Mulligan

A mulligan is an optional process by which any player may attempt to draw a superior hand before starting the game. For sanctioned play, the mulligan process is exactly defined in the Comprehensive Rules. The word “mulligan” comes from the sport of golf, where a golfer in a friendly game may redo a poor tee shot as a courtesy; unlike in Magic, mulligans are not allowed in competitive golf.

Description

As of the Core Set 2020 release, the "London" mulligan is standard in all competitive formats.

103.4. Each player draws a number of cards equal to their starting hand size, which is normally seven. (Some effects can modify a player's starting hand size.) A player who is dissatisfied with their initial hand may take a mulligan. First, the starting player declares whether they will take a mulligan. Then each other player in turn order does the same. Once each player has made a declaration, all players who decided to take mulligans do so at the same time. To take a mulligan, a player shuffles the cards in their hand back into their library, draws a new hand of cards equal to their starting hand size, then puts a number of those cards equal to the number of times that player has taken a mulligan on the bottom of their library in any order. Once a player chooses not to take a mulligan, the remaining cards become that player's opening hand, and that player may not take any further mulligans. This process is then repeated until no player takes a mulligan. A player can take mulligans until their opening hand would be zero cards.

Multiplayer games utilize a slightly different mulligan process.

One card, Serum Powder, interacts with mulligans. Abilities that may be used while a card is in your opening hand, such as the first ability on Leyline of Anticipation, may only be used after all mulligans are completed.

Original mulligan

Magic’s earliest mulligan rule (“all land/no land”) allowed a player who had drawn either zero or seven lands in their opening hand to reveal that hand to their opponent and shuffle it back, drawing a replacement hand of seven cards. This could only be done once per game.

Paris mulligan

The Paris mulligan rule was introduced at 1997’s Sealed Deck Pro Tour in Los Angeles, then tested for Standard play at that year’s Pro Tour Paris, hence its name. A player dissatisfied with their hand, for any reason and without being required to reveal that hand, was allowed to return their hand to their library for an opportunity to draw a new one with one fewer card, after shuffling. The choice to take a mulligan was made after the starting player was determined, but prior to any other action. Players could take multiple mulligans, until either satisfied with their new hand, or left with a hand of zero cards.

Vancouver mulligan

The Vancouver mulligan replaced the Paris mulligan in sanctioned play beginning with the Battle for Zendikar prerelease in September 2015. To perform a Vancouver mulligan, the player returns their hand to their library, then draws a hand of one fewer card. Once all players keep their opening hands, each player with fewer cards than their starting hand size may scry 1.

London mulligan

To take a mulligan, a player shuffles the cards in their hand back into their library, draws a new hand of cards equal to their starting hand size, then puts a number of those cards equal to the number of times that player has taken a mulligan on the bottom of their library in any order."

In other words:

• Draw seven cards every time you mulligan.
• When you are satisfied, you put a card back on the bottom of your library for each time you have mulliganed.
• No scrying.

The London Mulligan was first tested at Mythic Championship London 2019, with the intention of further increasing the chance of a reasonable opening draw leading to a competitive game where either player might win, although some have expressed concern about its implications for eternal formats such as Modern, Legacy, and Vintage. The London Mulligan became the official mulligan rule along with the release of Core Set 2020.

Multiplayer bonus

In games with more than two players, the first mulligan for each player is "free". For the first mulligan only, players simply draw and keep seven new cards. After this, the normal mulligan process starts, where the player starts with fewer cards in hand depending on how many mulligans they took.

Commander mulligan

Commander officially follows the same mulligan rule as competitive Magic, with the "free" multiplayer mulligan as appropriate. With the release of Core Set 2020, it transitioned to the London mulligan alongside other formats.

However, the rules committee informally advises deviating from that process and allowing "free" mulligans even in games with only two players, and suggests that shuffling be reduced by setting aside unwanted hands, rather than shuffling in each one, until after a hand is kept.

Two other popular forms of mulligan used in casual Commander are:

• Partial Paris - Where each player initially draws 7 cards and may set aside any number of these cards, then draws that many cards minus one. Once a suitable hand is kept, the cards set aside are shuffled into the library.

• Gabriel Special Surprise, or GSS Mull - Where each player initially draws 10 cards, then selects 3 cards that they do not want and shuffles these 3 cards back into their library.

History

Magic was originally published without a mulligan rule, because some of the original playtest group believed the concept would reward poor deck building. Various informal mulligan rules existed in the period following the game's release.

The first official mulligan rule was instated by the DCI in 1994. That rule allowed a player with an initial hand consisting either of all lands or no lands to reveal their hand, shuffle it back into their deck, and then draw a new, full hand of seven cards. This process was allowed only one time per player.

Dissatisfaction within R&D with that rule led to the testing of an alternate mulligan process, suggested by Pro Tour player and later Wizards of the Coast employee Matt Hyra. That mulligan rule, now known as the Paris mulligan, allowed mulligans for any reason but stated that each new hand contains one fewer card. Though the rule was first tested at Pro Tour Los Angeles and a smaller gathering in Boston, it was also accidentally included in the tournament rules for the April 1997 Pro Tour Paris. From this, the name "Paris" stuck instead, for no very clear reason.

The Vancouver mulligan rule was first tested at Pro Tour Magic Origins in Vancouver, British Columbia. Like the earlier Paris mulligan, it has adopted the name of the city in which it was demoed. The process is also very similar to the Paris mulligan, with the addition that any player who keeps an opening hand with fewer cards than their starting hand size may scry 1. Like the previous mulligan rules, this mulligan is intended to reduce the frequency of "non-games", where the winner is effectively determined by the contents of the players' opening hands. It also fulfills a secondary goal of accelerating tournament play, because the scry option increases the likelihood that a player will keep an opening hand after fewer mulligans, and thus fewer shuffles.

Previously, the Commander format used a more complex mulligan process known as "Partial Paris". In response to the new Vancouver mulligan, that process came under renewed scrutiny. The Commander rules committee determined that both processes offered comparable results, and adopted the Vancouver mulligan with the release of Oath of the Gatewatch.

The London mulligan was first tested at the War of the Spark prerelease.

Rules

From the Comprehensive Rules (April 12, 2024—Outlaws of Thunder Junction)

• 103.4. Each player begins the game with a starting life total of 20. Some variant games have different starting life totals.
  • 103.4a In a Two-Headed Giant game, each team’s starting life total is 30.
  • 103.4b In a Vanguard game, each player’s starting life total is 20 plus or minus the life modifier of their vanguard card.
  • 103.4c In a Commander game, each player’s starting life total is 40.
  • 103.4d In a two-player Brawl game, each player’s starting life total is 25. In a multiplayer Brawl game, each player’s starting life total is 30.
  • 103.4e In an Archenemy game, the archenemy’s starting life total is 40.

From the glossary of the Comprehensive Rules (April 12, 2024—Outlaws of Thunder Junction)

Mulligan

To take a mulligan is to reject a prospective opening hand in favor of a new one. See rule 103.5.

On Restarting the Game:

From the Comprehensive Rules (April 12, 2024—Outlaws of Thunder Junction)

• 718.3. As a player casts a prototype card, the player chooses whether they cast the card normally or cast it as a prototyped spell using the prototype keyword ability (see rule 702.160, “Prototype”).
  • 718.3a While casting a prototyped spell, use only its alternative power, toughness, and mana cost when evaluating those characteristics to see if it can be cast.
  • 718.3b Both a prototyped spell and the permanent it becomes have only its alternative set of power, toughness, and mana cost characteristics. If that mana cost includes one or more colored mana symbols, the spell and the permanent it becomes are also that color or colors (see rule 105.2).
  • 718.3c If a prototyped spell is copied, the copy is also a prototyped spell. It has the alternative power, toughness, and mana cost characteristics of the spell and not the normal power, toughness, and mana cost characteristics of the card that represents the prototyped spell. Any rule or effect that refers to a prototyped spell refers to the copy as well.
  • 718.3d If a permanent that was a prototyped spell is copied, the copy has the alternative power, toughness, and mana cost characteristics of the permanent and not the normal power and toughness characteristics of the card that represents that permanent. Any rule or effect that refers to a permanent that was a prototyped spell refers to the copy as well.

On Subgames:

From the Comprehensive Rules (April 12, 2024—Outlaws of Thunder Junction)

• 719.3. Case cards have two special keyword abilities that appear before a long dash and represent a triggered ability and an ability that may be static, triggered, or activated.
  • 719.3a “To solve — [Condition]” means “At the beginning of your end step, if [condition] and this Case is not solved, this Case becomes solved.”
  • 719.3b Solved is a designation a permanent can have. It has no rules meaning other than to act as a marker that spells and abilities can identify. Once a permanent becomes solved, it stays solved until it leaves the battlefield. The solved designation is neither an ability nor part of the permanent’s copiable values.
  • 719.3c If a Case has the solved designation, “Solved — [Ability text]” is an ability that may affect the game if it’s a static ability, it may trigger if it’s a triggered ability, and it can be activated if it’s an activated ability. See rule 702.169, “Solved.”

External links

• Marshall Sutcliffe (August 26, 2015). "Mulligan Factors". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.