The automatic shuffling machines out there apparently come in all shapes and sizes... mainly geared toward casino games, there are some that shuffle one deck, some that shuffle up to 6 at once. One person told me that they'll ruin our cards. Another friend mentioned having a shuffler before (not used for magic) that basically just did a bridge, like you would with your hands. That one didn't sound too bad. I want to hear from other people who have been brave, and tried using automatic shufflers before; especially with magic cards. Is it a horrible idea, or is there hope of finding a good, safe one? I plan to use it for shuffling only naked decks (no sleeves), and shuffling chunks of my collection for "booster drafts".
There have been two threads in the past, with pictures (sorry, can't seem to find them). IIRC, yes, they can shuffle magic cards with no sleeves. IMO, bridge shuffling+no sleeves will very likely shorten the life expectancy of cards.
I plan to use it for shuffling only naked decks (no sleeves), and shuffling chunks of my collection for "booster drafts".
In that case, I'd imagine most auto shufflers would do.
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There have been two threads in the past, with pictures (sorry, can't seem to find them). IIRC, yes, they can shuffle magic cards with no sleeves. IMO, bridge shuffling+no sleeves will very likely shorten the life expectancy of cards.
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In that case, I'd imagine most auto shufflers would do.
Hmmm... does bridge shuffling in general shorten the life span of the cards? I was urged that it was safer than riffling.[/font]
Most automatic shufflers that would be within most peoples' budgets are not things that you want to trust cards with any value to. The $10 garbage shufflers you can get at mass market retail stores will quite literally pile shuffle your deck into 2 & put it together, there's no randomness at all.
There's no middle ground between a $10 shuffler & a Shuffletech machine, which costs $600. Shuffletech still will crunch a card or two every so often, but can get true randomness out of every 52 card pile you give it. Not 51, not 40 or 60, 52. It's a poker shuffler & doesn't have settings that can be changed for larger decks.
Most casinos use Shufflemaster machines. You can't get these new without a casino license & they're usually about $5000 used, but they do the job & I've never seen a 6 deck machine destroy a card, even after multiple full day sessions of playing blackjack & watching the things do their job.
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I wouldn't want to risk it. Part of the reason casinos use them is because of the volume of cards they need to shuffle, and because an individual playing card is worth next to nothing. I wouldn't want to put even my garbage cards anyone's hands but mine, let alone my valuable ****, and especially since I doubt they'd work with sleeves.
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I play vintage among other formats. I don't care how safe people assure me it is, I dislike having to present my vintage deck to a stranger to shuffle and cut much less an unthinking machine. I'll just take the extra 30 seconds to pile shuffle an additional time.
Still an extremely informative thread.
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Every English card ever printed: 99.02%
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They do ruin cards. A shuffler is designed to take unsleeved playing cards. Casino's use them, but they also go through at least a deck a day, and while the prevention of card counting is a factor, the fact that shuffling will mark the cards is also important.
If you were to do this with magic cards, where you'd shuffle at least 12 times in a 6 round tourney (assuming all games are 2-0 and no in game shuffles are required).
I also seriously doubt that you'd be allowed to use an autoshuffler. They run on a predictable algorithm, because computers are incapable of true random behaviour. A clever programmer could rig an autoshuffler to shuffle the deck to get a perfect draw almost every game (it wouldn't be easy, but it is certainly doable).
The only auto-machine I'd consider with cards would be an auto sorter for sorting collections.
I own one of the cheap ones. It's worthless unless you lack the skill to do a riffle shuffle (I met a guy recently who had this problem). Even then, you're better off learning how to do it without the machine.
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Also they tend not to do a good job with magic cards...they don't pick up and randomize the cards as well as they do playing cards
BEtched Champion/InfectB
WSoilders/knightsW
WUVenser SplicerWU
RRDWR
GFeed the Pack comboG
WUPool of ExhaustionWU
EDH
GEzuri, Elf OverrunG
BGeth, GraverobberB
UThada Adel, ThiefU
RUrabrask, Big RedR
WElesh Norn, CrusadeW
WUGAngus Makenzie, Bant ControlWUG
Extended
WGElvesWG
Legacy
RGoblinsR
UBGFariesUBG
UBGRaffinityUBG
In that case, I'd imagine most auto shufflers would do.
"Sometimes, the situation is outracing a threat, sometimes it's ignoring it, and sometimes it involves sideboarding in 4x Hope//Pray." --Doug Linn
Hmmm... does bridge shuffling in general shorten the life span of the cards? I was urged that it was safer than riffling.[/font]
There's no middle ground between a $10 shuffler & a Shuffletech machine, which costs $600. Shuffletech still will crunch a card or two every so often, but can get true randomness out of every 52 card pile you give it. Not 51, not 40 or 60, 52. It's a poker shuffler & doesn't have settings that can be changed for larger decks.
Most casinos use Shufflemaster machines. You can't get these new without a casino license & they're usually about $5000 used, but they do the job & I've never seen a 6 deck machine destroy a card, even after multiple full day sessions of playing blackjack & watching the things do their job.
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Still an extremely informative thread.
Every English card ever printed: 99.02%
Arabian Nights through Lorwyn: Complete
Alpha: 94.2% Beta: 95.0%
Unlimited through M10: Complete
You made a really good point about programming.