At a PPTQ yesterday, a player asked a theriotical question regarding the new fix for improperly mulliganing.

If both players mulligan and the starting player draws 7, is the fix applied before or after the opponent decides to keep their hand?

I said that it would be applied before, but this gives the opponent the knowledge of the starting player's hand (if they chose to keep) before the opponent decides if they are keeping.

The fix, as with all fixes, is applied at the point where the error was
discovered and the judge was called. Alas, we have no time machine.

In this case, AP mulliganed and drew 7 instead of 6. We now have an
infraction, we will fix it as soon as the error was discovered - we could
even fix it before NAP makes his first mulligan decision.

In any event, AP needs to make a decision to keep or mull his (soon to be)
6-card hand BEFORE NAP makes a decision to keep or mull his (properly
drawn) 6 card hand, so NAP will by necessity have knowledge of AP's hand
before he makes his second mulligan decision.

If AP wishes to avoid leaking information in this way, he should draw the
correct number of cards.

The Additional Remedy does provide a way for the AP to prevent this
information being known.

“A player may concede or mulligan (if applicable) to avoid the additional
remedy.” (last sentence of first paragraph under Additional Remedy)

Other than that, I agree that NAP would get to know the result of the fix
before deciding.

Thanks,
Jason Daniels

I have another questione about HCE and mulligan: the IPG says: "“A player may concede or mulligan (if applicable) “.

Now that DEC and ID@SOG are no more, what decides if that remedy is applicable?
Where is the ‘border’ between an extra draw and an improper draw? Old infractions used the definition of ”taking an action/having an active role" to explain this, but HCE says nothing about this kind of situations.

And another thing: if a player who committed an improper draw (7 cards instead of 6) has already made Scry but he decides to be ‘turboseized’, can we allow him to do Scry again once the fix has been applied?

Thanks for reading!

Edited Jacopo Strati (Jan. 25, 2016 04:27:41 PM)

AP needs to complete their mulligan before NAP can. This would include fixing the hand so that AP can make their decision. This holds true if the roles are reversed (i.e., NAP mulls to 7 instead of 6).

Jacopo, I hope I am answering your questions, but let me know if I misunderstood?

If you are still in the pre-game procedure - before both players have kept an opening hand - then a mulligan can be applicable, as described in the IPG. When we've moved past that point, it makes no sense for a player to mulligan again, so that is no longer applicable. The concession is always an option (but the infraction is still recorded!).

As for the Scry question, you've correctly identified a corner where this new policy isn't as neat & clean as we'd like - but it still works out OK. The Scry was not appropriate at that time - it's only allowed after everyone decides to keep their opening hand. Since we are still in the pre-game process at this point (resolving mulligans), we correct the hand, then further mulligans may be taken. Then, CR 103.4 tells us that anyone with a starting hand smaller than usual gets to Scry (although CR 103.4 uses much better wording than I just did!).

d:^D

So just to be perfectly clear, if a player should mulligan to 6 and draws 7, the player gets to choose to A) let the opponent remove a card from their hand or B) mulligan to 5, correct?

(Thanks for the clarification, I just want to make sure I don't screw anything up.)

Well, they're also welcome to concede :P

Thank you for your answer Scott! ^___^