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. Richard Garfield states that any game whose outcome is not a foregone conclusion has a degree of luck.
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.
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."Magic: The Gathering® Tournament Rules". Retrieved 16 December 2016.
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==
==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. 
In the same vein, random effects returned in the Alchemy of MTG Arena. They can also be used on acorn cards.
===List of cards with random effects===
==References==
Category:Magic rules
Category:Magic Arena