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My opponent controls an Aven Mindcensor.

If an opponent would search a library, that player searches the top four cards of that library instead.

I have a Panglacial Wurm in my deck.

While you're searching your library, you may cast Panglacial Wurm from your library.

I cast a Rampant Growth (or any other card that allows me to search my library).

What is the ruling on my ability to cast the Panglacial Wurm?

I can see one of three possible answers.

  1. You cannot cast Panglacial Wurm. You aren't searching your library, you're searching the top four cards of your library.
  2. You can cast Panglacial Wurm, but only if it's in the top 4 cards of your library. Aven Mindcensor prevents you from looking any further into your library, and if you can't find Panglacial Wurm then you can't cast it.
  3. You can cast Panglacial Wurm, regardless of where it is in your library. It's in your library, and you're searching your library.

I have a feeling it's either 1 or 3, but I'm unsure. What is the correct ruling?

DenisS
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1 Answers1

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It is option 2, you can cast Panglacial Wurm if it is in the top 4 cards.

701.18f If searching a zone is replaced with searching a portion of that zone, any other instructions that refer to searching the zone still apply. [...]

Because Aven Mindcensor uses the word "search" in the replacement, it is still searching. It is just now searching a sub-set of your library.

The regular event of searching your library never happens in this case, so a Wurm somewhere else in your library won't do anything:

614.6 If an event is replaced, it never happens. A modified event occurs instead, which may in turn trigger abilities. Note that the modified event may contain instructions that can’t be carried out, in which case the impossible instruction is simply ignored.

The reason number 3 doesn't work is that you don't have the Wurm available to cast. If you aren't seeing it while searching, you have no way of "knowing" that it is even in your library. You wouldn't be allowed to rely on having your deck list memorized to know that. And even if you do know for sure that it's in there, you aren't allowed to search the rest of your library to find it in order to cast it.

This was addressed and confirmed by a judge here.

Andrew
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GendoIkari
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  • Interesting, that was the last option I would have thought, but having the Judge confirm it also confirms your reading of the rules. Accepted and upvoted. – DenisS Mar 02 '20 at 16:46
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    @DenisS I tried finding a specific comprehensive rule that would explain why it's not #3, but couldn't find a specific rule. I think mostly it would fall into trying to do something impossible, covered by 101.3. You can choose to try and cast it; but you would fail to do so because you don't have actual access to the card to move it to the stack. – GendoIkari Mar 02 '20 at 16:51
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    Now that I think about it, it's possible to remove the wurm from my library without me knowing it. Thieving Amalgam allows you to manifest from your opponent's library. Any number of cards that make me exile cards from my library face down. I know that Wurm was in my deck at the beginning of the game, but I can't prove that he's in there at any given point. – DenisS Mar 02 '20 at 17:20
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    Interesting example. It still seems like a weird interaction because as literally written, Wurm does allow you to cast it in this case; it doesn't specify that the Wurm has to be among the searched cards to do so. It's just so happens that if Wurm is not among the searched card; casting it becomes impossible. – GendoIkari Mar 02 '20 at 17:48
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    Specifically, this ruling on Mindcensor "Each search works exactly the same as normal except that the opponent doing the searching sees only the top four cards of that library. They can’t look at the other cards in that library at all. Cards not in the top four cards of the library can’t be found in the search, even if they’re identifiable in some manner." I can't prove Wurm is in there because I can't look at the rest of my library. It's not just that I cant find a card in the rest of the library, I literally can't look at it. – DenisS Mar 02 '20 at 18:25
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    This answer's confusing in that Rule 701.18f appears to assert the opposite: that effects that trigger on searching the library still happen even if only a subset of the library is being searched. – Nat Mar 03 '20 at 03:31
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    To note it, I'm sympathetic to the interpretation that effects that trigger when a card is in a searched zone are intended to trigger when that card is found via search of that zone. But as written, Rule 701.18f appears to specify the opposite: that cards that trigger when a zone is searched still trigger whenever that zone is searched, even in part, mooting whether the relevant card is within the partial search area. – Nat Mar 03 '20 at 03:41
  • @Nat Note that Panglacial Wurm doesn't have a triggered ability, but rather a static ability. 603.2e actually shows that it would be impossible to have a card hidden in your library with a triggered ability like this; the object must be visible to all players at the time that it triggers. I quoted 701.18f for the first sentence; to show that what you are doing still counts as searching your library. – GendoIkari Mar 03 '20 at 14:23
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    I've elided that part of the rule so as to avoid confusion. – doppelgreener Mar 03 '20 at 15:04
  • @GendoIkari 113.6b would provide an exception to 603.2e here though, as the ability on Pangalacial Wurm specifies that it functions "from the library" and also "while x, you may y" is the same format that triggered abilities follow (though a rare implementation, since most triggers are instant conditions not a time range), and not any format used for static abilities. Nothing to me shows it is a static ability rather than triggered. – Andrew Mar 03 '20 at 15:56
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    @Andrew Triggered abilities must start with When/Whenever/At. "While" is not listed as an option (603.1). 113.6b says that the ability "functions", although I don't know if the rules are clear what exactly "functions" means. I would say that 603.2e actually overrides 113.6b, IF it were a triggered ability. The ability may function (as in, because it's a triggered ability, it looks for things that would trigger it), but 303.2e makes it so that when the condition is met, it doesn't get triggered. – GendoIkari Mar 03 '20 at 16:04
  • @GendoIkari I wouldn't agree though, while you're right that the word while is not specifically listed under 603.1, the ability really doesn't fall under 604.1 either, and the rest of the format is exactly the same as that in 603.1 triggered "while [condition], [effect]" I'd argue that Wurm is triggered on balance of how it functions and 113.6b overrides 603.2e because of 101.1 – Andrew Mar 03 '20 at 16:08
  • @Andrew Aside from the fact that a judge confirmed my answer, as linked, how would you see your interpretation working? The Wurm triggers, but it's somewhere within your library, and you aren't allowed to look through your library to find it? How would you physically cast it when you can't legally see or know where the card is? – GendoIkari Mar 03 '20 at 16:10
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    @Andrew Also worth noting, if it were a triggered ability, then it would only go on the stack the next time a player gets priority... which would be after the searching is completely done. So you would fully resolve Rampant Growth, and only THEN would the Wurm's triggered ability go on the stack, allowing you to cast it. But that this point, the Wurm would be shuffled somewhere randomly in your library. It simply wouldn't ever be possible to cast it. – GendoIkari Mar 03 '20 at 16:14
  • @GendoIkari The judge never said anything about static vs triggered, and we agree it would only trigger if in the top 4, as the rest of the library is not being searched and thus A) the condition of the search containing the Wurm is not met or B) your exact point there, you can't legally see or know where the deeper Wurm(s) are and cannot thus resolve the trigger. Effectively treating the library as having only those 4 cards for purposes of search. – Andrew Mar 03 '20 at 16:14
  • Let us continue this discussion in chat. – Andrew Mar 03 '20 at 16:15