P.1 - Starting the Game


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P.1.1- Prior to the first phase of the first turn of the game, each player brings their deck to the play area and shuffles it. The opponent may also shuffle the deck. Each player's deck becomes their Library (see Rule Z.6). [CompRules 2001/07/23 - 101.1]

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P.1.2- The Library size for constructed deck play must be 60 or more cards. For sealed deck play, the deck must be 40 or more cards. There is no maximum deck size in either style. [CompRules 2001/07/23 - 100.2/3/4]

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P.1.3- A constructed deck may have any number of basic lands, but not more than four copies of any other card. Sealed deck play allows any number of any card. Two cards are the same if they have the same English name, even if they are in different languages or have different artwork. [CompRules 2001/07/23 - 100.2]

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P.1.4- One player gets to choose if they want to go first or not. The player that goes first skips their draw during their first draw step. This is called the "play or draw" choice. [CompRules 2001/07/23 - 101.2/4]

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P.1.5- If this is the first game between players, randomly determine who gets the choice in Rule P.1.4. If this is not the first game of a match, then the loser of the previous game chooses. If the previous game was a draw, then the player who chose last time chooses this time. [CompRules 2001/07/23 - 101.2]

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P.1.6- After the choice is made, each player draws a hand of 7 cards and the game begins with each player having 20 life. [CompRules 2001/07/23 - 101.3]

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P.1.7- Each player may choose to "mulligan" if they do not like their starting hand. To do this, the player shuffles their hand back into their deck, then draws a new hand of six cards. The player may repeat this process, drawing one fewer card each time, until the hand reaches zero cards. Once the player who is going to go first in the game decides to keep their hand, the next player makes their choice. [CompRules 2001/07/23 - 101.5]

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