Hello,

While a player A controls another player B, can A know what cards are hidden by B's permanent with Hideaway?

I was told A cannot because, despite he controls B, he does not control B's permanents (cf. 712.3) whereas the definition of Hideaway in 702.74a states that only a player who has controlled the permanent with Hideaway may look at the hidden card.

However it seems to me that, since A controls B, per 712.5 he can compel B to look at the hidden card, which makes it visible to B, then per 712.4 the hidden card should become visible to A too. Am I mistaken?

Thanks by advance for your help.

Yes, they can look at it. Here's the definition of hideaway from the Comprehensive Rules:

702.74a Hideaway represents a static ability and a triggered ability. “Hideaway” means “This permanent enters the battlefield tapped” and “When this permanent enters the battlefield, look at the top four cards of your library. Exile one of them face down and put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order. The exiled card gains ‘Any player who has controlled the permanent that exiled this card may look at this card in the exile zone.’”

Since your opponent controls the hideaway land, since you're controlling their turn, you can look at what card they have exiled by the hideaway land. In addition, we also have 406.3, which says (in part) that once a player is allowed to look at a face down card, they are allowed to look at it in the future, even if what allows them to look at the face down card no longer applies. So yes, while controlling their turn, you can look at the face down card exiled by the hideaway land.

406.3. Exiled cards are, by default, kept face up and may be examined by any player at any time. Cards “exiled face down” can’t be examined by any player except when instructions allow it. However, once a player is allowed to look at a card exiled face down, that player may continue to look at that card as long as it remains exiled, even if the instruction allowing the player to do so no longer applies.

EDIT: And, as point out to me, 712.4 lets you know that you have access to all of the information that player has access to, including face down cards they can look at:

712.4. If information about an object would be visible to the player being controlled, it’s visible to both that player and the controller of the player.
Example: The controller of a player can see that player’s hand and the face of any face-down creatures he or she controls.

Nathan Long
Wizards.Com Boards NetRep

Edited Nathan Long (May 30, 2014 03:13:21 PM)