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Matchup Mulligan: London Mulligan


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Miracles II Final Hand Answer

Hand 10: (on the play)
Hope of Ghirapur DarkRitual Badlands Ponder Rite Of Flame Brainstorm Thoughtseize
Mulligan

With either mulligan rule (Vancouver or London), I'd mulligan this. It just doesn't do anything despite having one of your best cards for the match-up in Hope of Ghirapur. Hope of Ghirapur essentially negates Spell Pierce, Flusterstorm, and Force of Negation but that's not the problem with this hand. Without a blue source we're just too far away, our opponent would find an answer to our metal bug friend way before we were ever ready to combo.

Intro to London Mulligan

I know, I know... This is a "Match-up" Mulligan and the London Mulligan isn't a match-up. I get that, but I think it's important to start with the fundamentals.

Against all of our opponents we're going to assume that we don't know what they're playing.

Pre-board

Hand 1: (on the draw)

Lion's Eye Diamond Dark Ritual Rite of Flame Infernal Tutor Dark Ritual Thoughtseize Burning Wish
Mulligan

If we draw a black mana source off the top, this hand is golden, you even have a discard spell to protect your combo. You have twenty black cards out of fifty-three cards, which is roughly 37% for a few turns assuming your opponent isn't doing anything meaningful. I can see why anyone would want to keep this, in fact, with the Vancouver Mulligan I would. But the London Mulligan is much more forgiving and I'd prefer my chances more on six cards, I typically try to imagine that my opponents are going to have some sort of interaction with me.



Hand 2: (on the play)
Burning Wish Rite of Flame Defense Grid Mox Opal Chrome Mox Badlands Lion's Eye Diamond
Keep

This hand is nuts! Of course I would keep. The reason this hand has been included is to show you that you don't need to worry about Storm count or having to Empty the Warrens. I would just play Chrome Mox (Imprint: Rite of Flame), Badlands, and cast Defense Grid. Next turn you have a protected turn while casting Echo of Eons to refuel your hand.



Hand 3: (on the draw)
Infernal Tutor Burning Wish Burning Wish Ponder Mox Opal Bloodstained Mire Polluted Delta
Mulligan

This hand is just really clunky, especially against an unknown opponent. If you told me you wanted to keep this against a control deck, I'd still want to mulligan but could see why you'd want to keep. This just isn't playable in my eyes.



Hand 4: (on the play — mulliganed once)
Ad Nauseam Rite of Flame Chrome Mox Chrome Mox Burning Wish Infernal Tutor Thoughtseize
Mulligan

This is a trap hand, it looks like you have mana and spells, but you're actually fairly far away from casting Ad Nauseam. Ideally, you'd be putting Infernal Tutor on the bottom and now your other cards need to imprint onto Chrome Mox so that you can eventually Rite of Flame and Ad Nauseam. I honestly think most five-card hands are better than this.



Hand 5: (on the draw — mulliganed twice)
Rite of Flame Dark Ritual Lion's Eye Diamond Lotus Petal Defense Grid Burning Wish Burning Wish
Keep

I think with this hand, you kind of just have to hope you're facing a non-blue deck and put Defense Grid and the second Burning Wish on the bottom. Any mana source means you'll be able to cast Echo of Eons with UBR floating. If you don't draw one, you just get to undo your mulligans and start the game with five Storm.



Hand 6: (on the play)
Chrome Mox Mox Opal Mox Opal Rite of Flame Lotus Petal Rite of Flame Burning Wish
Keep

One thing I've noticed about people who are unfamiliar with Mox Opal in Storm is that they don't view additional copies of the card as Lotus Petals. This hand is the perfect example of why you should — Chrome Mox (No Imprint), Lotus Petal, Mox Opal, Rite of Flame, Rite of Flame, Mox Opal (sacrificing the tapped Mox Opal), Burning Wish, and Empty the Warrens with exactly enough mana!



Hand 7: (on the draw)
Ponder Ponder Brainstorm Chrome Mox Lion's Eye Diamond Thoughtseize Defense Grid
Mulligan

You could pray that your cantrips off of Chrome Mox fix this hand, but is that even good enough? What if your opponent isn't on a blue deck? It just seems a little slow and would require quite a bit of luck to win with a hand based around resolving multiple cantrips.



Hand 8: (on the play — mulliganed twice)
Dark Ritual Dark Ritual Rite of Flame Thoughtseize Lotus Petal Lotus Petal Chrome Mox
Mulligan

You're welcome to disagree with me here, but I would send it back and go to four cards. I'd rather take the chance at maybe being able to Empty the Warrens or even Echo of Eons rather than keep a hand that just does nothing.



Hand 9: (on the draw)
Dark Ritual Infernal Tutor Lotus Petal Mox Opal Defense Grid Badlands Chrome Mox
Keep

I imagine most people would correctly assume that this is a keep. One of the more interesting things to me is this is a hand that can get naturally Hellbent for Infernal Tutor which would search up Ad Nauseam and not be far off from casting it.



Hand 10: (on the play)
Empty the Warrens Mox Opal Chrome Mox Dark Ritual Brainstorm Ponder Infernal Tutor
Stay tuned for the next article!

I'll provide my answer in the next article, but for now, make sure to post your thoughts!