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18-10-2001
 Stacking up the odds
Hi all.
Mana screw is my least favourite thing about magic. By
miles. I hate losing to it. I hate winning from it.
Magic should be a contest of skill and card
interactions. There are no card interactions in a mana
screw game. It just bites. It’s hard to enjoy getting
smashed with two lands on the table and a hand full of
good 3cc stuff. It’s hard to enjoy the reverse, unless
you are the sort of person for whom magic is all about
winning. The mulligan dance is plain bad
sportsmanship.
Over the years I have noticed some people get mana
screwed more than others. Hats off here to Adam Kemp,
reigning world champ of mana screw. That Adam has a
good rating is a testament to his play skill, because
nobody, absolutely nobody, gets screwed more than this
guy. I have my bad days too. But some guys never get
screwed. And this is what this article is addressing.
A recent event prompted this article. The names will
be withheld, but the details should come out. In an
important match, the players were deck checked. As I
was not in the tournament, I was able to watch the
deck check, and something important happened. One of
the decks had a perfect mana distribution. Not good…
PERFECT. The deck, when laid out, was in the pattern:
spell, spell, land (from here spell will be S and land
L to save time). Not only was the deck in a repeating
pattern, but the land of three types repeated too, ie
forest, mountain, plains, forest, mountain, plains,
etc… Needless to say, the player was given a penalty
(low-level rules enforcement) and the day continued.
Later talking to the player in question, he protested
his innocence by saying he had pile shuffled his cards
before the game, to randomise it. I had played the
same player in an earlier game and had made note of
the same pile-shuffling pattern. Without accusing, I
said with a bit of time and a piece of paper, I could
formulate a pattern that would, when pile shuffled,
give a perfect distribution. Suffice to say I have,
and it was much easier that you would think. This led
me to an examination of shuffling patterns, and deck
stacking, the details of which I will spare you except
for a few examples.
First, the twenty pile, that caused the problem. Forty
card deck, twenty piles of two cards. For those who
want to try this at home, the split is 16 L, 24 S.
This is already an indicator as it is a 3-colour deck.
Only 16 land is just begging for mana screw. Most
people play 17/23 or 18/22 to avoid getting screwed.
But I digress…
Split the land into two piles of 8. Put one pile on
top, and the other 20 cards down (or 4 up). The deck
is now:
Move the top card (L) to the bottom so you now have:
Lay this pattern out in two rows of 7 and one of 6,
then repeat, so the pattern is two layers high (6
cards in each pile & 4 in pile #7). Pick the cards up
in columns from bottom to top, left to right (bottom
left corner, mid left side, top left corner etc…)
Check the pattern in the deck. With a little effort
the land pattern can be fixed too, for those who want
to try, it’s a homework assignment, but it’s not very
hard.
Another that was reported on the same day was the
classic 18 land stacking. That is, 18 L / 22-25 S. Put
the land on top, in a big pile. Lay out the cards in 6
piles. Pick up the piles, and lay them out again, this
time in three piles. Again, perfect distribution. But
much more obvious.
There are many, many more patterns. I have become a
strange deranged creature working these out. My
girlfriend keeps finding paper in my room inscribed
with endless columns of LSLSLSLLLLSSLLSLS trying to
figure out these patterns. The best I have come up
with is a 5-pile 17/23. (Getting the jargon now?) It
has the appearance of randomisation, even as I lay it
out, as the pattern is not 12345, 12345 etc but can be
12345 34251 24531 etc… What I end up with, however,
is a really well distributed deck, with no obvious
pattern that could be discerned by a judge, should a
deck check arise. In any given group of seven cards, I
will get a minimum of 2 land. The next card will be a
land (around 80% probability, up to 99% by 2 cards). I
will get a maximum of 4 lands, the following card
always a spell.
Under DCI floor rules, you must present a randomised
deck to your opponent. This study has forced me to the
conclusion that many people don’t. From this point on,
I will suspect anyone who pile shuffles. It’s too
easy. The best way to wreck this sort of stacking is
to 3 pile their deck. Simple, 123 123 123. They will
get clumps of L/S cards. Best you can hope for they
draw a clump of 6 or 7 S. If a deck is randomised, a 3
pile won’t hurt it. It may even help as land tends to
get stuck together due to differential wear during
play.
DCI floor rules have guidelines for the pre-game
procedure. First, as stated above, you must present a
randomised deck to your opponent to shuffle. They may
then shuffle you deck and cut (there is no existing
guideline for shuffling procedure stated, so three
pile should be valid.) The deck is then passed back
and you may CUT one final time. Note it is illegal for
you to shuffle your own deck at this point. Play then
begins. A point has been raised that players may ask a
judge to shuffle their deck at any time. Anyone who
knows his or her deck was stacked will likely request
this, in which case you could make the argument to the
judge to examine the deck first. If it contains large
clumps, it must have been stacked when presented, and
thus is evidence of cheating.
Simply put, 3 piling your opponent will punish the
deck stackers, and reward the honest players who
present a randomised deck. For those at GP Brisbane, I
expect to see much 3 piling going on. The best way to
randomise your deck? 4 riffles. Start with the land
separated, at first, but later it doesn’t matter, and
riffle 4 times. Three is not totally random (you get
clumps) but 4 should be enough. The reason riffles are
random is the differential splitting of the piles.
Possibly 20/20, 21/19, 22/18 etc… To increase
randomisation further, make sure the piles are not
even, eg 16/24 or 15/25. This messes everything up!
Of course, with all this 3-piling going on, it is
possible to stack a deck to take advantage of it?
Have I just started the stacking metagame?!?
Taking things to the next step, it is also possible to
stack your opponents deck while shuffling. Most
commonly this would involve looking at least some of
the cards in the deck. Be wary of anyone who turns
your deck on its side to shuffle, or riffles really
high or with the points toward themselves. Cheating
while shuffling could be the subject of a whole other
article. The other thing to watch is card wear, and
any colour difference between land and spells (most
common if land from different sets is used). This
could allow an experienced player to stack land
together while pile shuffling. Use new sleeves, and
this is preventable.
A friend has remarked that it is a shame it has come
to this. Magic should not be about cheating. It should
be fun. But I firmly believe there are cheats out
there, and why should they have an advantage over
everyone else. In the words of Fox Mulder, “Trust no
one.”
Play fair, it’s more fun.
See you all at GP,
Nik Smith. (1 bye wannabe) |
