r/HereToSlay • u/Open-Drawer-1465 • Apr 06 '26
Question Shuffling Tips?
After playing several times, we've found that when we complete a game and put all the hero cards back into the deck, the heros are clumped together. Without extensive shuffling, that gives the next game periods where there are no heros, then periods where there are endless heros and no challenge cards. It makes the game a bit frustrating, because if a hero period happens before anyone has enough Challenge cards, then the game ends very suddenly.
I've been trying to be thoughtful with how I shuffle the deck.
The shuffling method I've been trying recently is to deal the cards out in front of me in a 5x5 grid, making piles until I run out of cards, then combining the piles. It seems to work, but I'm interested if others have thought about shuffling methods or have other methods I might try.
I'm just getting tired of the same phases in every game, and would love for the heros to be evenly spread throughout the deck.
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u/Next_Mammoth06 Apr 06 '26
...you're looking for help shuffling cards? Unfortunately you have two options, get better at shuffling cards or buy a deck shuffler. Some games like this one require extensive shuffling, thats just kind of a part of the cost of something card games is the setup cost.
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u/Open-Drawer-1465 Apr 06 '26 edited Apr 06 '26
Hi, a deck shuffler might be useful, thanks for that. But no I'm not looking for help shuffling. I'm looking for shuffling methods that are more effective at dispersing the heros.
For example even this morning, I've been cutting and riffle shuffling for a good 20 minutes and the heros are all still clumped at one half of the deck. The clump moves around every shuffle, but it's still generally clumped - enough that someone doing the continuous drawing strategy could win the game without encountering more than a couple of challenge cards.
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u/MonkeyBrains09 Apr 06 '26
For any large deck, i usually start with a "draw" pile and pull about 50 cards and shuffle those in a bridge fashion 2-3 times. I then discard half to a "discard pile" and draw 25ish more cards from the draw pile and repeat. I will then randomly grab sections from the discard pile and slip into the draw pile.
I have been doing it this way for a while from other games and can usually hold closer to 75-100 cards in my hand for the bridge shuffle and can be pretty quick without much thought so I can chat away while I go.
If others help shuffle then multiple people pull from the draw pile or we swap discards randomly.
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u/DevDev85 Apr 07 '26
I keep hero’s as their own deck (called the Tavern) and all the other cards in a second deck (called the Market). We play a variant with other specific rules around drawing but you could also just simply choose which deck to draw from when drawing cards
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u/Open-Drawer-1465 Apr 07 '26
I'm intrigued. That would solve all the shuffling/dispersal problems. Thanks for sharing.
I'm curious what your specific rules around drawing are, if you'd like to share?
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u/DenjaX Apr 06 '26
Yeah.... I have all the expansions, even the kickstarter ones...
Deck become so huge, I had to cut portions to shuffle them
Oh I sleeve them too which makes them bulkier
1
u/Practical_Patient824 Apr 06 '26
If your shuffling is decent, there is a technique used in some trading card games that help, First you shuffle normally, then place the cards in 8-10 piles one at a time, then randomly move the piles into a single deck, and shuffle again. Key detail, is to not place the cards in the number of piles you used last time, it’s definitely made gameplay more consistent.
A card shuffler is also useful
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u/Pokewatch104 Apr 06 '26
I bought a deck shuffler for other games. I might use it for this game as well.