Random

Some Magic cards and rules ask for a decision to be made at random. Beyond the plain English definition of the word, several rules offer further guidance as to how these decisions should be made.

Description

Mark Rosewater has described randomness as a state that, if not interfered with, has unpredictability.^[1] Richard Garfield states that any game whose outcome is not a foregone conclusion has a degree of luck.^[2]

Randomness is first introduced to the game when each player shuffles their libraries before the game. A shuffled card deck is a very high variance game engine but is more palatable as a source of randomness due to personal influence upon it (i.e. deckbuilding) and because it comes with being a card game. Other sources of randomness like flipping a coin or rolling a die are often too transparent about their randomness for most players to enjoy regularly.^[3]

While the Comprehensive Rules state only that libraries must be in a state such that no player knows their order, the Tournament Rules go into substantially more detail. Notably, the Tournament Rules state that pile shuffling alone is not adequate. Additionally, players must have the option of performing a final shuffle of their opponent's deck. At the Competitive and Professional Rules Enforcement Levels, players must shuffle their opponent's decks.^[4]

The Tournament Rules suggest a die roll or coin toss as a random method for determining which player will play first in the first game of a match.

When flipping a coin, other sources of randomness are allowed, as long as there are two outcomes of equal likelihood and all players agree to that substitution.

Rules

From the Comprehensive Rules (June 7, 2024—Modern Horizons 3)

701.20a To shuffle a library or a face-down pile of cards, randomize the cards within it so that no player knows their order.

From the Comprehensive Rules (June 7, 2024—Modern Horizons 3)

705. Flipping a Coin
- 705.1. Some cards refer to flipping a coin. A coin used in a flip must be a two-sided object with easily distinguished sides and equal likelihood that either side lands face up. If the coin that’s being flipped doesn’t have an obvious “heads” or “tails,” designate one side to be “heads,” and the other side to be “tails.” Other methods of randomization may be substituted for flipping a coin as long as there are two possible outcomes of equal likelihood and all players agree to the substitution. For example, the player may roll an even-sided die and call “odds” or “evens,” or roll an even-sided die and designate that “odds” means “heads” and “evens” means “tails.”
- 705.2. Some effects that instruct a player to flip a coin care only about whether the coin comes up heads or tails. No player wins or loses a coin flip for this kind of effect. For all other effects that instruct a player to flip a coin, the player that flips the coin calls “heads” or “tails.” If the call matches the result, the player wins the flip. Otherwise, the player loses the flip. Only the player who flips the coin wins or loses the flip; no other players are involved.

In digital games

Part of the 1997 Microprose Magic: The Gathering game was a "semi-expansion" of 12 cards, known as Astral. The Astral cards incorporated various random attributes that would have been difficult or impossible to replicate in real life.^[5]

In the same vein, random effects returned in the Alchemy of MTG Arena. They can also be used on acorn cards.