Hi guys, I guess this has been covered allready, but my search didn't yeald anything. Are you allowed to look through an opponent's discard pile during the game and/or count the remaining cards in his deck? I guess you should be allowed to do both, but just checking. thanx in advance.

You may look through your opponents discard pile at any point in te game, I do not believe you may count your opponents deck though. I'd send it to James.

omg better not be able to count remaining cards in opponent's deck....what a pain that would be!

pain? in some matchups it's a crucial information. obviously you don't need to count it at all usually, but if the game drags on you can find out how many turns the opponent has before he decks himself

yeah i agree, it would be crucial information. But information that i feel 1) shouldnd't be privy to your opponent and 2) interrupts momentum. my opiniono is based on that if an army is seiging another army's fortress or whatever, they wouldn't stop to count remaining resources, men etc to see how much longer they'll last exactly. They'd have a feel for how long and i think it should be the same here

I could count your deck before we start (say while pile shuffling). Then during the game there definitely is no rule stating I can't count the number of cards you have in play/hand/discard.

Of course it would just be faster to ask my opponent, "How many cards do you have left in your deck?", and have him quickly count them.

true...it's really no big deal i guess...if i'm playing against someone who asks to count my remaining deck every turn, i guess i wouldnt be playing very many games with him/her anyway to begin with

Artemus Maximus said:

I don't think anyone would ask you to count your cards every turn, but once a game when your deck gets low is a valid question imho.

Artemus Maximus said:

Not every game play mechanic will translate into a thematic scenario. The whole idea of the quest zone and a unit on a quest being able to defend the capitol is one of the strange mechanics that I have trouble rationalizing in storyline.

I think that given the state of the game that an individual is in, it should be relevant. It is public information anyway. It wont be revealing any kind of secret. If someone only had 6 cards left, you can count that without even picking the deck up. When someone is doing it when you still have 50 cards left or they are asking every couple turns, I would seriously be suspicious of the opponent stalling (which in a tournament situation could be crucial due to time limits).

f7eleven said:

Is there one saying that you can, and that I have to tell you? As a general rule, these games tell you what you can do rather than telling what you cannot, unless there are times when it could be legal and others where it would not.

Until there is a specific rule saying it is legal and you may have this knowledge at anytime, it is easier and quicker to simply force your guesstimate to be your sole source.

darkdeal said:

Knowing how many cards comprises their deck is public information. How many cards they have in their hand is public information, how many cards they just drew is public information. How many cards they have left in their deck has yet to be demonstrated to be.I posit you couldn't tell when an opponent had exactly 6 cards in their deck all the time and certainly not when they had 14 cards left in their deck.

When James says it is public information it is, until then keep track of what your opponent started with and do math.