This morning, Helene Bergeot announced a few rules changes that will take effect during Pro Tour Magic Origins. Over the years, players have suggested tweaks to the current mulligan rules, but things have remained essentially the same for a long time now. In fact, this is the first significant change since the implementation of the Paris mulligan system that debuted at Pro Tour Paris in April of 1997.
103.4. Each player draws a number of cards equal to his or her starting hand size, which is normally seven. (Some effects can modify a player’s starting hand size.) A player who is dissatisfied with his or her initial hand may take a mulligan. First, the starting player declares whether or not he or she will take a mulligan. Then each other player in turn order does the same. Once each player has made a declaration, all players who decided to take mulligans do so at the same time. To take a mulligan, a player shuffles his or her hand back into his or her library, then draws a new hand of one fewer cards than he or she had before. If a player kept his or her hand of cards, those cards become the player’s opening hand, and that player may not take any further mulligans. This process is then repeated until no player takes a mulligan. (Note that if a player’s hand size reaches zero cards, that player must keep that hand.) Then, beginning with the starting player and proceeding in turn order, any player whose opening hand has fewer cards than his or her starting hand size may scry 1.
Basically, after you have decided to keep your hand, if you ultimately keep less than seven cards, you get to scry 1. This rule will only apply for Pro Tour Magic Origins. The team at Wizards will analyze how this new rule ends up working out and determine if it is the way to go moving forward for all of its competitive tournaments.
One of the other announcements applies to all video feature matches as Wizards strives for a consistent viewing experience for its stream audience. The following new rules will only be enforced during matches in the area where video recording is taking place.
- Creatures must be in front of lands, and nothing can be behind lands.
- The library can be on either side of the play area (left or right).
- The graveyard must be adjacent to the library (player can choose which side of play area both are on).
- The exile zone must be near the library/graveyard and must be distinct from the graveyard.
- If a card is exiled by a permanent in play, the exiled card must be placed in proximity to the exiling permanent such that it is obvious that the two are associated.
- All untapped cards in play must face the controller of that card.
You can read Helene Bergeot’s article here.
Kar Yung Tom (KYT) is the Digital Content Manager for Face to Face Games. He oversees the F2FTour.com and Magic F2F websites. He is also the lead host of the First Strike podcast.