Arrangement of Cards in Hand

[Killer Joe]

More mundane thoughts:

When I initially draw my hand I always hold them in a fan formation in the order that I drew them. When it's my turn to play, I always rearrange them in a specific order:
Left to right, with the first card being at the bottom of the fan position, lands then non-land/non-creature spells, then creature spells. Always

Also, when it's my turn, I keep my cards in a fan formation, when it's my opponents turn I usually retract my cards into a single pile and lay them on the table (I suffer from lack of a poker face, in other words, you can tell what's in my hand if you look at my face when you play a spell, except when my cards aren't in my hand ).

Lastly, I've mastered the art of <snapping> my cards when I draw, it's awfully annoying to my opponents (I can even do it when they're sleeved ).

 

[rkoelsch]

While not to consistant about tapping or arranging land. This is one area I am consistant on. My fan from right to left, from lowest cc to highest. Creatures, enchantments, sorceries, instants and land. I guess I am pretty **** about it.

 

[Spiderman]

You guys must not play against discard very much...

From my days of that, I always keep my cards in the order I draw them left to right. And if I ever get hit with a Hymn or whatever, I shuffle further.

Well, now that I think about it, you probably do shuffle against a discard... but I wonder if anyone's astute enough to pick up how you play normally. I played against a guy who kept his cards like rkoelsch so I knew when something big was coming out or what he drew by the way he placed it in his hand.

 

[rkoelsch]

Yeah I do shuffle before discard. The way I place my cards would be a handicap if I played the same people. But I am an infrequent player at the card shop and usually just play in tournaments. Though I do play the same people occasionally I am not a big enough threat for anyone to remember how I play. If I play an island regulars just cringe as I am a slow control player. That is why my current deck is more aggro control. Because I don't play frequently I use the way I organize my hand to focus my thoughts.

 

[Hetemti]

Yeah...NEVER sort your hand. A Jedi warrior will trace your eyes and read your hand. Keep glancing at the far right? Probably a bomb you're not sure if you're ready to drop. Draw a card and add it to the left side instead of the right? Looks like Mr.Control's land flooded, cast away.

Not wholly accurite, but you get my point.

 

[Rando]

I always continually shuffle my hand over and over and over and over, pulling the back card to the front, only pausing to lay my hand on the table to manipulate the board as needed, ie, tap, play something, whatever.

I started doing this to bug the other player, but now it's habbit.

 

[Zadok001]

I used to order my hand. But as I got more and more adept at reading my opponent's tells, I realized I was only making it harder on myself. My hand now remains in a totally random order that shifts every turn. If something returns to my hand, I go into shell game mode, and run it all over the place so my opponent can't watch me. Occassionally I'll pick a card at random and look at it somewhat more closely, but I do that as often with basic land as other cards. It throws off my opponent's counts.

If I'm playing G/W, I've also found it advantageous to occassionally turn a card 90 degress sideways, and pretend to read it. Everyone concludes you have a Wax/Wane, and plays accordingly.

 

[Elrond]

I sort my initial draw by color and casting cost and keep them in a single stack. I stop sorting them after I draw, but keep the single stack.

 

[Istanbul]

Originally posted by Yellowjacket
Lastly, I've mastered the art of <snapping> my cards when I draw, it's awfully annoying to my opponents (I can even do it when they're sleeved ).

Why would you want to annoy your opponent, except to irritate and mindgame him?

The surefire mark of an inferior player.

 

[MrXarvox]

I sort them by color and CC, and shuffle when hit with discard.

no mind tricks here, but I'm casual so it doesn't matter

 

[Chaos Turtle]

I obsessively rearrange the cards in my hand, alternately sorting them by color, placing cards I plan to play soon in front, and randomly arranging them. I never (well I try not to) play anything right off the top of the library, unless I am trying to look land-screwed.

 

[theorgg]

I'll usually put cards into my hand at random just to screw people up in their counts.

I prefer to not arrange my hand in any way possible, and I'll shuffle it around every once in a while. I don't do it as a nervis habit as the local pros and Pro wannabees(but ain't that kinda all of us? ). It's always a concience act(which I'd say is a good thing.)

I also hold my cards in a streight line to where I can read the casting costs and names via the top of the card-- it's pretty cool how Flashback likes me for having that habit.

During my opponent's turn, I'll usually keep a watch on my hand as they play(in a tournamnet) to make sure I couldn't respond. When I'm playing for fun, I lay my hand in front of me, as it ain't as important. When I'm just playing for fun, I don't watch for patters forming in my opponent's card placement as I would've in a tournament...

I'm a totally different player when I'm in a tournament, as ya'll might have recognised.

 

[Killer Joe]

Istanbul

The surfire mark of an inferior player.

???????

 

[Goku]

I just leave my hand the way it is... don't shuffle it, just as the way I drew it.

What's interesting is how one can tell most of the time when someone has split cards, by the opponent twisting their head to the side slightly. Useful, in some instances.

 

[Apollo]

I keep my hand in a random order. When I draw my opening hand, I keep it in that order, and newly drawn cards are usually added to a random spot in the hand. Don't want to give away anything, ya know?

And after the first few turns, if I still have many cards in my hand, I'll arange them in a vertical line, with each card overlapping such that only the name and casting cost is showing, except for the bottom card (like theorgg, I guess).

YJ: I think he was kidding. Either that, or the card snapping really annoys him.

 

[Duel]

I play mindgames with my hand. Basically, I try to throw them as hard as I can. I always keep my lands in two places, and sort my cards often alphabetically, only right to left, in my hand. I also occasionaly flip over a card for spite/malice, or wax/wane, or fire/ice. Especially land.

 

[Thallid Ice Cream Man]

The only flaw in pretending cards are split when they aren't is noticeable when you play against someone who knows that your deck is one color.

Sometimes I sort my cards; sometimes I don't. It depends on the situation, but I wouldn't be able to tell you what internal rules I follow.