From the Comprehensive Rules
- 101. Starting the Game
- 101.1. At the start of a game, each player shuffles his or her deck so that the cards are in a random order. Each player may then shuffle his or her opponents’ decks. The players’ decks become their libraries.
- 101.2. After the decks have been shuffled, the players determine who chooses which player goes first using any mutually agreeable method (flipping a coin, rolling dice, etc.). In a match of several games, the loser of the previous game decides who will take the first turn. If the previous game was a draw, the person who determined who would take the first turn in the previous game decides.
- 101.3. Once the starting player has been determined, each player sets his or her life total to 20 and draws a hand of seven cards.
- 101.3a In a Two-Headed Giant game, each team starts with a shared life total of 30 instead.
- 101.4. A player who is dissatisfied with his or her initial hand may mulligan. First, the starting player takes any mulligans. To take a mulligan, that player shuffles his or her hand back into the deck and then draws a new hand of six cards. He or she may repeat this process as many times as desired, drawing one fewer card each time, until the hand size reaches zero cards. Once the starting player has decided to keep a hand, those cards become his or her opening hand. Then each other player (in turn order) may take any number of mulligans. A player can’t take any mulligans once he or she has decided to keep an opening hand.
- 101.4a The Two-Headed Giant variant uses the standard mulligan rule, with some modifications. First, the starting team takes any mulligans. For a team to take a mulligan, each player on that team decides whether or not to take a mulligan, then all players who chose to do so take their mulligans at the same time. The first time a player takes a mulligan, he or she draws a new hand of seven cards. After each player on that team who took a mulligan looks at his or her new hand, the team repeats the process. (Subsequent hands decrease by one card as normal.) Once a player has decided to keep a hand, those cards become his or her opening hand. That player can’t take any more mulligans, but his or her teammate may. Once each player on the starting team decides to keep an opening hand, the other team may take mulligans. Example: Bob and Clare are the starting team in a Two-Headed Giant game. They’ve each draw seven cards. After reviewing each other’s hands, both Bob and Clare decide to mulligan. Each shuffles his or her hand into his or her deck and draws seven cards. Clare isn’t sure about Bob’s new hand, but he decides to keep it. Clare decides to take another mulligan. Bob’s hand becomes his opening hand, and Clare shuffles her hand into her deck and draws six cards. Then only Clare has the option to mulligan. She decides to keep her hand of six cards and that becomes her opening hand. After that, the other team decides whether to take mulligans.
- 101.5. Once all players have kept their opening hands, the starting player takes his or her first turn.
- 101.5a In a two-player game, the player who plays first skips the draw step (see rule 304, “Draw Step”) of his or her first turn.
- 101.5b In a Two-Headed Giant game, the team who plays first skips the draw step of their first turn. In all other multiplayer games, no player skips the draw step of his or her first turn.
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