Greatest MTG Shuffle Cheaters Caught on Camera 

Banish them all to the shadow realm

Absolutely. It’d make cheating harder

Wrote my comment then saw this lol. Such a easy way to combat these scummy players.

The Master has spoken! WotC: Make it happen!!

I thought that was always the courtesy

Also he's acting like he was sent to prison I got told not to play my card game :((((((((((( noooooo

Not even told he can't "play" just he can't play at official sanctioned events for cash and prizes, since he's a cheater. He can play against his friends in casual matches all the fucking wants to. Also: "Boo hoo I'm gonna' sell my entire collection 'cause they won't let me cheat at sanctioned events for 4 years [shoulda' been indefinite!]."

@@MGmirkin I know ! right?! guess he didn´t want to play if he couldn´t cheat on official tournaments :)

I just don't understand the mentality of cheaters like this.

@@Unforgiven11 It's probably the "high" feeling they'll get when they can pull it off without getting caught that motivates them in doing stuff like that.

Hahaha yep me too

Sme. This skill even translate when i played online

had an odd shuffle the other night. Somehow ended up with roughly even clumps of lands then nonlands and repeat for the whole deck. So I'd pull nothing but land for several turns (well after when I didn't need any more) before I could start getting anything to play.

In multi color decks, i mastered the art of drawing the exact opposite color lands of the cards i have. It takes true skill

@@anthonymarinucci325 or having something like boros deck and somehow get an opening that make you feel like playing mono red

And then getting mad when you get banned for cheating in a sanctioned event, like wtf you think is going to happen you are scamming the event organizers and the participants out of prizes

Yeah, stacking the deck is not something one can just learn to do on the fly. What he did, took a lot of practice so this was not the first time he had done this, for sure.

Yeah... right... "Gave in to temptation [30 games in a row]." Sorry, but a **pattern of obvious bad behavior** is not "giving in to temptation [once, even twice]," it's a "lifestyle choice..." You got spanked for it, move on, apologize or make amends; don't be an whiny crybaby asshole about it.

Dude, he's banned from pro-Magic the CARD GAME, not LIFE itself. He's not ACTUALLY going to prison like a murderer...

@@JJEMTT I can't tell if you're adding to their comment, or trying to correct them? Because.. They said that

"Its just a card game." You decided it was important enough to cheat, so you just played yourself with that statement.

See if poker players would be as nice.

He talks like it's a four year sentence to JAIL lmfao

Me too .. it was glorious. nice placement of the hand, next to the deck, the one card left behind ... the speed at which it happens. its perfect~

Same, though it helps to know that it was coming, but goddam. How do the judges sitting table side or the commentators not see that? Granted, he was presenting his deck while tapping his lands and equipping a sword, but goddam. As a comment about the first two. That's part of why I absolutely hate that kind of shuffling. It's the perfect shuffling technique for preserving the top card(s). Then all you need is a smooth motion to get the card(s) you want on top, and BOOM! Free win. I shamelessly riffle shuffle my decks at tournaments, just to make sure crap like this can't happen, as well as facing away from it like our protagonist at 3:15.

I spotted it and didnt even know which person was the cheater. But maybe thats just my deck watching habit i picked up from ygo, given a lot of searching happens in that game nowadays

Batterskull was to obvious. What would've made it slick. If he picked up his library and slide the card closer to his hand.

You could say even say he was a........Brazen Borrower

He also won 2 events that weekend if I recall correctly.

@@corycook9355 it seemed like he knew his opponent would be timid to say something so he acted very in control of what was going on

Brazen Shuffler - stole that game like he was committing a Petty Theft!

He is pretending to be distracted. He is also putting the focus on the conversation not the shuffling.

If the official is looking into your eyes they aren't looking at you shuffle. Solid misdirection.

you're a hero

I'd love to see footage from that savage.

It's not hard to shuffle cheat and it's really easy if you can watch the cards. It's a great trick to amaze kids and a better trick to know as a judge.

I gotta ask, wtf is up with these people? To go to your local game store and cheat seems mind blowing to me. Are they really just totally losers looking for a win? I don’t understand

Damn, got any footage of it? Would love to fucking see that lol Good shit man

Jund players amirite?

🤢 gross

The dude wasn't cheating but they where so pissed that their $4k+ edh deck lost to my Draconic Rage structure deck that I've done some changes to... and my budget Rielle deck.

Even more, if it's just a card game, then what does it matter if you get suspended from it?

He's right, the card game doesn't matter. He's not even banned from the card game, he can play with his friends any time he likes. The tournaments are what people care about in this circumstance, and that's what he's banned from.

the thrill of getting caught is exciting, i think, isn't that why people mostly cheats in the relationship. it's for excitement of course

For the same reason his profile image prominently displays who I can only assume was his girlfriend. He cares about his image and ego, so being banned for cheating bruised that. He's not the "chad MTG player" he wanted people to think he was.

Anyone that has to cheat at any game is a complete loser and scum.

The problem is that honest people are often naive to immoral acts. Similarly if you survey thieves about what % of the population shoplifts, they will give a way higher number than is reasonable. People tend to think that other people are like them, good or bad. This is especially true in a setting where there's an implied comradery - like a social event where everyone is playing the same game.

That's what I'm thinking. Like my guy my deck doesn't consent so stop fondling it. I cant believe these tournaments dont use auto shufflers, or have the judges shuffle

Yeah anyone holding my deck for that long instantly will get me telling them to cut it.

Third one was most obvious to me. Like, I can't believe no one called a judge over that.

During a game I'd just think he left it because he already knows it's not what he's looking for. I can definitely see myself forgetting that the card on the table is in his library, not his hand.

The first one was impressive since he did it while having a conversation, meaning he has a lot of experience with it

He seemed like a typical Chad so no surprise he tried that around a couple of ”four eyes”

No, it's just easy to do without them

This

You can still manipulate the top after the cut. I'd say if the opponent reshuffles the deck you should be allowed to cut it.

In yugioh a full shuffle should be: owner shuffle then opp shuffle. Then the owner gets to choose if he wants to cut, then if he did, opponent can cut as well. It is usually summed up to owner shuffles then opponent cuts, but it still is usefull when you’re playing against a known cheater.

After shuffling you have the cards/spot marked by having it maybe a tiny abit askew so when you cut you can feel the spot that's off. I'm a dealer at a casino and cameras are on everytable and cheating is a fineable offense so we are aware of what to watch out for

After your opponent shuffles, you should do a one hand cut flat on the table. This is the way it should be. Just like the cut is in poker.

That lets the player potentially manipulate their own deck though before drawing. Not as much as shuffling it for a minute, but they could possibly put a card on top that they palmed or some other nonsense.

I thought that was a rule, along with getting the judge to have the final shuffle and cut

it was probably an SCG open back when they had 500 players and ran them nearly every weekend. The total prizes would be a tiny fraction of what you would need to pay even the cheapest workers imaginable if you needed 250 of them.

i totally agree with this when it comes down to semi- finals and finals when it comes ot big tourneys it would be hard to have a judge shuffling at every table... maybe a shuffle machine ? but idk if that damages cards.

@@joshnorton6655 Without having players shuffling their own decks in on camera matches, most cheaters (of those who have been caught) wouldn't have been caught. I don't believe a shuffling machine would be viable because cards are far too valuable and sleeves are far too inconsistent between decks.

Why isn't a friggin MTG shuffling machine existing yet?

@@DarkZerol I don't know what the cards end up like after a days use at a casino but I would imagine the difficulty of making a machine shuffle $1000 worth of cardboard is considerable. Add in the varying sleeves and I think the problem is too hard to be worth solving

Talking (and making eye contact) is part of the misdirection. It keeps their eyes off his hands and it also alleviates suspicion as to “Why is this guy shuffling forever?” Just seems like he’s enjoying the conversation.

I never play tournaments but I'm shocked anyone lets the other play completely take their deck and shuffle and then slide it across the table. I'd be tempted to cut my own deck for them. And for me.

@@42k78 unfortunately cutting your own deck constitutes a reshuffle by the opponent. But it's what the rules say. You present your deck, the opponent shuffles if they so choose, and then gives it back. They don't even have to shuffle if they don't want to and believe you've thoroughly randomized. I haven't had to call anyone on their shuffles yet thankfully, but I've had a guy booted from my LGS because he was shuffle stacking his opponent's deck and got caught. He then proceeded to whine about it, got banned from our store, and then went to another store and OPENLY trashed us. All because he got busted cheating.

That's what I was thinking. The opponent even looked like he was confused about what was happening because the cheater was shuffling for so long.

I make them cut.

@@icebergslim1872 same. I rarely have to say anything, most do it instinctively.

@@butteryfriedwizard2219 I also ask them for what reason are you shuffling my cards face up? Please shuffle face down as I'm doing.

Watched a guy meticulously riffle shuffle my deck 7 times in a row and I asked him if he knew that just put everything back where it was. He then he did it 4 more times and handed it back. Game 2 I called a judge to watch.

That's something I always keep an eye out for; new players do it all the time by accident

Glad to know I'm not the only one.

How do you find the time to think of naked women? I can never seem to manage beyond not messing up.

@@joshuaneuhauser8372 you have to set priorities, haha

I would notice something was up because I have played cards my entire life with family. Shuffling etiquette rule 1, never see the cards you are shuffling. That is the biggest red flag, especially in organized play!

I didn’t show the rest of the Tom Ross clip, but the extra mana helped him cast all his spells to kill Jared that turn 😂

@@NikachuMTG lmao

@@NikachuMTG Truly aggro infects are the hero we need, not the one we deserve.

Tom Ross is awesome

Fun fact. Tom went to my high school. Is still one of my brother's best friends and he taught us both how to play magic at major league card shop in Pineville, La. I quit playing magic years ago but was blown away when I found out how far he had come in the game. The dude had tokens made with his likeness?? I should've kept riding his coattails.... just sayin

Don't need to be obsessed with sleight of hand to spot it.... if your opponent takes more than 5 seconds to shuffle and doesn't either cut himself or has opponent cut, he's cheating.

Agreed. However, that is almost everyone in every game I have ever played be it Magic, Yugioh, etc.

Just play 8 Rack. Problem solved!

Hey man I just have shaky hands lol. I've been called out for looking at the deck while I shuffle. The only answer I can give them is that I don't want to drop their deck on the table and floor. Even tho the deck is orientated so I can only look at sleeves, people still think I'm cheating.

I wouldn't even let my opponent shuffle my deck. They cut the deck. I can't stack crap. Best a player can do is separate lands and non lands so its an even balance and I honestly believe you should be allowed to do that in the first place. I really like online card games where your resources are increased each round and separate from your hand.

@@jfast8256 _"Best a player can do is separate lands and non lands so its an even balance and I honestly believe you should be allowed to do that in the first place."_ That's the silliest thing I have ever heard. Manaweaving should be allowed? And how exactly do you suggest this to work in a fair and balanced way? How exactly would you suggest being able to mana-weave? Allow players to place land cards at any position in the deck they want? How? They take all the lands out of the deck, and then start counting cards from the remaining deck and start placing lands in the positions they want? Or what exactly is it that you are suggesting? Changing the rules of the game drastically to have lands and non-lands in separate decks, pretty much requiring the rewrite the entire rules of the game, and thus creating an entirely new game? (There are tons and tons of cards and rules that would become unfeasible if players had two decks.) Or are you, perhaps, suggesting that players shouldn't be penalized if they deliberately manaweave during shuffling? And how exactly do you suggest watching out for them to not abuse this permission to stack their deck with other non-land cards that they want? How exactly would you enforce that only land cards are being manaweaved evenly into the deck, and not some other cards? This would also make it a game of skill: Those most skilled at manaweaving would be advantaged over those who don't have the same skill. Are you seriously suggesting that this should become a game of hand dexterity and deck manipulation? The player with the best manaweaving skills should win? Seriously, that's the silliest (and I'm using the mildest adjective I can come up with) thing I have ever heard. If you don't like land randomness, then go play some other card game that has no land randomness. It's that simple.

@@WarpRulez Edit: cutting the deck fixes problems with stacking the deck with specific cards. Most online card games you get 1 mana per turn added to your total. Since I play recreationally, I personally don't mind if my opponent has two stacks, 1 nothing but land and the other everything else. Shuffle each separately and when you're done shuffling, bridge shuffle them together. No reason to mulligan or get stuck with 0 or 7 lands. Either way doing that is way less punishing silly than letting a cheater who is literally stacking your cards so you get 0 lands. The point is, MTG has a resource vs utility card problem. There is an easy fix to it and I don't mind people using it. I'm not saying stack the deck with other useful cards. I expect the deck to be cut, even double cut if the player likes. But I like for BOTH players to not be mana fucked for no reason other than "RNG" or "bad luck". yes I know it's part of the game, but I prefer the game to be more skill based on how well you can build the deck to work with itself vs "well I got mana fucked, so you win. Yep, I got 2 lands out, you have 5, but your hand wasn't flooded with lands" It's not my fault, you can't imagine a way to shuffle that is both fair and weaves mana in uniformly.

@@jfast8256 You might not mind it, but it just breaks the game, and makes the rules impossible in many regards. It also breaks many cards such as Aven Mindcensor (which main idea is that it hinders the ability to search lands from your library). The very idea of making MtG a game of dexterity, where your manual skills determine how well you can play, is absolutely ludicrous. You are not talking about MtG anymore. You are talking about something else. Manaweaving is cheating, plain and simple. When your deck should be shuffled, manipulating its contents in any way, shape or form, in a manner that reduces randomness and affects where particular cards end up, is cheating. It's no different than doing the same eg. in poker. (If you did that in poker you would probably be taken to the back alley and beaten up.) If you manaweave, then you are a cheater, plain and simple.

@@WarpRulez I play D&D far more than I play MtG. We have a lot of house rule that make the game less "not fun". I assure you, everyone I play with that plays MtG, literally does not care about mana weaving. If both sides of the equation are okay with it, it is not cheating. When I allow my players to use homebrew in D&D, they are not cheating. So I will concede this. Tournaments, perhaps I shouldn't have a say in it. But in non tournament settings where I play, it's it's far from cheating to shuffle your own deck, because everyone prefers it that way. I don't want to play a person who gets 1 land only or nothing but lands. I WANT them to manaweave. They aren't cheating when they do it. But I will concede the fact that okay, in these tournaments, it is.

I saw the same thing. He made it more obvious of cheating by making it less of an actual chance of getting the card. I don't know the rules as I only read the cards while my friends played back in the late 90's early 00's 😆. But if he would have drawn after the shuffle it would have been less obvious

I heard something about mtg closing off comp play mostly because cheaters .... That's what people are saying at my lgs

the problem at that point is i could bribe you the judge with ether a rare card or two if you played the game or money or something else in order to get you to shuffle a poor hand for my opponent

Or (when possible) just play on Arena. I know, it's less sexy to paper purists, but it just ends this problem.

At the very least, a judge should be required to cut a deck after it has been shuffled and then present it back to the player. No deck cutting is a major red flag. Personally, I would say that the decks should be shuffled with all the cards facing down to also help prevent repeats of the first two alongside a judge cut. just did a quick little search for some of the shuffle rules, these would have been good to know back then. "Players may request to have a judge shuffle their cards rather than the opponent; this request will be honored only at a judge’s discretion." "If a player has had the opportunity to see any of the card faces of the deck being shuffled, the deck is no longer considered randomized and must be randomized again." Something makes me think these came around partly due to the people in the video, if they weren't around previously.

@@Adam27X arena shuffler is worse than any sleight of hand paper cheat, my god have you even played that game?

To quote Waluigi: "Waahhh, everybody cheater! Next time _I_ cheat!"

ngl though I wouldn't even be mad for how smooth that was.

@@NoneNullAnd0 Which makes it worse, now that I think about it. He practiced cheating that much.

Criminals will always minimize the crime before confessing to it. It's also an interrogation technique. "Man, who WOULDN'T smack somebody for doing that? How could you know he'd fall and hit his head on the table?"

@@LionEagleOx Yup. When Lebron James was playing for the Miami Heat he had a move where he would drive then deliberately stumble away holding the ball to force the ref to call a foul on the defender. On replay no one touched him, he actually had to have practiced that by himself beforehand. Really gross and exposed what a douche he is.

The guy cheated in casual games? What a loser. haha

@@Neelo5000 For sure. We’ve ghosted three players at our LGS for cheating in freaking non EDH league games. We gave them multiple warnings. I don’t care if it’s casual or competitive. Don’t cheat. Have fun and play.

Yep had to deal with them constantly cheating against me in semifinal and final rounds at our LGS. I knew they were doing it too but with them being good friends with the shop owners and not having solid proof, I could never call them out on it. I figured that if this occurrence was that common at pro-level, I couldn't afford to try and go bigger just to be cheated out like that.

@@fugim ?

Based

I have watched many magicians who can manipulate decks and have tried to learn some slight of hand myself false shuffles take days of practice to look legit. Forcing cards to specific locations while holding conversations take weeks or years. These guys probably spent more time learning to cheat than playing the game

Not only cut, but don't let the guy shuffling do the cut! A good card mechanic can stack the deck and know EXACTLY where to cut it for the desired outcome. "You cut. I pick." That's the rule for splitting a treat. "You shuffle. I cut." is the rule in cards. At least it is in poker and every other card game I've ever played.

@@harrymills2770 no game has the shuffler cutting the deck. that defeats the entire point of cutting the deck.

i don't know much about this game or this type of card game but i had always thought it was a pretty big deal. but if they don't enforce very simple cutting, wow kind of a joke.

@@jp-sn6si because they all are using this trick some way or the other

Yeah, It's always great when people care about a game sufficiently to rant about it big time, forget midway through what they're doing and toss in the "It's just a game" real quick. Like mate, to you it clearly isn't.

@@Krunschy Yeah exactly, also I would love to see what his collection looked like that he supposedly sold. Besides that, if you’re into the game enough that you travel to SCG tournaments to compete the. you take it even more seriously than many others that play casually lol

I guess as long as you're not a rapist or murderer you can do whatever you want 🤷

@@I43573 lol that does seem to be his logic I suppose

Yeah he is treating it as if he walked down to the local game store and did a pick-up game. He participated in a Tournament a sanctioned tournament where there are judges at every table. People take tournaments very seriously.

i can see how that is hard to see when you are playing but it was super obvious from the topdown view though

Well it should be called considering he didn't draw after the shuffle therefore it would have been impossible for the bottom card to be in his hand. Though i could see someone overlooking it

That wasn't CLEAN at all 😂 ray Charles could see that bullshit... How the hell do u not notice an entire card not being picked up?? Smh

Makes me wonder what we can do to not be a victim.

@@SpitefulAZ pay very close attention when your opponent touches their deck always

@Bo Harris we can't control other people's actions, only our own.

@@SpitefulAZ As a Yugioh player, 1 thing I do while shuffling their deck is to lock eyes with them. Pay attention to the eyes. Something else I will pay attention to is how they are shuffling my deck. If cards are not being shuffled face down I ask them politely to do so. Adds a little negativity but I ain't going to let a potential cheater brick my hand.

i feel bad for the cheaters, imagine having a self-esteem so low you can't do anything without trying to get some kind of advantage.

Play mat camouflage

@@Choom89 I think playmat rule are in order. Solid color and distinctly different from your sleeve color. Basically a mandatory high contrast setting. Or if playmats are provided, a list of banned sleeve colors needs to happen. Light blue, light grey, and white should all be banned for the batterskull playmat. It blends in too much.

It's blatant when you already know he cheats and you know what to look for. If you're there or you have a moment of looking at something else.

@@louisstabile1182 It seemed pretty blatant to me just from the overhead camera. Definitely the most obvious of all three. If you're sitting across from him, it might be a lot harder to notice. But it was really dumb to try to cheat that way while on camera.

Magic only gets super expensive if you really want a specific deck or specific cards. If you just get your boxes of cards and make decks with what you have it's way less expensive

@@katiequeen7225 can you win tournaments like that or is having a specific set of cards mandated (by the meta) if you want to go far?

@@katiequeen7225 kinda bad advice imo it's more cost effective to buy singles tbh and it really depends on their goal like if they play commander buying a precon and upgrading them with some singles is the best way imo

or if you really wanna cheap out, is playable forever, and doesnt need to be updated feequently like standard play Pauper. Literally a format where you only play with common cards

Stephen Speck! I know because that’s how he beat me deep in a GP on day 2 😂

@@NikachuMTG That's super unfortunate, I'm sorry dude!

Wasn't that the one palming extra cards?

@@dave3823 yeah he wasn't too tricky the shuffling he aways had the hand he wanted set aside as far as I can remember.

I had a brief stint in that career!

I would like to thank the maker of this video for highlighting this term for me, as its my new google name.

Considering how he gives the illusion of being an honest player, he's on his way already.

nah, it's shit lmao. I like sleight of hand for magic (not the card game lmao), and this is such basic shit that it's super obvious to anyone who has a passing interest in magic

@@AnthonyVanGansen I was about to say the same damn shit, tbh.

Yeah, as a magician I could see what they were doing because I was looking for it, but it's all very convincing to a spectator

Or an opponent

What's mana weaving?

yep there is definitely a huge disparity between mtga ranked draws and what you draw in nonranked

That's what my comment of "not better!" Was at the end of my response. Lol. I have 24+ lands, and say 12 5-drops. I draw a hand full of 5-drops but only 1 land? Shuffler is busted. Its consistent too. Like, come on man...

@@JB-mm5ff I thought I had noticed that as well. Ranked being "better" than non ranked. I would have to test this more tho.

@@MurpheeLaw dude, I just spent 6 hours getting fecked on the mtga algorithm -- and when I checked out the mtga discord it was unprofessional and mod abuse was rampant (watch out for mods Rubix and Snerf -- they think they own the internet and all opinions!!) think i'll go back to paper magic and just do arena every 3 days for the quests.

@@MurpheeLaw Aaron -- I have literally noticed on platinum rank tier that the number of board clears alone determines what deck you will face. Give it a try -- play with a few Crippling Fears (-3/-3 all) and notice suddenly you will be getting hit with the 4+ defense creatures. Take it out and replace it with a Blood on the Snow -- suddenly every game is against aggro red. It's busted, and the land draw is definitely rigged. I should not be drawing 2 lands EVERY GAME for 18 out of 20 games with 24-25 lands in deck. Solution: play paper.

just a few questions.....first of all, i also played back then, and like....NOBODY sleeved cards, it was against the rules anyway. and second of all, how do you not see somebody literally pulling a card out of a sleeve mid game.....

@@johnlowe1255 We played 5-6 player multi games. We weren't always paying attention to that player. I started sleeving cards at either 7th or 8th edition. Edit: We still played antie, even after it was removed from the rules.

Do you love me now daddy? [cries on magic cards]

In what universe is MTG children's card game

"Children's game"

man childrens*

@@oORoOFLOo well on packaging it’s says 8+

Wow, thanks! 😊

See I caught that one quickly. I’d ask him why do you keep peaking down while shuffling? Especially when the cards are being shuffled at an angle and not flat facedown (which should be a rule in competitive mtg). But then again I work at a casino and I’ve been playing cards for almost 40 years lol.

And him fidgeting and moving his land was a clear sign of something suspicious going on.

Agree, op should only be allowed to cut.

I hate when they shuffle my deck. Cards are expensive and most don't have the same love for cardboard that I do.

Agreed, opponent should be able to cut only

Why I don't entirely disagree with opponents only being allowed to cut, it does have the downside of making mana weaving (another form of shuffle cheating) a lot more effective, and therefore tempting to potential cheaters.

@@ArdRhys I actually hope that they make mana weaving legal

Welcome aboard!

Yeah, I saw the extra card and thought it was odd but it didn't click what was going on at first. That was indeed, ballsy.

I hate to twist the knife but that is extremely likely. I do close up card tricks as a hobby. I've done a bunch of these tricks for judges "trained" to spot card manipulation. I even told them what the result was going to be. Such as stacking a god hand, loading a mana vein, weaving, or stacking an opponents wincons to the bottom. Even though they knew I was cheating and what the result would be ahead of time most of them couldn't figure out how I was doing it until I told them. So especially if these were not recorded or live streamed events you were playing in, it's pretty much a guarantee you got screwed by a card sharp. Likely multiple times in competitive circles.

I feel like you should be allowed you cut your OWN deck 1 time after the opponent is done with it. Without looking at it at all.

i remember watching yugioh back in like 2004 and thats how THEY WOULD PLAY like in the show. how can yugioh in the show get it right and magic a game that has existed far longer than it has still doesnt have one person does x and the other does y

That's how I've always played, both at home and in LGS tournaments. You shuffle your own deck and your opponent gets to cut it however they want, or shuffle if they're feeling picky or buying some extra seconds to think. I'm guessing they're doing it this way to speed things up, but I'd expect they'd at least allow the deck's owner to cut it after it's shuffled. It's awkward too because you can request a judge to shuffle if you feel uncomfortable, but they're not going to have time to babysit your table and you're going to frustrate the judge real fast hassling them over a suspicion, so they might just call you for Slow Play. I can say there's a lot of pressure in tournaments to show good sportsmanship, play your games fast and maintain a good atmosphere so it can suck to have to call someone out.

If I was in a tournament against someone who was a known proven cheater, I would refuse to play with them simply because I could not trust that any win or loss would be legitimate. Maybe he didn't cheat this time or maybe he got better at avoiding getting caught, who knows. That is what would make it impossible. Because what if he doesn't cheat and the opponent gets a bad starting hand, do they know it was just bad luck or will they assume he cheated. Do they have to get the optimal opening hand to not think they were cheated but then how do you do that without cheating in the other direction? Bans like this should simply be a for life ban, not worth the future hassle of dealing with something like this coming up all the time.