In a Commander game, my commander somehow ended up in my library (because I didn't want him to go to the command zone instead). Now I use Distant Memories to search my library for my commander, and instead of exiling him, I put him into the command zone. Do my opponents have the choice to put him into my hand so that I don't draw three cards?

A) No, he went to a different zone and can't be put into my hand. I draw three cards.

B) Yes, they can choose to do so, but he will still stay in the command zone because he can't be found in exile. Nevertheless because they chose to do so, I don't draw three cards.

C) Yes, and he will move from the command zone to my hand.

First, I thought C) was correct, but the only proofs I have found don't apply to this situation:

CR 400.7g tells us that a resolving spell “can perform actions on an object that moved from one zone to another (…), if that object moved to a public zone”, but only if that object moved “while that spell was being cast”. In my case, the card wasn't put there while the spell was cast, but during its resolution.

CR 603.6c states that a card can be found “in the first zone that it went to”, but only by “an ability that attempts to do something to the card that left the battlefield”, not by a resolving spell that tried to exile a card from the library.

Any help is appreciated. Thank you.

Kind regards,

Mario Hassler

Edited Mario Haßler (Aug. 13, 2015 06:39:31 AM)

The Memories will track the card to the first public zone it goes to after the library. Normally, this is going to be the exile zone, but since the Memories doesn't specify what zone to look in, it will track the card to the first zone it ends up in after the library. If you choose to search for your command and put it in the command zone, that's the zone the Memories will look for the card in.

In this case, the card is in the command zone, so the opponent can choose to put that card from your command zone into your hand. The commander will move from your command zone to your hand and you will not draw three cards.

This is similar to how It That Betrays works. It tracks the sacrificed card to the first public zone it goes to after the battlefield. For instance, if you have Leyline of the Void on the battlefield and an opponent sacrifice a creature, It That Betrays will track it to the exiled zone and will return it out of exile, since exile is the first zone the card went to after the battlefield.

Nathan Long
Wizards.Com Boards NetRep