By this action, players state that their decks are legal and randomized. ago. ) and then cut. The standard accepted mathematical model for the Riffle shuffle is called the Gilbert-Shannon-Reeds model (GSR model). Any form of pile shuffling. Practically speakong, the best way to ensure a fair game is to give both players the opportunity to randomize both decks. Shuffling after, as you say, is not recommended but mandated to play within the rules, as a pile shuffle is controllable. That is, the implication is that you should never pile shuffle when you're not trying to get this sort of count. 3 Tarot Card Shuffling Techniques. Section 3. A good "human" test would be to take 4 decks: 2 completely sorted, and 2 completely shuffled. . According to the rules: "Mana weaving without further randomization is deck-stacking, pile shuffling alone is not adequate, and one or two riffle or pile shuffles are also inadequate. Maybe add in a 2-4 part cut at the end for good measure. The illegal part is turning them face up to deliberately separate lands and non-lands, which is called mana weaving. Hey all - recently had an opponent whine fairly loudly about me deck stacking between games, prior to mash shuffling. I just pile shuffle myself, but first, I do a quick count of cards left in deck; if the number of cards left are even, then I use an odd number of piles; if they're odd, I use an even number of piles. Shuffling is often followed by a cut,. It doesnt need be 1-and-1 card, it can be as easy as just separating. Right so Yugioh is a game where you look in your deck quite a bit and you shuffle your deck quite a bit. It is no longer illegal to do a 3-pile shuffle instead of calling a Judge when your opponent has done a mana-weave without thorough randomization afterwards. There is no proof that number of piles chosen for pile shuffling is actually not a complicated pattern designed to place the cards in appropriate positions in the deck after shuffling. Since OP is planning to go for card sleeves the Weave shuffle becomes an ideal substitute for the riffle. Although the pile shuffle guarantees that each card is kept apart, it is not a reliable technique for shuffling cards. None of. Yes, we still prefer that players get us involved instead of applying their own “fix” - that much of what I previously said holds true. Pile shuffling is a waste of time. If that’s the case, pile shuffling obviously doesn’t help make it any more random. A second pile shuffle from there weaves the 12 lands into 4 of the 6 piles. It's what I do before every game in a tourney. Shuffling is a way to mitigate this. Hold your deck sideways (it's ok if you see the bottom card), take a pile off the top of the deck the hand that's not holding the deck and press the bottom edge of the pile into the rest of the deck. Update states that a player may only pile shuffle once each time a deck is randomized. " Pile shuffling alone is not a sufficiently random form of shuffling. Shuffling is often followed by a cut, to help ensure. I don't know if this is the right place for tournament questions rather than card questions, but I'm not sure where else it belongs. Paladin has sleeves that fit every card and card-shaped object in the KDM line (except for the Caterium extension in Gigalion and the baby in the. Pile shuffling is fine, as long as you are actually randomizing your deck. There's a reason you're only allowed 1 pile shuffle per game in MTG, and the rules specify that it does not actually count as shuffling. ① Shuffling by Players - A player may shuffle their own deck until they. A diverse community of players devoted to Magic: the Gathering, a trading card… A player’s Deck must be randomized by using an accepted shuffling method (riffle, pile, Hindu, etc. We did make it illegal to pile shuffle more than once per game, which is required to accomplish the mana weave (that double nickel, and it's. I pile my deck into 7 piles, stack 4 together and other 3, riffle, split in half, riffle, pile again, repeat. The rules permit this one, opening pile shuffle because "A single pile shuffle can help players count their decks and loosen sticky cards. This randomizes faster than just riffle shuffling the whole deck a few times. Your point is OK, Dominik, but your phrasing is where people seem to be getting stuck. Hi r/magictcg , I was wondering what are generally viewed as the most efficient/random shuffling techniques. The mash shuffling then randomizes the piles that were shuffled. Pile shuffling forces all. Basically, this "cheat" only works if the other player also cheats. More is better. The 5 x 8 Pile Shuffle – This one is really obvious to spot if you know it exists. yugidude1 • 6 yr. To be specific, say you have 40 cards left in your library, and you just shuffled (perhaps because you just activated Evolving Wilds ). Once the deck is randomized, it must be presented to an opponent. Hello planeswalkers. By this action, players state that their decks are legal and randomized. Pennsylvania ranks 7th in nation in greenhouse gas supply. Grab this photo: shuffling isn’t really random: there’s nothing random about taking one stack of cards and turning it into 8 piles. From there, I can do a regular mashing of the deck. ago. That is. The critical thing is that after any declumping or placement of cards in the deck is that you then shuffle. . Especially if you split your land clumps before you do it. By this action, players state that their decks are legal and. The sideboard (if any) is. Scan this QR code to download the app now. Shuffling or Stacking Yu-Gi-Oh TCG Q & AShuffling/Pile Shuffling; Search Search all Forums Search this Forum Search this Thread Tools Jump to Forum Shuffling/Pile Shuffling #1 Jul 15, 2013. Doing one riffle shuffle with a deck of card, is equivalent to pile shuffling with 2 piles. So I piled shuffled in the beginning of the match and for the second game I started to but he said it was against the rules. Inspire. The main issue with it is that the randomness comes almost entirely from the shuffler's choices, rather than from uncontrollable physical randomness as in a riffle or. A 6-pile shuffle with your deck that way ends up with 2 lands on top, and the other lands in pairs on each sixth of your deck. Saying tournaments need to be done online is ignorant on two counts: A) there are tournaments online, and B) playing online is very different than. I like to pile shuffle once after a game in order to de-clump my cards that I was playing with. Sep 26, 2016 Pile shuffling alone is not sufficiently random. CryptoPile shuffle your cards bro: separate cards into 8 piles(so it should be 5 cards per pile if you are running 40 cards), mix back together and do a normal shuffle :D It works to separate spells, traps, and monsters :DIn the pile shuffle, all fifty-two cards are dealt out at random to create a succession of heaps. To get started, shuffle the cards, and deal each player one card. If your cards are sleeved push shuffle about 10 to 15 times. Pile shuffle does nothing for randomizing your deck. I've never had it be an issue… Please don't do a pile shuffle. I will usually pile shuffle into stacks of seven, then slowly merge the piles together, gently dropping them into a single stack (a slow weave). Repeat this at least twice for a 40 card deck, 3 times for a 60 card deck, and 5 times for a 100 card deck. " So, in one match, you can pile shuffle no more than 3 times. I…Pile shuffling doesn't truly randomize cards and that too is a really easy means of cheating. Whoever draws the tile nearest to the letter "A" plays first. It's worked well for me so far (Also, I use at least 5 of more piles)What i usually find to be successful is a pile shuffle into a few mashes into another pile and a few more mashes. I'll make 7 or 8 piles and randomly deal out the deck (This isn't truly random, as your brain isn't capable of choosing a random pile, but it does break up the sets). Either you left some of it in, in which case you are cheating, or you removed it all, in which case- what was the point? Either way, people are likely to be suspicious of your actions. Take roughly the top half of each pile, combine them into. I pile shuffle 7 piles, then 10 piles, then 7 piles, followed by a few riffles. . Pile “shuffling” is not random, and therefore IS NOT actually shuffling! The reason being is that if the exact order of the deck is already known, all “pile shuffling” does is. Doing more than 2 pile shuffles is not very useful. Pile shuffle alone only qualifies as counting in tournaments. Before I go out… Pile Shuffling is not a way to randomize your deck, hence why it is explicitly limited, So people don't try to pass merely pile shuffled decks as shuffled. The only valid use for pile shuffling is as a method to count the deck and make sure nothing is missing. What is everyone's thoughts on how you would shuffle your cards? Do you put them in piles maybe the Yu-Gi-Oh shuffle? How about the bridge shuffle…Thai Bushiroad Club. Business, Economics, and Finance. In the pile shuffle, all fifty-two cards are dealt out at random to create a succession of heaps. My informant spoke to me about rituals and practices of Magic the Gathering. The only…For highly ordered discard piles however, this can leave small clusters of related cards, even after quite a few rounds. Shuffling is often followed by a cut, to help ensure that the shuffler has not manipulated the outcome. Hey all - recently had an opponent whine fairly loudly about me deck stacking between games, prior to mash shuffling. m. Setting Up the Game. There are ways of pile shuffling where you can stack your deck beforehand , and have the pile shuffle not change the stacking. It does not change the order or randomness the cards are in I believe for mana weaving so just reversing the order and show that all lands are in one pile and the other are all creatures shows he was weaving. Take a few cards from the deck using your non-dominant hand. 9 (Shuffling): This change has to do with "pile shuffling. This is called laying off. Read Full ArticlePile Shuffling, strictly speaking, provides zero randomization, since the order of the cards can be determined perfectly after you shuffle. The name comes from the fact that every number is adjacent to the number lower than it, so you can more easily move it to track health increases or decreases. After reading all the various posts for the past few months about shuffling I think its time for the DCI to make a change to shuffling requirements…In the pile shuffle, all fifty-two cards are dealt out at random to create a succession of heaps. 3. After that the Overhand Shuffle, sliding a few cards at a time from one hand to the other so that the cards in. There’s nothing illegal about pile shuffling if they regular shuffle afterwards. e. From MtG you should probably know that it’s not a legal shuffle in tournament play, but just for counting how many cards you have. Take half in your left hand with the right hand side of the card against your palm. To count the cards in your deck, to avoid a game loss due to preventing an illegal deck. You are going to be hard pressed to show that pile shuffling with other shuffling is cheating. e. You don't need to cut or shuffle them past that. " I don't want to damage my opponent's cards through riffle shuffling. That in between matches it is perfectly. The drive criteria is listed as follows: All piles shall be driven to an ultimate bearing resistance of 330 tons or refusal…. Before I go out…Pile shuffling is popular, as is just cramming two halves together. The key to this is that when your riffle sh If you're riffling enough to randomize properly afterwards, then the pile shuffle does nothing and just wastes time. It still mixes cards around. Now interleave them perfectly: top card from the first pile, top card from the second pile, next card from the first pile, next card from the second pile and so on. You are allowed 1 pile shuffle between rounds, any more than that is slow play. Shuffling. but unless you catch them doing something illegal (Hiding cards, looking at a deck sideways while shuffling, etc) you cannot. e. Pile shuffling as the final shuffling method is also not adequate", Lee McClain. The standard accepted mathematical model for the Riffle shuffle is called the Gilbert-Shannon-Reeds model (GSR model). There's a blue line where the number of piles is roughly half of the number of cards, another at roughly a third, a fourth, fifth, etc. Randomization is defined as bringing the deck to a state where no player can have any information regarding the order or position of cards in any portion of the deck. The tableau consists of seven piles. Pile shuffling does not meaningfully randomise the cards at all. Pile shuffling is actually illegal in tournament play for MTG. HOW DO? I generally do a pile shuffle (I know it's not really randomizing, but it spreads things out a bit) and a few mash shuffles, but I find it's…When your opponent has shuffled their deck and presented it to you for shuffling, is it legal to three pile your opponents deck (i. Split the main deck by that count. Because pile shuffling is not random, and five pile shuffling is deviously not just not random, but the best known cheat. Purple is just 1-2 repetitions. Pile shuffling may not be performed other than once at the beginning of a game to count the cards in the deck. Pile shuffling is the most efficient method for games that tend to sort the cards as you play because it splits those sorted sections apart. In the pile shuffle, all fifty-two cards are dealt out at random to create a succession of heaps. Pile shuffling: There are 2 ways to pile shuffle. repeat 5-6 times. Overhand shuffling is illegal, because you have the faces facing the side as opposed to the table. 9 (Shuffling): This change has to do with "pile shuffling. The rules for rummy — unlike the majority of other card games — state that aces can be high or low, but not both. 12. I have discovered a f. Even if a player was intending to cheat it wouldn’t be cheating because it’s not breaking the rules. The key when smash shuffling is to make sure the deck is divided about equally in half and then push the cards gently together so that they are almost. Divide deck into 2 roughly even piles. GameStop Moderna Pfizer Johnson & Johnson AstraZeneca Walgreens Best Buy Novavax SpaceX Tesla. In games with set collection where the cards are really grouped up, I'll do a pile shuffle. I noticed once when he had played a witch and on that turn bought a second witch. You may not just shuffle your deck without any reason to. When I used to play more, I would warn people that I will thoroughly shuffle their deck when offered a cut if they pile shuffle. In MTG for instance, it is strictly prohibited as a means of shuffling, and is permitted only once at the beginning of the game to count the cards in the deck. shuffle the new piles and repeat once or twice. If you shuffle properly after a pile shuffle, the pile shuffle will have had zero impact on the distribution of cards in your deck. Where that gets interesting is as the gaps exceed the thickness of the deck and small differences in initial card position are all over the place. Sometimes if we are lazy we will use a deck that wasn’t used in the last game of play and combine the old discard pile with the old draw deck. It doesn't ding. One round of this is usually enough. Please remember when applying the IPG that habits are hard to break, and a single caution may be appropriate the first time. And more often then not he gets the warning or if it is excessive the game loss. Mana weaving = dumb and pointless. Thanks for supporting me Patreon: card played or the move made. Whoever the person is saying pile shuffling is just stacking is objectively incorrect. You can sort your cards. 9 (Shuffling): This change has to do with "pile shuffling. shuffle the discard pile and set it up again. If you do it multiple times I'll call a judge for slow play. You can use your index fingers to help square the cards. Although the pile shuffle guarantees that each card is kept apart, it is not a reliable technique for shuffling cards. Don't agree? Try to defeat the computer in this 'binary race' - if you can generate random sequences you should be able to defeat the computer. Each deck comes with 112 cards, but three of these are blank, customisable cards - you can write whatever rules you want on these. Basically, if your opponent sits down and they just do a simple 5x8 pile shuffle then it. Mash shuffling is the correct way to shuffle sleeved cards. . This was previously covered under Unsportsmanlike Conduct, but now has its own section. NavyJoe. Players shuffle their decks. Which is correct. Mix 1 + 5 + 3 & 4 + 2 + 6 into two piles, then place 4 + 2 + 6 pile atop the other, cut, then mash shuffle a little. There's a reason you're only allowed 1 pile shuffle per game in MTG, and the rules specify that it does not actually count as shuffling. Section 3. The riffle shuffle is the familiar technique,. In general, with 2^n piles, it's equivalent to n shuffles. Each player should then create a stockpile of cards face down, with the top card turned face up. GameStop Moderna Pfizer Johnson & Johnson AstraZeneca Walgreens Best Buy Novavax SpaceX Tesla. Jared shuffles normally, then side cuts the bottom card (a land) to the top, then shuffles leaving that card the same. i usually do a couple of shuffle, then i make 5 piles then take pile 1-3-5-2-4 and shuffle one last time. After this was completed he put the used witch on top of his discard pile and his bought witch on the bottom of the discard pile. A Canasta tray used in cutting and dealing. An illegal rummy run. It physically separates each card from contact to each other. Pile shuffling alone is not sufficiently random. The one pile shuffle is allowed in order to count the number of cards in the deck. At any time, if the Draw Pile becomes depleted and no one has yet won the round, take the Discard Pile, shuffle it, and turn it over to regenerate a new Draw Pile. I mean if pile shuffling can only be done once per round to COUNT your cards (not for randomizing) or else it's slow play/penalty, I think this would count. Whenever I brew a new deck I like to do some pile shuffling to count the cards and to introduce some initial randomness before shuffling for real. Eight cards are dealt into two piles. It would be a huge problem for the game if people pile shuffled every time they needed to shuffle a deck, which is often multiple times each turn in the PTCG. Because of this pile shuffling alone is not sufficient and shuffling by other methods is required. The Release Notes include info about the release of a new set, as well as clarifications and rulings involving that set's cards. The opponent may then shuffle it additionally. CryptoA pile shuffle on its own is not an acceptable method to randomise a deck. I'll just split shuffle 30 times and call it good. recently someone on this sub told me that pile shuffling is cheating because it is not randomising the deck (I made the point that I do then ruffle…I'm honestly confused how pile shuffling is even considered an accepted and legal method of shuffling, because pile shuffling doesn't increase randomness, it only changes the order (which are, mathematically. " Pile shuffling alone is not a sufficiently random form of shuffling. According to present rules concerning the act of shuffling one’s deck, each player must riffle shuffle their own deck before a game begins at least three times. Shuffle pairs of piles together (a+b, c+d)There are generally three reasons people give for pile shuffling: 1. m. ago. Riffle shuffling is difficult to do with sleeved cards, doesn't randomize too well with sleeves, and is murder on the cards. )This model assumes that the shuffler is an expert and can dynamically adjust the rate at which cards. In card games, to cut the cards (also "cut the deck" or "cut the pack") is to split the deck into two packets by lifting one packet from the top and placing it face down beside the remainder; before placing the lower packet on top of it. " Based on observation and feedback, we are now restricting pile shuffling to once per game and only at the beginning of that game. You may be thinking of riffle shuffling, which I believe was recently made to be against the rules as it can damage cards very easily. Pile shuffling, in my experience, is a way of separating combo pieces that would end up close together after being used. wtf is a double nickel. It enrages me even when watching a stream to see someone announce a mulligan and then start pile shuffling. If your subsequent shuffles are not enough to completely randomize your pile shuffle,Provide protection by one or more of the following: Set spoils and equipment at least 2 feet back from the excavation. Because of this, a more "random" method is required. #stacking #yugioh #shufflingStop stacking me! Everyday I'm Shuffling. So. Accepted answer #2. Reply reply pj1843Business, Economics, and Finance. It is no longer illegal to do a 3-pile shuffle instead of calling a Judge when your opponent has done a mana-weave without thorough randomization afterwards. BigCoqSurprise • 6 yr. Pile shuffling helps you not get 6 lands clumped together (which lands often do, seeing as those are the cards you touch the most), and is perfectly fine as long as you do a thorough proper mash shuffle afterwards. It's not illegal, but I agree with u/fuxorfly, your probably just wasting your time with the whole separation step. Pile shuffles are against the rules to use as a method of randomization. Subreddit to discuss the Digimon Card Game released by Bandai in 2020. Pile shuffle must be followed up by another type of shuffling that randomizes your deck. Break it into manageable sections and shuffle them together, and then mix/match em into the big pile. You are allowed 1 pile shuffle between rounds, any more than that is slow play. Which is correct. Firstly, pile counting is not shuffling. Even if you could shuffle whenever you want, it generally wouldn't actually help. After my opponent shuffles their deck and presents it to me for a cut, can I legally deal three piles and stack them together? Is this an illegal cut? Th. Can you tell which decks were sorted/shuffled originally?The pile shuffle is only abusable if you know something about the order of the cards, which won't happen if your opponent plays fair. GameStop Moderna Pfizer Johnson & Johnson AstraZeneca Walgreens Best Buy Novavax SpaceX Tesla. It is, no joke, cheating. Simply put the cards face down on the floor and move them. This is an issue I've always questioned which way works best after you just finished building a deck and have it all sorted by card type and then cmc… 3. It is no longer illegal to do a 3-pile shuffle instead of calling a Judge when your opponent has done a mana-weave without thorough randomization afterwards. He was playing RUG tempo and even though he only had 19 lands in his deck he still managed to hit every single land drop in both of our games. The opponent may then shuffle it additionally. Here the top card of the original deck is shown in dark blue and the bottom card in dark red. Basically, riffle 7 times while performing a strip shuffle in between riffles. Some techniques, like pile shuffling, can reorder a library but do not truly randomize it. Saitou was playing Merfolk in the Legacy GP and was "caught" stalling his opponent when he was losing in order to turn a loss into a draw and stay in top 8 contention. Uno can be played with just two players or a maximum of 10. 683K subscribers in the magicTCG community. Set equipment and spoils at least 2 feet apart when digging. You and your opponents draw seven letter tiles each. Or two, you don’t shuffle enough times to make the deck random. To set up the game, shuffle the deck of cards and deal 30 cards to each player. Pile shuffling doesn't randomize, that's why you're not allowed to use it as a sole method of shuffling in any competitive games; all it does it break up clumps. I've never had it be an issue…Please don't do a pile shuffle. In any case, it takes a very long time to sufficiently randomize unsleeved cards. Business, Economics, and Finance. Game Play. Pile shuffling does pretty much nothing. 0 coins. If so, check this web site especially point 4 and 5 about shuffling cards one handed: 5 ways to Shuffle a Deck of cards. (Yes, that’s Claude Shannon. Coins. and it's a counting method, not a shuffling method. 98 votes, 177 comments. Deal your deck into 5-7 piles facedown a couple of times. I usually pile shuffle before starting a new game or at the end of a game. I don’t get time to go to the card shop much but I have…Mash shuffling is essentially riffle shuffling, and most like what you’re doing. Pile shuffling is a misnomer. " Pile shuffling alone is not a sufficiently random form of shuffling. You are not randomising anything with a perfectly equal, even, patterned "shuffle". Or two, you don’t shuffle enough times to make the deck random. Like Adam said: A Wash shuffle is a great shuffle opening if you have the space. After each game check your sb if you have 15 cards there, or in case of drafts count cards in your deck to 40. I have played Pokemon for years and just learned something that I did not know was premissable in a tournament. The riffle shuffle is the unruly twin of the perfect shuffle. When the (then) L4s & L5s discussed this, that was the sticking point - we can't DQ someone for a legal action, just because they *might* have actually seen what they. However, you'll get more spread out lands if you pile shuffle first. I recently got Wingspan and its European Expansion and after shuffling near 250 cards or so and still ending up with cards Ive seen…He said that pile shuffling onto lands (put down like 4 lands, 2 nonland cards on it, lands again, 1 nonland on it, lands again etc) is considered cheating. Move one each of the "discard" cards into each pile. My question is about the permutations possible on eight cards by pile shuffling. Pregame: Remove deck from deck…Pile shuffling is not legal as a final shuffle. you can only pile shuffle once per game I believe. The game "shuffles your draw pile" when you run out of cards to draw and must reshuffle the whole deck to draw more. Not a fan of riffle shuffling for some reason. Say my opponent does the double nickel (pile shuffles in 5's twice for perfect mana weave), and then overhands a couple times before handing his deck… Other people have trouble shuffling 100 card decks too. Update states that a player may only pile shuffle once each time a deck is randomized. The rest of the cards go in the middle of the play area. ) and then cut. Search titles only. I do a few alternations of these 2 techniques: 1. The only exception is once at the start of a game to ensure accurate number of cards and even then you still need to riffle shuffle after that as the deck is not considered sufficiently randomized just by doing the pile method. 2. Ok guys this is gonna seem really lame but I returned to playing yugioh about a year ago. After many riffles you can have a very unordered deck with no certainty to where any card is. Although the pile shuffle guarantees that each card is kept apart, it is not a reliable technique for shuffling cards. The point of pile shuffling is to get a modulo count of your deck. Once the deck is randomized, it must be presented to an opponent. Business, Economics, and Finance. It's worked well for me so far (Also, I use at least 5 of more piles) Section 3. Pile shuffling isn't a true randomization, it's an even distribution, thus is not sufficient to be considered a "shuffle. After that some alternating Riffle and stripping shuffle produce a fast and thorough shuffle. After shuffling the opponent's deck, cut the deck, as shown below. Only pile shuffling is not a legal shuffle cause you are not randomizing the cards. Cards and sleeves must not be in danger of being damaged during this process. "Pile shuffling" isn't shuffling, it's a means of counting your deck. It is not a substitute for shuffling. If performed properly, riffling does not damage the cards (you can see top player Alex Wilson demonstrating this here). often ending with a bridge finish that gathers the cards together into a neat pile. untill the deck has been shuffled back together shuffle it some. Once the deck is randomized, it must be presented to an opponent. Here's how you can get it:1. The Deck must be randomized by using an accepted shuffling method (riffle,. Anyone can shuffle this way. Is pile shuffling illegal? Shuffling is a procedure used to randomize a deck of playing cards to provide an element of chance in card games . "Section 3. 517 611 611 comments Best Gozak83 • 7 yr. You need to mash or riffle enough that a deck is properly randomized, and if you do, you should not be able to tell a deck that was pile shuffled prior to the riffles/mashes vs a deck that was lands on the bottom. Update states that a player may only pile shuffle once each time a deck is randomized. Usually shuffle double sleeved decks by splitting them in half, shuffling each half individually, then splitting those halves again and shuffling them across. CryptoB says "cool! Can you teach me?" A explains that you first place each land in a pile, then the non lands, etc, and I explain that either is cheating or doesn't work. How to shuffle perfectly. If you spend the same amount of time pile shuffling, you won't get very good results. Learn how to do the pile shuffle for a deck of cards in this free how-to video seri. Update states that a player may only pile shuffle once each time a deck is randomized. 10. I… Pile shuffling doesn't truly randomize cards and that too is a really easy means of cheating. Use retaining devices, such as a trench box, that will extend. While this shuffle easily randomizes the middle of the deck, I'm wondering if it moves the top/bottom cards by very much each time. stating that players must follow suit if able, otherwise may play any card (as at Whist ). There is no problem with pile shuffling unless its the only shuffling someone does. If you do this with four piles, it's equivalent to two riffle shuffles. Of the most ritual acts of Magic is the shuffling ritual. Overhand shuffling is illegal, because you have the faces facing the side as opposed to the table. — No, that's illegal. Cut: splitting the deck in half and reversing. The opponent may then shuffle it additionally. I also don't use the normal 6 pile shuffle: I usually do 8 for a wider distribution.