A COLLECTION YOU CAN TRUST

Fair play

A card collecting ladder only means something if the numbers can be trusted. Here is how that is attempted, and where it stops.

How Ranked works

Only Ranked play counts for the ladder. In Casual mode the game uses your own computer's random numbers, which nobody else can check, so a player with even one Casual drop is not listed. In Ranked mode the server issues the random numbers, and the add-on uses them in order, one for every attempt, win or lose. The server can therefore recompute every drop you claim.

Every card found, crafted, recycled or traded is written to an append-only history, chained together so that no entry can be changed or removed after the server has seen it.

What the server checks

• The chain: any broken link rejects the upload. No gaps, no repeats.
• The rules: the history must describe a binder that can exist (for example, dust paid for a craft must match, and a set can only be finished once every card is held).
• The random numbers: every Ranked drop must match the number the server issued for it, in order, and be affordable in attempts.
• Luck: the chance of seeing as many drops as you did from as many attempts as you made. Very unlikely results are looked at by a person.
• Pace: attempts faster than a person could plausibly play, and very large collections from brand new accounts, are looked at.

What happens when something looks wrong

Most checks raise a flag rather than refusing anything. A person reviews flags. The most serious one hides a player from the ladder until it has been reviewed, and nothing is deleted. A reviewer can clear a flag (you were just lucky) or confirm it. Luck that has been cleared is not flagged again until it becomes far more extreme. An appeals contact will be published before any prizes are given.

What this cannot promise

A game add-on runs on your computer and its saved data is a text file you can edit. The server never sees the game, only what the app says. Cheating cannot be made impossible, only bounded, visible and not worth it. A person who modifies the add-on can still read ahead in their random numbers, but skipped numbers have to be explained by plausible attempts, and attempts are limited to what a person could do in an hour. Their advantage is bounded, not zero. Seasons and human review exist for that reason.

Trading

A trade has two halves, one from each player, and both must agree. A half that nobody confirms within a week stops counting. A card that came from a player with Casual drops, directly or through other players, does not count for whoever received it.

Starting over

A new binder can be started once a day. The old one stays on record, stops counting, and the new one gets new random numbers from its first drop.