When I started judging, counting a decklist was important. Most of the judgestaff was busy counting from 1,5,9,12,…to 60 for the first round. It required a lot of focus because doing those calculations quick is not too easy.

While counting decklist has moved more and more out of the focus of tournament operations of judges in the past years, and while it's barely done at GPs in more recent times, some judges still like to have all their decklists counted by the end of a tournament.

If the staff structure allows it, I'm still one of these judges.

Because I'm a lazy person, I started to make this task easier/more efficient. For example, many decklists in common formats include 4-ofs:

4 Brainstorm
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Chain Lightning
2 Grim Lavamancer
1 Vendilion Clique
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Misty Rainforest
2 ….

Instead of counting 4 + 4 = 8 ..+ 4 = 11…+2 = 13…+1 = 14…, … = 59 + 1 = 60, at some point I started to make the counting easier for me

“How many 4-ofs does this deck have?”
Brainstorm (1), Tarmogoyf (2), Delver (3), Scalding Tarn (4)..

A deck with only 4-ofs would end up with 15 4-ofs. Counting 1 to 15, is easier than counting 1 to 60.
Unfortunately, decks consist not only of 4-ofs, but also 1-ofs, 2-ofs and 3-ofs :mad: , so I started to count 4's and “pairs” of 3+1 and 2+2. In the example decklist above, i'd count:

“How many 4-ofs, including pairs that make 4-ofs does this deck have?”
Brainstorm (1), Tarmogoyf(2), Chain+Clique(3), Grim+Something(4), Delver(5), …

The problem there is some cards get lost in the counting as you look on the decklist up and down.

For a while now, I developped that strategy further. Instead of trying to find pairs and stuff, which is complicated, I simply count 4-ofs, then 3-ofs, then 2-ofs, then 1-ofs (and biggerpiles of basiclands).
Counting only the “4”'s in a decklist is easy and quick. Counting the “3”'s etc. too.
A decklist ends up with 4 numbers on it, representing numbers of “4”'s (3s, 2s, ..).

Looking at these 4 single-digit numbers, one can easily assess if a deck counts up to 60

8 (4s), 2 (3s), 9 (3s) and 3 (1s)
Is instantly identifyable as “problem”, because the total of “odd” numbers has to be even, else it's clear the decklist has an odd total.

5 (4s), 5 (3s), 10 (2s) and 5 (1s)
Is easily identifyable as “good”, because it's easy to count 20+15+10+5.
Here we can also see why this process is much more efficient than counting every card at once. You use only 7 operations total: 3 multiplications (5*4, 5*3, 10*2, 5*1) and 4 additions (20+15+20+5). The multiplications are typically within 1*1 to 10*10, so something that's easy enough.

6, 2, 14, 2
Is one of the hardest imaginable combinations, but it's still fairly easy.
6*4 is 24, 2*3 is 6, 14*3 is 28 and 2 is 2, that makes 24,6,28,2 ..24+6 and 28+2 is 30+30, so yeah, it fits.

Now you may say “those examples are crafted to fit”. But that's not true. Anything that doesn't fit doesn't fit because it adds up to even numbers, well, or numbers that don't add to “nice multiples of 10”. Luckily, most decklist are 60 cards!

First, I used this process only for myself, but after explaining it to other judges I am regularly judge with, and they tried it too, and then came to the conclusion that is indeed quite faster than counting (with or without app) straight to 60.

Sure, counting decklists is almost extinct in modern today's tournaments, but when doing it, one can save some seconds when counting a decklist. Those seconds can reduce round turnout in a during-deckcheck-decklist-count, so it's useful. Also, I find it more relaxing to count decklists this way rather than counting 1-60.

I recommend to try out this method. 30-60 seconds per decklist isnt much time saved for a single decklist, but it adds up for multiples.

Edited Philip Böhm (April 23, 2016 11:50:18 PM)

I have a deck counter on an app on my phone, which is just 4 really big buttons labelled 1, 2, 3 and 4. So you can quickly run down a decklist and add it up.

Originally posted by Daniel Ruffolo:

I have a deck counter on an app on my phone, which is just 4 really big buttons labelled 1, 2, 3 and 4. So you can quickly run down a decklist and add it up.

What's the name of this app?

For Android MTG judge core app can do that.

If you have a proper device, I definitely suggest to use the mentioned Judge Core App from Andrew Teo.

http://apps.magicjudges.org/forum/topic/1961/

It is amazing and can do almost anything you would ever need in your judge career :-)

I agree with Milan and Daniel you should use judge core app - counting with
that
tool is lot more easier and faster.

2016-04-24 8:09 GMT+02:00 Milan Majerčík <

MTG Familiar also has a decklist counter on Android.

—
Rob McKenzie
Magic Judge Level III
Judge Regional Coordinator USA-North
Minnesota
On Apr 24, 2016 1:18 AM, “Tomasz Ludkiewicz” <

MTG Guide for iOS also has a deck counter; it's cheap, not free, and one of the best purchases I've ever made!

d:^D

Still, I would like to highlight that it is generally a good idea to let people know that we can count decklists using arithmetic. And I agree that sometimes it can be faster than with a smart phone (especially, if there is no such device around :-D , or there are exceptionally many unique cards). The main advantage of manual counting is that you do not have to switch your focus between the decklist paper and your smatphone's screen and can keep your eyes fixed on the rows of the decklist (though those who have been using their app for a long time can probably do it “blindfolded”). It could also be that manual counting occupies less brain capacity (and is less exhausting in the long term).

The basic trick of counting 4-ofs, 3-ofs, 2-ofs and 1-ofs is a technique that every judge should know. And despite the fact that we, “seasoned veterans”, know the stuff, I can imagine that “greenhorns” have never heard about it.

So, thanks Philip for summarizing it. The subsequent “postprocessing” you describe in your post also may not be apparent at the first sight.

Edited Milan Majerčík (April 24, 2016 11:01:25 PM)