Ruling Damaging Cards/Sleeves

[DrunkSpinda]

On the subject of the last thread posted in this section by Blah, and, considering that I'm a professor but there's nothing regarding this question in the professor area:

What to do if my opponent is shuffling my deck and is shuffling in a way that damages my cards, or if he tears one or more of my sleeves(actually, the last one happened to me last regionals, an opponent tore one of my Japanese Plasma Lugia slevees)

 

[King Arceus]

First it does depend if the your opponent is deliberately trying to damage your sleeves. If the opponent is clearly trying to do so the penalty can be either a Game Loss or Disqualification. Disqualification is more of what I'd lean toward based on the description.

7.6.3. Severe
Players are expected to behave in a respectful manner to all attendees and staff of a Pokémon TCG event. Players who don’t behave properly need to be reminded to with the issuance of a penalty. Infractions in this category have a serious impact on event operation, cause great emotional distress to those around them, or involve a physical altercation.
Examples of Unsporting Conduct: Severe include:
 Defacement of tournament area.
 Assault.
 Use of profanity or physical threats to event staff.

If the judge determines it was not intentional the sleeve(s) should be replaced as soon as possible. The judge should then remind the player that broke the sleeve to be more careful when shuffling the opponent's cards. Play then continues as normal.

If you are that worried, you could ask a judge to shuffle for you since neither player can cut after a judge shuffles your deck.~KA