I’ve been playing a lot of Magic in the last couple of weeks, with a new PPTQ season, an RPTQ to practice for and GPTs to fill in the gaps. Over the course of this, I’ve had some potentially very difficult mulliganing decisions, so I’ve kept a note of the hands and brought in frequent GP top 8er Maitland Cameron to share his thoughts too.

All examples in this instalments are from game ones, on the play and versus an unknown opponent.

Hand #1

Chifley: This hand has a lot going for it – it’s got three pump spells, two of which protect our creature, which is a great place to start with Infect. It’s also got an infect creature, which is, of course, crucial – there basically aren’t any seven card hands you can keep with Infect if they don’t have an infect creature. However, this hand only has the 1 infect creature, and it’s the most awkward infect creature in the deck if you need to protect it from removal spells. Against some decks this hand is keepable, but in the dark I would mulligan this hand.

Maitland: This hand is interesting. On the draw I believe it’s an easy mulligan as against a lot of decks you’ll need to wait until turn three to play agent in order to have protection up and that’s too slow for Modern. On the play it’s slightly faster, but you’re so vulnerable and it takes very little for your whole plan to fall apart, so I’m going to mulligan this one.

Hand #2

Chifley: There’s more to this hand than your first impressions would suggest. On the surface, it looks like a great hand – it’s got everything you’re looking for, exactly where you want it to be. Of course, if you dig a little deeper you’ll see that this hand isn’t all that. There’s a lot of glitz and glamour, but no substance. It takes discipline, but I believe this is a mulligan.

Maitland: I’ve got to disagree with Chifley here: whilst it’s true that this hand looks a lot better than it truly is, when you start to break it down into components it really does have the tools needed to win a game – and I believe it will be better on average than what you can expect from six cards. Keep.

Hand #3

Chifley: This one is tough, but only because we’re in the dark. Against an unknown opponent, Ned Stark can be really hit or miss. For example, if you’re facing the Targaryens or the Kingsguard, Ned’s an easy keep – but if you’ve got the Lannister match-up then you’re basically giving in. It’s close, but because of how strong this Hand is in most match-ups, I think it’s a keep.

Maitland: I think this Hand comes down to a meta call and since Tywin’s banning I feel that not enough Lannisters exist, in most metagames, to truly justify throwing back this very very serviceable and honourable Hand – keep.

Hand #4

Chifley: This hand has a lot of potential, but it’s also got a big weakness because it lacks a good early-game body. If you can draw a creature in the first 2-3 turns, then this hand is exactly what you’re looking for. So, even with the risk of not getting to play the game, I’m willing to keep.

Maitland: The thing is with this hand that so much is unknown. I don’t know what it’s plan is, what it’s hoping to accomplish, or how it exists. I have two general rules that I stick by for mulligans:

1- No seven landers.

2- No references to 1960’s monster movie sitcoms.

Sorry, but this one is a mull.

Hand #5

Chifley: This is undoubtedly a very powerful hand, the kind of hand that you don’t see every game. It’s a very difficult hand to play correctly, though – you’ll often find with a hand like this that your opponent’s know exactly what to expect from you and that can seriously affect your chances of winning. All that being said, I simply don’t think you can mulligan a hand with this much raw power. Keep.

Maitland: I think this is a mull. In this day and age I believe that almost all your opponents at a competitive event are going to be prepared to beat Master Hand and whilst in your childhood I’m sure you remember it being a worthy adversary, with the evolution of the game and players I just don’t think you’ll win with this hand barring a lucky pokeball pull.

Hand #6

Chifley: Snap keep.

Maitland: Snap mull.

Disagreed with our decisions? Think there was some reasoning we missed? Let us know what you’d have done with these Hands in the comments!

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