New Magic: The Gathering London Mulligan System Will Start on Core Set 2020

Wizards of the Coast

After testing the new London Mulligan system at the Magic: The Gathering Mythic Championship II in London and Magic Online, Wizards of the Coast will be introducing the new rule starting with the release of Core Set 2020 next month.

Wizards of the Coast made the announcement today, and the company said that the new rule will go into effect with the Core Set 2020 rules update.

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.

Your starting hand will still be down a card each time you mulligan but this system should help reduce the number of "non-games" where a player's deck is unable to function due to not having a reasonable mix of spells and lands.

"The goal of this new "London" mulligan is to make games where one or more players mulligan more competitive, especially in cases where players mulligan an unequal number of times," Ian Duke explained. "In particular, greater selection of the starting hand will reduce the number of "non-games" where a player's deck is unable to function due to not having a reasonable mix of lands and spells."

Duke went on to explain how the London Mulligan is stronger:

"Over the past year, R&D has been actively discussing and testing ways to improve how games begin. We've tested the new London mulligan internally for more than six months and are pleased with how it closes the gap between a player who mulligans and an opponent who doesn't, and also how it greatly reduces the number of games where a player's deck and strategy simply don't function at all. In this sense, we think of the London mulligan as being a 'stronger' mulligan in the player's favor as compared to the Vancouver mulligan."

The new mulligan rule will help make certain deck strategies more consistent. Modern Tron will probably see more play as well as combo decks in the format, Duke said that they learned that the combo pieces appearing more frequently were counterbalanced by sideboard cards appearing more often.

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.

Watch our new Magic Arena video below:

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