What Makes a Good Commander Opening Hand?

You shuffle your deck, draw seven cards, look at your hand and see three lands, a mana rock, some interaction and a card draw spell.

Nice.

Then there is the other kind of opening hand.

Two lands, a six mana creature, two cards that do absolutely nothing without your commander, a board wipe and the coolest card in your deck.

And somehow your brain says:

"I can keep this."

No. You probably cannot.

Opening hands are one of the most underestimated parts of Commander. We spend hours choosing the perfect 99, adjusting our mana curve and arguing with ourselves about whether that seventh expensive creature really needs to stay in the deck.

Then the game starts and we keep seven cards that cannot actually do anything until turn four.

A good Commander opening hand is not necessarily full of powerful cards.

It is a hand that gives your deck a realistic plan for the first few turns of the game.

What is a good opening hand in Commander?

For most Commander decks, a good opening hand usually contains:

• 2 to 4 lands
• Access to the colors you actually need
• At least one useful play in the first two or three turns
• Ramp, card draw or another way to continue developing
• Cards that work together with your game plan

That does not mean every good hand needs exactly three lands, one ramp spell, one draw spell and two business cards.

Commander is far too varied for that.

A good opening hand for a spellslinger deck can look completely different from one for Dragons, Aristocrats, Voltron or Reanimator.

The important question is not:

"Are these seven cards good?"

It is:

"What does this hand actually do?"

If you cannot answer that question without saying "assuming I draw...", you should probably think twice before keeping it.

The first three turns matter

When evaluating an opening hand, I like to imagine the first three turns.

Not turn eight.

Not the glorious future where I have twelve mana, my commander, three combo pieces and nobody has interacted with me.

The first three turns.

Ask yourself:

Turn one: what can I do?

Maybe nothing. That is completely fine in many Commander decks.

Turn two: what can I do?

This is where you ideally start developing. Ramp, a mana rock, a cheap value piece, card selection or interaction are all reasonable possibilities.

Turn three: what can I do?

By now, most Commander decks should have started playing Magic.

If your opening hand gives you a sensible sequence through those turns, it is probably doing its job.

If your plan is:

Turn one: land.

Turn two: land, pass.

Turn three: hopefully draw another land.

Turn four: maybe cast something.

That hand may contain powerful cards, but it is not necessarily a good hand.

How many lands should an opening hand have?

For most Commander decks, three lands is the comfortable starting point.

Three lands usually gives you enough resources to begin executing your plan without flooding your hand.

Two land hands can also be perfectly keepable, especially if you have cheap ramp, card selection or a low mana curve.

Four lands is normally fine too, particularly if the rest of the hand contains useful early plays.

Once you reach five or more lands, things become more questionable.

It does not automatically mean mulligan. Some commanders and strategies actively want plenty of lands.

But if you keep five lands and two spells, you need to be reasonably confident that those two spells will keep the game moving.

The same applies in the opposite direction.

A one land hand containing Sol Ring is still a one land hand.

Yes, Sol Ring is ridiculous.

No, Sol Ring does not guarantee that your next card is a land.

Commander players have been learning this lesson for decades and will probably continue learning it forever.

Two land hands: keep or mulligan?

This is one of the classic Commander decisions.

And the answer is:

It depends.

A two land hand can be excellent if it contains something like:

• Two lands that provide your important colors
• A cheap ramp spell or mana rock
• One or two cards you can cast early
• Some way to draw or select additional cards

For example:

Two lands, Arcane Signet, a two mana draw spell, cheap interaction and two useful mid game cards?

I am probably keeping that.

Two lands and five cards costing four or more?

That is a very different conversation.

The danger with two land hands is not simply having two lands.

It is keeping a hand that requires the top of your library to cooperate immediately.

Sometimes it will.

Sometimes you will spend turn five staring at your second land while everyone else is discussing which of your permanents they should attack first.

Except you do not have any permanents.

Color matters as much as land count

Three lands does not automatically mean good mana.

Imagine you are playing a three color deck and your opening hand contains three lands that all produce the same color.

Technically, you have three lands.

Practically, half your hand may still be uncastable.

When evaluating an opening hand, check whether your lands actually produce the colors you need for your early plays.

This becomes particularly important with commanders that have demanding color requirements.

A four mana commander costing is very different from one costing .

The total amount of mana is similar.

The mana requirements are not.

This is also why good mana bases are about more than simply reaching the correct number of lands.

You need the right mana, not just mana.

Ramp can turn an average hand into a great one

Cheap ramp is one of the best things to see in an opening hand.

A turn two mana rock or land ramp spell can completely change the pace of your first few turns.

Instead of:

Turn two: play a land.

Turn three: play a three drop.

Turn four: play your commander.

You might have:

Turn two: ramp.

Turn three: cast your four mana commander.

Or perhaps play another ramp spell while developing something else.

This is why two mana ramp is particularly valuable.

It does not simply give you more mana eventually.

It changes what your next turn looks like.

But there is an important distinction.

Ramp should improve your opening hand.

It should not be the only thing preventing it from collapsing.

If your hand contains two lands and a mana rock but every other card costs six or seven, that mana rock is doing a lot of emotional support.

Your mana curve determines what a keepable hand looks like

A low curve deck can comfortably keep hands that would be risky for a battlecruiser deck.

If most of your spells cost one, two or three mana, a two land hand with card draw may be completely reasonable.

If your deck is full of Dragons costing five, six and seven mana, that same hand may be asking for trouble.

This is why opening hands cannot be evaluated separately from your mana curve.

Your deck should be built so that a reasonable percentage of opening hands naturally produce playable sequences.

If you constantly mulligan because every hand contains expensive cards, you may not have an opening hand problem.

You may have a deck building problem.

Your commander changes everything

Your commander is effectively an extra card that is always available to you.

That matters enormously when evaluating an opening hand.

If your commander costs two or three mana and generates card advantage, you may be able to keep hands that would otherwise look a little weak.

You already know that you have something useful to cast.

If your commander costs six mana, you cannot rely on it to fix your early game.

Your 99 needs to function before the commander arrives.

Commanders that provide card draw also change how aggressively you need to look for card advantage in your opening seven.

Commanders that generate mana can change your ramp requirements.

Commanders that are absolutely essential to the strategy may make protection more valuable.

Your opening hand does not exist independently from your commander.

The two should be evaluated together.

Look for development, not just action

There is a difference between doing something and developing your game.

Casting a random one mana creature on turn one technically counts as doing something.

That does not necessarily mean your hand is good.

Your early plays should ideally contribute to what the deck wants to accomplish.

Ramp develops your mana.

Card draw develops your resources.

A value engine develops future advantage.

A synergy piece develops your strategy.

Interaction may prevent somebody else from developing theirs.

A strong opening hand usually gives you some combination of these things.

You do not need to fill every turn with cards just for the sake of spending mana.

You need your first few turns to take you somewhere.

Card draw makes risky hands safer

Card draw and card selection can make borderline hands much more attractive.

A two land hand with no way to see additional cards is risky.

A two land hand with a cheap draw spell, cantrip or repeatable draw engine gives you more chances to find the resources you need.

But be careful with expensive card draw.

If your only draw spell costs five mana, it is not helping you find your third land.

At least not any time soon.

When considering card draw as part of your opening hand, ask when you can actually cast it.

Early card selection is especially valuable because it helps smooth out exactly the stage of the game where missing a land drop hurts the most.

What about interaction?

Do you need removal in every opening hand?

No.

But having some cheap interaction is rarely bad.

Commander is multiplayer, and somebody at the table will eventually do something that needs to disappear.

Probably sooner than everyone hoped.

The important word here is cheap.

A two mana removal spell is easy to keep available while developing your board.

A five mana answer is much harder to hold up during the early game.

You also do not want an opening hand full of interaction and nothing proactive unless your deck is specifically designed to play that way.

Three removal spells, a board wipe and three lands might keep everyone else under control for a while.

Eventually, though, you need to do something yourself.

A good opening hand usually balances development with enough flexibility to respond when necessary.

Be careful with board wipes in opening hands

Board wipes are powerful.

They are also often terrible early game cards.

If your opening seven contains a Wrath of God, Damnation or another reset button, that does not necessarily make the hand bad.

But the card probably is not doing anything for several turns.

If your hand also contains expensive threats, you can quickly end up with several cards that are technically powerful but irrelevant during the early game.

Board wipes are insurance.

Sometimes you are happy to have one sitting there.

But you probably do not want your entire opening hand to look like an insurance policy.

Powerful cards do not automatically make powerful hands

This is probably the biggest psychological trap when deciding whether to mulligan.

You see one of the best cards in your deck.

Maybe even two.

And suddenly you really want to keep the hand.

The problem is that those cards may have absolutely nothing to do with whether the hand functions.

A seven mana bomb is not helping you hit your third land drop.

Your favorite combo piece may be useless without three other cards.

That incredible enchantment may completely take over the game once your engine is running.

Great.

Can you cast anything before turn four?

Judge the hand as a seven card package.

Not as a collection of cards you would really prefer not to shuffle back into your deck.

Do not keep a hand because of what it could draw

This deserves its own section because we all do it.

You look at a questionable hand and think:

"If I draw one land, this is amazing."

That can be true.

But you have to evaluate the hand you actually have.

Of course you will draw more cards.

And sometimes taking a calculated risk is correct.

But there is a big difference between a hand that improves significantly if you draw a land and a hand that does absolutely nothing unless you draw one.

If your opening seven needs a specific type of card immediately to become functional, the mulligan exists for a reason.

Use it.

The London Mulligan is your friend

Commander uses the London Mulligan, and casual multiplayer Commander normally gives each player a free mulligan.

That is extremely generous compared with many other formats.

Take advantage of it.

You do not get bonus points for keeping a mediocre opening seven.

If your first hand has no sensible plan, shuffle it back.

The purpose of the mulligan is not to find the perfect hand.

It is to find a functional hand.

That distinction matters.

You should not keep throwing back perfectly reasonable hands because you are searching for Sol Ring, your best engine and three perfect lands.

That is not mulliganing for consistency.

That is trying to negotiate with your deck.

Your deck is under no obligation to cooperate.

When should you mulligan?

You should strongly consider a mulligan when your hand:

• Has too few lands with no realistic way to find more
• Has plenty of lands but almost nothing useful to cast
• Cannot produce the colors your early plays require
• Contains mostly expensive cards
• Has no meaningful play during the first few turns
• Depends entirely on drawing one specific type of card
• Does not support what your deck is trying to do

None of these rules are absolute.

Commander is full of strange decks.

A graveyard deck may actively love seeing an expensive creature in its opening hand.

A landfall deck may happily keep five lands.

A fast combo deck may keep something that looks completely insane to a normal midrange player.

Context matters.

But if you regularly look at your opening hand and think, "Well, maybe...", that is usually worth investigating.

What does a strong opening hand actually look like?

Imagine a normal midrange Commander deck.

You draw:

Three lands.

A two mana ramp spell.

A three mana value piece.

A cheap removal spell.

A five mana threat.

That is not an explosive hand.

It does not contain some ridiculous turn two combo.

It is just good.

You have your mana.

You have development.

You have interaction.

You have something useful to do later.

Most importantly, you have a plan.

Now compare it with:

Three lands.

A five mana creature.

A six mana enchantment.

A seven mana finisher.

A board wipe.

Same number of lands.

Completely different hand.

The second hand contains more individually powerful cards.

I would rather start most games with the first one.

Different decks want different opening hands

There is no universal perfect seven.

Aggressive decks

Aggressive decks want early pressure.

They usually prefer cheap threats, efficient development and enough mana to continue deploying cards without stopping.

A hand full of late game value is not where they want to be.

Midrange decks

Midrange decks generally want balance.

Mana, ramp, some early development, perhaps interaction and a path into stronger mid game plays.

They do not need to explode out of the gate.

They do need to avoid falling behind.

Control decks

Control decks care more about mana development, card advantage and cheap answers.

They can often keep slower hands if those hands give them the resources to survive and eventually take control.

But "control" is not an excuse to keep seven cards that do nothing.

Spellslinger decks

Spellslinger decks often care about having enough cheap spells and card flow.

Their opening hands may look light on traditional threats because the deck is built around chaining spells and generating value from them.

Voltron decks

Voltron decks often evaluate hands around the commander.

Can you cast it?

Can you protect it?

Can you start building pressure quickly?

A hand with protection and equipment but no realistic path to casting your commander is not nearly as exciting as it looks.

Big mana and battlecruiser decks

These decks naturally have more expensive cards, which makes early ramp especially important.

Seeing your giant threats in the opening hand can be tempting.

Seeing all of them at once is less exciting.

You still need to get there.

Your opening hands can diagnose your deck

Opening hands are not just something you evaluate during games.

They are one of the best tools for evaluating the deck itself.

Shuffle your deck and draw seven.

Do it again.

And again.

Try twenty or thirty hands.

Do not just count lands.

Look at what those hands actually do.

How often can you make a useful turn two play?

How often do you have access to your colors?

How often are multiple expensive cards stuck in your opening hand?

How often does the hand depend on drawing another land?

How often can you cast your commander on schedule?

Patterns start appearing surprisingly quickly.

If one hand is bad, that is Magic.

If half your hands are bad, that is probably your deck.

Goldfish the first five turns

You can take this one step further.

Instead of only drawing opening hands, play them out.

Draw a card each turn.

Play your lands.

Cast your ramp.

Develop your board.

Pretend nobody is interacting with you and see what your deck naturally does during the first five turns.

This is not meant to simulate a real Commander game.

Real opponents have an annoying habit of doing things.

The purpose is to test your deck's basic machinery.

Does your mana work?

Does your curve flow naturally?

Do you have useful decisions?

Are you constantly wasting mana?

Can you cast your commander when you expect to?

Are you running out of cards?

Goldfishing exposes structural problems surprisingly quickly.

A good opening hand does not need to be exciting

This may be the most important lesson.

Commander encourages spectacular plays.

We remember the turn where someone made 200 Goblins much more easily than the turn where we cast a Signet and passed.

But good opening hands are often boring.

Three lands.

Ramp.

Card draw.

Interaction.

A useful engine.

Nothing particularly ridiculous.

And that is completely fine.

Your opening hand does not need to win the game.

It needs to get you into the game.

If it develops your mana, gives you meaningful early plays and provides a reasonable path toward your deck's strategy, it is doing exactly what you need.

The ridiculous stuff can come later.

This is Commander.

It usually does.