[Article] Mulligan Mastery

[Skeggi]

Hey guys, check out Mattias Kres's article on TeamADHD.nl (http://www.teamadhd.nl): Mulligan Mastery ( http://www.teamadhd.nl/wp/?p=289).

Enjoy :cool:

[from Cairo]

Not a bad read. As the author notes Mulliganing has been discussed before and there isn't much that changes, but it was cool to include some sample hands from current decks and to specifically address Brainstorm's influence on perceived keepability of hands.

I liked that it closed on the RUG Delver deck as well. The deck's been seeing a lot of discussion/hype, and it's good, but one really has to consider how the game will play out to best pilot it. It strikes me as a particularly good deck to examine in terms of keeping hands due to it's super high level of interactivity in the early turns and it's high volume of cards that lose power midgame.

In regards to the closing sample hand, I think you can try and roll with that hand on the play, but it's unkeepable on the draw. On the play you have 1st turn Delver with Daze/FoW back up and a 2nd turn Wasteland. On the draw Daze loses a bunch of value, it's going to be harder to get pressure out (Delver) and Wasteland early, one's stuck banking on Force of Will as the only reliable answer, the deck has 3ish Spell Snare and 4 Stifle that are going to lose substantial value after the 1st-2nd draw phase of the game. The deck is noticeably weaker on the draw to begin with, but a hand like that doesn't do the player any favors.

[wcm8]

I think that RUG hand is keepable, on both the play -and- the draw. If they have a devastating t1 play, you can force it. If they have a strong t2 play, you can daze it. You are also applying pressure yourself with t1 delver. Then you can follow up with wasteland.

Obviously this hand is much better on the play than the draw, but being on the draw with this hand isn't too shabby either in my opinion.

Btw, I agree that Snapcaster is somewhat silly in a dec with only 18 lands... Nimble moongoose is just simply better in a lot of matchups.

[troopatroop]

Nimble moongoose is just simply better in a lot of matchups.

Grim Lavamancer is better in EVERY matchup involving Delver or Merfolks, and you can't run 'em both.


Honestly, I don't think the format has ever been worse for Mongoose. Lavamang is just too amazing.

[.nemesis]

Neat article, covers the basics of the art of mulliganing.

As for the last hand, you wanted to hear opinions. I'd keep this hand if I'm on Canadian Threshold (seems like a legit assumption) because it does exactly what CanThresh wants to do. You can drop a threat on turn 1 with counter backup and get a free time walk on turn 2 with Wasteland. The only thing that could hamper your ability to dominate the game is drawing even more lands, but if you play that Delver from a fetched Trop, you have 13 lands in your 52-card deck. If you draw a Brainstorm or a Ponder though, you're pretty likely to win the game with ease. That's fine in my mind.

[Trentemoller]

Good article. Over the years I have started mulliganing more and more with good results. If I'm playing unfocused I tend to keep looser hands.

About the sample hand on the end:

I would keep it on the play. Daze is very strong on the play and this has a very good proactive game plan with turn 1 Delver backed up by daze and a wasteland which you can use next turn (much better on the play) and Force of Will for later in the game. With 28 out of 53 cards your chances of flipping delver are over 50%. The hand is a bit heavy on the amount of lands but there are quite a lot of good draws, Ponder is good at finding what you need, Brainstorm is almost like Ancestral with this hand, Mongoose, Goyf or another Delver will pressure your opponent pretty hard and removal is very good or not that good depending on the matchup. On the play this is a pretty decent hand.

I would mulligan this hand on the draw. You do have t1 Delver which is - next to Stifle - the best t1 play you can make. Daze gets a lot worse on the draw, just as Wasteland. If you have to Force something you want to kill yourself because you have nothing left. This hand has only 1 thing going for it on the draw and there are too much things that your opponent can do that turn out very bad for you. I would ship this hand on the draw without too much thoughts.