MASH SHUFFLE TUTORIAL: Better Shuffling Magic: The Gathering Commander Decks and Sleeved Cards

[@brianfediuk]

Hello! Thanks for taking the time to view my tutorial. Link to sleeves and playmat are in the description. These videos pay for my addiction to Magic cards, so if you like this, please consider liking, commenting, and subscribing to increase engagement and help me build wayyyyyy too many commander decks!

[@nolanpestano1798]

gosh six months ago i didn’t know what mtg is now i’m spending my wednesday night learning how to shuffle cards lol

[@salsatheone]

26 years ago I didn't know what mtg is, I haven't played it for the past 20 years and now youtube does this to me.

[@StudioNBS]

Feeling the exact same - I played my third game last night and I’m watching this on a Wednesday 😂

[@vilithebeasthau40]

Damn this is relatable 😂

[@foxsnipushiwa8431]

sheeeesh

[@DavyJones-bv5zo]

Same

[@Nijht]

This is literally the video that made card games a comfortably viable form of entertainment for me. I cannot thank you enough.

[@brianfediuk]

Happy to help!

[@lordhallibel3604]

How does it make it comfortable ? you wont be using this video for other games when you actually watch

[@doppelganger5328]

​@@lordhallibel3604i can't understand what you're trying to say

[@dreamkiller9]

My friend and I are just getting a third friend into magic, and shufffling sleeved 100 card decks was a significant barrier for him. I've tried showing him basically this, but a thorough, well explained first person perspective is a lot better than a 60 second crash course before a game, so thanks for a great resource to send him!

[@brianfediuk]

Happy to help!

[@maxv658]

The sleeves you use matter as well, for those who may not know. I find matte sleeves to be really easy and just all sort of glide together. Non-matte, however, tend to kind of just stick together and create denser packs of cards, which make it harder for them to slide together. Just my 2 cents. Great tutorial!

[@brianfediuk]

Agreed!

[@samlemm665]

Hello! I would personally I like to say that over 6 years of play I’ve never been able to shuffle properly as of recently I’ve really only been doing the pile shuffling and because of this I’ve now been able to shuffle my 98 card double sleeved Pako and Halden deck. THANK YOU SO MUCH!

[@brianfediuk]

Glad I could help! Feel free to share the video to your local LGS community :)

[@claytevebaugh1100]

Thanks for the tutorial! I just sleeved up my first Precon and felt overwhelmed by how big of a pile it was. I’ll need to do some serious practice before I’m confident.

[@brianfediuk]

Yup! Baby steps!

[@scottnito2640]

Glad this video exists. I’m new to commander and just returning to mtg in general after like a decade. I’m gonna sleeve my two precons o bought and it seems huge in all the vids I see playing commander

[@defeeded0887]

I split the deck into 2 piles then shuffle like this to both piles then shuffle the 2 piles together.

[@joejojo5966]

@@defeeded0887 i do what the vid does but with smaller piles and let my opponent shuffle if they desire.

[@phantomsharmony]

Thank you so much for this! Shuffling is the hardest part of the game for me and everyone just seems so fast.

[@brianfediuk]

Yup practice definitely makes perfect!

[@Grainsauce]

Key thing to know, cheap sleeves are a bit harder to mash shuffle then say dragonshield sleeves. Even some ultrapro sleeves corners will/can get bent pretty easily with mash shuffling, doing say 100 cards for a commander deck.

[@rosemarysamick9005]

eclipses are so guilty of this, they feel and look premium but they do NOT hold up

[@machina5]

Dragonshields are attrocious nowadays. Idk what happened to them.

[@orangegalen]

@@machina5 Agree, I got new DS sleeves and less than a month later I have a few that are splitting from mash shuffling. Only really works if double sleeved.

[@i3ighead96]

@@machina5 thanks for confirming. I was asking myself if I already ruined mine with a few unclean mash shuffles since they won't slide into each other as smooth as my other decks sleeved in Gamegenic sleeves that cost like half of those...

[@JPNox]

Yes, I got some cheap sleeves and got several of them torn on the very FIRST night, no riffle shuffle. Never again

[@joelsjunk239]

I had no idea how to shuffle cards before I watched this video. I always thought shuffling would be too hard to learn, so I never bothered and resorted to pile shuffling. Then, I did as you said and shuffled a small number of cards while gradually adding more to the deck. I also practiced shuffling without looking while watching KZbin. Now I feel pretty confident in my card shuffling ability. Thank you for this easy to follow tutorial!

[@brianfediuk]

Happy to have helped!

[@sava9e944]

I sleeved my first commander deck and thought there was no chance but this video helped a lot. TY

[@dominiciannucci5217]

The only good shuffling video I have found so far that's not a parody. Thanks for the good content. I have always mash shuffled buy felt like I don't get a good enough mix, I might just need to do more

[@brianfediuk]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@RouuxMel]

I knew I wasn’t the only one who was struggling lol. Thank you for this video.

[@Teeto_K]

This is nicely produced, thoughtful, talks about a bunch of interesting and relevant side details. Really good. Thanks.

[@-asrial-]

One of the few videos to show mash shuffling and the ability to deliberately or accidentally not shuffle the top or bottom. Great video!

[@puddingtoesmcfizz4378]

I have been in the MTG scene since the last quarter of 2017 and I decided that it was time to learn how to shuffle my EDH deck that was something other than the most basic of shuffles as it always felt clunky. After stumbling across this very informative video, I now hope to add more of that 'Magic' to any and all future games with the added randomization of my decks. Thank you for the help!

[@brianfediuk]

Happy to help!

[@aaronfelix344]

I've seen people shuffling like this and never really knew how to approach it. Great tutorial! definitely using this for now on! Much appreciated.

[@brianfediuk]

Glad it was helpful!

[@byrontheusurper6505]

I do pile shuffling combined with my standard method of shuffling (which is a bit of bad mash shuffling and then the classic card shuffle), i just use the piles to count out my deck and separate land clusters and then I truly randomise it

[@chapmanandchapmanproductio974]

Oh my god this guys talking about practicing shuffling this is insane insanely awesome well this guy rocked

[@ShynyMagikarp]

In my experience the most key point about this shuffling method to doing it easily and well is what you said about 4:30ish which is starting from the bottom. Before I learned this method well I was doing it from the top on occasion and splitting the sleeves down the sides and having to replace sleeves relatively often. If you start from the bottom you pretty much will never split sleeves. Also using a more high quality sleeve like dragon shields is helpful as opposed to ultra pros or something else, which is still okay but that is general across the board almost.

[@ParkerRat]

I just got into Magic a month or so ago. I don't have any sleeves like those yet. Once I do, I'll be sure to begin practicing my shuffle. I got some weird looks with my shuffling method at last week's pre-release.

[@youngnikos9625]

Great vid, thank you. The mash shuffling sensation is so satisfying, feels like the cards are designed to be shuffled this way.

[@brianfediuk]

Yup! Matte finish is really satisfying

[@Leeofland]

I love this shuffling method, I always had issues with the top and bottom not being shuffled, and I hadn't even considered just moving the mash so that the top and bottom interact!!! Great video and precaution to us (the viewers) on ways of cheating/not properly randomizing. +1! As a new player, this is content should be a staple in every magic player's MTG playlist ;)

[@brianfediuk]

I did that in the video

[@Leeofland]

@@brianfediuk ngl, I kinda disassociated during that section. I have corrected myself

[@HinuHyuga]

Great video. I just got back into MTG about a month ago from being away from it about 11 years, and have me a warewolf commander deck. Trying to learn how to shuffle, since I play Yu-Gi-Oh, and the shuffling in that game is different than MTG. Again amazing video, and now I know what to go sit around and do all day.

[@brianfediuk]

Welcome back! Practice makes perfect :)

[@Thelaretus]

How does then shuffling differ?

[@concon9107]

Thank you so much, long time collector turned player I was pretty afraid shuffling very expensive cards.

[@mythicallegendary3992]

I do the four thing you said at the beginning but I do 8-10 piles and once I have all the piles I put them in a random order without care of stack size, I also will then pick them up in different orders then shuffle one more time normally after the fact, works pretty well from my experience.

[@brianfediuk]

Which is fine, but when someone "randomly" grabs piles and expects me to trust them, I ask to choose which piles get shuffled.

[@MrHeesman]

Hell yes! This is a much easier, and more efficient, way of shuffling. I'm rather new to MTG so I'm still running with precons modified with Booster Pack pulls. Just for fun I sorted up lands and everything else. I took my pile of lands and mash shuffled them into the middle of the remaining cards then I alternated in taking the top 1/3 of the deck and mash shuffling it into the middle and then the bottom 1/3. I repeated this alternating pattern five times and then made three 7-card piles by drawing from the top of the deck to simulate opening hands. I'm seeing MUCH better starting hands from far less time shuffling than before. And since I'm so new to the game, I don't have a very good understanding of what constitues as a good card in what kind of deck, so I'm just trying a whole bunch of different cards that I think will be good and see what sticks. To anyone bothering to read this far-- No, I don't like the idea of net-decking. I'm not a sweaty tryhard. Just regular sweaty, thank you very much.

[@nachos1162]

Thank you for the video. I kinda stopped playing for a while cuz I'm so bad at shuffling and could only do pile shuffles. I'm gonna try how you show. I always had issues with doing a mash shuffle cuz I always somehow make 1 sleeve go into another and split the second sleeve. Idk how I always manage to do that but I'll try again because of your tutorial. I used to do riffle shuffle but even doing it on my own cards I had people getting pissy that I'll ruin my cards that I don't really care about the value of because I bought them to play with, not to resell.

[@chemicalexposure8537]

Fantastic guide! I tried a couple other ones but they never pointed out how the edge of the sleeves will assist in sliding into each other, which really helped with my practice. Definitely will be sharing this to other folks who want to learn how to shuffle

[@brianfediuk]

Please do!

[@CelestialLunaGH]

Hey! Just wanted to say thank you for this video! Im going to my first magic event after not playing for 8 years and this stumbled into my feed after trying to refresh myself with the game. Instantly understood and can do it okay I think! Anyways thank you so much!

[@sayiralieber9571]

I Played cards 15 Years Ago i started this Year again with One Piece Tournaments that video helps me alot :)

[@Thelaretus]

Just got my first deck today (Commander) and had to ask for people to shuffle for me. After I got home I figured out a way I can actually do it, apparently not harming the cards, but then I got scared because it's all single sleeves; but the way I figured to do it was to put it all on one of my hands like a hand fan, then with the order hand take the leftmost third and mash it unto the middle, then do the same with the left third, and repeat; I was scared as it seemed too easy.

[@conkyjoe8932]

Good way to shuffle (in fact, this is the way I myself shuffle...hold entirety of deck in left hand, use the right hand to take roughly a third of the overall deck and mash it into the center of the deck, rinse and repeat), however you MUST make sure to cut the deck every three shuffles or so, otherwise you aren't fully randomizing the entire deck. When you take the back third of the deck and mash it into the center, it doesn't ever actually shuffle the cards that are at the front of the deck. Cutting the deck in two with a simple, trading cut remedies this. 👍🏻

[@jonunciate7018]

Great video. I've been teaching my 10 year old nephew how to mash shuffle with penny sleaves when we play limited magic or pokemon. He used to turn a bunch of cards the wrong direction. Thankfully he learns fast. Maybe in 5 years he can touch my expensive decks. Maybe.

[@wolfmelonpan5858]

dude thank you so much, i suck at shuffling my decks and with a few tries of your method and your explanations now i got loads better!

[@brianfediuk]

Happy to help!

[@Rocknoob49]

Especially with double sleeved decks, you can also easily grab two piles by the tops (near the opening). the bottoms fan apart a bit and you can easily push the bottom corners together

[@brianfediuk]

Yup! Good insight!

[@MeZimm]

Pile shuffling is only reversible if you use a consistent or traceable system while shuffling. I broke my arm recently and was unable to do mash shuffling, so I was forced to use pile shuffling... but I didn't just do neat little stacks over and over in the same sequence. I'd start by making 4 or 5 piles, but I'd put cards on the stacks haphazardly; after dealing 5 cards out to begin 5 piles, my 6th card might go onto pile #2, the 7th card might go into pile #5, and so on. I might draw a loose figure eight in how I dealt cards into the piles i made (with random exceptions, dealing a card out of sequence just CUZ), then randomly reverse the figure 8 after doing it a few times; maybe go back-and-forth, or top-to-bottom, or in lines like a typewriter, changing the patterns as I went based on no logic outside of randomizing the deck as well and efficiently as possible (while still keeping the cards in the correct orientation). I might arbitrarily start a new pile, then just as arbitrarily grab the top of a pile and put it onto another pile, then put the bottom on top of a different pile; random cuts, random re-stacks, and so on. Usually I'd end up with like 10 different piles of various sizes filling up the entire space, which would then get arbitrarily cobbled together (putting pile #3 on top of #7 on top of #1 on top of #2, or maybe #10, whatever.) Now, if I was one of those savants who could just intuitively track these kinds of things then I guess it wouldn't work. But I'm not, and it seemed to work for what it was :) I don't intend to criticize the video in any way; the vid was a very good introduction to a skill that isn't often discussed and might be intimidating to some. I just wanted to share another possibility that some might not have thought about ;)

[@brianfediuk]

If you trust the person, any method of shuffling works. However, I've been to EDH games where people cheat-shuffle with piles. Like, every deck was pre-sorted so they did a seemingly random pile shuffle, but I noticed a pattern and asked if I could choose the order the piles were put together. He refused. I said that one of those piles has sol ring and arcane signet with perfect lands. It did. So it's never about punishing honest people, it's more about catching dishonest people with a method that is harder to tamper with.

[@MeZimm]

@@brianfediuk That's just messed up... imagine being so insanely competitive that you literally cheat over a friendly game of EDH. You made the right move by insisting on adding your own randomization to it, since that's how they do it in tournaments. I'm a little curious how the rest of that story ends... I hope that "player" got what he deserved.

[@brianfediuk]

That's why I rarely go to my local LGS anymore. Would rather play with friends on webcam

[@FreakGene]

I mostly just mass shuffle, however with new decks, my first game of the night, or after I have a round where I have terrible draw odds then I'll pile shuffle. However my method is I always do 7 piles, as soon as I distribute my last card I pick up that pile or the one next to it, give it a quick little shuffle or two, and start laying those cards back down on the remaining piles and repeating this action untill I have only two piles left (generally Ill alter the order in which I go between the piles when I pick up a new pile), then I do one or two mass shuffles putting them together. A little over kill, but Ive also gotten pretty good and doing it fast.

[@doodlyboy15]

Love the video. I actually took the inner sleeves out of my commander decks because 100 double sleeved cards were just too thick for me, barely manageable but not impossible if I really cared about them. I would say that the 2-3 cards that don't get 1-1 alternated when mash shuffling makes it MORE random, you can't reliably track which 2-3 were next to each other and even better if it happens to different groups of cards. The difference between true random something that feels better when mixing cards together.

[@brianfediuk]

Well said!

[@gampie13]

A note to ppl, If you double sleave your cards, the middle of the card is much thicker than the edges, wich helps you shuffle, as the cards already now gives you a groove/zipper to put edge to edge on the cards, this helps massivly with shuffeling. Aka, increasing the effect shown in the vid

[@jellyapple1026]

This comment is a godsend lol. I was going nuts trying to figure out why I can shuffle all my other single sleeved decks in my sleep but I couldn't even get the cards to handle properly with my first double sleeved deck. Pushing the corners in closer to the middle of the other cards is much so much better

[@ry7hym]

will it also work for regular sleeves + oversleeves?

[@gampie13]

@@ry7hym inner thin sleave + normal sleave is the best combo

[@Sb79612]

For people who order their decks by card type when making it: you should definitely start with a pile shuffle. It makes each pile have the same amount of each card type. Then you shuffle those piles *individually*, keeping each pile separate. Then you can shuffle as shown in this video.

[@brianfediuk]

Sure! First shuffle on an ordered deck can be pile shuffled.

[@TheSH1N1GAM1]

This is how I’ve shuffled for years, but I still tend to shuffle half of my commander deck at a time with this method. Just the most manageable to me. Then I can combine and cut and reshuffle as much as I want.

[@DemonBlanka]

I usually mash the two halves about 5 times then mash the halves together once and do some cuts on top of that I find just mashing the 99 a few times takes me far longer than this and the multiple methods really helps to break up the blocks of cards, I've definitely had games in the past where after only doing mashes, I find myself drawing oddly similar hands.

[@brianfediuk]

Seems reasonable to me!

[@xremming]

Did you know: - for a 52 card deck, 7 riffle shuffles will make sure the a deck is properly shuffled, and - the more you shuffle the worse you are at shuffling (as you become more consistent with time). I follow the general thought that 10-ish mash shuffles is good enough for a 100 card deck. My technique for doing it with sleeved cards is quite different from yours but I think you advise is still extremely good. People are also waaay too worried of riffle shuffling, Magic cards can take a lot of bending and abuse, the main reason not to do it is that since we nowadays mostly use sleeves it is not that easy to do. Really appreciate how you pointed out the cheating aspect also, I always make sure to do a few cuts between shuffling and to ALWAYS at least cut my opponents deck. Even when I trust then.

[@brianfediuk]

With friends I usually just drop 10-20 cards into piles from left to right, then mash far left and far right together, and converge inwards, then 2 big mashes, followed by a cut. Most people are fine with that

[@carlborch1887]

I don't think there is anything wrong with pile shuffling IF you do a different random shuffle afterwards, for example a pile shuffle followed by mash shuffling. I've found it breaks up cards a little more than just a mash shuffle alone so I'm not drawing all my copies of one card in a row and separates like card types in a deck a little more if the deck in a specific list order. Just pile shuffling alone is a big no-no though. Edit: I've had opponents get really uptight about me pile shuffling at the start (without waiting to see if I'll even do a different shuffle after) and continue to berate me after clearly seeing I'm not just pile shuffling.

[@nickthejack]

If you need to pile shuffle to break up cards, you're not shuffling enough. Pile shuffling and mana weaving are totally pointless if you adequately randomise your deck. The only practical use for pile shuffling is to count and make sure you have all your cards and aren't missing any

[@OathOblivio]

Maybe do it in reverse- mash suffle then card pile, then mash shuffle again if you want. Should alleviate the stress of your opponent. I personally think your opponens should be rightfully worried even if you first pile shuffle, regardless of your true and genuine intentions of mash shuffling afterwards

[@TheRealWormbo]

Making piles is not shuffling, which is why the term "pile shuffling" is wrong in the first place. You can do that once at the start to *count* your cards, e.g. after sideboarding. But if you shuffle correctly, making piles first should not have *any* influence on the outcome.

[@hellprince1]

I would just like to say that if you get the Ultimate Guard Katanas this mash shuffling is far far easier to execute. And it is so satisfying. My ton of Dragon Shields are also fine to do but something about the texture of the Katanas just makes it so easy and natural.

[@brianfediuk]

I'll have to try them out!

[@raiseer]

I can second that. Just switched from the Ultimate Guard Cortex to the Katanas and the difference in shuffling is really massive and way worth the higher price.

[@Vlaakster]

Super helpful and I really appreciate you sharing the playmat info too!

[@ry7hym]

i consider myself a seasoned commander player and I still watch this video lol. i learned to mass shuffle horizontally instead of vertically like you do, maybe i should learn to do it vertically as well

[@autive42]

I always drop shuffled my commander decks, but I'm only only able to shuffle about half at a time that way, definitely going to have to practice this.

[@brianfediuk]

Yeah that’s a pretty common problem, a lot of times it’s hard to keep your hand from getting too tired too fast, but this technique will help with that!

[@JamesMBC]

Excellent, insightful video! I now wonder how do you make it so that double sleeved cards are not puffy with air. I used sideloader inner sleeves and the deck was so puffy it wouldn't even stay put on a flat surface. Hat to go back to single sleeving. If anyone has some tips for double sleeving in a non-puffy way, I'd greatly appreciate it.

[@brianfediuk]

I put weight on the decks for 48 hours

[@chaotic4453]

Pro tip you HAVE to make sure you do bottom corner to bottom corner cuz if you do a top corner you WILL destroy 3-4 sleeves in one try other then that it's a great way to shuffle must faster and more efficiently to get into you games a bit faster instead of waiting 5 mins trying to shuffle and still be poorly shuffled

[@popgas3821]

Thanks a lot. I’ve been into LCGs very recently and most of the quick board games I had are card games revolving around decks that needs to be randomized. Thanks for tips!

[@brianfediuk]

Glad I could help!

[@DeineKreativeSeite]

a 13 minute video about shuffling without repeating yourself. nice

[@brianfediuk]

Thanks!

[@UnknownGamer40464]

Thanks, I really didn't want to have to riffle trading cards like I do playing cards although I've never thought about doing the riffle sideways, maybe that would bend the cards less.

[@dbull620]

Thanks for the tutorial, I've been having a hard time trying to shuffle my commander decks. I'm ok up to around 60 cards (dragonshield single sleeved) with this method but once I get past that amount I have a lot of trouble with the stacks getting too tight in my hands and I can't get them to weave properly anymore, starting to think maybe my hands aren't big enough.

[@brianfediuk]

Glad I could help!

[@BeaglzRok1]

As a bad shuffler that has trouble with mash shuffling, I recognize that pile shuffling is easy to rig so if I ever resort to it, I do my best to shake up the order. Normal order, reverse order, clockwise, diagonal, reverse, counterclockwise, normal, inverse diagonal, just go full Simon on it. I may be a math guy but I can't remember that for 98-99 cards, especially after about 2-3 mashes because they clump up randomly and sometimes I very obviously miss a chunk. My biggest issue is getting the cards to loosen up for the initial mash where the corners cut in between the other pile, and since my friend owns all of the cards he gets a heart attack when I'm actually very good at holding things delicately. The method I'm ""best"" at what I guess could be called a drop-cut, where I take a chunk of several cards, usually starting with the top of the deck, move them to above the bottom of the deck, and then steadily let them fall out of my hand as I make sure the pile I'm holding always goes to the bottom. Sometimes it'll be the middle cards first, the bottom cards, a riffle of cards, but I just keep doing that for different chunks of the deck, eventually it recycles a few times as I do my best to also mix some chunks together. Sleeves aren't getting pressed against each other, cards aren't being curved or bent to fit between each other, there's no frustration with piles refusing to separate, it's all the inevitability of physics.

[@YahahaW]

This is how I’ve always shuffled my decks! I hate doing it without sleeves but I’ve found it to be statistically better than any other method

[@brianfediuk]

I would never even use cards without sleeves haha

[@l03j27]

A strategy that has felt thorough for me is I like to pile shuffle with six piles, place the cards completely randomly with no pattern (never placing more than 1 card onto the same pile) and then scoop up the piles completely randomly, placing them on top or bottom at random. Finish with a pile shuffle and possibly a cut. Sounds like a lot but it’s actually very quick and thorough, I never feel like I do when I only mash shuffle that I may have left cards from last game next to one another for me to draw into again (good or bad). During the game: just mash shuffle. I’m more interested in having fun and seeing more of my cards fairly than winning or losing & this method has helped achieve that I feel like.

[@brianfediuk]

Yeah as long as it's a group of friends playing I'd be fine with that. However, if my opponent in a tournament said "just trust me bro it's random"... I'm asking to mash shuffle their deck thoroughly. We had a regular at my old LGS who seemingly always had t1 sol ring into signet into a mana dork. Weird how it happened every time they "pile shuffled randomly... Just trust me" but refused to let anyone cut their deck.

[@pandas_crochet_corner]

Thanks for this ^^ been playing commander and wanted to understand how to get better at shuffling. Looking forward to giving this a try

[@crimsonafterburner]

This was a great video, Real informative, satisfying to watch you just shuffle and a good informative into the etiquette of shuffling. Thanks a tonne! : D

[@brianfediuk]

Happy to help!

[@linkhyat5917]

i came just to say I love the deckmat. and the contrast between the sleeves and the mat

[@brianfediuk]

You can make one in the description

[@ThatHappaHaole]

When I got into mtg, my cousins convinced me to double sleeve..... my hands are not the right size for that in commander lol went back to single sleeve and that's still a small problem but this helps a lot thank you!

[@dave3269]

I do mash shuffling and what I call "drop" shuffling to randomize the edges more, then it gets cut. But before every event I will do a pile shuffle of 10 cards first, both to count the number of cards to make sure I'm at 99 and then I stack them together randomly before mash shuffling afterwards.

[@chainfire9001]

9:02 It's not just cheaters who do this, it also happens as a result of muscle memory; someone who has done the same motion thousands of times to the point where it's incredibly consistent might end up doing this subconsciously. Same thing with riffle shuffling regular playing cards, you might just habitually always split the deck the same way and let the last card fall from the same hand every time., especially when you've become very efficient and fast. This is why casino dealers are taught to cut a small block of cards from bottom to top after they riffle, so that even if their shuffle habitually leaves the same card on top or bottom, the cut ensures those cards move. (Of course nowadays casinos have automatic card shufflers instead.)

[@brianfediuk]

Didn't even think of that. Draw first hand of 7, put it back on top for a new hand and shuffle. 1 of those cards might stick at the top

[@divinkitty9452]

Very lovely video. I have very stiff, very small fingers so shuffling is kind of a pain in the butt for me and I usually have someone else shuffle for me, but that makes me also avoid effects that require you to shuffle your deck. So, obviously I want to learn but never found any tutorial talking about mash shuffling (until today at least). So, thank you very much!

[@brianfediuk]

Thank you so much!

[@Willy-the-Fire-Putter-Outter]

When I first started playing, I found that shuffling like you do in 9:58 where the top cards of the bottom and the bottom cards of the top overlap and only do that, the entire deck continually rotates in a random order and you dont need to change the size or order in which you shuffle the deck, just overlap the top and bottom of each top half and do that a handful of times, pun intended, and you're good

[@sporksabre]

Thanks for the info. Beginning commander player with about 10 games under my belt and I just haven't been able to get the hang of shuffling 99 sleeved cards. I really appreciate the time you took to make this. It was very thorough. Next question, why double sleeve. Thank again.

[@brianfediuk]

You double sleeve in case someone spills a drink on the table. Sleeves only protect 75% of the card. Double sleeving makes the card entirely protected against practically anything.

[@hubatch2823]

this is just so calming to watch

[@brianfediuk]

Thanks! Enjoy!

[@xXDJSprinklesXx]

i play a lot of pokemon tcg and this is so far the only acceptable way of shuffling at any table that i have played at for the last 10 years

[@VultureXV]

Everyone has their own sacred method. Mine is my own esoteric mix that I have grown over the years ive been playing, which of the formulae I will now impart to you, reader. First, split the lands from the spells Shuffle both piles Split the land pile in half Split the spell pile in half Shuffle one spell half with the land half using the sleeves and light pressure only Split the two halves Shuffle two quarters together Shuffle two halves together You will rarely get mana bound or mana screwed. Cards should be stored lands/spells/tokens/commander using a card spin down or provided divider.

[@xLuftx]

Coming back from taking a break since 2014-2015 and I forgot how unwieldy 98-99 sleeved cards can be to shuffle. Commander/EDH wasn't my favorite back then and didn't get too many hours in - this time around though I plan on giving it another go. This definitely helped me out and makes my standard and pioneer decks feel like a breeze to shuffle. A hand workout for sure, thanks!

[@scurry2175]

Good and detailed demonstration! Sleeving cards is crucial, as in my opinion, not sleeving them is the most unwise (or stupid, if to be honest) thing a board game player can possibly do. No offense to anyone cuz I know certain cultures hate sleeves, but that's really how I personally feel. After all, I never get why so many people care so much about not bending or damaging cards yet just don't sleeve their games. If one doesn't care, then that's alright, but this contradictory at its finest is mostly the case. (not happening in my country since sleeves was a thing initially invented here)

[@brianfediuk]

Well said! Honestly a magic card collection becomes an investment over time. If you spend $5000 on cards over a decade you aren't guaranteed to get all of it back but softening the blow and selling it for $2000, at least you only spend $3000 now.

[@marcusglorioso3681]

This was great. Thanks for going through the trouble to make this video. Great job!!

[@brianfediuk]

Always happy to help!

[@DMsN1Pes]

Turns out I've been mash shuffling for years without knowing it, but the concerns are valid. I've damaged my sleeves and the corners are tipped, even ripped a Dragonshield or two from bad habits I've taken to flipping the entire deck upside down and having the 'bottom corner' be at the top so the motion is easier to do without thinking

[@brianfediuk]

You always had an awesome method for shuffling. Hope it has improved! How many decks ya up to?

[@mayonnaiseablaze9745]

@@brianfediuk he’s still counting them after 10 months

[@Dieaconus]

Who is pile shuffling in an ORDER??? Whenever I shuffle I make piles without even looking where the cards land. The amount of piles is arbitrary and I will suddenly add some random new piles in half way through dealing them out, then I do it again and put them ontop of each other in an arbitrary order, then I do the method you did in the video. I always think about it like this: Cards that were already next together should have roughly the same chance of being next to each other again as they do being anywhere else in the deck. I don't need to keep track of all 100 cards to know if my "win the game" card is near the top or bottom of the deck, even by accident after I've shuffled. I might not be actively trying to cheat while I shuffle, but if I think back on how I shuffled during the game it might genuinely affect how I play, and at that point its too late. So imo the best method is to not have one method in mind, mix it up as much as possible so you can't even remember how it was shuffled.

[@brianfediuk]

The basis behind almost every shuffling based card trick is seeming random while keeping track of things. It's not that you would accidentally order cards in a certain way, but that an opponent might be malicious and cheat by appearing to be random.

[@ShinKyuubi]

I'm kinda getting back into MTG even if it's only super casual and among my friends...still don't feel comfortable building a deck and going to play since so far the only two times I've played in the last 20 YEARS is I recently went in July to the Bloomburrow pre-release tourney and then the Duskmourne pre-release tourney last month. I guess you could say I feel a bit more comfortable with draft style play like that since everyone is on very equal RNG footing when it comes to cards. Commander wasn't really played during my time playing, I had never heard of it till much later after I stopped playing when actual Commander Decks began being sold. I played mostly in high school and the most popular way to play was the smaller 60 card version cause it was usually played before school began while we all waited in the gyms, during lunch if you ate fast enough or didn't eat lunch, or if you had time after class when all the work was done and the teacher pretty much let you have free reign after all the work was done. 1 on 1 was the most common and due to the shorter times we had at school Commander size decks were not common. I've never really worked with a Commander sized deck but I was hoping to find a way to shuffle cards without screwing them up and so I can feel comfortable with special cards like the Ghostbusters set I recently ordered from Secret Lair...my first purchase from them btw but I couldn't resist the Slimer and Ghostbusters sets as an old school fan of the movies and cartoon.

[@TetraBui]

Thanks for the video! Just sleeved a precon and can’t wait to get started! Also that’s an awesome playmat

[@brianfediuk]

Thanks! Link to purchase is in my description

[@Kittenxcoven]

I only play with friends, but I always pile shuffle to help with clumped up lands and then shuffle those piles together. Then I’ll keep mass shuffling until everyone else is ready. Probably over kill but it works for me!

[@regisphilbin529]

I feel physical pain whenever I see a riffle shuffle.

[@kevinliggett8336]

Just rifle shuffled a thousand dollar deck it's ok they are just cards randomizing the deck properly is more important

[@jakethasnake3524]

​@@kevinliggett8336no sir, not more important. It's just a game.

[@jonas_security_kolinski]

what you said at like 7:24 - isn't there a rule for EDH that you have to be able to shuffle your deck while holding all the cards at the same time? of course this rule can be ignored with friends but this rule kinda confuses me anyways as it seems to disadvantage people with small hands.

[@brianfediuk]

One could say the same about a disadvantage with a person with only 1 hand. Tournaments offer accommodations if you ask politely for them.

[@brandencasey4035]

bro you are a legend this is magic..... thanks big love people dont share anymore

[@brogangoogerstaff]

Thank you so much for this video! I'm still not an expert but it has really helped me get the fundamentals and I'm sure I'll have it down soon.

[@brianfediuk]

Happy to help!

[@JoeKorangar]

What a beautiful playmat ❤

[@spidery7618]

This video is really sweet, thank you for making this tutorial!

[@brianfediuk]

Thanks!

[@lementime]

i wasnt going to watch this until i read some of the comments and they are all so positive so now im committed

[@once.upon.a.time.]

This was a great tutorial, thanks! I'm used to riffle shuffling and find it very satisfying to do, but I feel like i can see the soul leaving the body of people as they watch me bend my deck 😅 luckily this is just as satisfying and way easier to manage a sleeved deck

[@brianfediuk]

Glad it was helpful! Yeah it's that riffle will destroy the cards, but rather you accidentally bend a single card in that process.

[@williamred937]

Thanks man, I'll totally practice this. Quick question though, what's that thing you do at 6:38 ? I defo wanna practice that as well.

[@brianfediuk]

I have no idea what it is called. I think it is either called card fanning or card cascading. Good luck! Don't use cards that you care about because it is very easy to bend them as you're learning the process

[@AAMD1212]

Thank you for this. In some strategy board games, there are decks of 200+ cards to shuffle, all sleeved. An impossible task without pile shuffling. Unless you have inhumanly giant hands.

[@brianfediuk]

Yeah it takes some time to build the dexterity. You can also break decks down into like 3 piles, shuffle them, exchange a top half of one deck with another, shuffle again, etc. Do that 7 times with at least a top half and bottom half of each deck, and they are easily "random enough".

[@lqmayock1]

I definitely didn't need this video, but damn thank for this lol. I hope your channel succeeds

[@thewizardsemporiuminc]

Now about the pile shuffling your allowed one pile shuffle per game its in the rules, The point isn't to randomize your cards but to count your deck out to make sure you have the required amount to play i have seen many games judging at my local shop that not doing atleast one pile shuffle per game is a massive mistake most do because i have seen many players not have a legal 100 card/60 card deck to play now if thats all they do then yes stop them and tell them to shuffle a bit different then just a pile shuffle but every player is allowed one pile shuffle per game no matter the format to count their deck out.

[@valoconic]

ty! Simple and helpful tutorial with tons of extra information.

[@relaycorps6898]

Literally tried to top shuffle with sleeves and messed up brand new sleeves lol. Only after did my friend laugh at me and then show me how to mash shuffle.

[@ryanelliott5976]

I'm glad you mentioned mash shuffle cheating, because almost nobody will catch it if you go fast enough. Oddly enough if you know how your opponent cuts, you can also just put all the good cards in roughly that area too. It's not much harder if you're a more tactile person, but after around 12 games, aka 1 FNM, I can start feeling the difference with some cards because they are more... idk, familiar? That's not the right word for it, but it's something like that. And since sideboard cards have less wear, it makes it very easy to tell those apart too. Due to me being very neuro-divergent it will cause me to compulsively put those cards in certain places in my deck without consciously realizing that I am doing it until well after the game is underway. If I use any sleeves with art on them they can start to become noticeable to me after as few as 4 games. So in order to prevent myself from cheating by accident I have not only have to re-sleeve very frequently, but I have to be conscious of how I am shuffling. I've tried to explain it to people when I ask them to shuffle a few times, and they always say, if you know, why not just not do it. The answer is that is basically it's hard coded human behavior to be strongly averse to intentionally doing something you know will make you lose.

[@brianfediuk]

I was at an LGS where someone rolled 4 D20s to dictate how many cards go from the top to the bottom of the library. Was a neat way to curb cheating.

[@viennaorange4122]

Wow, it feels so good to shuffle this way! Thanks :D

[@Legitz0728]

I've been using this shuffle since you taught me in high school ❤ hope to play mtg again one day!

[@brianfediuk]

Would love to! Fire me an email some day: [e-mail]

[@Neru619]

I don't riffle shuffle cause I'm super afraid of bending. I play Pokemon TCG and the deck consists of 60 cards so it's bulky. So what I do is I take about half the deck and mash shuffle twice, take the other half and mash shuffle twice then mash the two halves together. After that cut the deck in 3 piles and mash each of them once before mashing all 3 together and handing my opponent to cut it. This is only when the game starts, when needing to shuffle mid game when the deck is running thinner I just do multiple mash shuffles.

[@brianfediuk]

If you can hold back on how hard you press the cards, they will never bend

[@nightmarebananaful]

Pile shuffling mathematically ensures no two cards that were previously next to each other are consecutive afterwards. If your concern is cheating, then no form of shuffling stands since it is bypassing methods to randomize your deck. At the LGS level, they are just weird about it since it feels a lot more exploitable than a proper mesh/riffle. Realistically, any sufficiently good card trick magician could track cards in either method. That is why you're opponent has last say on the order of your deck I.E. Cut

[@mikee9464]

Thank you so much man. I can't tell you how much I appreciate this video

[@brianfediuk]

I would be really grateful if you shared it with everyone you know

[@boobox2000]

Pile shuffling is used after creating a deck for the first time to get the cards evenly spread and then you randomly shuffle.

[@Martin.1127]

I Pile shuffle 6 stacks, but go into random order picking random piles and sometimes place 2 cards at once. Then after that I do a mass shuffle. Seems to work really well. Pile breaks up large sections of land/creature from previous games then mass shuffle just randomizes.

[@sabichaokujo3307]

Came here because I instinctively could do it but knew I couldn’t be as dead on as I thought. As a new magic player and complete noobie to anything card related, this video really helped me out and teach me how to properly do it 🙏

[@thisandablunt]

Details on the mechanics of how you’re holding the cards and whatnot would’ve made this more useful

[@vidiottheowl2825]

pile shuffling two or three times is good if you just finished a deck and want to get everything evenly distributed