For Mythic Championship II in London, we're going to be trying out a new mulligan rule that we have been playtesting internally for some time. We believe the new rule smooths out opening hand decisions even more, though it certainly has some implications for formats like Modern.
The rule we'll be testing in London is as such: When you mulligan for the Nth time, you draw seven cards, then put N cards on the bottom of your library in any order.
So, for example, let's say you're taking your second mulligan of a game, what we often call a mulligan to five. You would draw seven cards, select two, and place those two on the bottom of your library in any order. Then you would decide whether to keep or mulligan again.
While we have been testing this mulligan rule internally for a while, we are treating this tournament as a test. Once our game designers have reviewed the tournament, spoken to players, and looked at the data, we'll decide whether to implement the mulligan rule wider.
Mulligan rules in general tend to favor combo decks more than any other and this one seems to be even more favorable to them than the scry mulligan. Particularly in commander where combo already runs rampant I can't see it ever taking off.
It's an interesting concept for sure, but I say let's wait and see how things pan out at the championship. Perhaps playtest some of your own decks with this rule as is, just to get a feeling for it, before jumping the gun?
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My Commander decks:
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
So you can keep mulling for God hands, but because you get to see 7 cards every time, then you can feel pretty safe about getting a "draw 7" at a low hand size.
This means that you can mitigate the large mulls each game, much much better than decks that don't have these.
Just your odds on getting particular cards are much higher, so any card that you can think of that has a huge impact are going to be better for deck building.
Land Tax, Thawing Glaciers, Sylvan Library, help to refill your hand/low land count, so decks that have cards like these are much more incentivized to keep mulling for better hands.
But also things like Flash + Protean Hulk, even get a bonus with the smaller hand size, as it means more chance of the combo creatures still being in your library.
Because of the 7 cards, you can often guarantee the saftey of putting the combo creatures onto the bottom, so you know not going to draw it.
Honestly drawing those creatures in the first couple of turns, often stops the Flash + Protean Hulk from winning a bit sooner.
You can mull very aggressively to get the two cards (either them or the tutors you need to get them). Just these little things that push a deck to be even more broken.
Seems like it will help combo across formats and aggro in standard. In less competitive edh metas I'd be fine with it. If you aren't trying to just search for combos then it just makes it more likely that everyone at the table can actually play.
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I wouldn't mind to see surveil instead of scry from time to time. With a mulligan not tied to scry I think that might happen from time to time in graveyard heavy sets.
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I wouldn't mind to see surveil instead of scry from time to time. With a mulligan not tied to scry I think that might happen from time to time in graveyard heavy sets.
I completely disagree. The graveyard is a resource, and you are allowing for strategic benefit to mulliganning. Mulligans are about giving you a chance to play, not about giving yourself a better chance to win by setting up a reanimation spell.
This sounds like a terrible option for Commander, on every level.
I think the target audience for Commander, the ones who don't play tuned decks and focus more on the experience of the game over winning it, will like this mulligan better because it makes it more likely that they get an opening hand they can keep and not necessarily because they are trying to sculpt a nut draw.
This sounds like a terrible option for Commander, on every level.
I think the target audience for Commander, the ones who don't play tuned decks and focus more on the experience of the game over winning it, will like this mulligan better because it makes it more likely that they get an opening hand they can keep and not necessarily because they are trying to sculpt a nut draw.
I expect it will encourage people to build decks poorly (not enough lands) and make it take longer to start games. Though not having to shuffle is an advantage in the second case, I suppose.
I expect it will encourage people to build decks poorly (not enough lands) and make it take longer to start games. Though not having to shuffle is an advantage in the second case, I suppose.
Well you still shuffle between mulligans like always. This new way will just make it more likely that your final opening hand has a couple of lands in it.
I'm not going to build any different than I already do because of this. The idea seems a bit silly and knee-jerk. So I dig for a "favorable" hand then toss away 3-4 cards by the time I get there? And do what? Run out of fuel faster than my opponents because I went down to 4 cards trying to sculpt a hand and be behind for most of the game? If I'm playing a deck that can abuse this rule and let me surge ahead after tossing back several cards to find X and Y out of my deck, then the mulligan change wasn't going to matter anyway.
In a super competitive meta or "cEDH" this may be a concern, but that's not how the vast majority of people play this format. If anything, I welcome this mulligan rule because ultimately it allows people a bit more consistency in the opening game, which means less people get left in the dust because they may be able to hit lands/rocks that gives them their colors, at a price. Which each mulligan you still have to choose between how much land, mana rocks, removal, and early game presence you want. That noose becomes tighter the more you try to mulligan this way. You also know that the cards you toss back won't be coming back any time soon without shuffling.
FYI, We still use Partial Paris at one of the stores I play at because there's an agreed power level that we hover around to keep the game fun but interesting. My other store does Vancouver because it's more cutthroat and combo players would be able to dig for combo pieces with partials. However, I'm not really worried about the London because again, everyone gets to do the same mulligan. Everyone only gets to keep X cards. Explosive starts are possible. Turn 1 Sol Ring doesn't do much if you don't have much left in your hand to do with it.
Yeah, I don't think I would start designing my decks to not commonly produce a keepable opening 7. That's my goal when I build to be able to be able to keep more than half my opening hands when I sim them, and that's not happening with fewer than the # of lands I run for example.
Agreed. I won't build differently should this become the new mulligan rule, but it may influence how aggressively I mulligan.
I'm in the same boat but I do think that is a good thing. I think it is tough in this format to go to 5 when everyone else is still at 7 so I have, and I have seen others, keep somewhat poor 6 card hands and then just get blown out because we didn't draw lands and we were stuck on 2 lands for an extended period of time.
The new rule, if implemented, is certainly going to change things but I think the positives outweigh the negatives. I am hoping their experiment is successful though I do feel that 1v1 formats would have a bigger concern over this change than EDH.
I'm in the same boat but I do think that is a good thing. I think it is tough in this format to go to 5 when everyone else is still at 7 so I have, and I have seen others, keep somewhat poor 6 card hands and then just get blown out because we didn't draw lands and we were stuck on 2 lands for an extended period of time.
The new rule, if implemented, is certainly going to change things but I think the positives outweigh the negatives. I am hoping their experiment is successful though I do feel that 1v1 formats would have a bigger concern over this change than EDH.
See, I disagree and I think that because the mulligan rule is ripe for some degree of abuse, it isn't something I am hoping to see. I think that to a certain extent, the "git gud scrub" argument is a valid one when it doesn't justify something that warps games (e.g. just run removal to deal with Prophet). In this case, when the answer to not getting screwed by mulligans is to build a better deck and not skimp on land, I would rather see a world where everyone gets a decent opening hand over one where most people do but a small portion are abusing the rule by digging for a combo piece or Sol Ring.
I feel like this could be a storm in a teacup, to be honest. Like some of us have already stated, it's not going to change how we build decks, but it will allow us to mulligan a lot more aggressively. That's good, since mulligans are a really difficult part of the game (much more so for 60-card constructed), and i think this will make for fewer 'mull to oblivion' rollover games.
There was a group of legacy players who crunched the numbers, and the new mulligan system will allow for turn 1 chalice hit nearly 90%, and belcher decks hitting a good 80-90% turn 1 kill.
That being said, i imagine this was done purely for draft/sealed games, where mulligans are quite uncommon.
Is there any talk of implementing this into EDH? I imagine it'd make little difference in the larger perspective, but in more tuned/competitive metas, it could make prison/combo decks thrive. At the end of the day though, EDH is a 100-card singleton, so the chances of getting exactly a turn 1 sol ring or perfect god-hand is still not as great as in other 60-card formats.
...geez, can you imagine vintage dredge or shop decks with this mulligan rule?
Vintage dredge goes from 96% to 99% or something, the deck is already very consistent it just can't beat hate. And vintage is seriously not something I would worry about designing rules for.
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/competitive-gaming/mythic-championship-ii-format-and-london-test-2019-02-21
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
It makes storm decks that play Timetwister, Wheel of Fortune, Windfall, etc, have a much better fall-back rate for mulls.
So you can keep mulling for God hands, but because you get to see 7 cards every time, then you can feel pretty safe about getting a "draw 7" at a low hand size.
This means that you can mitigate the large mulls each game, much much better than decks that don't have these.
Necropotence or Ad nauseam are other cards to get more consistently to abuse.
Just your odds on getting particular cards are much higher, so any card that you can think of that has a huge impact are going to be better for deck building.
Land Tax, Thawing Glaciers, Sylvan Library, help to refill your hand/low land count, so decks that have cards like these are much more incentivized to keep mulling for better hands.
But also things like Flash + Protean Hulk, even get a bonus with the smaller hand size, as it means more chance of the combo creatures still being in your library.
Because of the 7 cards, you can often guarantee the saftey of putting the combo creatures onto the bottom, so you know not going to draw it.
Honestly drawing those creatures in the first couple of turns, often stops the Flash + Protean Hulk from winning a bit sooner.
You can mull very aggressively to get the two cards (either them or the tutors you need to get them). Just these little things that push a deck to be even more broken.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
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Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
I think if the cards were shuffled into the library rather than put on the bottom it would be better. Grenzo would be too annoying.
8.RG Green Devotion Ramp/Combo 9.UR Draw Triggers 10.WUR Group stalling 11.WUR Voltron Spellslinger 12.WB Sacrificial Shenanigans
13.BR Creatureless Panharmonicon 14.BR Pingers and Eldrazi 15.URG Untapped Cascading
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Building: The Gitrog Monster lands, Glissa the Traitor stax, Muldrotha, the Gravetide Planeswalker Combo, Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix + Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa Clues, and Tribal Scarecrow Planeswalkers
Hands to the sky
Give a round of applause
For the great Miss Y!
I completely disagree. The graveyard is a resource, and you are allowing for strategic benefit to mulliganning. Mulligans are about giving you a chance to play, not about giving yourself a better chance to win by setting up a reanimation spell.
8.RG Green Devotion Ramp/Combo 9.UR Draw Triggers 10.WUR Group stalling 11.WUR Voltron Spellslinger 12.WB Sacrificial Shenanigans
13.BR Creatureless Panharmonicon 14.BR Pingers and Eldrazi 15.URG Untapped Cascading
16.Reyhan, last of the Abzan's WUBG +1/+1 Counter Craziness 17.WUBRG Dragons aka Why did I make this?
Building: The Gitrog Monster lands, Glissa the Traitor stax, Muldrotha, the Gravetide Planeswalker Combo, Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix + Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa Clues, and Tribal Scarecrow Planeswalkers
I think the target audience for Commander, the ones who don't play tuned decks and focus more on the experience of the game over winning it, will like this mulligan better because it makes it more likely that they get an opening hand they can keep and not necessarily because they are trying to sculpt a nut draw.
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Resources:Commander Rulings FAQ | Commander Deckbuilding Guide
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I expect it will encourage people to build decks poorly (not enough lands) and make it take longer to start games. Though not having to shuffle is an advantage in the second case, I suppose.
Well you still shuffle between mulligans like always. This new way will just make it more likely that your final opening hand has a couple of lands in it.
Misc. EDH Stuff: Commander Cube | Zombies (Horde)
Resources:Commander Rulings FAQ | Commander Deckbuilding Guide
Follow me on Twitter! @cryogen_mtg
Misc. EDH Stuff: Commander Cube | Zombies (Horde)
Resources:Commander Rulings FAQ | Commander Deckbuilding Guide
Follow me on Twitter! @cryogen_mtg
Again, not seeing the upside here.
Oh I didn't mean that as an upside.
Misc. EDH Stuff: Commander Cube | Zombies (Horde)
Resources:Commander Rulings FAQ | Commander Deckbuilding Guide
Follow me on Twitter! @cryogen_mtg
In a super competitive meta or "cEDH" this may be a concern, but that's not how the vast majority of people play this format. If anything, I welcome this mulligan rule because ultimately it allows people a bit more consistency in the opening game, which means less people get left in the dust because they may be able to hit lands/rocks that gives them their colors, at a price. Which each mulligan you still have to choose between how much land, mana rocks, removal, and early game presence you want. That noose becomes tighter the more you try to mulligan this way. You also know that the cards you toss back won't be coming back any time soon without shuffling.
FYI, We still use Partial Paris at one of the stores I play at because there's an agreed power level that we hover around to keep the game fun but interesting. My other store does Vancouver because it's more cutthroat and combo players would be able to dig for combo pieces with partials. However, I'm not really worried about the London because again, everyone gets to do the same mulligan. Everyone only gets to keep X cards. Explosive starts are possible. Turn 1 Sol Ring doesn't do much if you don't have much left in your hand to do with it.
(Also known as Xenphire)
Misc. EDH Stuff: Commander Cube | Zombies (Horde)
Resources:Commander Rulings FAQ | Commander Deckbuilding Guide
Follow me on Twitter! @cryogen_mtg
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
The new rule, if implemented, is certainly going to change things but I think the positives outweigh the negatives. I am hoping their experiment is successful though I do feel that 1v1 formats would have a bigger concern over this change than EDH.
See, I disagree and I think that because the mulligan rule is ripe for some degree of abuse, it isn't something I am hoping to see. I think that to a certain extent, the "git gud scrub" argument is a valid one when it doesn't justify something that warps games (e.g. just run removal to deal with Prophet). In this case, when the answer to not getting screwed by mulligans is to build a better deck and not skimp on land, I would rather see a world where everyone gets a decent opening hand over one where most people do but a small portion are abusing the rule by digging for a combo piece or Sol Ring.
Misc. EDH Stuff: Commander Cube | Zombies (Horde)
Resources:Commander Rulings FAQ | Commander Deckbuilding Guide
Follow me on Twitter! @cryogen_mtg
There was a group of legacy players who crunched the numbers, and the new mulligan system will allow for turn 1 chalice hit nearly 90%, and belcher decks hitting a good 80-90% turn 1 kill.
That being said, i imagine this was done purely for draft/sealed games, where mulligans are quite uncommon.
Is there any talk of implementing this into EDH? I imagine it'd make little difference in the larger perspective, but in more tuned/competitive metas, it could make prison/combo decks thrive. At the end of the day though, EDH is a 100-card singleton, so the chances of getting exactly a turn 1 sol ring or perfect god-hand is still not as great as in other 60-card formats.
...geez, can you imagine vintage dredge or shop decks with this mulligan rule?
Legacy - Solidarity - mono U aggro - burn - Imperial Painter - Strawberry Shortcake - Bluuzards - bom
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
Misc. EDH Stuff: Commander Cube | Zombies (Horde)
Resources:Commander Rulings FAQ | Commander Deckbuilding Guide
Follow me on Twitter! @cryogen_mtg