So I was playing yesterday when we were faced with a situation where we didn't know what to do. Simply put, my opponent played Opt while Lantern of Insight was in play. So he decided to put the card at the bottom (we already knew what it was since it was revealed), and then drew the next card. The question is: Would the card be revealed between the scried and the draw? He said he didn't think so, and wasn't sure if state based actions took place between effects of a resolving spell.
"If the top card of your library changes while you’re casting a spell or activating an ability, the new top card won’t be revealed until you finish casting that spell or activating that ability." According to this, I think it wouldn't be revealed.
However, the next section says that "When playing with the top card of your library revealed, if an effect tells you to draw several cards, reveal each one before you draw it." I know that Opt doesn't make you draw several cards, but I see a similarity in changing the top card of the library before drawing a new one.
The first cited ruling applies only while a spell is being cast or ability activated, and not in general (C.R. 401.5). In general, while a continuous effect reveals the top card of a player's library (as with Lantern of Insight), and the top card changes (such as by scrying [C.R. 701.17a]), the new top card is immediately revealed before anything else happens (C.R. 611.3b for static abilities; C.R. 611.2a for continuous effects from resolving spells and abilities). For the scenario you give, this is because scrying and drawing a card are sequential actions (they use two action verbs, "scry" and "draw", where scrying has its own sequential actions [C.R. 701.17a]) (C.R. 608.2c).
The rule you quoted is irrelevant for the scenario, since you are not changing the top card of the library while casting a spell, you are resolving one. Similarly, state based actions play no role in this scenario, since those aren't checked while a spell/ability is resolving, only afterwards when it is finished. A spell or ability can have multiple effects, like Opt, which has two effects, first the scry 1, then the draw. In between these effects, the new top card will be revealed. Thus all players know, what card is being drawn since it has been revealed before the draw.
So I was playing yesterday when we were faced with a situation where we didn't know what to do. Simply put, my opponent played Opt while Lantern of Insight was in play. So he decided to put the card at the bottom (we already knew what it was since it was revealed), and then drew the next card. The question is: Would the card be revealed between the scried and the draw? He said he didn't think so, and wasn't sure if state based actions took place between effects of a resolving spell.
The rules on the WotC site (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=73927) say that:
"If the top card of your library changes while you’re casting a spell or activating an ability, the new top card won’t be revealed until you finish casting that spell or activating that ability." According to this, I think it wouldn't be revealed.
However, the next section says that "When playing with the top card of your library revealed, if an effect tells you to draw several cards, reveal each one before you draw it." I know that Opt doesn't make you draw several cards, but I see a similarity in changing the top card of the library before drawing a new one.
What do you guys think? Is there a clear answer?
Thanks a lot, and cheers!
Former Rules Advisor
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