Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 hours ago
This week we are trying something new. A journal club. And the reason for it is very simple - there are not that many Magic-related scientific papers out there. But last week Jess Williams and Zev Goldhaber-Gordon released a very interesting paper on opening hands, land percentages, mulliganing and mana flood.
I invited both authors to talk about their findings and what implications they have for Magic players. We will be talking about BO3 mulligan rates, links between player win rate and mulligan rate, causes for any trends in that. We will also look at a neat method of estimating optimal land composition, and impact of both mana screw and flood.
Jess and Zev are both PhD students with impressive scientific pedigree, but also Magic players with notable successes under their belts, so they combine the rigour needed for those sorts of analyses with understanding of the game.
You can follow them here:
Jess Williams: https://x.com/mtg_jess
Zev Goldhaber-Gordon: https://bsky.app/profile/zergog.bsky.social
And - most importantly find the paper here in its simplified version (the link to the full paper can be found in there too):
medium.com/@mtg_jess/opening-hand-evaluation-in-limited-executive-summary-8360a819e2e6
If you are interested in getting to know me better - I have a free discord with over 600 members. Join to chat about data, limited and see my futile attempts to make food that looks as good as it tasted. Also - cat and dog pictures.
discord.gg/Sk5HWdgKu4
If you are interested in coaching - ping me a message. Here. On Discord. On Twitter. You can find my socials on
https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz
This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business.
If you like the videos I put out, consider becoming a patron on
patreon.com/sierkovitz
to get extra access, perks and the good feeling of supporting my work.
I do understand Patreon is a commitment, if you can't commit, but still would like to help me - like, sub, comment, share.
You can get the BulkBox at bulkbox.co.uk/store if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount!
If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website.
This week we are trying something new. A journal club. And the reason for it is very simple - there are not that many Magic-related scientific papers out there. But last week Jess Williams and Zev Goldhaber-Gordon released a very interesting paper on opening hands, land percentages, mulliganing and mana flood.
I invited both authors to talk about their findings and what implications they have for Magic players. We will be talking about BO3 mulligan rates, links between player win rate and mulligan rate, causes for any trends in that. We will also look at a neat method of estimating optimal land composition, and impact of both mana screw and flood.
Jess and Zev are both PhD students with impressive scientific pedigree, but also Magic players with notable successes under their belts, so they combine the rigour needed for those sorts of analyses with understanding of the game.
You can follow them here:
Jess Williams: https://x.com/mtg_jess
Zev Goldhaber-Gordon: https://bsky.app/profile/zergog.bsky.social
And - most importantly find the paper here in its simplified version (the link to the full paper can be found in there too):
medium.com/@mtg_jess/opening-hand-evaluation-in-limited-executive-summary-8360a819e2e6
If you are interested in getting to know me better - I have a free discord with over 600 members. Join to chat about data, limited and see my futile attempts to make food that looks as good as it tasted. Also - cat and dog pictures.
discord.gg/Sk5HWdgKu4
If you are interested in coaching - ping me a message. Here. On Discord. On Twitter. You can find my socials on
https://linktr.ee/sierkovitz
This podcast is sponsored by mtgazone.com - get your reading fix from the best and brightest Magic writers in the business.
If you like the videos I put out, consider becoming a patron on
patreon.com/sierkovitz
to get extra access, perks and the good feeling of supporting my work.
I do understand Patreon is a commitment, if you can't commit, but still would like to help me - like, sub, comment, share.
You can get the BulkBox at bulkbox.co.uk/store if you are in the UK. Remember to use SIERKO10 code for a 10% discount!
If you are outside of UK, you can find your local distributor on the BulkBox website.
