Library

Game terms · beginner

A player's library is their deck once the game has started: a single face-down pile nobody may look at or reorder.

How it works

• When a game begins, each player's deck becomes their library. [401.1]
• Each library is kept in a single face-down pile. Players can't look at it or change the order of its cards. [401.2]
• Any player may count the cards remaining in any library at any time. [401.3]

Rules notes

• If an effect puts two or more cards in a specific position at once, their owner arranges them in any order and does not reveal that order. [401.4]
• Putting a card "Nth from the top" of a library with fewer than N cards puts it on the bottom. [401.7]
• While an effect has you play with the top card revealed, a change to the top card mid-cast is not revealed until the spell becomes cast. [401.5] A top card that stops being revealed and is revealed again becomes a new object. [401.6]
• Counting is public, so the number of cards left is always legal information even though the cards are not.

Rule reference

[401.1] [401.2] [401.3] [401.4] [401.5] [401.6] [401.7]