Can my opponent ask which manifest is which card, if I control a Courser of Kruphix and Whisperwood Elemental?
Asked by Cookieboy1221 8 years ago
I am playing someone and I have a Courser of Kruphix and Whisperwood Elemental on the board. 3 Turns have gone by and I have 3 Manifests on the board too. I have clearly marked which ones came in first, second and third. My opponent asks which card is which...does he have the right to know which manifest is which card because he has seen them on top of my library?
I hope this is understandable...
To be perfectly clear, this is what's known as derived information as far as the rules are concerned.
- Derived information is information to which all players are entitled access, but opponents are not obliged to assist in determining and may require some skill or calculation to determine.
At a Competitive REL event you are required to respond truthfully to your opponents question about derived information, but you're not required to give the exact details. A classic example is asking how big a Tarmogoyf is. You're not required to give them a number - so they can make mistakes accordingly, but neither can you lie to them either and must give them the correct method to determine it themselves.
At a Regular REL event - like FNM, derived information is considered free information and you should be answering fully.
July 27, 2015 12:59 p.m. Edited.
Cookieboy1221 says... #3
So...does my opponent have the right to know what the manifested card is?
July 27, 2015 1:10 p.m.
canterlotguardian says... #4
No because it is a face-down card. Unless they have something like Lens of Clarity, they don't get to know what it is until you morph it.
July 27, 2015 1:12 p.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #5
No. The identity of the face-down permanents is private information, not derived information. You aren't required to tell your opponent what they are at any REL. The order in which the face-down permanents entered the battlefield is free information, however, and you do have to answer questions about that subject honestly and completely.
Free information includes:
- 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 contents of each player's mana pool.
- The current step and/or phase and which player(s) are active.
Derived information includes:
- 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.
Any information that's neither free nor derived is private.
July 27, 2015 1:16 p.m.
Cookieboy1221 says... #6
So they aren't allowed to know even if they have seen it through my Courser of Kruphix? Only the order they came in?
July 27, 2015 1:20 p.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #7
They're "allowed" to know (maybe they took notes), but you don't have to tell them. The front face of the manifested cards doesn't meet any of the definitions for free or derived information.
July 27, 2015 1:32 p.m.
You don't have to tell them.
If they've been paying attention, they should be able to figure it out based on what was on top of your library at the time, and they're allowed to do the calculations.
but you don't have to tell them which card is which. You only have to tell them which card was manifested first, which was manifested second, etc.
July 27, 2015 1:33 p.m. Edited.
Cookieboy1221 says... #9
Thanks for your answers guys. It's all been appreciated. Hopefully I don't have this issue when playing my deck at game day. :)
Sam_I_am says... Accepted answer #1
As long as your opponent knows the order the manifested cards came into play, and as long as your opponent had ample opportunity to see those creatures when they were on top of you're library, then you're set.
You don't have to remind your opponent what creature happened to be on top of your library when you manifested the creatures, just as you don't have to reveal cards in your hand that use to be on top of your library.
July 27, 2015 11:59 a.m. Edited.