Starting the Game & the London Mulligan

For the first game of a match, players use a random method (a die roll, for example); the winner decides whether to play or draw. In every game after the first, the loser of the previous game decides.

The player who takes the first turn skips the draw step of their first turn — a small compensation for the tempo advantage of going first.

Each player draws an opening hand of seven cards, then decides to keep or mulligan. The current procedure is the London Mulligan:

1. To mulligan, shuffle your hand back into your library and draw a new hand of seven.
2. You may repeat this as many times as you like.
3. When you finally keep, put a number of cards on the bottom of your library equal to the number of times you mulliganed.

So a player who mulligans twice and keeps still looks at seven fresh cards, then bottoms two, ending with a five-card hand of their choice.

An empty library is not, by itself, a loss. A player loses the game only when they attempt to draw a card from an empty library — and the loss is applied as a state-based action the next time they're checked. This is called being "decked" or "milled out."

Before the game, each player shuffles their own deck thoroughly, may offer it to the opponent to shuffle or cut, and then "presents" it. Sufficient randomization is the player's responsibility. At Regular REL this is handled with a light touch — remind and educate — but the habit matters as players move toward Competitive play.