What are the requirements for revealing your hand?
Asked by DaCeltics 12 years ago
My friend was playing a game and his opponent played Search Warrant . His opponent had him lay his cards spread out on the table and would not let him pick them up until he had written all the cards down. Is this legal?
Epochalyptik says... Accepted answer #2
When you reveal your hand, it must be completely revealed. Players are permitted to record the contents of each others' hands at this time. These notes may be referenced for the rest of the game.
November 4, 2012 4:08 p.m.
Are you sure Epochalyptik? The Magic: The Gathering Comprehensive Rules for realeal state:
701.13. Reveal
701.13a To reveal a card, show that card to all players for a brief time. If an effect causes a card to be revealed, it remains revealed for as long as necessary to complete the parts of the effect that card is relevant to. If the cost to cast a spell or activate an ability includes revealing a card, the card remains revealed from the time the spell or ability is announced until it the time it leaves the stack.
Making a player keep their hand revealed long enough to copy down every card might not be considered a "brief time." If you are supposed to select a target from those cards, you could wait to select one until you are done as the spell will remain on the stack, therefore keeping the hand revealed but, if the spell is just "Target player reveals their hand." I don't think you can force them to keep it revealed longer than a reasonable length of time.
November 5, 2012 6:36 a.m.
Epochalyptik says... #5
If you're intentionally stalling by slowly writing everything, then 701.13a becomes relevant. However, players are allowed to take notes, and a person writing at a normal speed should take a reasonable amount of time to copy the names of the cards in a hand. It's legal.
omaximov says... #1
Completely legal.
November 4, 2012 3:50 p.m.