Everything We Know About The MTG Arena BO1 Hand Smoothing Algorithm

Last updated on May 15, 2024

Arena Bo1 Hand Smoothing Screenshot

When MTG Arena first released, one of the more controversial aspects of this MTG video game was the use of hand smoothing. While we’ve all gotten a lot more used to it as the years have gone by, it’s still something of a curiosity, as well as a target of the occasional conspiracy theory!

What is it, though? And how does it work? Do we even know that it does work? Let’s dig in.

What Is Hand Smoothing?

Cultivate | Illustration by Anthony Palumbo

Hand smoothing is something that MTG Arena does to influence your starting hand in most best-of-one formats. This process reduces the likelihood of having an unplayable hand. It’s probably important to mention that it’s not the same as the shuffler, which works by a different mechanism.

When hand smoothing is active, Arena looks at two possible starting hands, then chooses the one that has the most similar land to spell ratio as your deck has overall. This means that hands that have no lands or are all lands are incredibly rare in best-of-one formats.

How Does Hand Smoothing Work in Best of One?

Hand smoothing on Arena influences the number of lands you have in your starting hand. It does this by looking at two potential hands, then taking the one with the land distribution that most closely matches that of your overall deck. However, the number of lands in your starting hand is going to be influenced by the number of lands in your deck, so if you run a lot of lands you end up with more in your starting hand, on average.

If you want a deeper dive into how this affects your starting hand, I can’t recommend this tweet thread by Magic statistics aficionado Sierkovitz highly enough. It focuses on 40-card decks, but the lessons can easily be applied to 60- or 100-card decks, too!

Why We Need an Algorithm

Reduces the Number of Non-Games

The main reason that the hand smoother exists is to reduce the number of non-games you get on Arena due to mana screw or mana flood. Especially in Bo1, if you have to mulligan down to five cards due to opening hand issues, you’re probably not going to have much of a game, which isn’t particularly enjoyable for anyone. In Bo3, at least you have more games to compensate for bad luck.

Remember that the hand smoother only affects your initial hand, not the cards you draw afterwards.

More Appealing to Newer Players

New players coming to Arena, particularly those coming from other games, may find the idea of having 1/3 of your deck as “unplayable” cards unappealing, particularly if this then leads to some non-games. The land system is iconic to Magic, and it probably influenced its popularity today, but there’s a reason why other, more modern games have avoided similar systems in their design. Introducing the hand smoother limits these non-games that might otherwise turn these players off.

Is It an Improvement?

There’s an argument that the hand smoother is simply an improvement on how Magic works. When you sit down to play against someone, of course you want to win, but you also want to play some Magic! It's simply not fun if you don’t really get a game because your opponent had to mull to oblivion, despite the free win. Not everyone agrees, but there are some out there who prefer Magic with a hand smoother.

Strategic Implications

Limited

Limited decks generally run 17 lands in a 40-card deck, and many Limited tools and podcasts make reference to this well-known rule of thumb. Sometimes you’ll deviate from this number, but it’s a great place to start when thinking about how to build your Limited deck. The hand smoother makes it much more likely that you’ll want to run 16 cards in your deck, as the main reason for that 17^th land is often to ensure you get a keepable starting hand in a format with a small deck. The hand smoother compensates for this somewhat, although there are plenty of times you’ll still want to keep 17 lands in your deck, or even higher numbers.

Constructed

Generally, the hand smoother is less important for Constructed formats like Standard or Historic, unless you’re running a very low to the ground aggro deck. In these cases, there’s some justification to run an incredibly low number of lands, sometimes as low as 15, and relying on the hand smoother to give you an opening hand with two lands in it. That said, if you push it too far, you’re more likely to end up with one or zero lands in your hand!

Competitive Integrity

What Is Controversial About Hand Smoothing?

Probably the most controversial part about hand smoothing is that it’s something that doesn’t, and can’t exist in the paper game. This is always going to rub some people the wrong way, as paper Magic is seen by many to be the epitome of competitive play. There’s a reason why the Pro Tour and the likes have moved away from eSports!

Is Hand Smoothing the Same for All MTGA Formats?

Hand smoothing only exists in the Bo1 formats on Arena. It’s been kept out of Bo3 formats, as it’s thought that in those formats you have extra opportunities to come back from bad luck across a number of games.

Wrap Up

Promise of Loyalty | Illustration by Sara Winters

The hand smoother is up there with the shuffler as one of the more hated aspects of MTG Arena (and it’s often conflated with it). However, it’s probably a very good idea, and one that you generally don’t notice working until it’s not there anymore. Most people probably don’t even realize it’s a thing!

What do you think, though? Fantastic digital-only addition, or the worst thing ever? I can see both sides, but would love to hear your thoughts on the matter. Let me know in the comments below or over at the Draftsim Discord.

Until next time, I hope your hands are keepable!