Boards›Gameplay

Is it possible to keep track of and/or predict Pick A Card's starting card? Need an official answer.

Matviy·3/4/2015, 11:03:33 PM·2 votes·672 views

There have been rumors and speculation about this for years, and we can't seem to establish a consensus. You have tons of people claiming that it is possible, some people claiming that it isn't, some people (like myself) claiming that it used to be possible, but isn't anymore.

There has to be someone in Riot who is familiar with TF that can give us who main him a simple yes/no answer. Is there a pattern? A hidden loop? Or is it random every time you use the skill?

I contacted support about this and the response was "Idk go post on the boards". So here I am asking.

EDIT: Some of the methods are:

  1. Rotation starts with last card you picked. This can easily be proven to not work in one minute in a custom game.

  2. Rotation loops in the background. This can also be proven not to work. You can create (code) your own timer that loops B-R-G with the same timings. Sync it one time, and you'll notice that it always fail to predict the next few cards. Or just try keeping track of it in your head. Still doesn't work.

8 Comments

Blazing Tenshi3/4/2015, 11:07:55 PM4 votes

Believe in the heart of the pseudo-random number generator.

DrCyanide3/4/2015, 11:25:34 PM2 votes

I know there have been moments where I've been convinced that it picked up on the last card you selected, and other times when I've been sure that it's random.

The way I see it, there are a few possibilities for how this is coded:

  1. The card is a function of the game time clock. If this is the case, you should be able to always draw card X at the 1:00 mark (should be easy to test in a custom game). This would appear "random" to the average player even though it's 100% predictable.
  2. There is a set cycle that gets "paused" when you select a card, and resumes again when you start selecting a card again. The would give the cards a fairly stable selection, but would shift depending on when you locked in a card. If you select a card as soon as it turns a color, and the next time it starts with that color, you're likely in this situation. Alternatively, if you select a card at the last possible moment, then you should start with the next card in the cycle. Again, fairly easy to test in a custom game
  3. Random number generator (psudo or otherwise). This is the remaining choice if the other two don't pan out. A RNG could create the illusion of predictability, since there are only 3 options to pick from.

I'm not at my desktop right now otherwise I'd help test it out. It'd be good to know.

Dyonas3/5/2015, 1:09:56 AM2 votes

My understanding is based on something I read because I wanted to know how to predict the next card.

First card is whatever but I'm going to go with it as Blue. I may get the order wrong so don't shoot me, you'll get the idea regardless. Blue, Yellow, Red.

You lock in blue but it isn't instant, takes a half second or so. Each card rotation takes one second (shh) so there's half a second of that blue card left in the tick. Next "pick a card" starts off on Yellow (maybe the other half second of blue, can't recall fully) and so on. If you lock in a yellow card as soon as it shows the next "pick a card" also starts on yellow as the full second hadn't passed. After that it will be red card. I'm not 100% sure on this but as I said this is how it worked in my very few games testing.

Please don't rage, tell me I'm wrong etc. I don't play TF enough to even remember the card order properly or the time between card ticks. This is from memory based on what I read and it works this way from my limited testing. The difficult part is remembering between fights what colour you pulled last if you get distracted. Was it blue last? Red?

OhOkYea3/4/2015, 11:11:03 PM1 votes

It constantly ticks while you're not using it. Just count the seconds in your head while you play.

Slothsternaut3/4/2015, 11:08:10 PM1 votes

I haven't played TF in a while but i believe after the first pick a card (which I think is random don't quote me on that), the next time you use the spell it will start off as the last card you used.

Maratsune3/5/2015, 3:48:01 AM1 votes

Oh man, I don't play TF much at all, but I thought that it always started with blue every time you used it. Oops.

MigYalle3/5/2015, 3:43:28 AM1 votes

It has a behind the scene counter, card 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3, and it keeps cycling through the entire match, It just depends when you activate the ability.

WarlockLaw3/4/2015, 11:08:47 PM1 votes

I am pretty sure that it starts on the last card you locked, however how long the first card is up seems to vary for reasons I don't know