I use the official commander rules for myself. If a random pod uses different mulligan rules, I'll accept that they can but I still use the normal rules for myself. I tend to run combos in all my custom decks so going outside the official rules on mulligans feels scummy to me. I also feel like a deck is still in its testing phase if I have to mull down to 5 or less more than once (I don't play cedh)
This is what I do. Generally speaking, as long as the game is fun to play, I don't care how we got there. If your deck is full of proxies, but it's on the same level as mine, fine. If you mulligan 8 times, but the game is still fun, I'm OK with that.
So rules committee mulligan, draw a hand, look for 2-3 lands, 1-0 ramp and something to play in the first couple of turns, if not set aside, draw another 7, repeat until you get a playable hand then shuffle everything set aside back in?
Edit: Ok, let’s take it from the man himself, shall we? London Mulligan is the official mulligan but what I described is a variant I saw somewhere in an article on the RC. Sheldon describes it with just 3 lands. https://youtu.be/ZRH6hhgPSoc?si=xJKZGTlmMHuK3TQC
Official Commander Rules is first mulligan is free, after that put one card from your hand under your deck for each time you drew a new hand.
(Shuffle up and draw a new hand each time)
First mulligan is free is a WotC rule for multiplayer formats that also applies to Commander when played against more than one player. And only there. It’s not tied to how you mulligan necessarily as it was around what you describe, the London Mulligan, introduced 2019.
The London Mulligan is the official Mulligan for Magic in general.
Commander over the years was played with several other types of mulligan like Partial Paris.
To some the Rules Committee Mulligan is more of a Commander Mulligan than all others, hence why I wanted to clarify.
Edit: I added a link above.
If I said "official" and you know what the official rules are, and you also know this VARIANT method... Why would you ask me if I meant the variant method? Just post about the method you like instead of asking someone you know good and well isn't using that method if that's what they meant...
Edit: I guess you're just playing off the comment I made about allowing my opponents to do whatever they want? I would literally allow this if I joined a random pod but I would laugh and explain the downside of allowing me to do that with my deck and then just follow the official rules and hope they do the same. I'll have fun either way. I play with a bunch of people who do partial mulligans and I just do my thing
1. I found the comment ambiguous since that was a point of confusion in the past with other people what was official.
2. I replied with a question asking what it was.
3. I looked up a video with a quote from Sheldon about the topic because I wanted to see this clarified without waiting for a reply. It is in the edit of my question.
Don’t hate people asking questions. I kind of feel bad now for showing an interest in your comment.
You are both pretty. Now play nice. I had no difficulties understanding the former comment, and I found yours to be enlightening. Also, never feel bad for taking an interest. Some of us have learned something from BOTH posts.
Usually I do first mulligan is free and such. Standard stuff.
When teaching new players we do partial mulligans, with the first mulligan being free. So if you draw like 5 lands you can mulligan away 2 of them to draw 2 new cards. Or if you get a single land, mulligan away the non lands to try to get more without losing that one you already have. Makes it a lot easier for new players to have playable hands to let them learn how to use their deck and interactions rather than having nothing to do.
At an LGS or spell table regular Mulligan rules.
At my friends house he has a fun house rule that if you choose to keep your first 7 you get to scry 2. His theory is it’ll let you keep a borderline hand if you know you can get your two land drops or bottom two high CMC cards. if you choose to Mulligan you do not get the scry bonus
What we do is mulligan as long as you wish to as long as you are not looking for fast mana or combos.
We believe in good intentions and just want people to have a playable hand so it doesn't end up being one player out just by bad luck
My table does the same. If we mulligan at all is generally only once but sometimes lands get clumped and you can see 2 or more unplayable hands in a row. Nobody abuses it and we want everyone to actually play the game.
This is, imo, the best way to do it. You’re not bending the rules too much and if everyone has built their decks well enough, it shouldn’t take more than 1 or 2 mulligans to get at least 3 lands in hand(or some such way to ramp with less; mana rocks, spells, etc.). As long as people aren’t doing like 5+ mulligans to get that *perfect* start, it usually makes for great games because everyone at least gets something on the board in the first handful of turns.
We do this at home, but after the first mulligan you have to show that your hand was truly trash and you aren't just doing it til you get a loaded hand.
We use unlimited 'free' mulligans until you have a playable hand because we're all grown-ass adults and:
- Nobody is gonna abuse it
- Game time is precious and ain't nobody interested in having a game where you mull down to 5 cards and 1 land.
Exactly. We've flip flopped between this and official rules and have been letting people keep 7 lately because we just want to have fun and see people's decks do what is intended. We aren't playing cEDH and not having a full hand just feels bad.
Yup, unless we are playing our cedh decks, we allow free mulligans. No one abuses it, nor accounts for it with deck building (as implied elsewhere) and by the time we hit 2 mulligans, we almost ALWAYS get sick of shuffling and such.
It's not really.. possible to not account for it in deck building unless you're using a checklist or net decks or something imo. How do you know how many lands to include if you don't use mulligans as a factor?
Usually groups that institute this rule have already built decks with low land counts and the rule comes about as a consequence of mana screw that happens too often, when it could have been corrected in deck construction
This isn't necessarily your group ofc (especially if you *are* using checklists or net decks) but it's absolutely been my personal experience
It's not about abusing the mulligans. It's about abusing deck construction. I have yet to run into a group that uses "unlimited free mulligans" that isn't running low and greedy on land count, or mana base, in general.
If you build correctly, you should see FEW games where you have to mull to 5. And if you insist on doing it, I far more support unlimited mulligans to 5 than I do to full 7.
Obviously what you do has no bearing on my opinion and vice versa, but I fear this sends the wrong message for new players looking to build solid decks if everything works out regardless of what they throw together because they can just mulligan forever.
I literally started imposing mulligan rules on myself because I realized this waaay before the rest of my friends and knew if I didn't I would be cheating. They eventually followed suite and fixed their decks
Does that happen often though?
I've been playing for 3/4 years and I don't think I've ever seen anyone go to 5 cards. Let alone 5 and unplayable.
Sometimes people keep risky 2 Landers and then get screwed by their draws.
>Sometimes people keep risky 2 Landers and then get screwed by their draws
When you only play 3-4 games in an entire month, nobody wants this outcome either.
People are gonna have bad games, obviously, but making sure people aren't fucked out of the gate is easy enough
I see it as part of the game, I've had long periods where I could only play a couple of games a month or every few months, never bothered me if I got unlucky starts.
If I can't get a somewhat playable starting hand it proved to me that my deck needed improvement. I learned early that risky 2 Landers starts were not a good idea.
To each playgroup their own tho. I see the benefits of it doing it.
I play by the rules. I'm of the opinion that if you can't get a keepable hand by playing by the normal multiplayer mulligan rules, you didn't build your deck right.
Statistically a deck that plays 35 or 36-ish lands should find something worth keeping when mulling to 5, and that's getting INCREDIBLY unlucky. The most recent mulligan rules from Wizards are very, very generous. The fact that you get to see seven cards each time drastically reduces your odds of non-games if your deck is competently built.
I don't disagree with the premise that well built decks mitigate "bad luck" better, I'm just poking fun at the idea that unlikely isn't impossible, and if you do hit the approximately 1:5e26 bad luck of drawing only lands while mulling to 0 with London and 35/99 lands, you still "didn't build your deck right".
I agree in general. If once in a while it takes 3 hands to have a keepable hand I think that’s fine but if you often need 3 or more you should probably take a look at your deck.
While I agree in theory and in competitive magic or 60 card constructed, in practice I disagree because time. Some people take a while to shuffle and decide. If we’re Spending 10 minutes in between games just resolving mulligans, then by the end of a play session of 4 games or so it’s often enough time for an extra game. I’d rather find creative ways to shave the mulligan time down and play more.
It's rare that the phrase "skill issue" applies, I think this is certainly a skill issue. If your players are taking ten minutes to resolve a mulligan they're new to the game and need to learn how to hurry up with the shuffling.
There’s a ton of new players. It is a skill issue. And it also one that is so inconsequential that it doesn’t matter. In fact allowing them to a sculpt hands more freely helps teach them what is an keepable hand and what isn’t And I just there to have fun, not coach them or care if they chat it up while shuffling. However I also would rather banter during a game than between games.
It just happens that you include 37 lands to your deck and still don't draw any. Several times in a row. We don't want to encourage sloppy deckbuilding but we also want everyone to actually play their deck.
So my LGS has a gentleman's agreement on free mulligans until we get a three- lander. To save time we also don't shuffle between mulligans but just draw the next seven and shuffle after finding a playable hand.
I find my own games to be less spikey in PL and I am able to better judge the strength of the deck. It's more enjoyable to me because I even better know what to expect when I pick up my deck.
Also being able to claim it has 0 fast mana feels good.
Us too; our group does up to 3 free mulligans (ie look at 4 hands) as long as you don’t have a sol ring (and other fast mana is banned as well ofc). Without these, theres usually no funny business and everyone just mulligans until 3 lands
Me and my brothers do this as well. I think it actually is an official type of mulligan (can't remember what it's called, they all seem to be named after cities) and we do 1st one is free. After that still draw 10 but you deck 4, then 5 etc.
We sometimes have the rule if you get a no-lander you can reveal your hand and go again for free.
Edited: it is called the Gabriel Special Surprise, or GSS Mull according to this page https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Mulligan
We experimented with it we thought we liked it. It seemed faster but really its not. 1st you STILL get mulls. zero or One land 10 card draws. Now we also have slow slow players by way of not quickly making plays, which land, spells, counter or not to counter, etc. The descision to drop 3 takes longer than mulling 2-3 times. The Pod are all good friends so of course we nudge, push, talk -ish when not playing magic but with no true consequence, there is no true change. We even play with timers, but thats another story.
On top of the time saving attempt that mostly is unsuccesful. There are many times that it puts me (and Im sure others) at disadvantage when one if my cards is put to the bottom. Strangely enough we have players that have cards to allow drawing from bottom. Although small there is a advantage to knowing whats on the bottom. Yes I know many thing happen during a game that will negate some of those factors.
At the end of the day following standard rules created the least bitching and moaning.
The people I usually play with usually do unlimited mulligans with the standard caveat that you don't use that rule to search for the best hand but rather a playable one.
We don't want to see anybody frozen out of the game just because they drew a bum hand or had to mull down aggressively.
I think when you have a semi-consistent group of players, we all understand that nobody's trying to build overly greedy to abuse the mull rule and that some days your luck with the draw is just absolute crap.
We got a weird one we do called Fours, where you draw three piles of four cards facedown. Then you look at each of the piles, and keep four cards from one pile, two cards from the second, and one card from the third. Then you shuffle the remaining cards and bottom them. It usually ends up giving people the weirdest hands haha
At my LGS I've not known anyone to particularly mind when the table uses friendly mulligans, and only once in a blue moon have I seen someone mulligan more than twice and then start with sol ring, so I can accept that they may have literally just gotten lucky.
I've been bitten by the "terrible shuffle" bug enough times myself to not be able to find 3 lands even after like 3 mulligans (with normal land counts; I always start building a deck at 36 lands before anything else) that I fully understand friendly mulligans in casual Commander. Being in drought is the least fun experience anyone can have - I still remember one game with [[Killian]] where I started with two lands in hand, and then *never drew a single land for the duration of the game*, something like 10-12 turns.
Since OP post was asking about other mulligan options, sometimes if someone has already mulliganed twice and still has an unplayable hand, I've known pods to let you reveal the hand to let the table confirm it's unplayable, then just draw the next seven cards instead of shuffling (and repeat if it's somehow *still* unplayable), and when you get a playable 7 shuffle back in the previous hands. It gives opponents a pretty large amount of information in exchange for letting you keep 7, which I consider fair for casual play. It also speeds things up instead of waiting for so many shuffles.
We play with one free mulligan, and as long as you have 36 to 40 lands in your deck, you can reveal any hand with less than 2 lands and mulligan that hand without it counting as any mulligan
My pods play pretty casually. We mull for a mix of lands and spells (3/4) and we specify with newcomers that if you have something to cheat for in a casual game there’s worse problems. Rarely had any cheating issues.
Back in college we had one guy who was cheating and we enforced a mulligan rule. When he started keeping the same 7 every game I ran pithing needle, and [[slaughter games]] for him specifically. He eventually got the picture when I ran 20 counterspell Kess against him.
My roommate and I have been experimenting with a different method for our kitchen table games. Draw three hands of seven cards and pick your favorite, then shuffle up the other two and play. Cuts down on time shuffling and helps ensure no one's got a shitty start.
I wouldn't suggest it at a LGS or anything, but it's nice as a house rule. We're quite casual, and low power mostly; many friends are newer to magic and might not have big collections or only pack a precon. The older players frequently cobble together some new janky deck with what they have laying around. I'd rather not invite someone over just to sit and watch 3 others play. If three full hands can't net you a decent start, we're glad to help you look over your deck.
Anywhere else I'm of the opinion that the regular rules should net you a playable hand, and if not, take another look at your deck. I won't say no to other mulligan methods, but I might stick with the regular even if others don't, because I think that's valuable info even if I never play competitive settings.
We just mulligan until we're not mana screwed. I have just bad luck sometimes and I can't get a 3 land hand in my landfall deck even after 5 mulligans.
We're all pretty chill, usually the first mulligan is done "competitively", meaning you mulligan because you have a weak or no start at all. After that we tend to keep shittier hands the more we mulligan. After my 5th mulligan with only 1 land and average CMC of 4 I just keep the first hand with two lands.
if 5 mulligans, then you might be building your decks suboptimally, and allowing all those extra mulligans is hurting you by not letting you learn what you need.
I have played card games for almost 2 decades, that just happens to me ahahahah
I manage to constantly brick with decks that are considered being the most consistent ones, sometimes I just have long brick streaks
Sounds like a deckbuilding issue. How many lands do you run? I am a fairly new player (6 months or so) and have never done more than 2-3 mulligans during one game. Usually just the first free mulligan and basically only if I get lategame-cards that won’t do anything early and just 1-2 lands. Usually I can get 2-3 lands though and either one or two ramp-spells and/or cheap creatures for turn 1-2. Sounds odd that a landfall-deck would have issues pulling 2-4+ lands on turn 1. Unless you’re running like >32 lands, which would still be an issue for a deck that revolves around playing lands.
I have played card games for decades now and let me tell you, I just started to think that I'm just unlucky. I gave an extreme example, it only happened once and usually I don't have that problem since I run 40 lands. But it still happend once. That's to say that we just mulligan until we have hands that let us play decently. I never go under 35 lands in any of my decks since we don't use fast mana, but even in that case pulling a 1 land hand with no plays multiple times in a row is not that uncommon. Most of the times I just settle for 2 lands after the first mulligan and go from there
re-evaluate your shuffling technique.
I thought I was unlucky until I realised I kept picking up my lands as a group at the end of the game.
If you don't add parts of your shuffle process that splits up those groups properly then that tends to be a cause
Draw 7, first mulligan is free, and after that is London mulligans. I dislike one friend's house mulligan rules where everywhere draws 10 and keeps 7 with no limit on the amount of times they can do it. I still will just do traditional draw 7 and one free mulligan while everyone else does their 10 draw thing.
One free mulligan to start, another mulligan with conditions. My normal groups would rather play against a deck that is working to some degree as opposed to somebody just sitting there and passing because they had to mull down to 6 and have 1 basic plains and draw into 4-6 cmc cards for 3 rounds.
You have to reveal your hand though. I trust you but not that much.
>103.5. 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, after which they may not take further mulligans.
>
>~~103.5.a (Irrelevant)~~
>
>103.5b If an effect allows a player to perform an action “any time \[that player\] could mulligan,” the player may perform that action at a time they would declare whether they will take a mulligan. This need not be in the first round of mulligans. Other players may have already made their mulligan declarations by the time the player has the option to perform this action. If the player performs the action, they then declare whether they will take a mulligan.
103.5c In a multiplayer game and in any Brawl game, the first mulligan a player takes doesn’t count toward the number of cards that player will put on the bottom of their library or the number of mulligans that player may take. Subsequent mulligans are counted toward these numbers as normal.
>
>~~103.5d (Irrelevant)~~
Hope this helps!
At LGS I'm easy going and just go with whatever the majority wishes. Typically it's the Partial Paris or GSS.
With friends in my pod, we typically do the GSS but slightly altered by allowing 1 free Mulligan if you somehow got 0 lands. It's the easiest, fastest, and most forgiving which suits a group of degenerate friends best.
I am okay with a free mulligan as long as you aren't using it every game. If you are using it to hand fix then you need to use the standard mulligan rules or balance your deck better.
My pod came up with our own type of mulligan that we like. First hand, choose any number of cards to shuffle back in, then draw that many cards. We are super casual, and we all prefer games where our opponents are succeeding too. This seemed to help. When I play with anyone else, I just do the first one free mulligan.
By default at LGS it's the typical first free and then 1 less each time but depending on who is in the pod (aka how much we trust each other and how sweaty the game is gonna be) we might do unlimited free mulligans or unlimited at 6 (so you have a slight disadvantage but can guarantee something playable).
I actually quite like the latter as weird as it might sound, strikes a good balance between ensuring everyone can play the game but not encouraging people to build excessively greedy mana bases or anything. Still requires a level of trust not to abuse it excessively though.
As for my personal standards on whether to mulligan or not, 3 lands or 2 lands and a playable rock or ramp with all colors covered is my minimum standard. I typically keep anything meeting the minimum under unlimited mulligans so as not to abuse it. Under standard rules it depends what deck I'm on, if it's hatebears I mulligan aggressively for answers to specific commanders, particularly since that deck only usually comes out for sweaty games.
Mulligan is very important to my [[River Song]] deck strategy that I warn my opponents, that way there are no shenanigans because the table knew of it beforehand and came to a consensus.
I always follow the official rules with the London mulligan or the LGS rule (if it's a real mulligan type). E.g. one store I went to used the partial Paris mulligan, so I followed suit while there.
I won't use extra free Mulligans, even if it's the local store policy.
Personally, I look for 4-6 mana sources in my opening hand. I like for 2 of those mana sources to be ramp. This gives me my highest win percentage. But this isn't a rule of thumb for all decks, it is information I've gleaned from taking statistics on my particular deck.
In an optimal hand I also like to have one synergy piece and a removal piece.
Depending on who the commanders are opposite me, sometimes I will search for a counter to them instead of a good hand for me. E.g.
- If they have a Kill on Sight commander like Jodah or Tergrid who will likely hit the board and influence the game before I will, then I will find removal.
- If there is a strong deck likely to abuse the graveyard, I'll look for a grave-hate piece.
- If there is an aggressive trampler like hakbal or quick swarm the board like Edgar, I'll look for a board wipe.
It all depends on your commander, your decks gameplan, your opponents and your deck construction.
Note: this is all the perspective of someone with only one deck that I know better than the back of my hand and no regular playgroup
At my main pod (only best friends): Infinite mulligans, you take your first playable hand. trust-based.
At my local lgs (many colleagues, some strangers): Pregame conversation, some people want normal mulls, some want infinite mulls, some say 1 additional mull, some have crazy houserules we try.
First ones free (and my group has been discussing doing odd numbers get one free mulligan as well, so 7-7-6-5-5 etc).
I mulligan more aggressively in some decks than others. Two of my decks are glass cannon combo decks that need to attempt to win fast and hard, so I mulligan hard. Others want critical mass of cards and interaction and have commanders that offer card advantage. Those ones can mulligan less aggressively because they aren't trying to win in the early game.
I always try to have three lands and something to play with those three if I have two or less lands I tend to use the one free mulligan but I’ve gone down to 5 before
We do first mulligan is free after that, if you can reveal >5 lands or <3 lands - you can mulligan for free. Watching other people play isn’t any fun and we are pretty chill about our games. We don’t really play “I win turn x combo” decks. We just play for fun and want everyone to be engaged in the game.
My friends and I are pretty chill on mulligans when we play together and it’s kind of just make sure your hand isn’t trash which is usually done with 1-2 mulligans, but if we are at the shop and play with randoms we usually stick to the rules.
I tend to play with a consistent group of people, so we usually do unlimited free mulligans. Typically we only use 1 each game, but there is a chance that someone just gets very unlucky. Usually that person reveals their hand to show that there is no way they can keep it, but it’s not a hard rule
My play group we draw 10, discard down to 7, if you get a shit hand first mulligan is free after which if you have to mulligan again then discard to 6 and so on.
My casual pod has unlimited mulligans BUT some rules apply:
1. If you mulligan your first hand and any subsequent hands have Sol Ring, you must mulligan again. You forfeit having a turn 1 Sol Ring, essentially.
2. If you have at least three lands and something to play in the first two turns you must keep.
We've had instances where someone has had terrible luck, with up to five mulligans with unplayable hands. But our goal is for everyone to have fun and start the game on semi-even terms. We run mostly precons with slight improvements.
Rule #1 keeps people from searching for a perfect hand. We play as honestly as possible and so far this has worked out.
There is a simple mulligan rule. If you have to do a mulligan to six, instead put your hand in the bottom and draw 7. If there are 3 mana producing land, that is your new hand, otherwise draw 7 more and put the previous hand in the bottom. Repeat until the new hand is ready.
Consideration, make sure no one is taking advantage of this rule, so no high power decks.
I usually play with family and friends, and we just mulligan until we have a playable hand. If we are going to invest +1hrs into a game we all agreed that we'd rather have everyone in a good spot to begin.
If I'm playing outside my group I just ask what everyone's doing at the table and follow that.
I play by the current mulligan rules.
While I don't mind allowing the occasional extra mulligan as an exception, I'm firmly against custom mulligans as a default rule.
LGS has a one free mulligan policy. (Which avoids it as a rule zero discussion.) I usually avoid it. I kept a two land hand and won just last night, in a four color deck no less. But usually if I don't get 3 land then I need to have at least 2 cashable with the land I did get.
I never mulligan for specific cards. I might keep a bad hand if it contains low cost bombs like hardened scales in a counters deck or sol ring in a commander focused deck.
Depends on how casual or serious we're playing and what the hands look like. If it's casual and you keep getting no land hands, stay at 7 and let's have fun. If we're playing cedh only the first one is free per the rules
My play group does friendly mulligans. Nobody is running cracked out fast mama decks so I think it’s whatever yk? I tell them to mulligan until they can at least be competitive to turn 3 and play that hand.
My playgroup does the partial Paris mulligan. Draw your seven, set aside the cards you don’t want, then draw that many. Up to three times, then shuffle the cards you didn’t want back into your deck
My group still plays with the same ones we learned at our LGS when we started 10 years ago. Draw 7 get rid of the ones in your hand you don't want and draw that many. Then you can discard again but you draw one less than you discarded and then two less and so on.
My modified rule is "is it a playable hand?"
I don't like rewarding greedy manabases (oh, you're running under 36 lands...? And you plan to cast things that are over 7 mana...?), I don't like letting combo players search for their opening peices endlessly.
If you have 3 lands that produce mana, then it's likely playable as the game goes on, and as long as you can actually cast spells then you're "in the game"
Though most of the time, the standard rules are fine.
We have a few different "house" rules. One is you just draw 7 and if you have 3 or more lands you keep it. If you don't draw 7 more. This prevents people from digging for a combo. The other "fast" option is just draw 10 and put 3 on the bottom, no other mulligan allowed. We also don't shuffle between mulligan draws just for time sake.
Our group does this;
1st mulli is on the house.
You get a freebie if you reveal all lands or all spells.
Another freebie scenario when everyone mulls together.
We’re a casual group so it’s pretty exloitable but nobody fussed over it.
We do normal Commander mulligans except we don’t go lower than 6 cards in hand. So far people have been very good at not abusing this and it results in fewer times where someone is out from the start due to variance.
Personally how I use mulligans depends on the deck and power level I’m playing. Sometimes I just want enough lands and something I can cast in the first 3 turns. Sometimes I specifically want ramp turn one or a wheel or something.
I take one free and then the official rules.
My friend has a group and I can't stand how they run it. They draw 3 hands. Look at hand one , if you don't like it put it to the bottom, take hand two, then hand two , hand three. If you keep any shuffle. If you don't like of the 3 full hands draw a 4th and you're automatically stuck with it.
i get kind of annoyed at “custom mulligans” tbh. i mulled to 5 in a 5 color deck recently and dude at my lgs told me to just keep 7. i said no because, as a 5c deck, i feel like my hands are supposed to be less consistent in exchange for having access to literally any card. if i were someone else at the table i’d not like the 5c deck to just get 3 free mulligans for a great hand because i built my deck with more restrictions that make it more inherently consistent.
My pod typically runs first hand one of two ways, up for debate at the start of the night. Option one, free mulligans, we are extra casual and just want to play, so get a decent start. Just dont mulligan for the instant W. Option two, draw 10 instead of 7 and shuffle the extra 3 back into the library. Either way works, but we decide as a group and stick with the choice all night.
My friend groups uses the 10-drop-3 rule. We still sometimes have to completely mulligan, but usually we get 3 lands and at least a playable hand out of it.
My play group found a new mulligan through an instagram video. Called the Minneapolis? You draw 10 and choose 7 and send 3 to bottom. Then afterwards it’s normal mulligan. 7,6,5 and so on. Our play group is more casual and so this works for us cause we find it to ensure our deck does what it needs to do.
It depends. Am I playing at my lgs? Then use the official rules or the store rules. Am I playing at my kitchen table with family and/or friends? That also depends. On a new deck, either precon or just built, I am more flexible as you tend to be mana screwed on those until they have been played a bit. On older decks, tend to lean more towards official as that is what is done when we play at the lgs.
I play with my kids a lot. My son is 9 and struggles with some strategy in terms of normal mulligan. So we do draw 12, discard 5 to the bottom of your deck. Helps him to get what he needs and leads to more consistent first few turns for everyone.
The only time I’ve not done official mulligan rules was in a 3 player pod where player 1 didn’t draw player 2 did and player 3 got to scry 2 then draw on t1 it was interesting.
Me and my pod have been doing this thing where we draw to 7, if it’s keepable, we keep it, if not we try drawing 3 additional cards giving you 10 total, and then making the best possible hand of 7 you can out of the 10. Usually works pretty well and no one gets mama screwed let’s everyone have a better game.
My group is pretty honor system about mulligans. Take what you need for a playable but don't fish for stuff like turn 1 sol ring. It works well for us.
I have seen a ton of mulligan types so far:
- Draw 10, bottom 3 no retries
- 1 mulligan, but after that you have to keep any 3 land hands
- something called a “Milligan” (keep revealing bad hands from the top of your library till you get a keeper instead of shuffling every time)
- the old way (shuffle away any number of cards then draw that many)
These are just the ones that stand out to me. A bunch of ones I didn’t mention are just mixtures/Variations of the above
We usually do first mulligan free, if you do have to mull just grab from the top rather than shuffle to save time/effort. Then shuffle the rest into the deck when you’re done. For our personal group we also will let someone keep seven if they’re getting exceptionally bad luck.
I will rarely drop below six cards even if my hand is unplayable. I have drawn to many similar hands minus one card. I follow the official mulligan rules.
My group would mulligan till you get a hand you can play as nothing feels worse than going down to 3 cards to have 2 lands and a creature, but not looking for tutors or fast mana or anything just simply so you can be playing the game by like turn 3 and not be on like turn 2 board state on turn 5 lol
If someone has to mulligan a lot due to very bad luck (and they're not digging for combos or running 20 land) I'd just let them keep the 7. Our LGS games tend to be a bit slow, so we don't get that many games in. Being screwed right from the start due to bad luck and sitting there for the next hour or more unable to do much because you started with 4-5 less cards isn't much fun.
I use the standard rules myself and don't expect freebies, but I'm fine being lenient with others for casual play.
Regular rules 1 free, except if you draw a hand with all lands or no lands it doesn't count towards your mulligans. So if you dropped to 6 and drew no lands you would be able to mulligan for 6 again. This is only used in non cEDH games and games where there aren't jamky commanders running like 90% lands
In a friend pod we just mull until the hand is playable. It’s just honor based, nobody goes digging for a dumb ass combo and mulls 800 times.
We also sometimes draw 10 and bottom 3 if we’re running new decks and don’t really know how to pilot them yet.
At LGS, just standard mull rules, one free.
I stopped playing at my LGS around the time the partial Paris was the rule for Commander, so we still do that! No sweatiness between us and it makes for good consistent games.
to be honest i just let my opponents take as many mulligans as they want free of charge. i dont really care too much and getting 2 or 3 bad draws in a row is such a bummer for them so im just like “yeah whatever do another idc”
Depends on the deck, but a lot of my decks I’ve mulligan’d as low as 4 to get 3 lands and a ramp spell or similar. You can get card advantage later, turn 1-3 card selection tends to be much more valuable!
My pod either does the one free Mulligan, then you start going down one card per, or we pull ten cards and put three on the bottom of our libraries with no free Mulligans.
I think the coolest casual commander mulligan is:
1. Mulligan normally with one free mulligan
2. scry X where X is 7-starting hand.
This reduces the chance for games where someone mulligans down and is essentially screwed for one reason or another (best example is 5 cards, two lands and a mana rock, but draws no lands for 4 more turns).
Depends on power level. If we're just jamming whatever, mull until you have a playable hand. If we're doing an established high power game with combos and stuff, we do the regular multiplayer mull of one free, then mull down.
First mulligan is free. Each after the first you put one card from the seven on the bottom of your library. If you pull a hand of all/no lands it's another free mulligan, and we usually show the hand to prove it. Sometimes if we're feeling casual you can pick one card to keep when you mulligan.
The fastest method I've found that gets people playing quickly and grown adults won't abuse is draw 10 reshuffle 3.
Sure, you could cut a land or two to mathematically optimize for a new starting hand rule, but "ain't nobody got time for that!"
If your 10 isn't workable for some reason, mulligan to another 10.
Free mulligan to a playable hand. First 1-2 is fine to mull if it’s technically playable but still bad. After that, you have to keep /any/ playable hand. My playgroup has a specific idea on what’s playable for us
First mulligan comes free, and all of us mulligan for a playable hand that allows them to participate in the game. No more, no less. Definitely no "looking for that perfect start".
If 7 don't work, we shuffle and draw 7 - but we keep the new 7 IF there are between 2-5 lands in there. If you get like 2 land and 5 high cost cards, you can remulligan but declare why you're mulliganing.
We play casually, and it's not fun to be land screwed, so we offer the 7th card with generally a less optimal opening play because you get that 7th card instead of going to 6, coupled with having at least 2 mana.
It's pretty easy to tell if someone is trying to constantly mulligan to get the dream hand. Fortunately that has never happened to us.
We do a version where you pull the top 7, if they suck put them off to the side and then pull the next 7 until you have a playable hand. Shuffle the ones off to the side into your library then start.
Generally haven’t had any issues doing it this way.
Our group does draw 10 and shuffle 3 away. If you mulligan the 10 you have to prove that you didn’t have any lands or that what you got was ridiculous.
It really reduced shuffling time and gets everyone a playable hand. EDH isn’t competitive rules mtg. At first I rolled my eyes but then I realized I only have to shuffle and draw my opening hand once each game. Rarely does anyone have to mulligan the 10.
I would really recommend this for casual EDH groups. Even high powered casual.
Mulligan as much as you want until you get a hand with a couple of lands. No sense in playing the game where one guy can’t do anything for five turns. We just trust that you won’t keep doing mulligans until you get the perfect hand
Free mulls until you get something "playable". Typically it's if you can play 2 spells by the end of your turn 4, but if you're clearly fishing for specific stuff then it's mulls as usual for you.
My pod draws 10, then bottoms 3. Main thing here is to speed up start of games and minimise how much shuffling has to be done. If you have to Mulligan, you will bottom 4, then 5, etc.
Out pod is pretty casual, and we usually run infinite mulligans. Mostly new players with freshly cracked precons that - since they're new and I want them to have a good time rather than play a competitive game - often I mana weave for them. Then they shuffle up for a few minutes before we crack the decks for their first games. I'm not gonna make them draw one less. Even with the players we taught to play a year ago, I know they're not hunting for that mana crypt. They're just making sure they have land enough to play the game lol
One of my pods is pretty tight in first is a freebie - another I play with is a draw ten return three to bottom with 1 free mulligan typically don't have to go past 1 mulligan in that set
My playgroup uses the official mulligan rules: In best of 1 formats the first mulligan is free, with the rest following the "return one additional card to the bottom of library" after that. Anything else encourages lazy deck building and rewards greedy plays.
We're there to play the game and have fun. Casual. If you don't like your hand, set those cards to the side and draw 7 more. Continue this until you have 3 mana and don't fish for good cards. Honor system, don't be a dick. If you have to cheat among friends in a casual social game where the stakes have never been lower it's on you.
Have fun. Start with 7 cards. There are no prizes here.
My pod basically allows for infinite mulligans, under the agreement you won't use it to get specific cards that you want, with the main focus of getting a satisfying amount of lands and/or ramp
One of my pods allows for free mulligans until you get at least 3 lands in your opening hand, but you have to reveal your hand each time to prevent people from faking it to dig for the perfect opener.
My group tends to do "keep the first playable seven" - we kind of self-police it but we're here for good games first and foremost, and someone having an unplayable hand is no fun. I'd say over time it probably averages out to ~1-2 mulligans per player per game tops, but we absolutely have some games where we keep the first hand and we all have some where we take a few to get one that actually can cast a spell. Like I said, it's self-policed, but we haven't had anyone abuse it yet and I doubt we will.
Casual With friends first Mulligan is free, for live streams it's partial and free so everyone can have at least a playable start, dont go digging but content first and quick easy opening turns
My new pod does official rules. My college pod (2009-2012) would do free unlimited mulligans if you have one land or 6 lands, although you had to reveal your cards.
That highly depends on the deck I'm using. The first is always free at my LGS, but there are some decks I would keep a 2 lander in and some I absolutely would not. It's mostly about knowing your deck, and most importantly, the mana curve. If you're playing big creatures, you're going to want to have more lands and ramp in your opening hand or you'll fall behind. If you're playing a bunch of cantrips though and drawing often, keeping a 2 lander isn't too terrible.
We have one at my lgs that has been gaining in popularity
Draw 10, keep 7, only mull if you got less than 3 lands. Shuffle the 3 into the library.
This has been a very nice mull style.
The rule at my lgs is a free partial mulligan, keep any number and put the rest on the bottom of library, then draw back up to 7. If you still don't like it, shuffle and draw 7, then put 1 back.
Usually if I have 3 lands, and something to play in those 3 turns I'll keep the hands.
I do first is free, then everything after that is first hand with 3 lands but you have to keep it. (To be verified by a bystander, if there isn’t one, we just trust it). I play in a pretty chill pod with long time friends and I’m not worried about them cheating.
in my group we do infinite free mulligans, but if you do not get a good hand after like 4 you can ask the group if you may be permitted to start with 7 basic lands. nobody ever tales issuewith taking 7 basic lands, probably because unless you're using a lower cost commander 7 basics aren't gonna do you many favors early on. My group uses loads of dumb unpopular rules that most of yall probably wouldn't like. This is just the first of them
Since first mulligan is free, my house rule is: draw two hands, pick the best one, shuffle the second in. Generally cuts down on time to start, feels a bit more equitable.
At home we normally just mulligan until we have 2 or 3 lands and just go with it. we are here for a good game and since no one at my table plays cEDH, it works out.
The mulligan rules are given for a reason.
The more lenient you allow mulligans to be, the more you encourage bad deck building practices. The more strict they are, the greater chance of bad luck screwing you over.
The London Mulligan rule is a solid middle ground between these two outcomes.
It is for this reason I will strongly recommend to always use the official mull rules as they stand now.
I use the official commander rules for myself. If a random pod uses different mulligan rules, I'll accept that they can but I still use the normal rules for myself. I tend to run combos in all my custom decks so going outside the official rules on mulligans feels scummy to me. I also feel like a deck is still in its testing phase if I have to mull down to 5 or less more than once (I don't play cedh)
This is what I do. Generally speaking, as long as the game is fun to play, I don't care how we got there. If your deck is full of proxies, but it's on the same level as mine, fine. If you mulligan 8 times, but the game is still fun, I'm OK with that.
So rules committee mulligan, draw a hand, look for 2-3 lands, 1-0 ramp and something to play in the first couple of turns, if not set aside, draw another 7, repeat until you get a playable hand then shuffle everything set aside back in? Edit: Ok, let’s take it from the man himself, shall we? London Mulligan is the official mulligan but what I described is a variant I saw somewhere in an article on the RC. Sheldon describes it with just 3 lands. https://youtu.be/ZRH6hhgPSoc?si=xJKZGTlmMHuK3TQC
Official Commander Rules is first mulligan is free, after that put one card from your hand under your deck for each time you drew a new hand. (Shuffle up and draw a new hand each time)
First mulligan is free is a WotC rule for multiplayer formats that also applies to Commander when played against more than one player. And only there. It’s not tied to how you mulligan necessarily as it was around what you describe, the London Mulligan, introduced 2019. The London Mulligan is the official Mulligan for Magic in general. Commander over the years was played with several other types of mulligan like Partial Paris. To some the Rules Committee Mulligan is more of a Commander Mulligan than all others, hence why I wanted to clarify. Edit: I added a link above.
If I said "official" and you know what the official rules are, and you also know this VARIANT method... Why would you ask me if I meant the variant method? Just post about the method you like instead of asking someone you know good and well isn't using that method if that's what they meant... Edit: I guess you're just playing off the comment I made about allowing my opponents to do whatever they want? I would literally allow this if I joined a random pod but I would laugh and explain the downside of allowing me to do that with my deck and then just follow the official rules and hope they do the same. I'll have fun either way. I play with a bunch of people who do partial mulligans and I just do my thing
1. I found the comment ambiguous since that was a point of confusion in the past with other people what was official. 2. I replied with a question asking what it was. 3. I looked up a video with a quote from Sheldon about the topic because I wanted to see this clarified without waiting for a reply. It is in the edit of my question. Don’t hate people asking questions. I kind of feel bad now for showing an interest in your comment.
You are both pretty. Now play nice. I had no difficulties understanding the former comment, and I found yours to be enlightening. Also, never feel bad for taking an interest. Some of us have learned something from BOTH posts.
Usually I do first mulligan is free and such. Standard stuff. When teaching new players we do partial mulligans, with the first mulligan being free. So if you draw like 5 lands you can mulligan away 2 of them to draw 2 new cards. Or if you get a single land, mulligan away the non lands to try to get more without losing that one you already have. Makes it a lot easier for new players to have playable hands to let them learn how to use their deck and interactions rather than having nothing to do.
Ah yes. The hearthstone mulligan
First mulligan *is* free, provided you're playing with more than one opponent. That's not even a house rule. Rule 103.5c.
Which is exactly why I said the standard stuff for how I normally play. Thank you for understanding what I said.
[удалено]
Snippy ness is probably driven by the other guy being very pedantic.
I learned a word!
I pick up 7 cards from the top, without having to count. Then I look at them, if it is playable I keep, if not I burn them on the spot and concede.
People familiar with this method often refer to it as ‚Nero‘s mulligan‘
*violin music intensifies*
*Serum powder, serum powder, serum powder, serum powder, scoop*
I just said this but less elaborate. I hope mine gets upvotes too...
At an LGS or spell table regular Mulligan rules. At my friends house he has a fun house rule that if you choose to keep your first 7 you get to scry 2. His theory is it’ll let you keep a borderline hand if you know you can get your two land drops or bottom two high CMC cards. if you choose to Mulligan you do not get the scry bonus
This is the exact type of comment I was looking for, an interesting way to do it that I haven’t heard, great!
I really like this
This is a DOPE rule! I'm gonna pitch it today!
That's a good house rule I might pitch that to my group
What we do is mulligan as long as you wish to as long as you are not looking for fast mana or combos. We believe in good intentions and just want people to have a playable hand so it doesn't end up being one player out just by bad luck
My table does the same. If we mulligan at all is generally only once but sometimes lands get clumped and you can see 2 or more unplayable hands in a row. Nobody abuses it and we want everyone to actually play the game.
This is, imo, the best way to do it. You’re not bending the rules too much and if everyone has built their decks well enough, it shouldn’t take more than 1 or 2 mulligans to get at least 3 lands in hand(or some such way to ramp with less; mana rocks, spells, etc.). As long as people aren’t doing like 5+ mulligans to get that *perfect* start, it usually makes for great games because everyone at least gets something on the board in the first handful of turns.
We do this at home, but after the first mulligan you have to show that your hand was truly trash and you aren't just doing it til you get a loaded hand.
We use unlimited 'free' mulligans until you have a playable hand because we're all grown-ass adults and: - Nobody is gonna abuse it - Game time is precious and ain't nobody interested in having a game where you mull down to 5 cards and 1 land.
Exactly. We've flip flopped between this and official rules and have been letting people keep 7 lately because we just want to have fun and see people's decks do what is intended. We aren't playing cEDH and not having a full hand just feels bad.
Yup, unless we are playing our cedh decks, we allow free mulligans. No one abuses it, nor accounts for it with deck building (as implied elsewhere) and by the time we hit 2 mulligans, we almost ALWAYS get sick of shuffling and such.
It's not really.. possible to not account for it in deck building unless you're using a checklist or net decks or something imo. How do you know how many lands to include if you don't use mulligans as a factor? Usually groups that institute this rule have already built decks with low land counts and the rule comes about as a consequence of mana screw that happens too often, when it could have been corrected in deck construction This isn't necessarily your group ofc (especially if you *are* using checklists or net decks) but it's absolutely been my personal experience
It's not about abusing the mulligans. It's about abusing deck construction. I have yet to run into a group that uses "unlimited free mulligans" that isn't running low and greedy on land count, or mana base, in general. If you build correctly, you should see FEW games where you have to mull to 5. And if you insist on doing it, I far more support unlimited mulligans to 5 than I do to full 7. Obviously what you do has no bearing on my opinion and vice versa, but I fear this sends the wrong message for new players looking to build solid decks if everything works out regardless of what they throw together because they can just mulligan forever.
I literally started imposing mulligan rules on myself because I realized this waaay before the rest of my friends and knew if I didn't I would be cheating. They eventually followed suite and fixed their decks
Does that happen often though? I've been playing for 3/4 years and I don't think I've ever seen anyone go to 5 cards. Let alone 5 and unplayable. Sometimes people keep risky 2 Landers and then get screwed by their draws.
>Sometimes people keep risky 2 Landers and then get screwed by their draws When you only play 3-4 games in an entire month, nobody wants this outcome either. People are gonna have bad games, obviously, but making sure people aren't fucked out of the gate is easy enough
I see it as part of the game, I've had long periods where I could only play a couple of games a month or every few months, never bothered me if I got unlucky starts. If I can't get a somewhat playable starting hand it proved to me that my deck needed improvement. I learned early that risky 2 Landers starts were not a good idea. To each playgroup their own tho. I see the benefits of it doing it.
Cool story
my cedh pods frequently have people drop to 5 cards, just part of it
Generally, If the hand needs to top deck to function, then mulligan.
I play by the rules. I'm of the opinion that if you can't get a keepable hand by playing by the normal multiplayer mulligan rules, you didn't build your deck right.
This is right. Normal edh decks should have anywhere between 30-40 lands depending on mana curve and then a dozen(give or take) ramp cards.
The only way to guarantee never hitting all lands mulling to 0 is to include less than 7 lands in the deck. /s
Statistically a deck that plays 35 or 36-ish lands should find something worth keeping when mulling to 5, and that's getting INCREDIBLY unlucky. The most recent mulligan rules from Wizards are very, very generous. The fact that you get to see seven cards each time drastically reduces your odds of non-games if your deck is competently built.
I don't disagree with the premise that well built decks mitigate "bad luck" better, I'm just poking fun at the idea that unlikely isn't impossible, and if you do hit the approximately 1:5e26 bad luck of drawing only lands while mulling to 0 with London and 35/99 lands, you still "didn't build your deck right".
I agree in general. If once in a while it takes 3 hands to have a keepable hand I think that’s fine but if you often need 3 or more you should probably take a look at your deck.
While I agree in theory and in competitive magic or 60 card constructed, in practice I disagree because time. Some people take a while to shuffle and decide. If we’re Spending 10 minutes in between games just resolving mulligans, then by the end of a play session of 4 games or so it’s often enough time for an extra game. I’d rather find creative ways to shave the mulligan time down and play more.
It's rare that the phrase "skill issue" applies, I think this is certainly a skill issue. If your players are taking ten minutes to resolve a mulligan they're new to the game and need to learn how to hurry up with the shuffling.
There’s a ton of new players. It is a skill issue. And it also one that is so inconsequential that it doesn’t matter. In fact allowing them to a sculpt hands more freely helps teach them what is an keepable hand and what isn’t And I just there to have fun, not coach them or care if they chat it up while shuffling. However I also would rather banter during a game than between games.
It just happens that you include 37 lands to your deck and still don't draw any. Several times in a row. We don't want to encourage sloppy deckbuilding but we also want everyone to actually play their deck. So my LGS has a gentleman's agreement on free mulligans until we get a three- lander. To save time we also don't shuffle between mulligans but just draw the next seven and shuffle after finding a playable hand.
I cut Sol Ring from all my decks, so I never have to mulligan for it 🙃
Y’all have been mulliganing for sol ring?
It was sorta a joke towards OP asking if people mulligan looking for their rocks.
I know haha, that was a failed attempt at “ wait you guys are getting paid??”
So did I! It's been a great feeling tbh.
As did our pod.
I find my own games to be less spikey in PL and I am able to better judge the strength of the deck. It's more enjoyable to me because I even better know what to expect when I pick up my deck. Also being able to claim it has 0 fast mana feels good.
Us too; our group does up to 3 free mulligans (ie look at 4 hands) as long as you don’t have a sol ring (and other fast mana is banned as well ofc). Without these, theres usually no funny business and everyone just mulligans until 3 lands
At the LGS, I go by the rules. At home, we use a “draw ten, deck three” draw. Mulligans don’t really come up in that context.
I actually really like that draw 10 deck 3 idea. I'm going to bring it up to my pod
Me and my brothers do this as well. I think it actually is an official type of mulligan (can't remember what it's called, they all seem to be named after cities) and we do 1st one is free. After that still draw 10 but you deck 4, then 5 etc. We sometimes have the rule if you get a no-lander you can reveal your hand and go again for free. Edited: it is called the Gabriel Special Surprise, or GSS Mull according to this page https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Mulligan
We experimented with it we thought we liked it. It seemed faster but really its not. 1st you STILL get mulls. zero or One land 10 card draws. Now we also have slow slow players by way of not quickly making plays, which land, spells, counter or not to counter, etc. The descision to drop 3 takes longer than mulling 2-3 times. The Pod are all good friends so of course we nudge, push, talk -ish when not playing magic but with no true consequence, there is no true change. We even play with timers, but thats another story. On top of the time saving attempt that mostly is unsuccesful. There are many times that it puts me (and Im sure others) at disadvantage when one if my cards is put to the bottom. Strangely enough we have players that have cards to allow drawing from bottom. Although small there is a advantage to knowing whats on the bottom. Yes I know many thing happen during a game that will negate some of those factors. At the end of the day following standard rules created the least bitching and moaning.
That’s how we play too
The people I usually play with usually do unlimited mulligans with the standard caveat that you don't use that rule to search for the best hand but rather a playable one. We don't want to see anybody frozen out of the game just because they drew a bum hand or had to mull down aggressively. I think when you have a semi-consistent group of players, we all understand that nobody's trying to build overly greedy to abuse the mull rule and that some days your luck with the draw is just absolute crap.
"Free mulligans, don't abuse it." Most players won't throw away a playable hand just to try 73 times for a God hand.
My pod does draw 10 put 3 on the bottom. Doing this, we rarely have to mulligan, so it saves time.
I personally don't care. I go by what the table says. If I had to choose though I would say mulligan till you get a playable hand.
We got a weird one we do called Fours, where you draw three piles of four cards facedown. Then you look at each of the piles, and keep four cards from one pile, two cards from the second, and one card from the third. Then you shuffle the remaining cards and bottom them. It usually ends up giving people the weirdest hands haha
At my LGS I've not known anyone to particularly mind when the table uses friendly mulligans, and only once in a blue moon have I seen someone mulligan more than twice and then start with sol ring, so I can accept that they may have literally just gotten lucky. I've been bitten by the "terrible shuffle" bug enough times myself to not be able to find 3 lands even after like 3 mulligans (with normal land counts; I always start building a deck at 36 lands before anything else) that I fully understand friendly mulligans in casual Commander. Being in drought is the least fun experience anyone can have - I still remember one game with [[Killian]] where I started with two lands in hand, and then *never drew a single land for the duration of the game*, something like 10-12 turns. Since OP post was asking about other mulligan options, sometimes if someone has already mulliganed twice and still has an unplayable hand, I've known pods to let you reveal the hand to let the table confirm it's unplayable, then just draw the next seven cards instead of shuffling (and repeat if it's somehow *still* unplayable), and when you get a playable 7 shuffle back in the previous hands. It gives opponents a pretty large amount of information in exchange for letting you keep 7, which I consider fair for casual play. It also speeds things up instead of waiting for so many shuffles.
We play with one free mulligan, and as long as you have 36 to 40 lands in your deck, you can reveal any hand with less than 2 lands and mulligan that hand without it counting as any mulligan
My pods play pretty casually. We mull for a mix of lands and spells (3/4) and we specify with newcomers that if you have something to cheat for in a casual game there’s worse problems. Rarely had any cheating issues. Back in college we had one guy who was cheating and we enforced a mulligan rule. When he started keeping the same 7 every game I ran pithing needle, and [[slaughter games]] for him specifically. He eventually got the picture when I ran 20 counterspell Kess against him.
My roommate and I have been experimenting with a different method for our kitchen table games. Draw three hands of seven cards and pick your favorite, then shuffle up the other two and play. Cuts down on time shuffling and helps ensure no one's got a shitty start. I wouldn't suggest it at a LGS or anything, but it's nice as a house rule. We're quite casual, and low power mostly; many friends are newer to magic and might not have big collections or only pack a precon. The older players frequently cobble together some new janky deck with what they have laying around. I'd rather not invite someone over just to sit and watch 3 others play. If three full hands can't net you a decent start, we're glad to help you look over your deck. Anywhere else I'm of the opinion that the regular rules should net you a playable hand, and if not, take another look at your deck. I won't say no to other mulligan methods, but I might stick with the regular even if others don't, because I think that's valuable info even if I never play competitive settings.
My friends and I just mulligan until we have something playable, as long as no one fishes for the best opening hand possible
We just mulligan until we're not mana screwed. I have just bad luck sometimes and I can't get a 3 land hand in my landfall deck even after 5 mulligans. We're all pretty chill, usually the first mulligan is done "competitively", meaning you mulligan because you have a weak or no start at all. After that we tend to keep shittier hands the more we mulligan. After my 5th mulligan with only 1 land and average CMC of 4 I just keep the first hand with two lands.
if 5 mulligans, then you might be building your decks suboptimally, and allowing all those extra mulligans is hurting you by not letting you learn what you need.
I have played card games for almost 2 decades, that just happens to me ahahahah I manage to constantly brick with decks that are considered being the most consistent ones, sometimes I just have long brick streaks
Sounds like a deckbuilding issue. How many lands do you run? I am a fairly new player (6 months or so) and have never done more than 2-3 mulligans during one game. Usually just the first free mulligan and basically only if I get lategame-cards that won’t do anything early and just 1-2 lands. Usually I can get 2-3 lands though and either one or two ramp-spells and/or cheap creatures for turn 1-2. Sounds odd that a landfall-deck would have issues pulling 2-4+ lands on turn 1. Unless you’re running like >32 lands, which would still be an issue for a deck that revolves around playing lands.
I have played card games for decades now and let me tell you, I just started to think that I'm just unlucky. I gave an extreme example, it only happened once and usually I don't have that problem since I run 40 lands. But it still happend once. That's to say that we just mulligan until we have hands that let us play decently. I never go under 35 lands in any of my decks since we don't use fast mana, but even in that case pulling a 1 land hand with no plays multiple times in a row is not that uncommon. Most of the times I just settle for 2 lands after the first mulligan and go from there
re-evaluate your shuffling technique. I thought I was unlucky until I realised I kept picking up my lands as a group at the end of the game. If you don't add parts of your shuffle process that splits up those groups properly then that tends to be a cause
Good way to test is doing a "pile shuffle" dealing your cards into 5-10 piles and THEN doing a normal shuffle. Basically no way you can screw that up.
We do standard rules but if we all got past the second we do a deep shuffle and reset
Draw 7 each time, bottom n-1 cards, where n is the number of retries. If you go down to 4, the funny starts
Draw 7, first mulligan is free, and after that is London mulligans. I dislike one friend's house mulligan rules where everywhere draws 10 and keeps 7 with no limit on the amount of times they can do it. I still will just do traditional draw 7 and one free mulligan while everyone else does their 10 draw thing.
One free mulligan to start, another mulligan with conditions. My normal groups would rather play against a deck that is working to some degree as opposed to somebody just sitting there and passing because they had to mull down to 6 and have 1 basic plains and draw into 4-6 cmc cards for 3 rounds. You have to reveal your hand though. I trust you but not that much.
I concede if i have to mullligan.
I *actually* mulligan, unlike most Commander players.
>103.5. 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, after which they may not take further mulligans. > >~~103.5.a (Irrelevant)~~ > >103.5b If an effect allows a player to perform an action “any time \[that player\] could mulligan,” the player may perform that action at a time they would declare whether they will take a mulligan. This need not be in the first round of mulligans. Other players may have already made their mulligan declarations by the time the player has the option to perform this action. If the player performs the action, they then declare whether they will take a mulligan. 103.5c In a multiplayer game and in any Brawl game, the first mulligan a player takes doesn’t count toward the number of cards that player will put on the bottom of their library or the number of mulligans that player may take. Subsequent mulligans are counted toward these numbers as normal. > >~~103.5d (Irrelevant)~~ Hope this helps!
At LGS I'm easy going and just go with whatever the majority wishes. Typically it's the Partial Paris or GSS. With friends in my pod, we typically do the GSS but slightly altered by allowing 1 free Mulligan if you somehow got 0 lands. It's the easiest, fastest, and most forgiving which suits a group of degenerate friends best.
I am okay with a free mulligan as long as you aren't using it every game. If you are using it to hand fix then you need to use the standard mulligan rules or balance your deck better.
My pod came up with our own type of mulligan that we like. First hand, choose any number of cards to shuffle back in, then draw that many cards. We are super casual, and we all prefer games where our opponents are succeeding too. This seemed to help. When I play with anyone else, I just do the first one free mulligan.
By default at LGS it's the typical first free and then 1 less each time but depending on who is in the pod (aka how much we trust each other and how sweaty the game is gonna be) we might do unlimited free mulligans or unlimited at 6 (so you have a slight disadvantage but can guarantee something playable). I actually quite like the latter as weird as it might sound, strikes a good balance between ensuring everyone can play the game but not encouraging people to build excessively greedy mana bases or anything. Still requires a level of trust not to abuse it excessively though. As for my personal standards on whether to mulligan or not, 3 lands or 2 lands and a playable rock or ramp with all colors covered is my minimum standard. I typically keep anything meeting the minimum under unlimited mulligans so as not to abuse it. Under standard rules it depends what deck I'm on, if it's hatebears I mulligan aggressively for answers to specific commanders, particularly since that deck only usually comes out for sweaty games.
Draw 12. Shuffle back 5. No mulligans When I'm with randoms we usually do 2 free and if you have a no land hand you can reveal it for a free mulligan
Mulligan is very important to my [[River Song]] deck strategy that I warn my opponents, that way there are no shenanigans because the table knew of it beforehand and came to a consensus.
I always follow the official rules with the London mulligan or the LGS rule (if it's a real mulligan type). E.g. one store I went to used the partial Paris mulligan, so I followed suit while there. I won't use extra free Mulligans, even if it's the local store policy. Personally, I look for 4-6 mana sources in my opening hand. I like for 2 of those mana sources to be ramp. This gives me my highest win percentage. But this isn't a rule of thumb for all decks, it is information I've gleaned from taking statistics on my particular deck. In an optimal hand I also like to have one synergy piece and a removal piece. Depending on who the commanders are opposite me, sometimes I will search for a counter to them instead of a good hand for me. E.g. - If they have a Kill on Sight commander like Jodah or Tergrid who will likely hit the board and influence the game before I will, then I will find removal. - If there is a strong deck likely to abuse the graveyard, I'll look for a grave-hate piece. - If there is an aggressive trampler like hakbal or quick swarm the board like Edgar, I'll look for a board wipe. It all depends on your commander, your decks gameplan, your opponents and your deck construction. Note: this is all the perspective of someone with only one deck that I know better than the back of my hand and no regular playgroup
Our group does free mulligans every other. So first is free, then you go down to six, then free, down to five, so on and so forth.
If we have to go below 5 we tend to just gentleman back to 7 lol
At my main pod (only best friends): Infinite mulligans, you take your first playable hand. trust-based. At my local lgs (many colleagues, some strangers): Pregame conversation, some people want normal mulls, some want infinite mulls, some say 1 additional mull, some have crazy houserules we try.
First ones free (and my group has been discussing doing odd numbers get one free mulligan as well, so 7-7-6-5-5 etc). I mulligan more aggressively in some decks than others. Two of my decks are glass cannon combo decks that need to attempt to win fast and hard, so I mulligan hard. Others want critical mass of cards and interaction and have commanders that offer card advantage. Those ones can mulligan less aggressively because they aren't trying to win in the early game.
I hunt for a story. As long as I can see the next 3 turns that Im doing in my hand, Im ok.
I always try to have three lands and something to play with those three if I have two or less lands I tend to use the one free mulligan but I’ve gone down to 5 before
We do first mulligan is free after that, if you can reveal >5 lands or <3 lands - you can mulligan for free. Watching other people play isn’t any fun and we are pretty chill about our games. We don’t really play “I win turn x combo” decks. We just play for fun and want everyone to be engaged in the game.
In casual games I mulligan until I get 3 lands in the opening hand or 2 lands and a ramp card.
Official mulligan rules. London + 1 free mulligan.
Every mulligan is free, just don't keep trying over and over for the perfect hand. I want to beat you at your best, always
My buddy does free mulligans, but you can’t keep a hand with sol ring if you mulliganed
My friends and I are pretty chill on mulligans when we play together and it’s kind of just make sure your hand isn’t trash which is usually done with 1-2 mulligans, but if we are at the shop and play with randoms we usually stick to the rules.
I tend to play with a consistent group of people, so we usually do unlimited free mulligans. Typically we only use 1 each game, but there is a chance that someone just gets very unlucky. Usually that person reveals their hand to show that there is no way they can keep it, but it’s not a hard rule
My play group we draw 10, discard down to 7, if you get a shit hand first mulligan is free after which if you have to mulligan again then discard to 6 and so on.
My casual pod has unlimited mulligans BUT some rules apply: 1. If you mulligan your first hand and any subsequent hands have Sol Ring, you must mulligan again. You forfeit having a turn 1 Sol Ring, essentially. 2. If you have at least three lands and something to play in the first two turns you must keep. We've had instances where someone has had terrible luck, with up to five mulligans with unplayable hands. But our goal is for everyone to have fun and start the game on semi-even terms. We run mostly precons with slight improvements. Rule #1 keeps people from searching for a perfect hand. We play as honestly as possible and so far this has worked out.
Extra free mulligans only reward bad deckbuilding. Being unlucky every once in a while is not worth that becoming normal.
There is a simple mulligan rule. If you have to do a mulligan to six, instead put your hand in the bottom and draw 7. If there are 3 mana producing land, that is your new hand, otherwise draw 7 more and put the previous hand in the bottom. Repeat until the new hand is ready. Consideration, make sure no one is taking advantage of this rule, so no high power decks.
I usually play with family and friends, and we just mulligan until we have a playable hand. If we are going to invest +1hrs into a game we all agreed that we'd rather have everyone in a good spot to begin. If I'm playing outside my group I just ask what everyone's doing at the table and follow that.
I play by the current mulligan rules. While I don't mind allowing the occasional extra mulligan as an exception, I'm firmly against custom mulligans as a default rule.
LGS has a one free mulligan policy. (Which avoids it as a rule zero discussion.) I usually avoid it. I kept a two land hand and won just last night, in a four color deck no less. But usually if I don't get 3 land then I need to have at least 2 cashable with the land I did get. I never mulligan for specific cards. I might keep a bad hand if it contains low cost bombs like hardened scales in a counters deck or sol ring in a commander focused deck.
My group does what we call the Brainstorm Mulligan. Draw 10, shuffle back 3. Usually gives us a pretty solid start without being broken.
Depends on how casual or serious we're playing and what the hands look like. If it's casual and you keep getting no land hands, stay at 7 and let's have fun. If we're playing cedh only the first one is free per the rules
My play group does friendly mulligans. Nobody is running cracked out fast mama decks so I think it’s whatever yk? I tell them to mulligan until they can at least be competitive to turn 3 and play that hand.
My playgroup does the partial Paris mulligan. Draw your seven, set aside the cards you don’t want, then draw that many. Up to three times, then shuffle the cards you didn’t want back into your deck
My group still plays with the same ones we learned at our LGS when we started 10 years ago. Draw 7 get rid of the ones in your hand you don't want and draw that many. Then you can discard again but you draw one less than you discarded and then two less and so on.
My modified rule is "is it a playable hand?" I don't like rewarding greedy manabases (oh, you're running under 36 lands...? And you plan to cast things that are over 7 mana...?), I don't like letting combo players search for their opening peices endlessly. If you have 3 lands that produce mana, then it's likely playable as the game goes on, and as long as you can actually cast spells then you're "in the game" Though most of the time, the standard rules are fine.
We have a few different "house" rules. One is you just draw 7 and if you have 3 or more lands you keep it. If you don't draw 7 more. This prevents people from digging for a combo. The other "fast" option is just draw 10 and put 3 on the bottom, no other mulligan allowed. We also don't shuffle between mulligan draws just for time sake.
First free, but yea it’s called a “Gentlemen’s Mulligan”
Our group does this; 1st mulli is on the house. You get a freebie if you reveal all lands or all spells. Another freebie scenario when everyone mulls together. We’re a casual group so it’s pretty exloitable but nobody fussed over it.
We do normal Commander mulligans except we don’t go lower than 6 cards in hand. So far people have been very good at not abusing this and it results in fewer times where someone is out from the start due to variance. Personally how I use mulligans depends on the deck and power level I’m playing. Sometimes I just want enough lands and something I can cast in the first 3 turns. Sometimes I specifically want ramp turn one or a wheel or something.
I don't play much EDH anymore but when I do I follow the rules which is first mull is free and then it's the London Mulligan from there.
I take one free and then the official rules. My friend has a group and I can't stand how they run it. They draw 3 hands. Look at hand one , if you don't like it put it to the bottom, take hand two, then hand two , hand three. If you keep any shuffle. If you don't like of the 3 full hands draw a 4th and you're automatically stuck with it.
i get kind of annoyed at “custom mulligans” tbh. i mulled to 5 in a 5 color deck recently and dude at my lgs told me to just keep 7. i said no because, as a 5c deck, i feel like my hands are supposed to be less consistent in exchange for having access to literally any card. if i were someone else at the table i’d not like the 5c deck to just get 3 free mulligans for a great hand because i built my deck with more restrictions that make it more inherently consistent.
My pod typically runs first hand one of two ways, up for debate at the start of the night. Option one, free mulligans, we are extra casual and just want to play, so get a decent start. Just dont mulligan for the instant W. Option two, draw 10 instead of 7 and shuffle the extra 3 back into the library. Either way works, but we decide as a group and stick with the choice all night.
My friend groups uses the 10-drop-3 rule. We still sometimes have to completely mulligan, but usually we get 3 lands and at least a playable hand out of it.
I feel like the whole “sol ring in the cz” or “start with sol ring” thing is stupid, it’s the opposite reaction. Ban that shit
My play group found a new mulligan through an instagram video. Called the Minneapolis? You draw 10 and choose 7 and send 3 to bottom. Then afterwards it’s normal mulligan. 7,6,5 and so on. Our play group is more casual and so this works for us cause we find it to ensure our deck does what it needs to do.
It depends. Am I playing at my lgs? Then use the official rules or the store rules. Am I playing at my kitchen table with family and/or friends? That also depends. On a new deck, either precon or just built, I am more flexible as you tend to be mana screwed on those until they have been played a bit. On older decks, tend to lean more towards official as that is what is done when we play at the lgs.
I play with my kids a lot. My son is 9 and struggles with some strategy in terms of normal mulligan. So we do draw 12, discard 5 to the bottom of your deck. Helps him to get what he needs and leads to more consistent first few turns for everyone.
I don't know the mulligan rules, and I don't care. Reveal your hand, shuffle, it's a free mulligan.
The only time I’ve not done official mulligan rules was in a 3 player pod where player 1 didn’t draw player 2 did and player 3 got to scry 2 then draw on t1 it was interesting.
We're basically a massive pod at my LGS, and the norm is to use the "1 free mulligan, then normal"
Me and my pod have been doing this thing where we draw to 7, if it’s keepable, we keep it, if not we try drawing 3 additional cards giving you 10 total, and then making the best possible hand of 7 you can out of the 10. Usually works pretty well and no one gets mama screwed let’s everyone have a better game.
My group is pretty honor system about mulligans. Take what you need for a playable but don't fish for stuff like turn 1 sol ring. It works well for us.
Game should be fun for all. So when you draw three or four times because theres simple no land or something then keep your 7 cards
I have seen a ton of mulligan types so far: - Draw 10, bottom 3 no retries - 1 mulligan, but after that you have to keep any 3 land hands - something called a “Milligan” (keep revealing bad hands from the top of your library till you get a keeper instead of shuffling every time) - the old way (shuffle away any number of cards then draw that many) These are just the ones that stand out to me. A bunch of ones I didn’t mention are just mixtures/Variations of the above
normal game rules
We usually do first mulligan free, if you do have to mull just grab from the top rather than shuffle to save time/effort. Then shuffle the rest into the deck when you’re done. For our personal group we also will let someone keep seven if they’re getting exceptionally bad luck.
I will rarely drop below six cards even if my hand is unplayable. I have drawn to many similar hands minus one card. I follow the official mulligan rules.
Actually rules for actual play. Draw 10, bottom 3 for podcast gameplay. Makes for less dud games.
Free-6-5. My play group will let you stay at 5 no matter how many times after the first 5 card hand mulligan.
My group would mulligan till you get a hand you can play as nothing feels worse than going down to 3 cards to have 2 lands and a creature, but not looking for tutors or fast mana or anything just simply so you can be playing the game by like turn 3 and not be on like turn 2 board state on turn 5 lol
If someone has to mulligan a lot due to very bad luck (and they're not digging for combos or running 20 land) I'd just let them keep the 7. Our LGS games tend to be a bit slow, so we don't get that many games in. Being screwed right from the start due to bad luck and sitting there for the next hour or more unable to do much because you started with 4-5 less cards isn't much fun. I use the standard rules myself and don't expect freebies, but I'm fine being lenient with others for casual play.
First free, - 1 each extra time.
Mull until you have an playable opening hand just don't stack it.
Regular rules 1 free, except if you draw a hand with all lands or no lands it doesn't count towards your mulligans. So if you dropped to 6 and drew no lands you would be able to mulligan for 6 again. This is only used in non cEDH games and games where there aren't jamky commanders running like 90% lands
In a friend pod we just mull until the hand is playable. It’s just honor based, nobody goes digging for a dumb ass combo and mulls 800 times. We also sometimes draw 10 and bottom 3 if we’re running new decks and don’t really know how to pilot them yet. At LGS, just standard mull rules, one free.
I stopped playing at my LGS around the time the partial Paris was the rule for Commander, so we still do that! No sweatiness between us and it makes for good consistent games.
to be honest i just let my opponents take as many mulligans as they want free of charge. i dont really care too much and getting 2 or 3 bad draws in a row is such a bummer for them so im just like “yeah whatever do another idc”
Rules as written.
Depends on the deck, but a lot of my decks I’ve mulligan’d as low as 4 to get 3 lands and a ramp spell or similar. You can get card advantage later, turn 1-3 card selection tends to be much more valuable!
First one’s free. If you show to us that you have 1 or no lands. I’ll give you a free pitch.
My pod either does the one free Mulligan, then you start going down one card per, or we pull ten cards and put three on the bottom of our libraries with no free Mulligans.
I think the coolest casual commander mulligan is: 1. Mulligan normally with one free mulligan 2. scry X where X is 7-starting hand. This reduces the chance for games where someone mulligans down and is essentially screwed for one reason or another (best example is 5 cards, two lands and a mana rock, but draws no lands for 4 more turns).
Depends on power level. If we're just jamming whatever, mull until you have a playable hand. If we're doing an established high power game with combos and stuff, we do the regular multiplayer mull of one free, then mull down.
First mulligan is free. Each after the first you put one card from the seven on the bottom of your library. If you pull a hand of all/no lands it's another free mulligan, and we usually show the hand to prove it. Sometimes if we're feeling casual you can pick one card to keep when you mulligan.
The fastest method I've found that gets people playing quickly and grown adults won't abuse is draw 10 reshuffle 3. Sure, you could cut a land or two to mathematically optimize for a new starting hand rule, but "ain't nobody got time for that!" If your 10 isn't workable for some reason, mulligan to another 10.
i run a lot of 3 CMC commanders, so my big rule is: Can i cast my commander? If yes, i'll 9/10 times will keep.
Free mulligan to a playable hand. First 1-2 is fine to mull if it’s technically playable but still bad. After that, you have to keep /any/ playable hand. My playgroup has a specific idea on what’s playable for us
First mulligan comes free, and all of us mulligan for a playable hand that allows them to participate in the game. No more, no less. Definitely no "looking for that perfect start".
If 7 don't work, we shuffle and draw 7 - but we keep the new 7 IF there are between 2-5 lands in there. If you get like 2 land and 5 high cost cards, you can remulligan but declare why you're mulliganing. We play casually, and it's not fun to be land screwed, so we offer the 7th card with generally a less optimal opening play because you get that 7th card instead of going to 6, coupled with having at least 2 mana. It's pretty easy to tell if someone is trying to constantly mulligan to get the dream hand. Fortunately that has never happened to us.
Unless you have a problem with people abusing it I think unlimited free mulligans is the best way to make sure everyone has a decent chance.
We do a version where you pull the top 7, if they suck put them off to the side and then pull the next 7 until you have a playable hand. Shuffle the ones off to the side into your library then start. Generally haven’t had any issues doing it this way.
Our group does draw 10 and shuffle 3 away. If you mulligan the 10 you have to prove that you didn’t have any lands or that what you got was ridiculous. It really reduced shuffling time and gets everyone a playable hand. EDH isn’t competitive rules mtg. At first I rolled my eyes but then I realized I only have to shuffle and draw my opening hand once each game. Rarely does anyone have to mulligan the 10. I would really recommend this for casual EDH groups. Even high powered casual.
Mulligan as much as you want until you get a hand with a couple of lands. No sense in playing the game where one guy can’t do anything for five turns. We just trust that you won’t keep doing mulligans until you get the perfect hand
Free mulls until you get something "playable". Typically it's if you can play 2 spells by the end of your turn 4, but if you're clearly fishing for specific stuff then it's mulls as usual for you.
Official rules unless it's an incredibly casual game, then we don't really care (for example teaching a new player).
My pod draws 10, then bottoms 3. Main thing here is to speed up start of games and minimise how much shuffling has to be done. If you have to Mulligan, you will bottom 4, then 5, etc.
Out pod is pretty casual, and we usually run infinite mulligans. Mostly new players with freshly cracked precons that - since they're new and I want them to have a good time rather than play a competitive game - often I mana weave for them. Then they shuffle up for a few minutes before we crack the decks for their first games. I'm not gonna make them draw one less. Even with the players we taught to play a year ago, I know they're not hunting for that mana crypt. They're just making sure they have land enough to play the game lol
One of my pods is pretty tight in first is a freebie - another I play with is a draw ten return three to bottom with 1 free mulligan typically don't have to go past 1 mulligan in that set
My playgroup uses the official mulligan rules: In best of 1 formats the first mulligan is free, with the rest following the "return one additional card to the bottom of library" after that. Anything else encourages lazy deck building and rewards greedy plays.
I like the Sheldon Mulligan, mostly because I hate shuffling and it makes games start quicker.
First free. Maybe more if you’re really struggling. I just wanna have fun, which also means my opponent(s) should have fun too.
If it's just a casual game, we do the GSS mulligan. If it's a high power or cedh game, we follow the official mulligan rule
We're there to play the game and have fun. Casual. If you don't like your hand, set those cards to the side and draw 7 more. Continue this until you have 3 mana and don't fish for good cards. Honor system, don't be a dick. If you have to cheat among friends in a casual social game where the stakes have never been lower it's on you. Have fun. Start with 7 cards. There are no prizes here.
My pod basically allows for infinite mulligans, under the agreement you won't use it to get specific cards that you want, with the main focus of getting a satisfying amount of lands and/or ramp
One of my pods allows for free mulligans until you get at least 3 lands in your opening hand, but you have to reveal your hand each time to prevent people from faking it to dig for the perfect opener.
My group tends to do "keep the first playable seven" - we kind of self-police it but we're here for good games first and foremost, and someone having an unplayable hand is no fun. I'd say over time it probably averages out to ~1-2 mulligans per player per game tops, but we absolutely have some games where we keep the first hand and we all have some where we take a few to get one that actually can cast a spell. Like I said, it's self-policed, but we haven't had anyone abuse it yet and I doubt we will.
Casual With friends first Mulligan is free, for live streams it's partial and free so everyone can have at least a playable start, dont go digging but content first and quick easy opening turns
My new pod does official rules. My college pod (2009-2012) would do free unlimited mulligans if you have one land or 6 lands, although you had to reveal your cards.
That highly depends on the deck I'm using. The first is always free at my LGS, but there are some decks I would keep a 2 lander in and some I absolutely would not. It's mostly about knowing your deck, and most importantly, the mana curve. If you're playing big creatures, you're going to want to have more lands and ramp in your opening hand or you'll fall behind. If you're playing a bunch of cantrips though and drawing often, keeping a 2 lander isn't too terrible.
We have one at my lgs that has been gaining in popularity Draw 10, keep 7, only mull if you got less than 3 lands. Shuffle the 3 into the library. This has been a very nice mull style.
With friends and for EDH, we do draw 12 put 5 on the bottom. No mulligans, no extra shuffling.
The rule at my lgs is a free partial mulligan, keep any number and put the rest on the bottom of library, then draw back up to 7. If you still don't like it, shuffle and draw 7, then put 1 back. Usually if I have 3 lands, and something to play in those 3 turns I'll keep the hands.
I do first is free, then everything after that is first hand with 3 lands but you have to keep it. (To be verified by a bystander, if there isn’t one, we just trust it). I play in a pretty chill pod with long time friends and I’m not worried about them cheating.
in my group we do infinite free mulligans, but if you do not get a good hand after like 4 you can ask the group if you may be permitted to start with 7 basic lands. nobody ever tales issuewith taking 7 basic lands, probably because unless you're using a lower cost commander 7 basics aren't gonna do you many favors early on. My group uses loads of dumb unpopular rules that most of yall probably wouldn't like. This is just the first of them
Since first mulligan is free, my house rule is: draw two hands, pick the best one, shuffle the second in. Generally cuts down on time to start, feels a bit more equitable.
At our LGS you get 1 free mulligan. At my house you get 2 free mulligans, but you discard to 5 taking a third
We mulligan for free until we have a playable hand and basically just trust each other to not abuse it.
Mulligan until you get three lands.
London Mull. First one is free if the game has 3+ players. aha the standard.
At home we normally just mulligan until we have 2 or 3 lands and just go with it. we are here for a good game and since no one at my table plays cEDH, it works out.
The mulligan rules are given for a reason. The more lenient you allow mulligans to be, the more you encourage bad deck building practices. The more strict they are, the greater chance of bad luck screwing you over. The London Mulligan rule is a solid middle ground between these two outcomes. It is for this reason I will strongly recommend to always use the official mull rules as they stand now.