Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Opponent Cutting Their Deck After You

PokemonMaster123

New Member
Is your opponent allowed to cut their deck/randomize it in any way after you cut it/randomize it?
I was starting a game with someone and after I cut his deck he cut it again himself...that can't be allowed, right?
 
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A deck can be cut of shuffled after a shuffle.
But not after a cut.
So, after a player shuffles, the opponent may cut or shuffle it. If it is shuffled again, the original player may cut or shuffle it again. And so on.
However, once a deck is cut, that's it. A player may not cut a cut. After all, that could very likely restore the deck to where it was before the first cut.
 
Moving over to the Judge's Chambers for further comment by judges.
I don't want to leave the impression that this back and forth can continue indefinitely.
I'll hand it over to the judges...
 
According to the Play! rulebook, after a player shuffles the opponent is allowed either a cut or a shuffle. If the opponent shuffles, the player may cut. If one of them still thinks the deck is not sufficiently random, either player may call a judge to shuffle; no one gets a cut after this.
 
I didn't think it could keep going back and forth. The current floor rules only allow for one opponent shuffle, followed by a cut:

After the shuffle, the deck must be offered to the player’s opponent to be cut once. Cutting the deck consists of creating two separate stacks of cards by removing a portion of the top of the deck, and then placing it under the remaining portion. Players should take care to not reveal any of their opponent’s cards while cutting. Cutting into more than two stacks is considered a shuffle.

Instead of cutting, the opponent may choose to shuffle the deck. This shuffle should be brief, and when it concludes, the deck’s owner is allowed to cut the deck once as described above. Players should take care when shuffling an opponent’s deck, as the cards in that deck are not the shuffling player’s property. At this point, the deck should be sufficiently randomized to both players’ satisfaction.

If either player still does not feel that either deck is sufficiently randomized, or if a player prefers not to offer his or her deck to an opponent for randomization, a judge must be called over to shuffle the deck(s) in question. No player is allowed to shuffle or cut after the judge’s shuffle.
 
The only trouble I've seen with this type of situation is that if they opponent does a "double cut" - separates the deck into 3 piles then re-stacks. Technically, this is a "shuffle" so the player may choose to cut the deck themselves before drawing a hand.
 
The only trouble I've seen with this type of situation is that if they opponent does a "double cut" - separates the deck into 3 piles then re-stacks. Technically, this is a "shuffle" so the player may choose to cut the deck themselves before drawing a hand.

So PokemonMaster123 how did you 'cut' the deck? As shone above anything other than two piles and its a 'shuffle' and your opponent can cut again.

The triple cut includes pulling some number of cards from the middle of the deck and placing them on top (usually) or on bottom of the deck effectively cutting in thirds.

You opponent can then cut.

So Judges would you penalize the player who 'boneheadedly' shuffled after a legal cut?

Stalling?
Minor game play error?
 
GPE major would be correct actually, Shuffling your deck mid-game without the use of a card effect.
 
I'd go more for Game Play Error Minor here.
Yes, shuffling your deck is given as an example in Major, but that is more for someone doing that totally out of the blue.
This was more of a continuation of randomization beyond what is allowed rather than a completely unwarranted randomization.
There is very little effect on Game Play (the definition of GPE-Minor) and the the game state has not become irreversibly confused (definition of GPE-Major).

If a player continues to do this multiple times, penalties can be increased, but this would be the category for this situation.
 
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