Cards And Zones
What Information Can Players Look At?
Distinguish public card information from your private cards and secret decks, and separate showing a card from the Reveal action.
RiftPal explanation · Answer first
The short answer
Everyone may inspect public information, including face-up cards on the board and cards in the TrashA player's off-board zone for cards that are killed or discarded and spells that finish resolving, unless an effect changes their destination. Its cards are public information and their order does not matter.View in Glossary . Your hand is private, but its card count is public. Cards in decks are secret unless an effect gives permission to look.
You may show your private information to another player. That is not the same as performing the RevealAn instructed action that shows cards from private or secret information to all players. The cards stay in their zone unless an instruction moves them. Voluntarily showing private information is not the Reveal action.View in Glossary action.
RiftPal explanation
How it works
Public: everyone may inspect face-up cards and their states, plus cards in the TrashA player's off-board zone for cards that are killed or discarded and spells that finish resolving, unless an effect changes their destination. Its cards are public information and their order does not matter.View in Glossary , BanishmentA player's off-board zone for banished cards. Its cards are public information and their order does not matter. It is separate from the Trash; some effects use it temporarily.View in Glossary , Champion ZoneThe separate zone where your Chosen Champion starts the game. You can play it from there using the normal timing, costs and restrictions. It is not a location on the board.View in Glossary and on the ChainAn off-board zone that holds cards and abilities during the process of playing them. Cards and abilities on it are public information.View in Glossary . Stacking face-up cards does not hide that information.
Private: you may inspect your hand. A facedown card on the board can be inspected by its ControllerThe player who currently controls a game object and makes the choices assigned to that controller. Control is established differently for battlefields and other objects, and need not match ownership.View in Glossary , even if someone else owns it.
Secret: nobody may inspect the faces or order of cards in the Main DeckThe deck of units, gear and spells, separate from your Rune Deck. Your deckbuilding list has at least 40 cards including your Chosen Champion; that chosen copy starts in the Champion Zone instead of the shuffled pile.View in Glossary or Rune DeckYour separate deck of exactly 12 runes. Shuffle it separately from your Main Deck. Channeling takes runes from this deck and puts them on the board.View in Glossary without permission from an effect. Owning a deck does not let you look through it.
You may show your private information to one or more players, including a teammate. This is not RevealAn instructed action that shows cards from private or secret information to all players. The cards stay in their zone unless an instruction moves them. Voluntarily showing private information is not the Reveal action.View in Glossary and does not trigger revealing effects.
Card reference
Sabotage
When instructed to RevealAn instructed action that shows cards from private or secret information to all players. The cards stay in their zone unless an instruction moves them. Voluntarily showing private information is not the Reveal action.View in Glossary , show the cards to all players. They stay in their zone unless an instruction moves them. Follow the stated duration; otherwise a spell or ability's Reveal lasts until it finishes resolving. A facedown card must also be revealed when it changes zones or when the game ends.
Spell
Sabotage
Choose an opponent. They reveal their hand. Choose a non-unit card from it, and recycle that card.
One exception matters when following instructions: you may decline an action on private or secret cards if it requires a specified type or quality. For example, you may decline an instruction to play a unit from your hand even if you have one. This does not make every instruction involving your hand optional.
In practice
Example
You have four cards in hand. Your opponent may know that you have four, but may not inspect their faces without permission. You can show one voluntarily. If an effect instead instructs you to Reveal your hand, show all cards currently in it to every player; they remain in your hand unless the effect says to move them.