In April, Wizards of the Coast began testing a new Magic: The Gathering mulligan rule, called the London mulligan, through Magic Online and at Mythic Championship II. Now, it seems that Wizards has decided that the testing phase for the MTG London mulligan is over, as the company has just confirmed that Magic: The Gathering's new mulligan system will become the standard in the very near future.

As revealed by a post made on the official Magic: The Gathering website, the new mulligan rule for MTG will go into effect alongside the release of Core Set 2020. For clarity, this means that the new MTG mulligan rule will impact those playing in paper beginning with the Core Set 2020 prerelease events on July 5. Magic Online will start using the Magic: The Gathering London mulligan on July 2, and MTG Arena will adopt it on that date as well.

For the uninitiated, a game of Magic: The Gathering begins with both players drawing seven cards from their decks. Under the current MTG mulligan system, the Vancouver mulligan, if a player is unhappy with their initial draw, they can opt to mulligan and draw again, though they are then only allowed to draw six cards.

If they choose to keep these six cards, they are then allowed to look at the top card of their deck and decide if they want it to remain on top or be put on the bottom. Alternatively, if a player chooses not to keep these cards, the process can be continually repeated, with the player drawing one less initial card each time they mulligan.

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Under the new Magic: The Gathering London mulligan, players that opt to mulligan will still draw seven MTG cards, and then they will select cards, based on the number of mulligans that they have taken, to be put on the bottom of their deck. For example, if a player has taken two mulligans, they will still draw seven cards initially, but they will then pick two of these cards to put on the bottom of their library.

While the London mulligan in MTG may feel like a subtle change, it is sure to have a real impact on many matches, and it may even inform certain MTG deck building decisions. In the long term, the hope is that this new mulligan rule for Magic: The Gathering will reduce the number of games decided by nonfunctional initial draws and improve the quality of games overall.

Magic: The Gathering Arena is available now on PC.

Source: Wizards of the Coast