Merfolk Cave-Diver
Creature — Merfolk Scout
"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, Commander, Brawl, Historic
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