Editor's Note: There is an ongoing debate in our forums as to the legality of some of these actions; at the time, I believed they were legal, the results may vary. Check the discussion in our forums to double-check. - The Ferrett

Recently, there was an article on StarCityGames about how to use a crowd to your advantage. Most of this article bothered me - and after much debate in the forums, I decided I had enough to say to justify an article.

First, let me explain my background: I played Spades a lot growing up - and by a lot, I mean I started playing when I was four, and played regularly until my second year of college. We played hardcore Spades, playing strictly by the book. Why is this important? One of those by-the-book rules was no talking. Period. This meant that you must learn how to read people on your own. The other reason is that most of the little changes people liked to play by were changes that in some way bent the game in their favor.

Why is this relevant? My attitude towards Magic comes from playing Spades for around sixteen years. I try to remain current on the Magic rules, especially the floor rules and what is legal and not legal. I also try to pay attention to what is considered"fair play" and what is considered"shady" - and in my time playing, I have encountered a lot of shady play. Here are some tips for how to avoid any shadiness on your opponent's part.

The Shuffle:
Stacking the deck is by far one of the easiest ways to win. Screw probability; I can play with a completely off-balanced deck if I can reliably stack the deck. So the question is, how do I stack?

Marked Cards:
This is one of the easier ways to stack, but is also the most likely to get caught. Why is that? Well, the evidence of your attempt remains after the hand is over. If you get deck checked at any time, you will probably get caught.

How to Cope: If you think your opponent has marked cards, act green. The next time he plays something (lands are good choices) say,"Can I see that?" When he hands it to you, glance at the back. The alternative is to watch the top of his deck and look for marks.

Also note that you get to shuffle his deck; use this as an opportunity to look for marks. You are allowed to pile shuffle. Roll a die, make that many piles, and while you do it look at the backs. If they look marked, you should call a judge and as for a deck check.

The Overhand Shuffle:
When I started learning to do magic tricks, I learned to love the overhand shuffle. Why? The overhand shuffle is the easiest way to glance at the cards and order them. This is doubly good in Magic, where people have the excuse of not wanting to bend their cards.

How to Cope: This one is easy to diffuse; very few people can do more than the top 16 quickly. First, do a Riffle Shuffle. Then take the top third and do the shimmy into the middle. Then Riffle Shuffle again, and pass it back. Their cards are now spread out fairly.

Other Stacking:
Roughly seven riffle shuffles are accepted as the standard to randomize a fresh, just-opened pack of fifty-two playing cards - so seven will be close to reasonable for a sixty-card deck. Your opponent does not have the right to request that you not riffle shuffle. However, out of respect you should use a corner riffle shuffle and practice enough to do it well. A good corner riffle can be done for ages on playing cards, and I have never seen it bend my favorite decks when I did it.

Never, ever just give a deck back. You have absolutely no reason to trust the guy across from you. Expressing trust isn't nice - it's just careless. Once you have done this, you have signaled you are not likely to be careful enough to undo the effects of any stacking he is tempted to engage in.

Land Bonuses:
Counting Land:
You've seen it before: He picks up his land to count them and you think,"Didn't he have seven lands a second ago?" The method here is for the opponent to pick up his land to count it and accidentally end up with an extra in play, or an untapped land.

How to Cope: Mark on your sheet each time they play a land. If you use tracking sheets by round (which is good idea, by the way), put a column on them for land played. Use 1s and 0s rather than Checks and Xs, since they won't be misinterpreted.

Before and After Combat:
Tries to"accidentally" play a land again in the Second Main Phase, claiming he didn't play one in the first.

How to Cope:
Use the above method.

The"Random" Watcher:
Your opponent glances just above you, behind, you, to your side... Wherever it is, he does it a lot. And he always holds that Counterspell until the perfect moment. This could be good play - however, if there is someone behind you, it could be that one of his friends is passing him small signals. It is really hard for judges to see this unless they watch the whole hand.

How to Cope: If anyone is standing to your sides or behind you, ask a judge to ask them to leave. This is your prerogative as a player. There are many ways to do this so as not to offend; the easiest is to just say that it is distracting.

Three Heads Are Better Than One:
Are his buddies sitting real close to him? Does it look like you are playing against a team rather than a person? A simple toe tap, or less, is enough to signal someone that they are about to forget something. An opponent who has someone to always remind him things definitely has an edge on you.

How to Cope: Don't request everyone leave; you'll just piss off the crowd. Call a judge and request that people not sit so close to the match. Again, this is something that is your prerogative.

Noise:
Noise is a real big distraction for some. The most likely occurrence here is that people are being inconsiderate.

How to Cope: Whether it is that, or your opponent's friends making things hard on you, tell them to be quiet. Spectators are required to remain silent and unobtrusive during games.

Life Totals:
I'll sum this entire topic up like this: Keep track of all damage taken and gained and what caused it. This will solve most problems here.

The Draw Slip:
Your opponent draws one to many cards and puts one back. You are actually in double danger here: The first danger is just that he saw an extra card, which bad but manageable; the second is that he did a quick swap.

How to Cope: First, pay careful attention every time your opponent is doing anything that involves drawing. Try to verbally stop them before the cards come in proximity to their hand. Second, notify a judge. It will be most likely a warning - and if they do it consistently, then the judges will note that. Lastly, once they have seen too many cards ask to shuffle their deck.

The Look Slip:
When turning over cards to look at something, your opponent either knocks one off the top or just picks up too many.

How To Cope: Nothing much you can do here, but make sure you are paying lots of attention. If they see extra cards, you need to shuffle their deck. This is the only way to undo the damage.

The Initial Draw:
They deal out one too many cards for their opening hand.

How to Cope: It is critical that you notice and stop them before they are looking at the cards. Knowing the eighth card can make mulligan choices a lot easier.

In summary, you need to be watching very carefully when you opponent draws. Players tend to spend the time during draw and shuffle reviewing the board and planning. Do not do this. If your opponent is taking actions that change the state of the game, watch them.

Failure to Discard:
At any point, this is purely a matter of paying attention. Personally if you remind them and they do it, I see no reason to be a hardass unless they do it consistently. However, make sure that they do it during their cleanup step. Do not allow the game to progress before your opponent has finished their discard. The same goes for cards that require discard; do not allow your opponent to do anything other than discard when they should be discarding. (When they draw two for Careful Study, the next thing they do is discard. Period.)

Stalling:
This has probably happened to all of us; the match has gone 1 and 1 so far. There would be enough time to determine the winner of the game you're in, but your opponent is playing really slowly. It could just be that he is stressed and really worried. However, it could also be that he is eyeing his record and his rating and thinking about how a loss will affect those.

How to Cope: If you are doing pretty poorly, I personally wouldn't worry about it. Ask him politely to not slow the game down, but be aware that it's not going to hurt you too much. However, if you are doing well, call a judge for the last hand. Just tell them you are worried about time running out, and ask them to watch for slow play. As long as you don't do this all the time they probably won't mind. Most players who play honest won't mind either, since the judge always being there will protect them as well. If your opponent suddenly starts griping, then you know you made the right choice.

The"Almost" Combo:
You feel iffy about this infinite combo the other player is explaining, but you let it go. Usually, when I see this happen, the player running the combo is being pushy and unhappy that you don't know what he is trying and are slowing him down.

How to Cope: The fact is that most good combo decks don't take forever to win, so you both have time for them to explain it. The first time someone pulls an infinite combo and tries to just explain it, stop them. Make them go through the combo step by step, taking the actual steps, not just naming or describing them. Make them play the cards in the order they intend. Lastly, make them name how many times they will execute the loop.

There are good reasons for this: First, especially if it's a net deck, they may not understand the combo enough to do it right. They might be missing crucial cards, or just run it in the wrong order. Second, a lot of people think they have infinite combos that aren't. If at some point in the loop you do not end up in the initial state, it is not an infinite combo. I have had at least one opponent kill himself when I asked how many times he looped, and he said fifty. We ran the math and he decked himself at about thirty-eight due to required card draws. Having your opponent do this will also help you in the next two rounds; you will know what cards are keys for the combo the next time and be prepared (hopefully) to stop them.

I have a few final comments, and the first is about reading your opponent. I won't offer loads of advice on this - and the reason for that is because I am not the best source. If you ask me, no one in Magic outside the Pros is. The best thing to do is go find a good guide to playing poker. From what I have seen, the things you can learn from poker will give you a large edge on most Magic players. Magic players just aren't, by and large, used to this type of competitive play - and even when they are, they are usually much more focused on their deck than themselves. It takes a lot of time to truly learn to control your body completely during a card game. It takes even more time to learn how to send false signals. So go find a good poker primer, and start applying that knowledge to your Friday Night Magic games. By the time the tournament comes around, you will be in a much better position. If your opponent is a perfect stonewall... Well, that's what you built a good deck for.

Secondly, just because you are losing doesn't mean they cheated. Just because it was supposed to be one of your"easy matchups" and they blew you away does not mean that they stacked their deck. If you accuse a lot of people of cheating falsely, not only will you become unpopular, but judges will remember you, and may subconsciously or consciously take that into account.

A lot of this may make you unpopular. The world doesn't like people who rat other people out; fortunately, the world likes cheaters less. Your opponent is most likely to hate you in the end if he is caught cheating - for whatever reason, people who cheat generally never accept that they are to blame. So you, being the nearest person, will be the most likely target.

But remember that you came to the tournament to win. Yes, you want to have fun doing it, but I have never met anyone who said they came to the tournament with no goal of success at all. Just remember that if they cheated, they deserve to be punished. If you have a soft heart, think of it this way: Most likely, you paid $20-$25 to get in. How would you feel if someone stole a twenty-dollar bill out of your pocket?

Well, he just did. Now make sure he doesn't do it again.