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Anthony has Courser of Kruphix on the field. He begins resolving Dig Through Time.

While Dig Through Time is resolving, must the top card be kept separate from the other six?

I'm thinking that Anthony's opponent should know what happens to the top card because it is revealed. What I don't understand is how a judge could enforce this. Anthony could easily shuffle the cards around in his hand before choosing two of them (and in practice, most people who I've seen cast Dig Through Time do mix up the cards before finally settling on two of them).

What I think the rules allow for (emphasis on the part I made up):

Anthony leaves the top card revealed and separate while browsing through the other six, which remain hidden. He chooses two out of the seven and puts them into his hand. If Anthony chooses the top card, his opponent will know because it was kept revealed and separate.

I'm playing this deck at an invitational in two weeks and I need to know how to do this properly so that I can give the least amount of information to my opponents while not cheating.

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  • I know, but what I mean is why would you need to know what happens to the revealed 1? If you want to argue, you could argue that he takes the top 7 then reveals the top again... but that the first one should be seperate shouldn't matter? It would be giving the opponent more info then needed.
    – Lyrion
    Commented Oct 2, 2014 at 15:11
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    @Lyrion I can't understand your comments. They look like declaratory statements with question marks on the end. Can anyone parse what Lyrion is trying to say or ask so that I can respond clearly?
    – Rainbolt
    Commented Oct 2, 2014 at 15:16
  • I'm unclear on whether or not cards that you are currently "looking at" are still on top of your library. When you start to resolve Dig Through Time, and you are looking at those cards, are they considered to be in your library still at that time? If not, then shouldn't you reveal the next card as the new top of your library each time you pick one up to look at it?
    – GendoIkari
    Commented Oct 2, 2014 at 15:18
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    @Gendolkari I can answer that one: If you look at the top cards of your library, they are still in your library. They do not change zones. You can look this up by Googling "scry 2" "courser of kruphix". Hope that helps. Edit: Here is a related link that may be helpful. And in fact, I think it answered my question. Wish I had found that before...
    – Rainbolt
    Commented Oct 2, 2014 at 15:20
  • @Rainbolt I don't know, it looks like you deleted your comment that Lyrion was responding to, so it's harder for us to understand.
    – Cascabel
    Commented Oct 2, 2014 at 17:28

3 Answers 3

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Actually, I would argue that Anthony's opponent should not know where the revealed card ends up. When you manipulate cards in a hidden zone, what happens is not free or derived information. See rule 400.2 (emphasis mine)

400.2. Public zones are zones in which all players can see the cards' faces, except for those cards that some rule or effect specifically allow to be face down. Graveyard, battlefield, stack, exile, ante, and command are public zones. Hidden zones are zones in which not all players can be expected to see the cards' faces. Library and hand are hidden zones, even if all the cards in one such zone happen to be revealed.

So I would think while resolving Dig Through Time, and supposing X is on top of the library, the steps are:

(1) Look at the top seven cards of your library. [X is revealed at this point]

(2) Put two of them into hand and the rest on the bottom of the library in any order. [flip X over, perform this action, then reveal the new top card of the library]

Since the choices made for (2) above do not fall under the categories of free or derived info (library is still a hidden zone, see 400.2 above), I don't see why Anthony's opponent should know what happened to X.

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    The rules for scry don't explicitly say that, though. So presumably whatever rule makes you disclose that information would also make you disclose whether the top card went to bottom or to your hand? Or is there some reason that scry is different?
    – Cascabel
    Commented Oct 2, 2014 at 19:47
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    @Jefromi It sounds like Hao Ye is saying that you must indicate "how many" went on top and bottom, but not necessarily "which ones" went on top or bottom. It at least agrees with his answer.
    – Rainbolt
    Commented Oct 2, 2014 at 19:50
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    official confirmation from magic judges forum: "Anthony's opponent is not entitled to know whether the top card was one of the cards put into Anthony's hand or whether it was put onto the bottom. The fact that the Courser was revealing the top card of Anthony's library doesn't matter."
    – Hao Ye
    Commented Oct 2, 2014 at 23:34
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    @HaoYe Do you have a link? Since Scry uses the word "look" just like Dig Through Time does, I'm inclined to accept this answer as soon as you provide a reference for that quote. My problem with rule 402.1 is the "even if they happen to be revealed" part. If they happen to be revealed, then shouldn't they still happen to be revealed until it leaves your library? The card is either in your library or in your hand. There is no "in between" zone where you should be able to obfuscate which card you picked.
    – Rainbolt
    Commented Oct 3, 2014 at 13:11
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    @Rainbolt link, but this isn't publicly viewable. You need an account, which may only be possible if you are a judge or rules advisor (sign ups include DCI number and are checked against the database).
    – Hao Ye
    Commented Oct 3, 2014 at 23:04
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Moving a card is an action that affects the game state. You can't say "I moved the card, but I'm not telling you to where" because "details of current game actions and past game actions that still affect the game state" are free information.

Initially, Dig Through Time has you look at seven cards, not draw them. As such, they don't leave your library at this time. Later, you move them to your hand or to the bottom of your library. This is when the cards are revealed. As such, the opponent knows where the card ended up.

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You do not have to set the revealed card aside or reveal whether it goes to your hand or your graveyard.

The MTG Tournament rules lists the following as free information:

  • Details of current game actions and past game actions that still affect the game state.
  • The name of any visible object.
  • The type of any counter in a public zone.
  • The physical status (tapped/flipped/unattached/phased) and current zone of any object.
  • Player life totals, poison counter totals, and the game score of the current match.
  • The current step and/or phase and which player(s) are active

And it additionally lists the following as derived information (which is free in Regular REL):

  • The number of any type of objects present in any game zone.
  • All characteristics of objects in public zones that are not defined as free information.
  • Game Rules, Tournament Policy, Oracle content and any other official information pertaining to the current tournament. Cards are considered to have their Oracle text printed on them.

and, the most important rule here

Any information that is not free or derived is automatically private information

This means that free and derived information together are everything your opponent is entitled to know. While you are resolving the spell, you must tell your opponent the name of the card that is currently on top of your library (since you are only looking at the cards, it is the card that was revealed before you started resolving it). Once you have finished resolving the spell, your opponent has to know what card ends up on top of the library. But the most important point here is that you are not required to show your opponent the actual card while you are resolving the spell.

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  • Look at the ruling on Truth or Tale. The way it's worded, it implies that your opponent is entitled to know which card you chose. Here it is: "Step 4: You choose one of the cards in the chosen pile. Step 5: You put the chosen card in your hand." Why would one be entitled to know which card was chosen in that situation, but not in this situation?
    – Rainbolt
    Commented Oct 3, 2014 at 16:00
  • In that situation, all of the cards are revealed. I think that the fact that only one of the cards your are choosing from is revealed makes that ruling not apply in this case.
    – murgatroid99 ♦
    Commented Oct 3, 2014 at 16:41

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