"Learn all you can of this underground sea. I suspect more secrets of our ancestors lie waiting in its depths." —Tishana
Legal in
Standard, Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage, Penny, Commander, Oathbreaker, Brawl, Historic, Timeless
Rulings (7)
If an ability instructs a creature to explore, its controller reveals the top card of their library. If it's a land card, they'll put it into their hand. Otherwise, they'll put a +1/+1 counter on that creature, then choose to either leave that card on top of their library or put it into their graveyard.
2023-11-10
If a resolving spell or ability instructs a specific creature to explore but that creature has left the battlefield, the creature still explores. If you reveal a nonland card this way, you won't put a +1/+1 counter on anything, but you may put the revealed card into your graveyard. Effects that trigger "whenever a creature explores" trigger as appropriate.
2023-11-10
In some unusual cases, noncreature permanents may explore. For example, if the creature card returned by Defossilize is somehow not a creature once it's on the battlefield, it can still explore. You'll take all the same actions, and you may end up putting a +1/+1 counter on the permanent. (Note that some effects target a creature, and those effects would still require a legal target to have it explore.)
2023-11-10
If a creature leaves the battlefield before an effect instructs it to explore, it still explores. Abilities like Merfolk Cave-Diver's that trigger whenever a creature you control explores will still trigger.
2023-11-10