Matchup Mulligan: Moon Stompy II

Mulligan

While our opponent’s deck does have four copies of [[Thoughtseize]], keeping this [[Veil of Summer]] when on the draw is almost pointless. This means that we need our opponent to not open on [[Thoughtseize]], and we’re playing the game where we ask our deck to draw the 34 percent action spell off the top. If our Elves opponent didn’t open on [[Thoughtseize]], there’s a good chance that they kept a hand that puts [[Collector Ouphe]] onto the battlefield on the second turn. We can do better than keeping low-odds of success hands.

Keep

Not every hand needs to be fast! While it may not seem like it, this hand is very reasonable due to [[Burning Wish]] giving us access to the sideboard copy of [[Pulverize]]. The game plan here would be to cast [[Wishclaw Talisman]] on the second turn assuming that nothing goes poorly for us. After that, you can use [[Burning Wish]] for [[Pulverize]]. At this point, you should be able to untap and win the game!

Keep

Moon Stompy has no free instant speed interaction — remember this! Put that [[Ad Nauseam]] on the stack.

Cast [[Lotus Petal]], [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]], [[Mox Opal]], tap [[Mox Opal]] to cast [[Rite of Flame]], sacrifice [[Lotus Petal]] to play a pair of [[Dark Ritual]], and then cast [[Wishclaw Talisman]]. Discard our hand to [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] to generate , activate [[Wishclaw Talisman]] to find the [[Ad Nauseam]], and cast it!

Mulligan

While speed isn’t everything, you do need to know what kinds of slower hands you can afford to keep. This hand is great at facing a “fairer” portion of the Legacy metagame. That said, against the [[Chalice of the Void]], [[Trinisphere]], and [[Blood Moon]] deck. this hand can be a real liability. Especially if these lock pieces are backed by [[Goblin Rabblemaster]] or [[Legion Warboss]]. At best, this hand is a turn-three kill assuming that no prison pieces are cast, AND our opponent didn’t open on a fast Goblin draw. If this are what we’re asking for, you need to ask yourself, “what would the opponent keep?”

Realistically, there are such a small amount of opening hands in which this is a possibility. Don’t be afraid to leverage the London Mulligan.

Mulligan

Please, do not keep bad hands on the back of [[Brainstorm]]. Yes, it’s one of the most powerful effects in the Legacy format, but it’s not a savior to every opening hand. I also understand the allure of a pair of [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]], but when you break this hand down into what we need, the ask is very high. Let’s see what we would need to win this game:

• A non-fetchland blue mana source plus another cantrip to be able to set up a play where we go all-in on [[Ad Nauseam]]
• An initial mana source, [[Rite of Flame]], and [[Burning Wish]]
• An initial mana source, [[Dark Ritual]], and [[Wishclaw Talisman]]
• Draw into the singleton [[Echo of Eons]]

Why take such a risk when we can just London Mulligan?

Keep

[[Chalice of the Void]] will always be a possibility when you’re on the draw. You can’t mulligan very reasonable hands because you’re afraid of the card, but we also don’t know which number they’ll set the [[Chalice of the Void]] to. In hands where our opponent doesn’t open with [[Ancient Tomb]] or [[Simian Spirit Guide]], they may settle for zero counters for the [[Chalice of the Void]]. If this is the case, we have [[Veil of Summer]] to break the rules.

While it may not seem obvious, [[Veil of Summer]] doesn’t care about if a spell is blue or black for the line, “Spells you control can’t be countered this turn.” This means we can play our copies of [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] or [[Lotus Petal]] directly into the [[Chalice of the Void]]. After that, cast the [[Ponder]] looking for [[Burning Wish]] or [[Wishclaw Talisman]].

Mulligan

These hands are not keepable! Too often, I see players keeping these sorts of hands since [[Echo of Eons]] bails them out. I would rather have a sculpted six-card hand than a random seven, especially when our opponent’s deck is an archetype that is well-known for playing [[Leyline of the Void]].

Please be more disciplined and leverage the London Mulligan.

Mulligan

Too much of a good thing can be a bad thing! This hand is simply too reactive. You can spend turn after turn answering your opponents lock pieces, but eventually they’ll begin to double-spell a lock-piece with a [[Goblin Rabblemaster]] effect. Not to mention, a [[Blood Moon]] or [[Magus of the Moon]] is actually just lights out.

We need to keep hands with focus, responding to their threats for several turns is not a game plan.

Keep

[[Badlands]], cast [[Chrome Mox]] (Imprint: [[Abrupt Decay]]), [[Rite of Flame]], [[Rite of Flame]], [[Dark Ritual]], [[Burning Wish]], and then [[Empty the Warrens]]!

In post-board games, you can assume that our opponents have sided out [[Fury]]. That said, [[Fiery Confluence]] is still a card to be aware of. It’ll be difficult for them to cast in time, but still possible.

Keep

This hand does not care about [[Chalice of the Void]] on one or [[Blood Moon]]. This hand is certainly worth the risk as we can resolve [[Ad Nauseam]] with a land drop hoping to hit [[Abrupt Decay]] and then win the game in the same turn.

Cast [[Lotus Petal]], [[Mox Opal]], [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]], [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]], [[Chrome Mox]] (Imprint: [[Brainstorm]]), [[Wishclaw Talisman]], sacrifice both copies of [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] to create , activate [[Wishclaw Talisman]], search for [[Ad Nauseam]] and cast it!

Share your answer in the comments below!

I’ll provide my answer in the next article. For now, make sure to leave a comment with your thoughts!