Tutorial: Better Shuffling Magic: The Gathering Commander Decks (and any other cards!) 

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

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

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.

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.

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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.

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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 RU-vid. Now I feel pretty confident in my card shuffling ability. Thank you for this easy to follow tutorial!

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.

Thanks for the video, gonna practice this tonight

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.

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.

Good vid man , i was looking for a good way to Shuffle since i'm kinda new to commander (and Magic) . I guess i need to practice now !

What a beautiful playmat ❤

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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!

Thanks for tips man keep up the great work

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.

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

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!

a 13 minute video about shuffling without repeating yourself. nice

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 ;)

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.

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

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.

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

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 🙏

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

Im not going to lie i learned how to shuffle like this is about 20 minutes i have experience with shuffling but I’ve never touched more than 60 cards I’m used to table top games such and poker and black jack and even light illusion shuffles. but this video really helped thank you you

Fantastic teaching.

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

Very well done imho. Verbalized excelently 🎉

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.

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 ;)

Really handy video! I’m awful at shuffling and this helps alot

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.

great video my friend!

my guy is smooth with the shuffle

Just an extra... after the first shuffle, some edges might not perfectly align as a single block (like when you were talking bout cheating), don't push them to align, use that as another sort of edge to easen up the shuffle

VERY useful video. Thanks a bunch! How do you usually organize your commander before a match? I used to play the "regular mod" so I just organized like - 1 land - 2 cards - But I cant do that with commander. ANy tips?

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

Thank you, your awesome!

Honestly if someone can manage to track where enough cards are to be useful then honestly *they deserve the advantage*

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.

Thanks for the video

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.

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

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

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.

Coolest playmat I have ever seen

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.)

I'm a casino dealer, oh man were people irate when I started shuffling. Needed this video to make me less of a frenemy.

Best shuffling video on youtube

I've seen people do something that looks like mash shuffling - BUT it looks like they just fall/cascade into place - how do they do that?

I need that playmat!! :D

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)

I feel physical pain whenever I see a riffle shuffle.

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

Great video! What sleeves are you using? I noticed different sleeves have different shuffle quality and some get damages easily than others even with the careful shuffling

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.

Thank you, my 100 cars double sleeved deck is tough to shuffle

Great video. I still wonder how to shuffle a 100 cards decks. I am now closer the answer thank to you ! 🎉❤

I usually pile shuffle into 6 piles, then pick 3 of them arbitrarily and pile shuffle them into the remaining 3 then mash shuffle the piles together randomly a couple times

I have de constructed someone's deck at FNM by reverse pile shuffle only 50% of the cards and placing them on top lol. He was so pissed, but I watched him stack the deck pre game.

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.

Double sleeved!! Aiight Bro 🙏🏽

Your playmat is rad as hell

It hurt my soul when I seen the bridge shuffling

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

My friends all do that first form of shuffling before actually shuffling in order to make sure they don't have all their lands at the bottom of their deck