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Many of our readers aren’t experienced card players. In fact, I’ve heard time and time again that many people who come to play this game have never even played a CCG competitively before. Many come from a Star Wars fandom background and that’s perfectly fine. Many of our Patrons are in that boat and it got me thinking about certain tournament etiquette rules/practices that are unspoken. These are things that I’ve seen that people do naturally or they learn from experience. My hope is that this article might save you some embarrassment and even if you’re a seasoned pro it might serve as a reminder.

#1. No Touching

Don’t touch any of your opponents things without asking first. At many points in a game you’ll want to look at your opponent’s discard pile or read one of their cards to make sure you remembered it correctly. Those are great habits to have but you need to realize that some people get annoyed if you go grabbing for their cards, discard piles or even dice without asking. If you’re opponent is using a playmat you should treat that like their real estate. You’d never go onto someone’s property without asking would you? Use that as that as a line of demarcation, if you ever want to go over into their area make sure to ask.

A simple “Can I look at your…X?” will go a long way towards not annoying your opponent.

#2. Make Sure Outcomes are Clear

Dice in particular are tricky since they tend to get rolled all over the place. It’s reasonable move it back to your opponent’s side without asking since you’re being helpful at that point. If you do that, though, make sure that they have seen the outcome before you move it back to them. This is particularly important at the beginning of the game when you roll off for choice or when you’re resolving dice.

In general its good to vocalize outcomes to make sure you are on the same page. Something like vocalizing that you are taking the battlefield instead of just pointing at said battlefield will go a long way towards reducing the number of awkward moments.

#3. Shuffle and Present Your Deck

Make sure to shuffle your deck in front your opponent and present it before you begin drawing. I’m kind of rolling my eyes to myself as I write this but I have had people just begin by drawing their hand without shuffling or even asking to have their deck cut or shuffled. And yes, your opponent is allowed to shuffle your deck instead of cutting. At high level events you’ll always see me do this but at lower level events a cut is fine, but I always cut. It’s not that I don’t trust you but its just a ritual of gamesmanship. One of my best friends actually insists that I cut him because it feels more like a real game to him when we go through the motions.

#4. Be Gentle

When dealing with your opponent’s cards/dice make sure to treat them better than you would treat yours. I personally riffle shuffle my own deck but when I shuffle my opponent’s deck I shuffle by sliding the cards from the side over and over again – that’s easy to do when you have sleeves.

Some people are violent riffle shufflers to the point where it seems like they are trying to bend the cards. In the past I’ve asked people to take it easy and sometimes they seemed shocked by that request. For me its that I don’t want my cards to get too warped to the point they become marked but some people are more concerned with maintaining the value of the cards and want you to be very careful. Everyone is different in this regard and its best to assume your opponent doesn’t want you bending their cards.

#5 Don’t be a Sore Loser or a Dick Winner

You should be gracious in your wins and loses. Don’t complain about how unlucky you were or about how badly your opponent played or anything that is negative. Honestly, I’ll admit that I have a big problem with losing. I’m more competitive than I care to admit and sometimes it gets the best of me. Its especially hard in this game since its easy to single out moments when you were incredibly unlucky and then despair sets in.

As for not being a dick when you win that’s harder for a different reason. You never really know how you’re coming off to someone else. What you think is gracious might be considered to be a dick move. For example: As a rule I never go to shake my opponent’s hand when they lose – some people consider this to be some kind of power move. I never say good game when I completely crush my opponent as doing so would be disingenuous. I generally will say well played and thank them for the game. In any situation if my opponent offers a handshake I never turn it down.

Note from HonestlySarcastc: Don’t let people like the ones in the following clip get you down. Take it in stride. For context purposes he was complaining about his die rolls and this was a rematch after he got steamrolled game 1.

#6. No Eating

This last one is a pet peeve of mine. I know sometimes people don’t have time in between rounds and want to snack while they are playing but I think you should wait until after the game. Drinking some water or a soda is one thing but I’ve had people trying to eat chips and even Chinese food during a game. This is distracting and above all else messy. In a normal game you’ll want to take a look at your opponent’s cards but now your hands will be all greasy. If you forget that they’re grease it can get all over your belongings and theirs. Have you ever tried shuffling greasy sleeves? Not a good time. For both you and your opponent’s benefit you’ll want to wash your hands after eating if you had to quickly stuff your face in between rounds.

If you’re diabetic or have some kind of health issue that makes it so you should eat something immediately then you can request a time extension from the judge. If you explain the situation the judge will most likely give you the time.

This is somewhat related but you should never keep food or drink on top of the table and play area. I’ve seen too many spills in my day and know that can cause a good day to turn into a bad one.

Did I miss anything? Do you have any pet peeves regarding some people’s tournament behavior that you find baffling? Let us know in the comments and on Facebook. Thanks for reading and as always…

May your bowls full of cheesy poofs land upright on the floor.

-NJCuenca

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That’s all for today. GenCon prep continues for us here at TheHyperloops, and we release a lot of our testing for our Patreon subscribers. We’re posting bonus decklists, articles, and videos every single week for our $10 Tournament Prep subscribers, and we release a little bit of that to our $3 tier subscribers as well. The $10 tier also gets you our playmat after 2 months of support. You can click on the mat below to get taken straight to our Patreon page.