I shuffle my opponent's deck, not cut. And really I would prefer they do the same to me. It's just better that way, and personally as someone who doesn't stack my deck, I don't want to hit a run of Souls from clumping either
But in all seriousness, cheating is very easy in Redemption. It's very easy in
any game, and the article is not wrong there, but we have a different culture a lot of times here. It goes beyond the supportive community noted in the article about Pokemon: we have a game here built on the Bible and Christian values. Who wants to accuse a brother or sister in Christ of cheating at a meaningless
game when they share in fellowship with us? It's honestly really hard to even
think to call someone out for that reason.
And even though it is just a game, it can still be tempting. I remember one Regionals I went to years ago, I was playing T1 (not really my category) and was doing okay a few rounds in. I could have placed if I won my current game and one more, and it was getting very late with me holding a small lead. He managed to Wrath everybody away so that I couldn't get the full win (no more Heroes, I didn't play around a combination of cards and made a crucial mistake). Had we timed-out, which was just a matter of minutes away, I would have won at least some points, but I only had a block or two left, maximum. I knew that I had plenty of time, within the rules, to "win" that game by stalling. And get a chance at placing. If I didn't stall, I couldn't place, it was impossible. I would be lying if I said I wasn't very tempted, and really, who was going to call me out? I was a relatively new player (before I became really into posting on here), so who would question why I took a long time to think out my plays to make them count after being blindsided?
I didn't stall that day, but we all know that there are plenty of opportunities. And there are people who take advantage of them. It is important to know the rules, know the state of the game, but above all to keep vigilant of
ourselves. We've all 'cheated', intentionally or otherwise, but the question for ourselves is what we do when we find out that we took advantage of a break in the rules, even if without knowledge at the time.
If you are also concerned about the other person cheating, I would ask questions: Who has that enhancement placed? What sites do you have out? How many cards are in your hand? These are things you should know anyway while playing, but it also helps to keep those who would try to profit from ignorance from having a free go at it.
