certainly request this, it is unlikely that the judge staff will have a judge available who can just stand and watch your entire match. Floor judges are expected to move around and answer judge calls from all players, and numbers of staff at an event would rarely be large enough for a judge to sit on one table for an entire round.
Also keep in mind that even at FNM, if either player has a chance to see any of the cards in a deck, then it is not sufficiently randomized. If a card flips over during shuffling, the deck should be given back to its owner, and should be shuffled and presented again. So if your opponent turns the whole deck over, he is completely defeating the purpose of the shuffle, as it all needs to be done again.