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Defossilize
Sorcery
uncommon
Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. That creature explores, then it explores again. (Reveal the top card of your library. Put that card into your hand if it's a land. Otherwise, put a +1/+1 counter on that creature, then put the card back or put it into your graveyard. Then repeat this process.)
Card Kingdom
CardmarketSemantic Tags
Puts additional cards into your hand. Includes direct draw, 'look/reveal and put into hand' effects, and conditional draw triggers.
Cares about +1/+1 counters — places, moves, doubles, or benefits from counters on creatures.
A keyword ability that lets a player return a card from their graveyard to their hand. See rule 702.52, “Dredge.”
Cares about cards in the graveyard, puts cards into the graveyard, or benefits from things dying.
Returns cards from the graveyard to your hand, the battlefield, or the top of your library.
Returns cards from the graveyard to your hand, the battlefield, or the top of your library.
Puts creatures into the graveyard then returns them to the battlefield cheaply.
Returns cards from graveyard to hand or library (not battlefield — that is reanimation).
Cares about or manipulates the top card(s) of your library. Includes scry, surveil, and top-deck payoffs.
Cares about or manipulates the top of library — Sensei's Top, miracles, Future Sight.
Searches your library for a specific card. Named after Demonic Tutor. Excludes land search (that's ramp).
A keyword ability that can return a creature from the graveyard to the battlefield. See rule 702.93, “Undying.”
Format Legality
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Printings (1)
| Set | Rarity | TCGplayer | Card Kingdom | Cardmarket |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Lost Caverns of Ixalan#103 | uncommon | · | · | · |
Related Concepts
Related Rules
A Map token is a colorless Map artifact token with “{1}, {T}, Sacrifice this token: Target creature you control explores. Activate only as a sorcery.” See rule 701.44, “Explore.”
Explore
Certain spells and abilities instruct a permanent to explore. To do so, that permanent’s controller reveals the top card of their library. If a land card is revealed this way, that player puts that card into their hand. Otherwise, that player puts a +1/+1 counter on the exploring permanent and may put the revealed card into their graveyard.
If a permanent changes zones before an effect causes it to explore, its last known information is used to determine which object explored and who controlled it.
If multiple permanents are instructed to explore at the same time, the first player in APNAP order who controls (or, in the case of a permanent no longer on the battlefield, last controlled; see rule 701.44c) one or more of those permanents chooses one of them and it explores. Then this process is repeated for each remaining instruction to explore.
Dredge
Dredge is a static ability that functions only while the card with dredge is in a player’s graveyard. “Dredge N” means “As long as you have at least N cards in your library, if you would draw a card, you may instead mill N cards and return this card from your graveyard to your hand.”
A player with fewer cards in their library than the number required by a dredge ability can’t mill any of them this way.
Rulings
Once an ability that causes a creature to explore begins to resolve, no player may take any other actions until it's done. Notably, opponents can't try to remove the exploring creature after you reveal a nonland card but before it receives a counter.
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.)
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.
If no card is revealed, most likely because that player's library is empty, the exploring creature receives a +1/+1 counter.
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.
Some spells or abilities might cause a creature to explore multiple times in a row. If you reveal a nonland card when a creature explores and leave it on top of your library, then the creature explores again immediately afterwards, you'll reveal the same card again.