Okay, you make a persuasive argument. I'm on board that in between matches, players should just not do that action. Maybe that's why they sneak into the bathroom. To bring up the Target example, don't put the merchandise you intend to buy in your pocket. Just don't do it. Fortunately, those are the rules as they stand. No new rules are needed. Hooray!
Now, rewinding back to the plea from the original post and people who supported it: "something must be done about it".
If the judges stick to the penalty guidelines, it's a disqualification, after they can determine intent. psychup, do you think players should be immediately DQ'd like this if the player is "caught" in the process of weaving their deck? Or if they if a deck that looks like it was shuffled twice after weaving?
That’s a very interesting question. I want to preface what I say by pointing out that I’ve never judged a sanctioned Pokemon tournament in my life, so obviously I have no experience judging. However, as a player on-and-off for the entire lifespan of the game (6-year break in the middle), I have some experience in understanding what judges tend to do in different situations.
Obviously, the penalty guidelines give a clear stipulation as to what the penalty is for an infraction described in “§7.6.4: Cheating.” Tier 1 and Tier 2 penalties are both disqualification. If a judge read assigned the penalties as-is from the penalty guidelines, then disqualification is it.
However, I don’t think that the enforcement of this rule is as black and white, and there should be some discretion on the judge’s part. In the same document, §1.1 describes where it’s OK to deviate from the suggested penalties:
Penalty Guidelines said:
1.1. Deviating from Recommended Penalties
The penalties for infractions are simply recommendations and may be increased or decreased in severity
based on circumstances. As a general rule, judges should take an especially easy approach with the
Junior age division. Younger players are often prone to mistakes due to lack of experience or the
intimidation of playing in a competitive environment.
The circumstance is absolutely and critically important in assessing penalties. I’m going to analyze the two situations you have presented, and give my opinion.
- Do you think players should be immediately DQ'd like this if the player is "caught" in the process of weaving their deck? This depends on a variety of factors. First and foremost is age. Juniors should obviously be not judged by the same strict standard as Masters (unless it’s at a Nationals or Worlds level). Second, is this player a new player who is likely oblivious to what he’s doing, or is it a 3-year veteran who has been playing the game and should know better than to stack his deck? Third, does this player often get called out for other infractions, is this player a repeat offender, and is he/she generally a “clean” player? There are obviously more considerations that can be listed here, but I think I’ve covered the basics. Either way, I think that a judge who sees this happening has a responsibility to call out this particular player and inform this player that stacking the deck is illegal, regardless of what shuffling he does afterward. I think this is where the problem lies: often times, a player’s “stacking” gets noticed but some judges are not vigilant in calling out those players and assigning an appropriate penalty.
- Or if they have a deck that looks like it was shuffled twice after weaving? This is different than the first scenario. I believe in this case, no penalty can be assigned because it wasn’t “in the act.” After two riffles, a human eye cannot detect (with statistical significance) whether a deck was stacked or not. (A computer would be able to provide an estimated % chance of whether the deck was stacked or not before the two riffle shuffles given a known/hypothetical initial distribution.) A verbal caution could be given in this case, and I think the judges should watch that player closely between rounds. Does that player need to use the bathroom after every game? Is he stacking in public?
Obviously, I understand that judges have a ton of responsibility during a tournament, and I appreciate the time that judges take out of their day to help Pokemon events run. However, I think that in general, there needs to be a little more vigilance in terms of what players are doing between rounds. I know of one player in my area who goes away to a corner, takes out his deck, thumbs through it, and declumps for 1-2 minutes between games. Judges who notice that type of behavior could be a little more proactive in trying to figure out what that player just did, and determine if what he/she did was legal or not.
In my year and a half of returning to Pokemon, I have never even heard of a rumor of someone who got penalized/disqualified for stacking their deck, let alone see someone actually get penalized/disqualified for it. The problem is real (I’ve seen multiple players do suspicious things between rounds), and I’m sure it’s more widespread than what I see with my eyes. I don’t think this will be an easy problem to solve, but I think “doing nothing” isn’t the right answer either.