Hello judges,

today I had an interesting conversation with a judge, and since we couldn't agree, I just wanted to hear your opinion on this.


So my opponent is resolving Infinite Obliteration on me, naming Goblin Dark-Dwellers. In my deck there's three Goblin Dark-Dwellers with the regular artwork from Oath of the Gatewatch, and there's another Goblin Dark-Dwellers foil promo with the different artwork. So, he's finding the three Goblin Dark-Dwellers with the original artworks, but he misses the forth one with the alternative promo artwork.

He's wondering, because he expected my deck to have 4 Dark-Dwellers and there's no copy of it in any other game-zone. He asks “Are these all the Dark-Dwellers you got or is there another one I'm missing?”.

As far as I know the library is no public zone, even during the resolution of Infinite Obliteration or Slaughter Games.

As far as I understand it the content of my library is entirely private information (except for the number of cards, which would be derived information), so I'm allowed to lie about the content of my library, right?

Right now I'm failing to see how this would be different during the resolution of Infinite Obliteration, so when my opponent asks me if those three Goblin Dark-Dwellers are all the Dark-Dwellers I have, then I'm allowed to lie about that.

Am I missing something here? I understand that it's not nice to do this, but judging only from a tournament rules perspective, this is legal, right?

You are under no obligation to be truthful about private information.

d:^D

You are allowed to lie, but you are not forced to lie…

Other than lying, I'd prefer say“you guess” which is permitted by both the rule and my moral XD

By the way, maybe this is why some players love alternative arts and/or foreign language

I'd say a safer bet would be to say something like, “those are all you found, right?” That way you're still not LYING outright.

Lets go to the documents, and the annotated IPG:

http://blogs.magicjudges.org/rules/mtr4-1/

Private information is information to which players have access only if they are able to determine it from the current visual game state or their own record of previous game actions.

Any information that is not free or derived is automatically private information.
Private information is the catchall category for everything that is not free or derived information. For example, the contents of hidden zones (i.e., library and hand) and the identity of face-down cards in public zones are considered private information. Players are allowed to give their opponents false information about the contents of a hidden zone. For example, if a player casts Slaughter Games and names Scapeshift, his opponent may say that he or she only has three copies of Scapeshift in his or her library, even if it actually contains four.

“I only have three” (ie: an outright lie) is a perfectly acceptable answer.

Originally posted by La Miao:

You are allowed to lie, but you are not forced to lie…

Other than lying, I'd prefer say“you guess” which is permitted by both the rule and my moral XD

By the way, maybe this is why some players love alternative arts and/or foreign language

Having Japanese Fireblasts won me a match vs Belcher in Legacy. Opponent saw my hand and asked what the card did. He never asked if it was sorcery or instant, though. Not so much lying as it is omitting the truth (and Oracle text is derived information anyway, so while I do have to be truthful, I don't have to help him figure it out).