Last updated: April 10, 2026
MTG mulligan rules sound harsher than they really are. New players hear “go down a card” and assume a mulligan means something went wrong. But a mulligan is just part of starting a real game of Magic instead of pretending a bad opener is “probably fine” and then doing nothing for three turns. That is not courage. That is just losing slowly.
For a broader new-player path, MTG Beginner Guide 2026: How to Start Playing Without Feeling Behind is a strong companion piece, and Best MTG Arena Modes for New Players in 2026 helps once you are learning on the client instead of at the kitchen table.
How MTG Mulligan Rules Actually Work
The current system is the London mulligan. In plain English, every time you mulligan, you draw back up to seven cards, then put a number of cards equal to your mulligans on the bottom of your library.
So the first mulligan works like this:
You draw seven.
You do not like it.
You shuffle it away and draw seven again.
Then, after you decide to keep, you put one card on the bottom.
Take another mulligan and you still draw seven, but now you bottom two after keeping. That keeps the process from feeling hopeless, because every new hand still starts at seven cards. You are choosing from a full opener, not staring at a six-card hand and praying.
That matters more than people admit. Old mulligan systems could feel brutal. The London version is cleaner. It lets you look for a functional hand, not a fantasy hand, and that is an important difference.
There is also one Commander wrinkle people often hear about in half-correct form. In multiplayer games, the first mulligan does not cost you a card. That means in a normal multiplayer Commander pod, your first mulligan is effectively free. You still reshuffle and redraw, but you do not bottom an extra card for that first one. After that, normal London mulligan math kicks in.
That is why Commander mulligans often feel gentler than one-on-one Standard, Modern, or most other two-player games. They are gentler. At least at first.
What A Keepable Hand Really Looks Like
This is where beginners usually make the game harder than it needs to be.
A keepable hand is not “a hand with my best card.” It is not “a hand with something cool.” And it is definitely not “a hand that might work if i topdeck exactly one Plains, one red source, and a miracle.”
A keepable hand usually has four things:
- Lands you can actually use
- Colors that let you cast your early spells
- A curve that starts doing something before turn four
- A plan that makes sense for your deck
For a lot of decks, that means two to four lands, at least one early play, and access to your main colors. That is it. Nothing glamorous. Just functional.
Here is the trap, though. A hand can have lands and still be bad. Five lands plus two expensive spells is usually not a keep unless your deck is built for that sort of nonsense. One land plus six amazing cards is usually still a mulligan. A hand full of cards you technically can cast, but in the wrong order, can also be a trap.
MTG mulligan rules reward honesty. If your hand does not meaningfully function in the first few turns, send it back.
Commander Mulligan Tips That Actually Help
Commander players get into trouble because the format is slower and splashier. That makes people too forgiving.
They keep hands like:
“Three lands, but wrong colors.”
“One land, but Sol Ring fixes everything.”
“Two lands, no ramp, and every spell costs five.”
“This hand is bad, but my commander is awesome.”
That last one gets a lot of people.
In Commander, your opening hand should answer a few boring questions before it gets to be clever:
Can i make my first three land drops, or at least reasonably expect to?
Can i cast ramp, draw, or setup pieces early?
Do i have the colors that matter?
Am i doing anything before the table has already pulled ahead?
Because your first mulligan in multiplayer is free, you do not need to marry a sketchy seven. Use that rule. That is what it is there for.
At the same time, do not abuse it by chasing a perfect opener. Commander players sometimes mulligan like they are trying to assemble a highlight reel. That is a good way to turn a decent hand into a desperate six. You are not looking for the nuts. You are looking for a hand that plays Magic.
I think this simple Commander test works well: if your hand gives you mana, colors, and one useful thing to do in the first three turns, it is probably keepable. Not exciting. Keepable. That is enough.
One-On-One Mulligans Need A Stricter Eye
In two-player Magic, especially Standard or Arena, you usually need to be less sentimental.
Games are faster. Punishment is quicker. Missing your second land drop or keeping a clunky hand gets exposed harder because there are fewer players to slow the pace and fewer turns for the table to reset the game for you.
That means your one-on-one opener should care more about:
- early mana
- clean sequencing
- hands that cast spells on time
- having the right colors right away
A two-land hand can be fine. But it depends on what those lands do and what the rest of the hand asks of you. A two-land hand with cheap spells and a smooth curve is normal. A two-land hand where your third color matters on turn three and your first real spell costs four is not nearly as cute as it looks.
This is also why beginners tend to learn good habits faster in formats like Standard. Mulligans, curve, and sequencing all matter in a more obvious way. Bad keeps get punished. Good keeps feel stable. The lesson arrives fast.
For that bigger format question, Which Magic: The Gathering Format Should You Start With Right Now? helps sort out where those mulligan decisions matter most.
The Biggest Mulligan Mistakes New Players Make
The first mistake is keeping a bad seven because going to six feels scary.
That fear is understandable. It is also wrong a lot of the time. A good six usually beats a bad seven. Magic is not just about card quantity. It is about whether your cards do anything before the game gets away from you.
The second mistake is mulliganing a functional hand because it is not exciting enough.
You do not need every opener to feel powerful. You need it to operate. Players throw away decent hands looking for perfect synergies, then act shocked when the six is worse. That is not bad luck. That is self-inflicted.
The third mistake is ignoring color requirements.
A hand with two lands is not automatically stable. A hand with three lands is not automatically stable either. If your deck is two or three colors, those lands need to produce the mana you actually need, not just mana in some abstract sense.
The fourth mistake is building the deck badly, then blaming the mulligan.
A deck with too few lands, a bloated curve, weak fixing, or a pile of situational cards will produce worse opening hands. MTG mulligan rules can rescue some of that, but they cannot save a deck that refuses to function.
A Simple Mulligan Rule Of Thumb
For beginners, this is the version I would use:
Keep hands that let you play early Magic.
Mulligan hands that ask the top of your deck to rescue you.
Use the free Commander mulligan when the hand is clearly not functional.
Stop chasing perfect sevens.
That last part matters. A lot.
Mulligans are not there to hand you a dream start every game. They are there to reduce non-games. That is the real purpose.
Conclusion
MTG mulligan rules are one of those things that sound complicated until you do them a few times. Then they mostly become judgment. Does this hand function? Can it cast spells on time? Does it help my deck do what it is built to do?
That is the whole thing.
In Commander, the free first multiplayer mulligan gives you a little extra breathing room. In one-on-one Magic, the same rules feel sharper and more punishing. But in both cases, the lesson is the same. Do not keep garbage just because it technically has seven cards in it.
A smaller hand that plays real Magic is usually better than a bigger hand that just sits there looking embarrassed.
