<p>In Magic you always shuffle your hand into your library then draw a new hand.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p><strong>103.4.</strong> [...] 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. [...]</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-05T16:59:59.940Z
Of course if you're not playing in a sanctioned event, you can use whatever house rules you want.  For instance, some people still do the partial mulligan when they play EDH.
Sam I am says Reinstate Monica
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-05T19:58:01.800Z
Forestalls the interpretation that you can choose to keep some of the cards, then mulligan the rest. It is a painful holdover from casual that I've seen pop up at FNMs with younger crowds.
Drunk Cynic
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-05T20:00:14.030Z
@DrunkCynic It also is how mulligans worked in EDH until a few months ago, so if someone was coming from that perspective and hadn't heard of the rules change they could easily misinterpret it.
diego
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-06T19:37:29.067Z
I must stress the word *always*.  Unless you're playing some house-rules-alteration or EDH, you must *always* mulligan this way.  This is non-negotiable at any sort of sanctioned MTG event.
Ethan The Brave
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-07T06:06:36.183Z
Good terminology for not shuffling when mulliganing is "Lazy" mulligans. They are a common and good option for commander: a format not sanctioned for competitive play (only sanctioned for casual events).
LovesTha
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-05T14:40:39.993Z
2016-04-05T19:49:19.483Z
2016-04-05T19:49:19.483Z
diego
<p>When I decide to throw away my hand and use a mulligan, should I simply draw a new hand from the library or shuffle my thrown hand into the library before redrawing? I'm mostly interested in <a href="/questions/tagged/magic-the-gathering" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged &#39;magic-the-gathering&#39;" rel="tag">magic-the-gathering</a> mulligan rules, but I believe a "mulligan" isn't system-specific; I'd accept a well-sourced system-agnostic answer as well.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-05T15:23:12.963Z
As a slight comment, a mulligan is game specific. Where in Magic you **have** to replace your entire hand with N - 1 cards (which is repeatable), for example [Hearthstone](http://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Mulligan) (Digital Card Game) allows you to swap up to N cards out for new ones, but only once. Both actions are called 'Mulligan' in the respective games.
Davy
<magic-the-gathering><mulligans>
When I take a mulligan, should I shuffle my library first?
Marc Dingena
# When I take a mulligan, should I shuffle my library first?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-04-05)

When I decide to throw away my hand and use a mulligan, should I simply draw a new hand from the library or shuffle my thrown hand into the library before redrawing? I'm mostly interested in [magic-the-gathering](/questions/tagged/magic-the-gathering "show questions tagged 'magic-the-gathering'") mulligan rules, but I believe a "mulligan" isn't system-specific; I'd accept a well-sourced system-agnostic answer as well.

**Tags:** magic-the-gathering, mulligans

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: As a slight comment, a mulligan is game specific. Where in Magic you **have** to replace your entire hand with N - 1 cards (which is repeatable), for example [Hearthstone](http://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Mulligan) (Digital Card Game) allows you to swap up to N cards out for new ones, but only once. Both actions are called 'Mulligan' in the respective games.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2016-04-05. Score: 20 | Accepted answer

In Magic you always shuffle your hand into your library then draw a new hand.

> **103.4.** [...] 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. [...]

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: Of course if you're not playing in a sanctioned event, you can use whatever house rules you want.  For instance, some people still do the partial mulligan when they play EDH.  
> **username_4**: Forestalls the interpretation that you can choose to keep some of the cards, then mulligan the rest. It is a painful holdover from casual that I've seen pop up at FNMs with younger crowds.  
> **username_2**: @username_4 It also is how mulligans worked in EDH until a few months ago, so if someone was coming from that perspective and hadn't heard of the rules change they could easily misinterpret it.  
> **username_5**: I must stress the word *always*.  Unless you're playing some house-rules-alteration or EDH, you must *always* mulligan this way.  This is non-negotiable at any sort of sanctioned MTG event.  
> **username_6**: Good terminology for not shuffling when mulliganing is "Lazy" mulligans. They are a common and good option for commander: a format not sanctioned for competitive play (only sanctioned for casual events).  

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