we've long done them one of two ways. there's the typical vancouver mulligan option, which creates a lot of shuffling and can be a time waster but it usually balances out. alternatively we'll allow for the same style mulligan where you instead just set aside that hand and draw, utilizing the vancouver rules without all the damn shuffling to speed things up.
we've had new people show up for years and do exactly this style of mulligan.
tonight we had a dude show up who, after winning several games in a row, threw the biggest fit over how mulligans were handled. he insisted it wasn't the way anyone does mulligans anywhere. he claimed we were "not playing commander", "doing commander wrong" and that "we all need to be on the same page with mulligans" (despite everyone else being on that page, including a guy who had never played at the store prior to tonight). guy wanted it in writing that we were doing it an accepted way. no one could find anything other than a mention that its an unofficial recommended way to save time as per the rule committee. it was extremely frustrating.
it got the gears turning though, and now i'm wondering how other people handle mulligans. despite so many over the years coming into our group and handling mulligans the exact way that we have been, has everyone in my region been wrong?
given this guy's deck, and attitude, at one point refusing to adhere to a missed mandatory trigger that the table agreed to acknowledge... i'm more inclined to believe he had difficulty with his playgroup and was forced into finding a new one, but it never hurts to get alternative perspectives on rules and perceived norms.
so, how do you all do mulligans, and is there anything in writing that we can utilize?
I personally have had problems with the way a particular group handled their mulligans, and although their reasoning is understandable, personally I just found too many flaws in the system and had to stop playing with that group altogether.
I do see flaws in your system as well. I completely understand saving time, but it also means that there is a bias towards being able to plan for particular card(s) more often, as each time your chances of drawing a certain card(s) that you can combo with increase even if you are drawing 1 less each time.
So combo decks that only need a few cards will be better with your mulligan rule over the long run.
There are a bunch of other technical things you can plan around your mulligan rule as well, because of known information of what is NOT going to be in your starting hand.
I know you can argue that everybody gets the same deal, so shouldn't be a problem, but I do feel it's important to understand that there is a reason the rest of us don't use this method as you can skew bias towards certain builds.
So I can understand that the guy might be frustrated. But at the end of the day he sounds like a bit of a hot head and should respect the group he has come into.
My suggestion is to acknowledge that it's NOT commander in it's purest form, but invite him to play your version.
"We understand that it's not the official commander rules, but you are more than welcome to play with us within our own particular house rules. If you don't want to then you can setup your own games and see if others are interested. But by playing with us, you are accepting our house rules and will respect that."
What you can do is at the start of each game announce the mulligan rule you are playing "no shuffle Vancouver" (*or whatever you call it), and each player in turn can accept. This way there is no room for complaining.
If the guy doesn't accept, or complains after the fact, then you'll need to ask him to not participate.
[EDIT]
Don't get caught up in systematic of the mulligan rule itself. If the house rules called for "taking off your pants first before playing", then that's the house rules. The trick is that people accept it as a condition of playing that particular game each time.
So this business of getting "something in writing" is a red-herring, don't bother.
If someone isn't willing to follow the standard play that everyone else agrees with, it's time to politely ask them to accept it or leave.
These kind of players never will be happy and something trivial will upset them and they will leave eventually but at least play the better sport until that time occurs.
If I were in his shoes, I would not care. I would shuffle. I strongly believe that if people want to cheat in a casual game, they can go ahead and cheat.
I am not saying you are cheaters, but if you build your decks to take advantage of this type of mulligan, that is an advantage over the new guy.
When we had partial mulligans, decks were built with that in mind. Some decks were rendered much weaker when Vancouver mulligan was put into place.
Your form of mulligan can favour certain kinds of deckbuilding. I don't think you should use it.
For example, if your deck never needs more than 2 lands, you could build a deck with 20 lands and mulligan until you get 2 lands in your opener. This is a lot easier when you don't shuffle in hands with no lands.
I would suspect that your group has subconsciously played with fewer lands because you are not as punished.
If you always have the same play group, you can do things the way you want. But, if you play in a store where new people can show up whenever, then I think you should be more willing to adopt the official rules if someone requests it.
This kind of reminds me of one LGS I went to where they allowed you to start off with three basic lands in your command zone with the ability to play one from there instead of out of your hand except on the first turn. To me, this resulted in bad deck building as they were putting less than the "proper" number of lands in their deck as it allowed you to keep a one land hand. The way it effected their deck building showed when they played in playgroups outside the shop as they were consistently mana-screwed.
It may or may not have effected the deck building of your group, but I'd wager to some degree it has.
Not for nothing but i cant help but feel as if ya'll have grossly misinterpret what we do for mulligans
"Mulligans are now just the "Vancouver mulligan." While taking a free seven-card redraw and setting aside a hand to simply draw a new one are still recommended, the old "partial Paris" and other mulligan rules are gone. Just mulligan and draw one less card each time, then scry 1 when you keep your hand!"
Thats what we do, thats taken directly from an article wotc posted when you google commander mulligan rules. Theres no cheating involved based on that.
The only real difference is you can use that recommendation, or the standard approach,
Its not a new or different system, and i do find several forum posts and articles talking about it being an option as an approach. There however is no mention of it in any official rules capacity, which is what this guy had such issue with.
Only answering the question of “how does your group handle mulligans”: You get one free mulligan, where you shuffle your entire hand, shuffle your deck, and draw a new 7. If you mulligan further than that, you shuffle your whole hand and draw one less card each time, and you can scry 1 once you keep a hand before the game begins.
My group's mulligans: set the bad hand aside, draw seven. Repeat as needed, no shuffling until you keep a hand, don't abuse it. It's not a mulligan that will work well for pickup games at the LGS but it's a good fit for the group.
Guy in the OP sounds like he had some issues beyond complaints about the mulligan system. Wanting the system in writing when everyone in a casual game agrees to it is a little excessive.
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so, how do you all do mulligans, and is there anything in writing that we can utilize?
First off, if you actually need anything in literal writing, something has gone terribly astray. This ought to go without saying, but you shouldn't need anything more than civil discussion and verbal agreement to work these matters out. If your playgroup can't even do that, you've got bigger problems on your hands than how to resolve mulligans.
If, by mistake, I've misinterpreted what you're asking here, and what you really want are the official mulligan rules, I've quoted the relevant rules below. 103.4 pertains to mulligans in general.
Quote from Comprehensive Rules, October, 5th, 2018 »
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 their hand back into their library, then draws a new hand of one fewer cards than they had before. If a player kept their hand of cards, those cards become the player’s opening hand, and that player may not take any further mulligans. This process is then repeated until no player takes a mulligan. (Note that if a player’s hand size reaches zero cards, that player must keep that hand.) After all players have kept an opening hand, each player in turn order whose hand contains fewer cards than that player’s starting hand size may look at the top card of their library. If a player does, that player may put that card on the bottom of their library.
And 103.4c handles mulligans in multiplayer games.
Quote from Comprehensive Rules, October, 5th, 2018 »
103.4c In a multiplayer game and in any Brawl game, the first time a player takes a mulligan, they draw a new hand of as many cards as they had before. Subsequent hands decrease by one card as normal.
As for how I handle mulligans, I personally use the Gis mulligan which is "mulligan until you have a playable hand."
More than anything else, what I want most when I sit down to play Commander is a good game of Magic. Sometimes, through no fault of a player's own, the rules of the game can create a miserable experience. Fortunately, these situations can often be mitigated, and I'm more than happy to deviate from the original rules in the name of fun. Commander is only a game after all, and I think that's worth remembering since we only play it to have a good time.
This kind of reminds me of one LGS I went to where they allowed you to start off with three basic lands in your command zone with the ability to play one from there instead of out of your hand except on the first turn.
Oh, man. That sounds rad. I'm seriously tempted to try this.
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Not for nothing but i cant help but feel as if ya'll have grossly misinterpret what we do for mulligans
"Mulligans are now just the "Vancouver mulligan." While taking a free seven-card redraw and setting aside a hand to simply draw a new one are still recommended, the old "partial Paris" and other mulligan rules are gone. Just mulligan and draw one less card each time, then scry 1 when you keep your hand!"
Thats what we do, thats taken directly from an article wotc posted when you google commander mulligan rules. Theres no cheating involved based on that.
The only real difference is you can use that recommendation, or the standard approach,
Its not a new or different system, and i do find several forum posts and articles talking about it being an option as an approach. There however is no mention of it in any official rules capacity, which is what this guy had such issue with.
But you are also cherry-picking the post, found here. They also recommend that you play with free mulligans.
The fact is that the official rule is to use the Vancouver Mulligan. They have recommendations to make the game more fun/social, but they admit that it can be broken.
It's like playing with a Wishboard, in my opinion. It is not supported in the official rules, but they have recommendations for it. If everyone in your store plays with this 'set your hand aside' rule, then you should continue to play with it, and just explain to the new people that you have decided to play with this optional rule.
A lot of stores play for packs, and I would definitely be bitter if the official rules were not used. For casual play, I do not think people should care... but I get that it can be annoying. It's like building a deck with an extra restriction compared to everyone else. It is abusable.
If the person wants to see an official rule about it, you give him the post by the Rules Committee. That is the official source. You cannot expect everyone to be happy with that rule, especially if they play in multiple stores and need to build according to the official rules.
Using any other mulligan other than the official mulligan is cheating. If you feel the need to cheat in a game that promotes social games you must be a very sad person. The "it saves time" excuse is total bs. It doesn't take long to shuffle up and draw a new hand. Even if it takes 5 mins to find an acceptable hand what does it matter when games can go for several hours?
Using any other mulligan other than the official mulligan is cheating. If you feel the need to cheat in a game that promotes social games you must be a very sad person. The "it saves time" excuse is total bs. It doesn't take long to shuffle up and draw a new hand. Even if it takes 5 mins to find an acceptable hand what does it matter when games can go for several hours?
Um, no. If the rule is modified beforehand and accepted by all participants then it is a house rule. It would only be cheating if it was someone breaking an agreed-upon rule after the fact.
Using any other mulligan other than the official mulligan is cheating. If you feel the need to cheat in a game that promotes social games you must be a very sad person. The "it saves time" excuse is total bs. It doesn't take long to shuffle up and draw a new hand. Even if it takes 5 mins to find an acceptable hand what does it matter when games can go for several hours?
Um, no. If the rule is modified beforehand and accepted by all participants then it is a house rule. It would only be cheating if it was someone breaking an agreed-upon rule after the fact.
Yeah sure but the in the op it isn't mentioned anywhere that this cheating mulligan method was agreed to by this guy who wants to enforce official rules of magic before start of the game.
So some friends did some digging. This is directly from the commander forums and was posted just after partial paris went away.
...anyone claiming this method has anything to do with cheating has zero ground to stand on.
The problem is, while so many know of and use this rule, there is no mention of it in the official magic the gathering rules pdf, and there has been minimal coverage on wotc's website (again just a few blurbs)
So, maybe step down from the "its cheating pedastal" and examine it for what it is, and that it has been a pushed recommendation that apparently isnt known any more because of wotc/rules committee being less formal... thus causing conflict when two groups of players collide
You keep calling it a rule, but from the link you provided...
Finally, it’s not an official rule, but we recommend setting aside the hands you're mulliganning away until you get a keeper. That saves shuffling time, and we're all for minimizing shuffling 100-card decks.
There is no mention of it in the official rules because it isn't an official rule.
Yeah sure but the in the op it isn't mentioned anywhere that this cheating mulligan method was agreed to by this guy who wants to enforce official rules of magic before start of the game.
If someone wanted to play with my group and threw a fit about how we have all collectively decided to mulligan, their options would be to go along with it or not play. House rules trumping official rules is the standard, not the exception. That's what makes them house rules.
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We use the current standard mulligan. (Draw one less and scry)
We do however grant one free mull. And we implement a secondary rule.
"Reveal your hand, if you have 0 lands in hand. Free mull"
The thing is, the guy stumbled upon your group and gave you nonsense for the way your kind does things (Which as pointed out in the archived thread was actually a really old way to do mulligans in commander). That's like if a battlecrusier player came up to a competitive group and whined at them for being try-hards and dumb stuff like that. That guy is rude and unpleasant.
Using any other mulligan other than the official mulligan is cheating. If you feel the need to cheat in a game that promotes social games you must be a very sad person. The "it saves time" excuse is total bs. It doesn't take long to shuffle up and draw a new hand. Even if it takes 5 mins to find an acceptable hand what does it matter when games can go for several hours?
Holy crap this is why I stopped frequenting the rules forum. This is a seriously bonkers thing to say man. Op is a sad person for wanting to save 5+ minutes every game? In my group games would last 40 minutes typically sometimes less.
I want you to go stand in front of a mirror and read this post out loud and try to imagine how it might come across to another person.
Anyway, I've had three different Mulligan systems:
Standard
Set aside draw seven reduce by one after the free ine
standard but don't reduce the count and don't abuse it.
The default system sucks and causes a lot of nongames which is exaggerated when playing some players are playing with lower powered decks.
My favorite is the set aside method but it overly rewards low land count combo decks which is a bummer. If your play group doesn't abuse it it's pretty fun.
My LGS group always asks about what type of mulligans are preferred(as everyone has different preferences..shocker, right?)
Anyway, my personal preferred is the standard(?) 'one free mulligan for any reason', followed by mulligans reduced by one card each time. The scrys are usually handled different from group to group, but I usually pass on them...dunno why, they just don't feel right to me personally, but that's my hangup.
OP, you need to stop treating this like what your group does is supported by the official rules. It is not. It is a recommended house rule. You are allowed to implement house rules if they are agreed upon. The person was a jerk.
If you need him to play, and he refuses to play with the house rule, then you should just suck it up and play by the official rules. If you are already enough people, you can tell him that that is the house rule you use in that store, and he can either play along or leave.
I don't get why you are getting so bent out of shape. To me, you are just as bad as the new guy. Some guy I don't know wants to play and asks that we play by the official rules may annoy me, but I won't make a big deal about it.
Using any other mulligan other than the official mulligan is cheating. If you feel the need to cheat in a game that promotes social games you must be a very sad person. The "it saves time" excuse is total bs. It doesn't take long to shuffle up and draw a new hand. Even if it takes 5 mins to find an acceptable hand what does it matter when games can go for several hours?
Holy crap this is why I stopped frequenting the rules forum. This is a seriously bonkers thing to say man. Op is a sad person for wanting to save 5+ minutes every game? In my group games would last 40 minutes typically sometimes less.
I want you to go stand in front of a mirror and read this post out loud and try to imagine how it might come across to another person.
Anyway, I've had three different Mulligan systems:
Standard
Set aside draw seven reduce by one after the free ine
standard but don't reduce the count and don't abuse it.
The default system sucks and causes a lot of nongames which is exaggerated when playing some players are playing with lower powered decks.
My favorite is the set aside method but it overly rewards low land count combo decks which is a bummer. If your play group doesn't abuse it it's pretty fun.
Second favorite is just letting people stay at 7.
It doesn't take 5 mins to mulligan. I'm of the slowest players at my flgs and I draw a couple hands under a minute. And if you think that the official rules of magic "suck" then maybe you should try some other game? Hearthstone maybe?
You literally said "Even if it takes 5 mins to find an acceptable hand." In my experience it takes around 5 minutes to use the normal mulligan method if you're shuffling enough and at least one player goes to 6 (which is typical in a pod of 4). If you're doing a couple hands in under a minute I suspect *you* might be the one cheating and not shuffling sufficiently. Pro players often take over a minute to mulligan in tournaments with 60 cards that are way easier to shuffle; it takes time to make good decisions and then properly randomize a deck.
I do think the mulligan rule could use some work - pretty much across the entire format. I think most players agree that the progressive changes in mulliganning over the years have been a plus
* transitioning from the original crappy "all or no land" mulligan
* transitioning to one free for multiplayer and always drawing a card
* transitioning to a scry if you go below opening handsize
I see no reason for the false dilemma you're posing (either I like all the rules of Magic or I dislike the game and should play something else).
I'm not sure if you are trying to fit as many fallacies into one statement as possible but you're also arguing against a straw man (e.g. claiming that my position is that the official rules of magic suck as opposed to a single rule sucks).
Please take my advice and try to dial back your rhetoric a little. This isn't a fight where you've got to own me with your sweet internet pwnage skills.
Accusing people of cheating, calling them sad, etc., has no real place in this kind of opinion based discussion.
we've long done them one of two ways. there's the typical vancouver mulligan option, which creates a lot of shuffling and can be a time waster but it usually balances out. alternatively we'll allow for the same style mulligan where you instead just set aside that hand and draw, utilizing the vancouver rules without all the damn shuffling to speed things up.
we've had new people show up for years and do exactly this style of mulligan.
tonight we had a dude show up who, after winning several games in a row, threw the biggest fit over how mulligans were handled. he insisted it wasn't the way anyone does mulligans anywhere. he claimed we were "not playing commander", "doing commander wrong" and that "we all need to be on the same page with mulligans" (despite everyone else being on that page, including a guy who had never played at the store prior to tonight). guy wanted it in writing that we were doing it an accepted way. no one could find anything other than a mention that its an unofficial recommended way to save time as per the rule committee. it was extremely frustrating.
it got the gears turning though, and now i'm wondering how other people handle mulligans. despite so many over the years coming into our group and handling mulligans the exact way that we have been, has everyone in my region been wrong?
given this guy's deck, and attitude, at one point refusing to adhere to a missed mandatory trigger that the table agreed to acknowledge... i'm more inclined to believe he had difficulty with his playgroup and was forced into finding a new one, but it never hurts to get alternative perspectives on rules and perceived norms.
so, how do you all do mulligans, and is there anything in writing that we can utilize?
I do see flaws in your system as well. I completely understand saving time, but it also means that there is a bias towards being able to plan for particular card(s) more often, as each time your chances of drawing a certain card(s) that you can combo with increase even if you are drawing 1 less each time.
So combo decks that only need a few cards will be better with your mulligan rule over the long run.
There are a bunch of other technical things you can plan around your mulligan rule as well, because of known information of what is NOT going to be in your starting hand.
I know you can argue that everybody gets the same deal, so shouldn't be a problem, but I do feel it's important to understand that there is a reason the rest of us don't use this method as you can skew bias towards certain builds.
So I can understand that the guy might be frustrated. But at the end of the day he sounds like a bit of a hot head and should respect the group he has come into.
My suggestion is to acknowledge that it's NOT commander in it's purest form, but invite him to play your version.
"We understand that it's not the official commander rules, but you are more than welcome to play with us within our own particular house rules. If you don't want to then you can setup your own games and see if others are interested. But by playing with us, you are accepting our house rules and will respect that."
What you can do is at the start of each game announce the mulligan rule you are playing "no shuffle Vancouver" (*or whatever you call it), and each player in turn can accept. This way there is no room for complaining.
If the guy doesn't accept, or complains after the fact, then you'll need to ask him to not participate.
[EDIT]
Don't get caught up in systematic of the mulligan rule itself. If the house rules called for "taking off your pants first before playing", then that's the house rules. The trick is that people accept it as a condition of playing that particular game each time.
So this business of getting "something in writing" is a red-herring, don't bother.
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These kind of players never will be happy and something trivial will upset them and they will leave eventually but at least play the better sport until that time occurs.
I am not saying you are cheaters, but if you build your decks to take advantage of this type of mulligan, that is an advantage over the new guy.
When we had partial mulligans, decks were built with that in mind. Some decks were rendered much weaker when Vancouver mulligan was put into place.
Your form of mulligan can favour certain kinds of deckbuilding. I don't think you should use it.
For example, if your deck never needs more than 2 lands, you could build a deck with 20 lands and mulligan until you get 2 lands in your opener. This is a lot easier when you don't shuffle in hands with no lands.
I would suspect that your group has subconsciously played with fewer lands because you are not as punished.
If you always have the same play group, you can do things the way you want. But, if you play in a store where new people can show up whenever, then I think you should be more willing to adopt the official rules if someone requests it.
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It may or may not have effected the deck building of your group, but I'd wager to some degree it has.
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"Mulligans are now just the "Vancouver mulligan." While taking a free seven-card redraw and setting aside a hand to simply draw a new one are still recommended, the old "partial Paris" and other mulligan rules are gone. Just mulligan and draw one less card each time, then scry 1 when you keep your hand!"
Thats what we do, thats taken directly from an article wotc posted when you google commander mulligan rules. Theres no cheating involved based on that.
The only real difference is you can use that recommendation, or the standard approach,
Its not a new or different system, and i do find several forum posts and articles talking about it being an option as an approach. There however is no mention of it in any official rules capacity, which is what this guy had such issue with.
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If, by mistake, I've misinterpreted what you're asking here, and what you really want are the official mulligan rules, I've quoted the relevant rules below. 103.4 pertains to mulligans in general. And 103.4c handles mulligans in multiplayer games. As for how I handle mulligans, I personally use the Gis mulligan which is "mulligan until you have a playable hand."
More than anything else, what I want most when I sit down to play Commander is a good game of Magic. Sometimes, through no fault of a player's own, the rules of the game can create a miserable experience. Fortunately, these situations can often be mitigated, and I'm more than happy to deviate from the original rules in the name of fun. Commander is only a game after all, and I think that's worth remembering since we only play it to have a good time. Oh, man. That sounds rad. I'm seriously tempted to try this.
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But you are also cherry-picking the post, found here. They also recommend that you play with free mulligans.
The fact is that the official rule is to use the Vancouver Mulligan. They have recommendations to make the game more fun/social, but they admit that it can be broken.
It's like playing with a Wishboard, in my opinion. It is not supported in the official rules, but they have recommendations for it. If everyone in your store plays with this 'set your hand aside' rule, then you should continue to play with it, and just explain to the new people that you have decided to play with this optional rule.
A lot of stores play for packs, and I would definitely be bitter if the official rules were not used. For casual play, I do not think people should care... but I get that it can be annoying. It's like building a deck with an extra restriction compared to everyone else. It is abusable.
If the person wants to see an official rule about it, you give him the post by the Rules Committee. That is the official source. You cannot expect everyone to be happy with that rule, especially if they play in multiple stores and need to build according to the official rules.
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Um, no. If the rule is modified beforehand and accepted by all participants then it is a house rule. It would only be cheating if it was someone breaking an agreed-upon rule after the fact.
Yeah sure but the in the op it isn't mentioned anywhere that this cheating mulligan method was agreed to by this guy who wants to enforce official rules of magic before start of the game.
So some friends did some digging. This is directly from the commander forums and was posted just after partial paris went away.
...anyone claiming this method has anything to do with cheating has zero ground to stand on.
The problem is, while so many know of and use this rule, there is no mention of it in the official magic the gathering rules pdf, and there has been minimal coverage on wotc's website (again just a few blurbs)
So, maybe step down from the "its cheating pedastal" and examine it for what it is, and that it has been a pushed recommendation that apparently isnt known any more because of wotc/rules committee being less formal... thus causing conflict when two groups of players collide
There is no mention of it in the official rules because it isn't an official rule.
Building: Varina
We do however grant one free mull. And we implement a secondary rule.
"Reveal your hand, if you have 0 lands in hand. Free mull"
UB Vela the Night-Clad BUDecklist
WBG Ghave, Guru of Spores GBW
WUBRGThe Ur-DragonWUBRGDecklist
Holy crap this is why I stopped frequenting the rules forum. This is a seriously bonkers thing to say man. Op is a sad person for wanting to save 5+ minutes every game? In my group games would last 40 minutes typically sometimes less.
I want you to go stand in front of a mirror and read this post out loud and try to imagine how it might come across to another person.
Anyway, I've had three different Mulligan systems:
Standard
Set aside draw seven reduce by one after the free ine
standard but don't reduce the count and don't abuse it.
The default system sucks and causes a lot of nongames which is exaggerated when playing some players are playing with lower powered decks.
My favorite is the set aside method but it overly rewards low land count combo decks which is a bummer. If your play group doesn't abuse it it's pretty fun.
Second favorite is just letting people stay at 7.
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
Anyway, my personal preferred is the standard(?) 'one free mulligan for any reason', followed by mulligans reduced by one card each time. The scrys are usually handled different from group to group, but I usually pass on them...dunno why, they just don't feel right to me personally, but that's my hangup.
EDH decks: 1. RGWMayael's Big BeatsRETIRED!
2. BUWMerieke Ri Berit and the 40 Thieves
3. URNiv's Wheeling and Dealing!
4. BURThe Walking Dead
5. GWSisay's Legends of Tomorrow
6. RWBRise of Markov
7. GElvez and stuffz(W)
8. RCrush your enemies(W)
9. BSign right here...(W)
If you need him to play, and he refuses to play with the house rule, then you should just suck it up and play by the official rules. If you are already enough people, you can tell him that that is the house rule you use in that store, and he can either play along or leave.
I don't get why you are getting so bent out of shape. To me, you are just as bad as the new guy. Some guy I don't know wants to play and asks that we play by the official rules may annoy me, but I won't make a big deal about it.
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
It doesn't take 5 mins to mulligan. I'm of the slowest players at my flgs and I draw a couple hands under a minute. And if you think that the official rules of magic "suck" then maybe you should try some other game? Hearthstone maybe?
I do think the mulligan rule could use some work - pretty much across the entire format. I think most players agree that the progressive changes in mulliganning over the years have been a plus
* transitioning from the original crappy "all or no land" mulligan
* transitioning to one free for multiplayer and always drawing a card
* transitioning to a scry if you go below opening handsize
I see no reason for the false dilemma you're posing (either I like all the rules of Magic or I dislike the game and should play something else).
I'm not sure if you are trying to fit as many fallacies into one statement as possible but you're also arguing against a straw man (e.g. claiming that my position is that the official rules of magic suck as opposed to a single rule sucks).
Please take my advice and try to dial back your rhetoric a little. This isn't a fight where you've got to own me with your sweet internet pwnage skills.
Accusing people of cheating, calling them sad, etc., has no real place in this kind of opinion based discussion.
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall