How to Make Better Mulligan Decisions in Commander

We're going over MULLIGAN ADVICE! Keep more hands in Commander!
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[@fernandostar3507]

"Build your deck a little better" I came here for a good time, not to be attacked 🤣

[@RickJagger13]

lol i feel the same way 🤣 i try to play 35-38 lands in a deck with 8-12 forms of ramp. but i also love playing big splashy cards. i didn’t come to commander to play standard

[@V2ULTRAKill]

@@RickJagger13 i came to commander to play singleton legacy with extra steps I got what i wanted in yuriko farm

[@gravetitan1321]

7 cards in hand. 0 lands. 1 Grave Titan. Keep.

[@deadNdivine12]

Wondering when you’ll change your name.. Or if you’re even the same grave titan that commented before.

[@NitpickingNerds]

It's always the same Grave TItan. He won't ever leave us alone!

[@xSean0607]

It's an entire army in a card and it's only 6 mana!

[@Greg501-]

Cast Chrome Mox imprinting a Black card, cast Dark Ritual, cast Sol Ring, cast Mana Vault, cast Grave Titan?

[@hiddenleaf414]

Your chance of top decking 6 lands is better than 1 Grave Titan. Big brain plays.

[@YooTubeNynja]

Played a game with a friend a few weeks ago, they had two lands in the top 57 cards of their deck. There was 36 lands in the deck. Craziest example of a bad shuffle I’ve ever seen lol

[@SaltyProductionsHD]

Hi guys, would you ever record Commander play sessions? It would be cool to see your tips applied to real games

[@apiranha1]

Yea agreed, would love to see your decks in action. Sense you’re uploading daily, if you run out of ideas I’d definitely watch some games

[@mauriciomonsalvespino2214]

You guys are so prolific it's crazy, AND your thoughts on EDH are on the spot. I think your channel is gonna grooooow like crazy. Keep it up m8s, y'cool

[@NitpickingNerds]

Thank you 😊

[@slicksamos8334]

I always end up with extra counters after listening to them.. ;)

[@mfitkin]

Thanks for the daily content guys. It makes me feel good to watch it every day. You guys are so damn loveable and fun to listen to. I just really appreciate all the solid advice and entertainment.

[@NitpickingNerds]

Thanks Mike that's super nice of you!! So glad to make your days better!

[@CrazyMentor94]

nice, feels like no one else discusses this topic like that

[@codicarroll5537]

Great video idea

[@HomeCookinMTG]

IMO mulligans and sideboarding are two of the hardest parts of magic. Commander gets to dodge the sideboarding thing thankfully.

[@jankpilediver3863]

Actually a couple of weeks ago PVDDR made a video on that (well he is rooted in other formats and competetive play) but what I liked about his approach was: he made some example hands and explained his thought process in detail.

[@summeryoung1026]

My husband and I just do free mulligans forever haha, but we played at a tournament yesterday and my deck worked out haha. Was so stoked when I didn't have to mulligan second game. Still was super outclassed, but i had alot of fun cards to play.

[@NitpickingNerds]

Always a good feeling when your deck functions how you drew it up!

[@ww11gunny]

A shop rule we use is you can reveal a no land hand for a free mulligan

[@NitpickingNerds]

That's a nice rule

[@bch9124]

This was a super unique video that I have not seen on any other Commander KZbin channel. Thanks for the tips!

[@NitpickingNerds]

No problem! It's definitely a part of commander most people don't talk about

[@garrettgrosser313]

Ok! these two I can really appreciate the level of depth they go into. And for those that have played long enough. The situations and examples these two give really make sense. Love it.

[@jacobjensen7704]

You don't get a free mulligan because you're playing commander, you get a free mulligan because you're playing multiplayer. That's the standard rule for all multiplayer formats in MTG. Different topic- I find having a hand with card draw more important than having a land with ramp. Card draw can draw you into your ramp, ramp cannot get you into your card draw (typically). Card draw (or even card filtering) helps you hit your land drops and can turn a lot of otherwise bad hands into good hands. Ramp can make up for missed land drops, but then it becomes making a land drop and not ramping.

[@jukelones5118]

my table plays unlimited free mulligans because we keep hands that will simply work. Card advantage is huge and we prefer that everybody is on a similar game plan.

[@nunchucker]

Since turn order also matters a lot for what makes a good opening hand, our group has adopted a rule we really love: After you are done mulliganing, you scry a number equal to your turn number. Player 1 scries 1, Player 2 scries 2, etc. If you have mulliganed multiple times, instead of bottoming cards, you may reduce your scry by up to that number It's dramatically reduced the number of non-games and feel-bads. I'm sure there's an argument against it for a early-win combo-heavy meta, but I think it would work for most groups.

[@evanripley3310]

I might actually steal that for my less competitive playgroup

[@rend7979]

Now THIS is the edh content we need, way better than some rushed deck tech,. So many people need to see more advice like this

[@NitpickingNerds]

Thanks a lot! Spread the word to help commander players play more magic!

[@nicolaslarranaga8721]

Days since Beezy talked about Karador: 0

[@NitpickingNerds]

That will never change

[@NitpickingNerds]

That will never change

[@theotherguy4478]

I do an in-house mulligan. Put up to 4 cards on the bottom of the library in random order, then draw cards equal to that amount. If nothing is still not there, shuffle the hand and deck and draw a new hand. Repeat this pieces if necessary. We prefer to start the game with 7 cards in hand, especially at our power level.

[@IncrediPaulAZ]

Congratulations on the house! I agree with the home rule for mulligans. My playgroup's rule is basically as long as you're not mulling to a combo, take another free mull

[@everythingisbizzaaaaaro3694]

Generally, I just look for lands/mana in my opening hand. Even my combo pieces are worthless if I can't cast them. You can always search them out later.

[@nobodyfromnowwhere7510]

I support a universal rule that gives free mulligans to no-landers and all-landers; this would prevent a massive amount of "I lost to mulligan to 5." I don't care how well you build your decks, if you play them enough, you will see both no-landers and all-landers.

[@gladvlad2755]

just mulligan to 0, good players don't need starting hands

[@NitpickingNerds]

Don't forget to skip your first draw step as well

[@austinsmith1421]

@@NitpickingNerds he’ll just put his first draw on the bottom. It was gonna be a mana crypt any way.

[@thesaltyseamonster7910]

Y’all have mentioned taking mulligans before and since then I’ve started doing it more often, and not being afraid to mull down to 6 if I have to. It’s often worth it.

[@NitpickingNerds]

Wow that's great to hear! If we can help people play more commander in the same amount of games, we've done our job!

[@Naustrawarlock]

Beezy should have mulligan the TCGplayer affiliate pitch :) Great video as usual guys

[@charleshammel8541]

Our group plays that at any stage of mulligan, if your hand is 0 lands or 0 spells, reveal it and it's a free mulligan: if you were on 1st mull, still free. If any other time, you still have to bottom the appropriate amount of cards.

[@nicksakowski2450]

I remember a game where I was playing with my friends, (back when I was still playing Acidic Slime)...He kept a hand with two lands, but one was a bounce land. I went before him, and ramped out early, and blew up his bounce land. He was defeated then and there lol.

[@sw33tshar3]

I'm a big proponent of "draw 10, shuffle 3 into your deck". quick and easy.

[@NitpickingNerds]

Seems like a decent rule for jamming games with friends

[@EDHCoffee]

That's interesting. Some of my decks would like that, but some of them would be too powerful with the selection. I'll have to try it out with some of my friends one day.

[@Dayyyjoey26]

This is so important. I hate people that always keep their first hand, it makes games boring when they end up mana screwed or with no plays till turn 6

[@NitpickingNerds]

We had a friend who literally just kept any hand with 2+ lands in it and would complain when his deck wasn't functioning. Mulligan dude!

[@jankpilediver3863]

Congrats on the house guys; sounds exciting!

[@djbisson9819]

NN game play getting closer and closer. In my best Bart Scott impersonation “ Can’t Wait”

[@josephhyde8387]

As soon as I make real money I’m becoming a big time patron of this channel

[@NitpickingNerds]

Nobody HAS to become a patron, but we appreciate that a lot!

[@Nep-s8m]

Congrats on house! Hyped for the new setup :D

[@Domenico44055]

Modal lands (especially the mythic ones cause you can straight away play them untapped) are so good cause if you know you play like 36-37 lands plus 6-7 modal lands you can keep a one lander that contains a modal land and be relatively sure it will turn out good. If you play 2-3 signets (as you should) the odds are that you're likely to draw at least one between actual lands, signets and more modal lands in your next draws, and if you start to flood a little bit you just keep them to play as spells later, and if you're screwing you play them tapped

[@MrSuperiorTech]

My normal criteria for keeping is 2-4 lands, 1-2 ramp pieces on turn 1 or 2 and something to do

[@kristennorth3268]

I really appreciate Joe's attitudes towards house rules and playing for fun. Also "Too late. The CEDH players have already commented" made me laugh out loud.

[@ryanweston6182]

My play group does what we call the "new england" mulligan. Which is if we need to mulligan we just put the hand we drew aside and then just take the next 7. Until you find a hand. Which for us is 3 mana or 2 and something you can cast. You can do this as many times as you need without losing any of the 7. The down side is any cards you passed up in the previous hand you cant get. When you get your opening hand you then shuffle all the cards back into your library and then cut. It is somewhat on the honor system. But we have all been honest. For example. My starting hand once had a sol ring as well as 2 ramp spells. But not a single mana. I could have kept it and hoped to top deck a mana but instead I decided to mulligan to the next 7. So at that point I had no way of getting those ramps or sol ring into my opening hand again. It does go quicker and it seems to work well.

[@headshiphero]

I would like a short on the evils of tapping anticlockwise

[@NitpickingNerds]

I think your cards would shrivel and crumble to dust

[@1ntegrator]

I introduced a house rule that whenever you have 0,1,6 or 7 lands in your hands you get free a mulligan. And not just once. Everybody loves it we are happy with the rule.

[@dp-hr8wb]

Thanks for these tips guys. I just recently realized the importance mulligans can have in a game of EDH.

[@NitpickingNerds]

Yeah it can totally set the tone for your whole game!

[@mrmahga6004]

Opponent has sliver queen as commander; let's allow 5 mulligans!! Love your content. Keep it coming!

[@StoriTella20]

Amazing content. Just wanna ask if you could put the cards you are talking on the screen

[@tab021]

Best result weve had is the "chicago mulligan" (as weve come to know it by). Draw 2 separate hands of 7. Pick 1. If you dont like either, full shuffle, draw 7 and that's it. Speeds things up, makes everyone start with the same cards, and doesnt end in a forfeit due to mulliganing down to nothing.

[@minu2910]

What do you do with the other 7 if you keep? Reshuffle?

[@tab021]

@@minu2910 yup!

[@ChtulhuFathgn]

Looking forward to that new studio!

[@trytoxania7020]

I’m enjoying this channel so much every day

[@NitpickingNerds]

We'll keep the vids coming!

[@A_G_H_A_N_I_M]

No way! A Bulls shirt. I'm like right by North Campus. Where do/did you guys play? There's a massive group that plays at Heart of the Game in Cheektowaga.

[@abem7948]

6 land 1 tireless tracker is a snap keep in my most consistent deck It's mono white, 100% game loss every time

[@ThatChrisG]

I will say it's heavily dependent on if your general can generate card advantage. I'll go to 4 in a Yuriko deck where all I'm looking for is an evasive 1 drop and some way to make UB on turn 2.

[@EDHCoffee]

Great topic, looking forward to your take on it. I always struggle with my 4 and 5c decks lol

[@NitpickingNerds]

Hope this was useful!

[@BozzLightyr]

Anyone like a house rule of not going below 6 or 5 coz if someone is on 3 or 4 cards because they got unlucky feels bad. I mean you gotta play with people who aren't going to abuse the house rule just to get the perfect combo pieces but still.

[@Idziemel1]

I usually mulligan down to four, hoping I get a swamp, a chrome mox, entomb, and reanimate (going for OG Vorinclex, of course). Then I feel confident until my turn comes, I draw a land, realize I have to exile either Entomb or Reanimate to get Chrome Mox online, then I concede. Then I tell people I play cEDH and that’s why I’m losing so fast.

[@dee-wreck]

My friends and I have gotten so sick of dead hands in EDH that we changed Mulligan to 1 free mulligan, and then after that you can mulligan any number of cards from the hand (usually keeping the lands and artifacts) without consequence.

[@Ring-maker]

I know this is a year old video but the rule 0 mulligan rule in our friend group is you get x free mulls where x = 1 + the number of hands you reveal with no lands in them. It's not perfect but it works for us.

[@jeffbuitenwerf7435]

Based on my arena winrate.... I needed this. Thank you

[@NitpickingNerds]

Hey hope it helps! 😁

[@jeffbuitenwerf7435]

@@NitpickingNerds It has already lol, seeing my hands from that perspective has helped me save my butt from death games, and I'm hoping to try it in some paper commander tonight. Thank you guys for the help, and the hilarious clips :)

[@stevecarr1389]

No land but vault and chrome mox..... 🤔 And totally agree, in our casual group we allow 3 friendly mulls

[@cameronmes4046]

Hey when you're explaining the mulligan rule at 1:30. Are you supposed to shuffle the original 7 back in, or set them aside and draw a new hand without shuffling?

[@randallstanaway7846]

My playgroup just agrees that we're allowed to do unlimited free mulligans, with the gentleman's agreement that excessive mulligans are only due to a lack of lands.

[@pocmocpocmoc]

Next to Azusa, Sasaya is the other deck where you can keep 6 lands + 1 card that's gas.

[@2LPfan]

thank you joe . I agree whole heartedly. I am about to sit down and play an hour long game of magic and I want everyone to be able to play. mulligan until you have a decent hand. I came to play not steamroll people that mulled to 4.

[@xaveristunderrattet4663]

Thanks for the DAILY CONTENT!!!

[@NitpickingNerds]

No prob Titus, happy to offer the daily vids!

[@lisliaer7999]

With my group we usually get 3 games played barring someone breaking out a lock down deck that just keeps everyone from playing, but when i with a game I generally am more inclined to keep a bad hand in the next game or do something just ridiculous like the time I won game 1 then game 2 I turn 2 dropped managorger Hydra and just sat on it letting it grow never swinging. Let it get up to 97 before someone found a way to kill it 😆

[@keiharris332]

Quick rules I like: 3 - 4 land hand, all colors, 1 mana ramp.

[@hunterlopez5001]

Bruh the Tidbit should of been the whole video. (Not Really) LOOKING FORWARD towards the next 2 months

[@NitpickingNerds]

Thank you and hey hype!!!

[@Hijunk71]

2 landers 5 landers But what about Highlanders There can only be one 😎

[@pyrotempestwing]

I once opened 1 land, sol ring, signet. Didn’t draw any other lands for 5 or 6 turns.

[@obadijahparks]

Can you tell me some good cards to go with Frankensteins monster? I am aware it's on the list.... but I got one, and I could use suggestions. I was thinking the two carded b.f.m. or whatever that silver bordered card with like 100/100 is. But for real!.. I could use some help here. I feel like making a deck around this guy. Maybe dimir?...

[@Helpfulhelp]

Love the thumbnail

[@NitpickingNerds]

Is it because it has my face on it? 🤩

[@baloo7869]

I know it's not the video, but I have to anyways....BUDGET BOOOOOOOOOMBS!

[@NitpickingNerds]

Mulligans are very budget. They don't cost anything!

[@andresicuro]

@@NitpickingNerds That's incorrect, as it only applies for the first mulligan :p

[@joshcotter6079]

I never realized how many bad hands I kept until I had it pointed out.

[@alexmendoza9645]

Should I play terminate if I don't have The high ground?

[@rotemizhar8426]

you should try playing cedh and make a video about how was your experience maybe then you will understand why is it fun and how wrong was your opinion pregame experience and postgame experience and maybe you will change your mind, also I would recommend watching the interview prof did with Ryan from playing with power (especially if you are really going to try to play)

[@bedwarssweat6205]

I have no idea but my 37 land xenagos deck has more problems drawing 3 lands than any one of my decks

[@NitpickingNerds]

Just blame variance lol 😂

[@bedwarssweat6205]

@@benjaminwileman4771 I play about 15-16 pieces of ramp in that deck

[@bedwarssweat6205]

@@benjaminwileman4771 yup, but in this kind of deck, hitting land drops is as vital as ramp here

[@badgerinthewood]

Super legit, our group does 2 free mulligans and once per night of magic you can exercise a third free mulligan XD.

[@ConstanceMists]

My playgroup tends to make all mulligans free. With 99 cards, even if you build your deck to be well balanced and optimized sometimes you just shit the bed with like three hands in a row that are unplayable. Even with optimized ratios and everything it still happens in edh

[@MrRoknrol10]

This literally Changed how I build decks 😅

[@nicholasstutsman]

i didn't like this channel and now i like this channel. ty for the content

[@NitpickingNerds]

We grew on you like a fungus! Thanks for the support :)

[@nicholasstutsman]

@@NitpickingNerds couple of 1/1 saprolings over here

[@chaoko954]

How do you guys shuffle so that it doesn't take forever? Pile shuffle in between games, but it's not possible after a mulligan.

[@NitpickingNerds]

One way to minimize shuffling is to never pile shuffle, lol. It doesn't randomize your cards well enough to be worth the time. It's the same as taking two halves and meshing them together one time

[@jacobjensen7704]

Look up effective shuffling. Mathematicians have legit studied this lol.

[@michaelsullivan7347]

What’s downside of having free mulligans in other formats?

[@pawstep3271]

Lmao, listening in the background while working on my deck "dont want to mulligan, make your deck better" (not exact quote)

[@SafariJoeTC]

UB man? Nice same here!

[@Ash-Bun]

My playgroup has a house rule OS 'if your hand has 2 or less lands or 5 or more lands you're allowed a free mulligan'

[@asteiner274]

I'm with cherries, our group does free mulligans with the stipulation that they're only used to get a playable hand, not to hit the nuts, cus we want everyone to play magic. I'd be hesitant to offer that to a stranger, just cus it's pretty easy to abuse free mulligans. Edit: Well I'm also with Breezy that it's okay to go down and have a worse game sometimes, you take your lumps.

[@Turkin4tor]

My playgroup we just, draw 7 if its not playable set it aside, draw a different 7, if not playable set aside draw another 7, repeat a couple times til you get a keepable hand or get frustrated and shuffle the whole thing again. We're lazy, not super competitive (though our decks are mostly powerful) and just wanna get the game started and play

[@ScorpioneOrzion]

Would you consider the lands that search 2+ lands ramp?

[@jacobjensen7704]

No. Ramp is getting ahead on mana, searching for lands to your hand doesn't get you ahead on mana. Searching for lands to hand is card draw because it gets you more cards.

[@ScorpioneOrzion]

@@jacobjensen7704 i mean cards like blighted woodland and myriad landscape

[@jacobjensen7704]

@@ScorpioneOrzion aha, those are definitely ramp- when you use them, they get you ahead on lands. One land for two lands is +1 lands.

[@rmcminiking]

I agree that you should let people have free mulligans. As long as they don't take the mick, it's fine. Plus, in our playgroup, we don't exactly have the cards to create OP decks so it's not like anyone is gunning for that perfect hand.

[@PawzBrownMTG]

Great video guys

[@NitpickingNerds]

Thx PAwz

[@emerson685]

In my playgroup, each additional free mulligans costs a shot of your choice of alcohol. Sometimes it's fun. BUUUT sometimes it will make it so the guy who is the worst at making decks also has one too many drinks, and not so incidentally, that can be the guy who knows the rules least well. So maybe we shoot ourselves in the foot when he starts arguing about rules or playing really slow later in the evening, but we all like having the safety net 😂

[@tatz717]

Free mulligans are acceptable, but if the opponent is playing a deck with 27 lands assuming they're getting a bunch of freebies, then no, that is a deck building learning opportunity.

[@NitpickingNerds]

Right, that's why I (Beezy) tend to not go for freebies. I want to optimize my deck and drawing bad hands is a good learning opportunity.

[@demolisherman1763]

Just mulligan till you have Grave Titan in hand

[@NitpickingNerds]

EZ Game

[@groundswelllegitcoffeeandb3810]

😂😂😂 that was really good! Oh my goodness!

[@bedwarssweat6205]

@@NitpickingNerds for your opponents :)

[@RobMedellin]

Pretty much my comment on the recent Grave Titan poll

[@Candyman435]

I once mulliganed to 2 cards once. Fun times.

[@NitpickingNerds]

Did you win???

[@Candyman435]

@@NitpickingNerds no lol. But i did manage second place due to politics.

[@NitpickingNerds]

@@Candyman435 yeah that’s the classic “guaranteed second place” spot you end up in at a commander game sometimes

[@Xepherys20]

Jeweled lotus, swamp. Cast K'rrik Cast demonic tutor Cast necropotence Vampire of the diremoon Knight of the ebon legion .... And go.

[@krackergrit]

What would recommend for big boys for my kaalia deck

[@NitpickingNerds]

I never looked into building that deck.Vilis is a good one though.

[@tonyantony6110]

We play for fun, on our pod, just draw again to 7 until you 're not miserable with your hand.... We want to play and everyone to do his thing...

[@elipetrou9308]

Will you guys be doing gameplay eventually?

[@NitpickingNerds]

Yes, we have tentative plans for later this year

[@s4ad0wpi]

@@NitpickingNerds With your Discord followers? Or just with your play group?

[@TheGoodchildOne]

Ideally, you want to have a turn 1, 2 and 3 play, commander included, anything other than that should be a mully.

[@DefLeppardFan83]

Liked for Beezys TCG shout out.

[@andrewwelch1835]

6 land tireless tracker would totally be fine for Tatyova lol

[@EJsGameplay]

21:09 it was 3 months but close enough XD

[@jeanmarais337]

my one land sol ring got v blasted last week.

[@kingginger3335]

I basically keep any hand that has at least 3 lands in it.

[@RobMedellin]

I think me too. I think I've never mulliganed a hand with 3 or 4 lands, never ever. I tried to think of an exception but I don't remember one.

[@kingginger3335]

@@RobMedellin you're right because if I mull a hand with 3 lands but nothing to play until turn 3, i might draw a hand with 1 or 2 lands and then I'll have to mull that one away

[@ShooterSF]

Bonus tip: Just play Grenzo Dungeon Warden as your commander then mulligans are a positive :) Set up that bottom of the deck!

[@dominicmetzger3246]

Mulligans are important and it’s wild that many players seem not to even think about it.

[@NitpickingNerds]

Yeah where are all the commander mulligan videos? Lol