Tolarian Tutor: Mulligans - A Magic: The Gathering Study Guide

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It’s one of the most tension-wrought moments of any Magic game: dealing out those first seven cards of your deck, picking them up, and looking at your opening hand. You start asking yourself questions: Is this keepable? Should I really hold onto 6 lands and 1 spell? What if the spell is a 3 drop? Should I mulligan?

That last question is one that plagues so many Magic players all over the world, and is something we’re going to tackle today in our first episode of Tolarian Tutor. In this video, we’ll be going over what mulligans are, when it’s appropriate to mulligan, and what hands to look out for given certain deck archetypes.
Mulligans

At the beginning of a Magic game, you and your opponent both draw an opening hand of seven cards. You then have the option to shuffle it back into your deck and draw another opening hand, minus one card. This is called a mulligan. If you're still not satisfied, you can shuffle in your 6 cards to draw 5, and so on. If you mulligan, you get to scry: look at the first card of your library, and either leave it at the top to draw during your turn, or put it at the bottom of your library; after you decide to keep a hand.

The first thing to understand is that you, the player, actually *get* to mulligan in Magic. You’re given the opportunity to “reset” your hand with a slight disadvantage and the key word is *you*. This is *your* choice to make, so when do you make it?

When we take a look at our opening hand during FNM or at the kitchen table, here’s the thought process that many of us run through:

I want more than 1 land.
I don’t want to have more than 5 lands
I’d like to have 2 to 3 lands.
I want to be sure that I have at least two colors of land in my hand if possible (assuming I’m playing a multicolored deck)
If not, I’ll mulligan!

But what else should I be paying attention to (other than a lands to spells ratio) that might signal a need to mulligan?

When you build a deck, you should have an idea of what it wants to do. Part of deckbuilding is just having a concept and trying to execute it. Therefore, you want your opening hand to work towards that goal, no matter what.

When looking at your hand, make sure you have things to do with your mana that help your deck reach its goal. Magic currently favors a proactive approach where most cards on the battlefield work towards ending the game, either through combat, direct damage to your opponent or spells like Approach of the Second Sun.

103.4. Each player draws a number of cards equal to his or her starting hand size, which is normally seven. (Some effects can modify a player's starting hand size.) A player who is dissatisfied with his or her initial hand may take a mulligan. First, the starting player declares whether or not he or she 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 his or her hand back into his or her library, then draws a new hand of one fewer cards than he or she had before. If a player kept his or her hand of cards, those cards become the player's opening hand, and that player may not take any further mulligans. This process is then repeated until no player takes a mulligan. (Note that if a player's hand size reaches zero cards, that player must keep that hand.) Then, beginning with the starting player and proceeding in turn order, any player whose opening hand has fewer cards than his or her starting hand size may scry 1.

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[TolarianCommunityCollege]

What Magic The Gathering lessons and topics would you like to see in future episodes? Let me know!

[invisiblediscos]

I can't belive in coming back to this all these years later. Sometimes a good refresher is needed! But an updated version would be great

[slavpepe]

Just became a Patreon supporter and I gotta say, best money I've ever spent, you deserve every cent you make professor keep up the great work

[satanspetwalrus]

This is the best possible series you could have put out. I'm no beginner, but I'm still not winning any FNM games. This video helped me realize a lot of weaknesses about what my strategy did. (Especially the Aggro portion) may I recommend a video on choosing which style is for you (control, combo, etc.). Keep up the videos, because your definitely the best source for any magic the gathering information out there.

[artstsym]

Can I just say thanks for making a professional, well written channel that seeks to positively impact the game instead of simply criticizing every aspect of it you don't like? A breath of fresh air on YT.

[kyleta]

when your parents think your studying when they see this vid on screen

[johnnybelivin]

I like this concept of Tolarian Tutor as an adea for a new series! Ideas: card parity, curving out, sequencing, mana efficiency, toolbox approach vs 4-of (sideboard too), card advantage vs board advantage, keeping track of time!, playing the best or "flavor of the week" vs what you like and know" advantage/disadvantage, and you mentioned tempo.

[primedialga]

Tolarian Tutor {1}{u}
Instant
You may exile Tolarian Academy rather than pay Tolarian Tutor's mana cost.
You may choose a Professor from outside the game, reveal him, and get advice from him for the rest of the game. Exile Tolarian Tutor.

[myachipimp]

You should make a new one that talks about the new Mulligan rule. Great video!

[Dice_Box]

"Never ever Mulligan lower than three..."

Vintage Dredge player: "Does this three card hand have a Bazaar? No? Ship it."

[lucasluz]

This serie is PERFECT for me! I know how to play MTG, but i'm not even close a advanced player, keep up the excelent work prof!

[Miztickow]

I don't think you mentioned that the player going first has to choose to mulligan or not first. This is a small advantage a lot of players ignore.

[djhalfblood]

This channel has grown so much. I remember when it almost had to be tossed aside because you couldn't support yourself, but now it seems to be flourishing and the quality of these videos is outstanding. Keep up the great work.

[FSTL]

There is actually one kind of exception to the "Never Ever" (omg that jumpscare!) below 3 rule:

If you play Vintage Dredge and you are digging to get Bazzar of Baghdad. I've won a few games mulling to two..and even to one, by getting Le Bazzar. Extremely risky though.

[metalthrashingnerdpodcast]

tolarian community college is my favorite channel on youtube now. your videos are always very insightful and informal. keep up the great work.

[catiseith]

I remember old mulligan rules where they required one player to have their hand to be all lands or all spells. Then any player could take a mulligan and replace their full hand with 7 new cards if they wanted to. And that was it; no scry and no repeat. If your new hand was just lands or had no lands again, you were screwed!

In a different note, I was practicing with the Red Desert Wins deck, and realized the importance of first turn spells in aggro decks. The lesson in this video also helped me to get a better grasp on the general strategy from some different deck archetypes. Thanks, professor!

PS: Cruel Tutor? LOL

[lessercrow]

This is easily one of the best informational series on magic on YouTube

[peterhatlestad]

I once kept a 1 land hand in 5 color EDH. But to be fair, I had Æther Vial in my opening hand, and a 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 drop sliver waiting to be put into play via my Vial.
The dude ragequit when I Vialed in the indestructible sliver in response to hes Danmation <3

[FenderTele]

Really well done video. A more detailed discussion on an essential topic without going completely off the deepens like some pro level discussions I've seen. Really well executed.

[SSJGoku]

I actually feel like I'm in a class at Tolarian Community College with this vid lol. When is the exam? D: