Mulligan Strategy

The mulligan should look for a functional sequence rather than for good cards. A keepable opener normally has an early body, a three or four-Energy payoff, and a tactical bridge: Ambush, card flow, Legion, Thrill, or interaction.

Premium openings

Early body plus Kinkou Initiate plus a second unit is the default card-flow hand. The early body establishes presence, and the second unit or the Legend trigger gets Kinkou to its five-Might condition, so the deck keeps deploying without emptying its hand.

Pit Rookie plus another meaningful body gives you a permanent buff and a temporary allocation from one card, and they can be combined at one battlefield or divided across two.^◆src

Any cheap card plus Noxus Hopeful is the highest Might per Energy the deck produces. It is strongest when the first card is a unit, because then the sequence generates two Legend triggers and six or more printed Might for very little Energy.^◆src

Early body plus Nidalee, Cat Form or Inferna on the draw lets you establish a battlefield while keeping a reaction-speed unit for their development. Inferna is best when you already control a unit at the relevant battlefield; Nidalee is best when the combat can actually be won, which turns the Ambush into tempo and a card.

A value unit plus Thrill of the Hunt is keepable when the hand already holds something worth replaying: Pit Rookie, First Mate, Kinkou Initiate, Brynhir in a slower matchup, or an Accelerate unit you can afford to replay ready. Thrill without an appropriate target is a speculative keep.

Acceptable slower hands

One two-Energy unit, one three-Energy unit, Kai’Sa, Survivor or Rengar, Unseen, and one interactive spell is usually fine even with no Kinkou and no Thrill. The list is dense enough that the following draws are very likely to be units, so you do not need to mulligan every hand that lacks a named engine.

Hands to recycle

• Brynhir plus Ferrous with no early development. Both are strong and neither contests the first scoring cycle.
• Two Punch First. High output, no body, no card, no future Legend trigger, and usually not enough development.
• Falling Star with no matchup for it or no Fury access. Its Power burden is real.
• Unsupported Thrill. On Trophy Hunter or Ferrous it is mostly a reposition plus one trigger.
• Kinkou with no path to five other Might. It is not an unconditional cantrip.
• Two six-Energy units. One may be kept when the rest of the hand is excellent; two almost never.

On the play

Prioritise Pit Rookie, Irresistible Faefolk, Determined Sentry, Kinkou with a threshold plan, Noxus Hopeful sequences, Emperor’s Dais pressure, and hands that can establish the first battlefield without spending Punch First. You are more willing to keep proactive units and less willing to keep Falling Star.

On the draw

Prioritise Inferna, Nidalee, Cat Form, Trophy Hunter access, Falling Star against small-unit decks, multiple bodies, and a hand that can contest their first scoring lane without surrendering the second. You are less willing to keep a purely proactive hand that cannot respond to their first commitment.