Magic: The Gathering Commander Format Will Be Adopting The New London Mulligan Rule

Wizards of the Coast

Wizards of the Coast recently announced that the new London Mulligan system for Magic: The Gathering will officially be used starting with the upcoming Core Set 2020 next month but it's not just Standard and Modern formats adopting the new mulligan rule. The fan-favorite casual format, Commander, will also be adopting the London Mulligan system.

Over on Twitter, the EDH Rules Committee has announced that that the Commander format will adopt the new London Mulligan at the same time as other formats, with the standard first-mulligan-is-free for games with more than two players.

Fast linear combo decks are already dominating Commander by far, so I don't think the new mulligan rule will give them much more of an edge.

The decision to adopt the London Mulligan comes after testing the new rule at Mythic Championship II and Magic Online.

Here's how the new London mulligan works:

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

Do you think the London Mulligan system is better than the traditional mulligan for Magic: The Gathering? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Magic Arena will test the new London mulligan in a special event starting June 7 and will fully adopt in all play formats with the release of the Core Set 2020 card content on July 2, the same date Magic Online will start using the new mulligan system.

Core Set 2020 will be released on July 12, 2019.

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