Excerpt:

LONDON MULLIGAN TESTING
From April 10 to May 1, the London Mulligan will be the mulligan used on Magic Online. This mulligan is part of an experiment run by Magic R&D in their never-ending efforts to improve the game we all know and love. This will apply to all formats, in all events and casual games.

As MTGO is the best and largest way to play classic formats like Legacy and Vintage, this test will provide a critical mass of data to help R&D make a final determination whether to adopt this mulligan for Magic as a whole. And importantly, it will allow Mythic Championship competitors to practice their Modern game under the same conditions that they'll face in London.

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A week before the only Legacy GP of the year, they're going to configure MTGO to play by a different set of rules than real magic. Fucking awesome.

That's pretty insane. It also means it's really incumbent on Vintage players on MTGO to try to make the case, one way or the other. Dredgeapolooza.

@thecravenone I don't play Legacy so this didn't register. Yuck.

@smmenen said in London Mulligan Coming to MTGO:

Dredgeapolooza.

I am and am not looking forward to this.

@smmenen said in London Mulligan Coming to MTGO:

That's pretty insane. It also means it's really incumbent on Vintage players on MTGO to try to make the case, one way or the other. Dredgeapolooza.

Given my experience with WotC, this would be a lost cause. Play how you will but trying to make your case is tilting at windmills. Step outside and, if you're not in the Houston area, take a deep breath. Enjoy things that aren't Magic for a moment.

Is there precedent for them doing such extensive live testing of a rule change?

I think that its good that they are actually going to try to use some empirical evidence for this, although I question how much can really be determined in less than a month.

@vaughnbros

Closest thing I can think of is the Feldar Guardian banning when they released a new set but didn’t ban Feldar Guardian with the initial B&R announcement despite public outcry. The addendum 2-3 days later cited MTGO league data. Hardly an intentional test, but it is an example of using Magic Online data for decisions like this.

Edit: I think the sample size is going to be much more robust for Legacy.

@chubbyrain

I think its less about the number of games being played, and more about anyones ability to properly adjust to what will be a new metagame. I mean, I can take a Blue/Shops deck and jam in more Dredge hate to the main deck for a few weeks, but its unlikely that my first iterations of these decks are optimal in the slightest.

4-1 in my first league with 0 powders in Dredge. No mulligans to oblivion thanks to this rule. Deck feels much smoother in top deck mode without the powders, and more design space to tailor against the meta.

a heads up to everyone, but on Rich's stream it was discovered that this mulligan change has broken serum powder. if you powder 7 you can also powder the next 7 even if that second 7 doesn't have a powder in it. MTGO is quality software that is well tested.

@blindtherapy

Tested this in the practice room and its worse than that. You can powder as many 7s as you want if you open with a powder.

@vaughnbros Ooh. What did you replace them with?

@oestrus

Leylines for now in anticipation of the mirror.

Tried playing Shops with the new rule, and honestly didn't feel much better. Often was bottoming cards that I wanted in my hand, and felt like I still lost a number of games due to mulliganing.

@thecravenone said in London Mulligan Coming to MTGO:

A week before the only Legacy GP of the year, they're going to configure MTGO to play by a different set of rules than real magic. Fucking awesome.

Well at least paper magic and MTGO don't share a B&R list since they are so different.

5-0 with PO on stream.

The deck has to be rebuilt from the current versions but I think it's much stronger with the London mulligan rule. I played a virtual mirror in the undefeated bracket.

Sylvan PO did win the first challenge. Sylvan library is one of the cards that can be exploited with the new mulligan rule as it lets you recoup the card disadvantage from mulliganing more aggressively. Overall, not much change in established lists in the first challenge with the new rule.

10-0. Got another Trophy on stream. Cut Mentor from the list. It was too slow...

I also ran a twitter poll of the London mulligan as I was curious what people's opinions were (and also wanted to see how perspectives change over time). Sample size is small but it seems the majority of people are still formulating an opinion (which is great as I'm glad people are starting out openminded - and those who had an opinion are probably those that had already played several leagues on MTGO with the new rule active). I plan on repeating the poll this weekend.

Started another Twitter poll if people want to chime in.