If a card from my grave goes to my hand, am I required to reveal it?
Asked by Necromancing 11 years ago
This happened to me during M14 game day, but I never came around to asking the question here. I had a Deadbridge Chant out and my opponent was writing down the contents of my graveyard -- which is cool and all, 'cause what's in the grave is supposed to be open knowledge. But when Deadbridge Chant triggers on my upkeep and I have a randomly selected noncreature spell go to my hand, do I have to reveal it? My opponent argued that, because the contents of the grave yard are open knowledge, I have to reveal it. My retort was that, despite the grave being open knowledge, the text on Deadbridge Chant does not explicitly state that I have to reveal the card.
I'm assuming what you did was pick up your graveyard, shuffle it, and then pulled a card out face-down, looked at it, and said "It's a non-creature, it goes into my hand" but since there are separate instructions for separate kinds of card, that is typically exactly when you must reveal it to prove, for example, that it's not a creature spell.
It doesn't say you must reveal the card because the selection isn't supposed to be private in the first place. For a graveyard of less than 20 cards, you probably ought to just roll a d20 and count down from the top of the graveyard. If it's easier for you to just pick up and shuffle, you'd put your pick face-up on the table, put your graveyard back, and -then- put the selected card into your hand or onto the battlefield.
October 17, 2013 8:23 a.m.
I think shuffling your graveyard is actually not allowed because I don't think your allowed to change the order of your graveyard because of cards that say things like "remove the top card of your graveyard" or similar stuff like that and shuffling would change what the top card is. Even if you can't return things from your graveyard to your hand with cards other than Deadbridge Chant or if you have no reanimation effects, your opponent might. In a casual atmosphere this might not be a big issue but if your playing in a tournament of any kind someone could call a judge over and there might be issues with it.
October 17, 2013 10:08 a.m.
Gidgetimer says... #4
As long as he isn't playing legacy or vintage it doesn't matter. The tournament rules read:
3.14Graveyard OrderIn formats involving only cards from Urzas Sagaand later, players may change the order of their graveyard at any time. A player may not change the order of an opponents graveyard.
October 17, 2013 10:31 a.m.
Epochalyptik says... #5
abenz419 points out something important here. Technically, you are not supposed to change the physical order of the cards in any graveyard because there are cards that depend on that order. For example, Death Spark .
October 17, 2013 11:09 a.m.
Except in Standard, Modern, or any current Draft or Sealed event, in which case you can move your graveyard around whenever you want.
October 17, 2013 11:29 a.m.
Epochalyptik says... #7
@Devonin: Only because there aren't currently any cards in those formats that interact with graveyard order. It's still good practice to leave your graveyard in the order in which it was created because it helps recreate the game in the event a judge must be called to sort something out.
October 17, 2013 11:35 a.m.
Gidgetimer says... #8
But there is a difference between good practice and not being allowed to do it. You are allowed to shuffle your GY, put all of your flash back cards on the top, put all your creatures on top, put all your dredge cards on top, organize your GY by collector's #, or what ever else you want to do to it if you are playing a format "involving only cards from Urza's Saga and later."
Absinthman says... Accepted answer #1
Your opponent doesn't need to write down what's in your graveyard. Every player is allowed to look though any player's graveyard at any time. When Deadbridge Chant triggers, you choose a card at random in that "open" graveyard, so your opponent sees what card has been chosen. Then, if it's a creature, it goes onto the battlefield. If not, it goes into your hand.
October 17, 2013 5:20 a.m.