So it’s your first FNM. You’re all ready to go, with your Dimir milling deck. Pairings are posted, and you sit down at your table. But now what do you do, before you start your first game?

The first thing you want to do is pull out your deck and start shuffling. This can also be a good time to make sure you have at least the minimum number of cards in your deck (60 for constructed, 40 for limited). Hopefully, while you’re shuffling, your opponent has arrived at the table and has also pulled out their deck and started shuffling.

The next step is to determine who will choose whether they will go first or second. Going first means you skip your first draw step (so you won’t draw a card on your first turn).

If this is the first game of the match, then you need to randomly decide who will make this decision. Any random method will work. Some people will roll a die or dice, or play paper/rock/scissor. There are other ways, just make sure that both players agree and that it’s random. If it’s the second, third, etc. game of the match, then the loser of the previous game will get to choose whether to play first or second. One final note here: if the player who is making the decision looks at their hand of cards before making that decision, they have chosen to play first by default.

Speaking of hand of cards, once both players have shuffled their decks and decided who will go first, both players draw their opening hand of seven cards. Starting with the player who is playing first that game, that player decides whether they will mulligan their hand or not. After they make that choice, the opponent also makes the choice whether to mulligan or keep his or her hand. If they choose to mulligan, they will shuffle their hand into their library, then they’ll draw one less card in their new hand (so they’ll go from the initial seven cards down to six, then five, etc). This continues until both players are satisfied with their opening hands. Note that once a player chooses to keep a hand, that choice is locked in, even if the opponent continues to mulligan. You can’t say, “I guess I’ll keep…” then when your opponent mulligans from 7 to 6, and again from 6 to 5, decide “Oh, well now I guess I can mulligan…” It doesn’t work that way! Once that’s done, we’re ready to go! Good luck!

Today’s Rules Tip written by Nate Long