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.

From the Tournament Rules (November 13, 2023—The Lost Caverns of Ixalan)

3.10 Card Shuffling
Decks must be randomized at the start of every game and whenever an instruction requires it. 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. Pile shuffling may not be performed other than once each at the beginning of a game to count the cards in the deck.

Once the deck is randomized, it must be presented to an opponent. By this action, players state that their decks are legal and randomized. The opponent may then shuffle it additionally. Cards and sleeves must not be in danger of being damaged during this process. If the opponent does not believe the player made a reasonable effort to randomize their deck, the opponent must notify a judge.
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.

At Competitive and Professional Rules Enforcement Level tournaments, players are required to shuffle their opponents’ decks after their owners have shuffled them. The Head Judge can require this at Regular Rules Enforcement Level tournaments as well.

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.