How to Mulligan The Ur-Dragon
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Start here: Mulligan Simulator (fast) → then Cost to Finish (money) → Budget Swaps (savings)
Mulligan Simulator
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Budget Swaps
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Opening hand priorities
Dragon tribal ramp with treasure support; curve to high-impact dragons and anthem effects. The goal is not a pretty seven-card hand. It is a hand that develops mana, lines up colors, and actually points toward the deck first meaningful turns.
Ideal Early Script
- Turn 1: develop mana or the cheapest enabler for five-color dragon ramp.
- Turn 2: add protection, card flow, or the support piece that makes Ur-Dragon matter.
- Turn 3+: commit the commander or bridge toward the first engine turn only when the board can use it.
Your opener should support
Hands to be suspicious of
- - off-tribe creatures
- - lifegain packages without synergy
Mulligan decisions with The Ur-Dragon start with role clarity: does your opener actually support a real The Ur-Dragon game plan around dragons and treasure? Dragon tribal ramp with treasure support; curve to high-impact dragons and anthem effects. Prioritise dragon cost reducers, tutors like Sarkhan's Triumph, and board-wide haste enablers.
What a keepable hand looks like
Keep hands that already function as ramp hands, not dragon hands. Three lands plus one of , , , , or is usually better than a seven with two giant dragons and no acceleration. Cost reducers like and also count because they effectively buy a full turn.
When to ship a hand
Ship clunky openers that only become good if you naturally hit every land drop until turn six. A hand with perfect colors but no ramp is still risky here, and a hand with multiple expensive dragons but no early setup is usually a trap unless it also has or another truly explosive start.
Your first three turns
Your first three turns should usually look like land, ramp, ramp or reduction. If your opener cannot realistically cast a relevant dragon by turn four or five, it is below rate for . When you do keep a slower hand, it should include a payoff dragon that immediately stabilizes the table such as or .
Ready to test real opener quality for The Ur-Dragon? Run your own list through the ManaTap mulligan simulator, compare play versus draw, and check how often your opener actually lines up with the plan above.
Related commander guides
FAQ
- What is the London mulligan?
- You put any number of cards from your hand on the bottom of your library, then draw back up to seven. In Commander, your first mulligan is free.
- How many lands should I keep?
- Most Commander decks want two to four lands in the opener. Low-curve decks can keep two; higher curves want three or four.
- Should I mulligan a hand with no ramp?
- It depends on your curve. If your deck needs early ramp to function, ship hands without it. If you have enough lands and cheap plays, you might keep.
- Does play vs draw affect mulligan strategy?
- Yes. On the draw you get an extra card, so you can sometimes keep slightly weaker hands.
- How can I test my mulligan strategy?
- Use the ManaTap mulligan simulator. Paste your decklist, set parameters, and run thousands of simulations to see keep rates.