Keep or Mull? - The History Of The Mulligan In Magic: The Gathering
At its simplest, taking a mulligan in Magic: the Gathering is shuffling your opening hand back into your deck and drawing a new one. This is an option for each player to have an adequate opening hand and a competitive game. That said, mulligans have not always been what they are today. In fact, they've changed quite a few times, and there was even a brief period where there were no mulls at all. Today, I'll cover the complete history of the MTG mulligan.
Currently, Magic uses what's known as the "London Mulligan." To London 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."
But as mentioned, this wasn't always the case. So, today I'll cover the history of the MTG mulligan, what changed with each new tweak to the mulligan system, and why those changes were implemented. So, shuffle up, draw, decide to keep or mull, and we'll get started.
The History Of The Mulligan In Magic: The Gathering
No Mulligan: 1993 - 1994
There was no mulligan when Magic: The Gathering first came out around 30 years ago. The original playtesters for the game thought that such a rule would reward poor deck building, and this was the case for the first year or so of the game. In this time frame, you were stuck with whatever seven cards you drew at the start of a game. However, as more people played and more games were tested, unofficial mulligan strategies were implemented by players and were introduced into competitive play in 1994.
The Original Mulligan: 1994 - 1997
The original mulligan was made official and put into practice in 1994. Also called the "all land/no land" mulligan, it allowed a player who drew exactly seven or exactly zero lands to reveal their opening hand to their opponent, shuffle it into their library and draw seven new cards. And each player could do this only one time. In other words, it would only help you in the most egregious "bad hand" situations.
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If you drew six lands and one spell, or likely even worse, six spells and one land, you'd have to play it out and hope your deck was kind to you regarding topdecks. Given how for most decks these days, hands like I just mentioned, are often easy mulls, it's crazy to think about having to keep and play them out now - We're pretty spoiled in this regard nowadays.
Furthermore, if you were taking an original mulligan in game one, your opponent would gain the knowledge of what deck you were playing before the game started since you were required to reveal your hand (to show you had all lands or no lands) as part of the mulligan process. And this was the case for the three years between 94 and 97.
The Paris Mulligan: 1997 - 2015
The Paris Mulligan was first tested in Los Angeles at the 1997 Sealed Deck Pro Tour - Then for constructed play at Pro Tour Paris that same year. This is why it was known as the "Paris Mulligan." And it allowed players much more control over their opening hands.
In this system, players could return an unsatisfactory hand to their library and draw a new hand with one less card any number of times. For example, the first mulligan you took, you'd draw six new cards. If you weren't happy with those six and mulled again, you'd draw five, and so forth, until you were happy or you were out of cards. Furthermore, you didn't have to reveal your hand and could mulligan for any reason.
By far, the Paris mulligan was in place longer than any other mulligan system. As you can see, it was used for 18 years, from 1997 to 2015. It is the most extended reining rule set for MTG mulligans and has more time than all others combined. It went a long way in making sure that fewer games were decided by the contents of players opening hands alone and made many games more competitive. However, at the same time, it was hard to abuse since it put you down a card each time. So, what other changes were needed?
The Vancouver Mulligan: 2015 - 2019
The Vancouver Mulligan (which, like the Paris mulligan, takes its name from the city it was tested in) was first tried at Pro Tour Magic Origins in 2015. Then it was made official and adopted fully at the Battle for Zendikar prerelease the following month. It works just like the Paris mulligan mentioned above. So, you shuffle a hand you're mulling back into the deck and draw a fresh hand with one fewer card for each time you took a mulligan.
Here's the difference, though - With the Vancouver Mulligan, each player who took a mulligan would scry one card after deciding to keep but before starting play. If you're unfamiliar with the term, "scry" means looking at the top card of your library and deciding to leave it there or put it at the bottom.
This addition did two significant things. First, it mitigated a small amount of the downside to taking one or more mulligans. Getting some info on what you would draw into (and having the option to bottom it if it wasn't what you needed) went a long way in achieving a keepable hand. Next, considering it did make you less likely to require further mulligans, it saved precious time in games spent on multiple bouts of shuffling.
The London Mulligan: 2019 - Present
So, after 25 years of MTG mulligan history, we've come full circle to the current MTG mulligan rules, known as the London mulligan. It was first tested at the War of the Spark prerelease at Mythic Championship 2019. Then officially adopted with the release of Core Set 2020 the following year. It differs quite a bit from past systems and further ensures players have access to what they deem playable hands.
To London mulligan, a player shuffles their unwanted hands into their library and draws seven new cards. Then put a number of those cards equal to the number of mulligans they've taken at the bottom of their library in whatever order they choose. So, instead of mulling and drawing six new cards, then five, then four, etc - You draw a full seven each time and select which ones to keep. That said, there's no scrying here.
The result is the same - Your final hand will have one fewer card for each mulligan you took. However, this system lets you cherry-pick the best hand out of a full seven each time. With the Vancouver mulligan, shipping back several hands was risky. I mean, a pretty bad six-card hand is often better than risking going to five cards. If the five was bad, you'd all but lost the game at that point. So, players opted to keep anything remotely keepable even if it wasn't good.
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The London mulligan changed all that. Depending on the deck, a mediocre six is often worse than the best possible five-card hand. It seemed so good that many players worried that more powerful formats like Modern, Legacy, and Vintage would experience problems with this system. One example that came up a lot was Tron, which already mulligans well and can be powerful with certain combinations of lands.
While many decks did get better, it also became much easier to make sure you actually saw the crucial sideboard cards that you might be bringing into certain matchups. Overall, this ruleset best achieves the ultimate goal of having mulligans in place. You're less likely to lose a game because you drew a bad hand. Does it mean that jankier decks are punished less? Yeah, it does. But the well-tuned, polished decks get to mull, too, and if your deck is not well-built, the London mulligan alone probably won't save you once the game starts.
Conclusion
Perhaps I'm just an MTG nerd, but I find topics like this incredibly interesting. Furthermore, the game has grown exponentially in the last few years, and many newer players may not know about the history of the MTG mulligan. So, I thought this would be a fun, informative little trip down memory lane. That said, I hope you enjoyed reading it.
What mulligan system was in place when you started playing? For me, it had just changed from the Paris mulligan to the Vancouver mulligan. Which one do you prefer if you've experienced multiple? And do you think there will ever be a replacement for the current MTG Mulligan rules?
