Mulligan

Info

The mulligan stage

The mulligan or card selection stage occurs at the very start of each match. Each player is shown their randomly selected starting hand A typical hand. The green highlighted cards can be played, while the yellow highlighted card has a special effect enabled by the current state of the game. The hand is where each player keeps the , and given the option to redraw as many of those cards as they like. Only one redraw of the selected cards is allowed; there is no chance to redraw again after seeing the results. Note that cards mulliganed away are not added back into the pool for possible replacements. Both players` mulligans take place at the same time. Once both players have completed the mulligan stage, the first turn Hearthstone takes place in turns. Each turn gives a player the opportunity to act. At the end of each turn, play is passed back to the other player. A round describes one turn for each begins.

The term mulligan may refer to the stage in which cards are inspected and redrawn, the overall process of selecting cards, or the act of rejecting a selected card in order to draw a replacement.

The mulligan is a tactically significant stage, with each player attempting to draw the best possible cards based upon not only their own deck, but also the class and player against which they have been matched. A strong mulligan can make a significant contribution to a player`s likelihood of winning the match.

Strategy

See also: Mana curve

The mulligan is the only way players have to look for desired cards for their starting hands, and as such is very important to starting the game well and creating the greatest chance of success.

Generally, low-cost drops "Drop" is a colloquial term used to describe a minion of a specific mana cost. For instance, a "3-drop" is a minion which costs 3 mana, such as a Silverback Patriarch. The term may be playable in the early game are preferred, while expensive cards that will be unplayable for many turns are replaced in favor of more options in the beginning. Be that as it may, a particularly good card may justify the risk of running out of options in the first few turns. Sometimes an expensive card critical to a deck`s win condition A win condition is a specific means or strategy by which a deck can achieve victory. Decks may have one or more win conditions, and a win condition may be a specific aim of the may be kept simply to ensure it does not end up at the bottom of the deck A deck is a collection of exactly 30 cards. All cards drawn by the player during a game come from their deck. Each deck is tied to a specific class. Decks can be created and .

Mulligan objectives vary by format, deck type, and opponent:

• In Arena A video explaining the Arena in Hearthstone made by the Curse Gamepedia @@@#@@@YouTube(youtube.com)###@### Channel. The Arena is a game mode where players compete against each other using specially constructed decks to earn substantial rewards. It games, following the mana curve Example of a deck s mana curve display from the Arena screen The term mana curve refers to two related concepts: The amount of mana available to players over the course of a game, starting at is very important since decks are unlikely to have many catch-up mechanisms, so players usually look for low cost drops "Drop" is a colloquial term used to describe a minion of a specific mana cost. For instance, a "3-drop" is a minion which costs 3 mana, such as a Silverback Patriarch. The term may be to avoid falling behind.
• Aggro decks An aggro deck or aggressive deck, also known as a rush deck, is a deck that takes an aggressive approach of dealing damage to the opponent as quickly as possible, generally through the summoning of typically look for the most aggressive start possible with their mulligans since they rely on killing the opponent before they can mount a defense.
• With Control decks A control deck, also known as a late game deck, is a deck that attempts to attain victory in the late game, through a combination of early game removal and Taunts, and powerful cards in , the early focus is on not dying to early aggression, so the mulligan may be used for this purpose. In addition, key cards may be searched for to ensure they are available later, particularly if the deck has a strict win condition A win condition is a specific means or strategy by which a deck can achieve victory. Decks may have one or more win conditions, and a win condition may be a specific aim of the .
• The mulligan can be used to look for cards to beat the opponent`s predicted play, based on the metagame "The metagame is the mix of different decks that players bring onto the ladder, that you can expect to see. If you know what decks players are bringing, your deck can be especially good against surrounding the opponent`s class. The opponent`s class (and rank, when playing on the constructed Constructed is a term used to refer to decks which have been created using cards from the player s collection. Constructed play is play in either Play mode, Practice mode or Friendly Challenge. Some Tavern Brawls ladder) is revealed before and during the mulligan.

The starting hand becomes less important the more cards are drawn, since the chance of having drawn any given card increases as more and more of the deck is accessed. For instance, the first player only has 5 cards on turn 2, so the mulligan increases the chance of having a preferred 2-drop from 31.0% to 45.8%. Be that as it may, by turn 5, the player already would have a 46.9% chance of having drawn a given card, and the mulligan only increases it only slightly. The mulligan is therefore less crucial for a deck with many "catch-up mechanisms" that allow it to overcome an early disadvantage.

Videos

Overview

The mulligan takes place following the introduction of each player, with their names and heroes announced. During the mulligan the player is also able to see the opponent`s name and class in the top-left corner, assisting with strategic choices.

The mulligan stage begins with a selection of cards being chosen for each player. The player going first will be given 3 cards, while the player going second will be given 4 cards.

Players have 65 seconds to inspect their cards, and may mark as many as they like to be mulliganed away. Cards mulliganed away are not added back into the pool for possible replacements. If only one copy of the card is in the deck, it is impossible to draw it as a replacement. Once the player has clicked the redraw button, or the 65 seconds elapses, all marked cards will be replaced with new ones, and the player will be shown the new selection.

Once both players have completed their mulligan process, the player going second will receive The Coin The Coin Set: Basic Type: Spell Cost: 0 Tags: Mana-related Gain 1 Mana Crystal this turn only.See this card on Hearthpwn data page] The Coin is a special uncollectible spell card granted at the start and the first turn of the game itself will begin.

Notes

• In-hand effects are active on cards during the mulligan. This allows players to correctly anticipate starting conditions for the cards in their hand. For instance, if the starting hand of the player going second includes a Mountain Giant Mountain Giant Set: Classic Type: Minion Rarity: Epic Cost: 12 Attack: 8 Health: 8 Abilities: Modify cost Tags: Hand-related, In-hand effect, Ongoing effect Costs (1) less for each other card in your hand.His mother said , the Mountain Giant will show a modified cost of 8 during the mulligan. This suggests that The Coin The Coin Set: Basic Type: Spell Cost: 0 Tags: Mana-related Gain 1 Mana Crystal this turn only.See this card on Hearthpwn data page] The Coin is a special uncollectible spell card granted at the start is already in the second player`s hand during the mulligan, prior to the visual animation which generates the card.
• Replacement cards are selected from the top of the undrawn deck, and are thus the same cards that would have been drawn over the player`s first few turns, prior to the reshuffle. Because the cards are simply drawn from the deck, it is quite possible to replace a card and get a copy of the same card as a replacement, if multiples are in the deck. It is even possible, though unlikely, to replace an entire hand and get all copies of those cards as replacements.
• Prior to the mulligan, the deck has already been randomly ordered. If the player chooses to replace any cards, the deck (including the replaced cards) will be shuffled (randomised) once the mulligan is complete.
• Replaced cards are shuffled back into the deck after the mulligan is complete, ready to be drawn during the match. It is therefore possible to draw a mulliganed card at any point in the game with equal probability, including the very first draw of the game on turn 1.
• The opponent`s hand is faded slightly during the mulligan, but it is still possible to observe their actions to a limited degree:
  • A card back will highlight when the opponent hovers over the corresponding card, just as during the main game, but only if the opponent has not yet redrawn their cards.
  • The replacement of the opponent`s cards is not shown until the player has also completed their mulligan.
  • There is no indication of how many cards the opponent has marked for redraw before the animation, nor any sign of whether the opponent is still selecting or finished, other than the possible one-time animation.
• The mulligan in full lasts 75 seconds, be that as it may, 10 seconds are spent on the intro cutscene, leaving only 65 seconds for the player to inspect their cards and act. Out of those 65 seconds, 5 seconds elapse before the cards become selectable (gaining green outlines).

Trivia

Before the releaseAnnounce of One Night in Karazhan  "Your host, the great magus Medivh, invites you back to party down - with me!"  "Come inside... Meet your friends at the door. We ve got a feast like you ve never seen before. Shake your stuff , it was possible to observe the number of cards mulligan`d by the opponent before confirming one`s own selection. This allowed some assessment of the opponent`s starting hand and an appropriate response. For instance, if the opponent replaced one or zero cards, they may have an excellent starting hand, so spells useful against 2- and 3- drops "Drop" is a colloquial term used to describe a minion of a specific mana cost. For instance, a "3-drop" is a minion which costs 3 mana, such as a Silverback Patriarch. The term may be might be kept. On the other hand, if the opponent replaced their entire hand, anti-early-game spells might be mulligan`d in favor of drops that are independently good.

The animation of the opponent`s redrawing was only shown if the opponent actually confirmed selection before the player did. Therefore, to avoid revealing any information to the opponent, sometimes players would engage in mulligan "standoffs" where both waited until the last possible moment to confirm their mulligans. Players and developers discussed changing the system to prevent these long waits, but for a time it was not considered a high priority issue since it typically only occurred in high level competitive play. Be that as it may, the change was made in Karazhan to show mulligan animations simultaneously, thus removing any reason to delay confirming the mulligan, and preventing any more standoffs.