0022: Faces and halves of cards

Status: Accepted

Context

Split cards (Fire // Ice), adventurers (Bonecrusher Giant // Stomp), modal double-faced cards (Agadeem's Awakening // Agadeem, the Undercrypt), and transforming double-faced cards (Delver of Secrets) are common in every constructed format. The format recorded only the full card name, so it could not say which half was cast, which face was played, which face was up, or that a card was "on an adventure".

Decision

1. An object's name is always the full card name (decision 0002). A face NAME clause says which face or half is in use: on cast, play, and moves to the battlefield, on stack entries, and on keyframe entries.
2. OBJREF transform CAUSE turns a double-faced permanent over.
3. An Adventure that resolves moves stack -> exile by rule:resolve, and keyframes mark the card adventure while it is on an adventure.

Rules basis

Checked against the Comprehensive Rules effective 2026-09-25.

• 709.3: "A player chooses which half of a split card they are casting before putting it onto the stack."
• 715.3b: "While on the stack as an Adventure, the spell has only its alternative characteristics." 715.3d: "Instead of putting a spell that was cast as an Adventure into its owner's graveyard as it resolves, its controller exiles it."
• 712.8: "Each face of a double-faced card that isn't a meld card has its own set of characteristics."
• 701.27a: "To transform a permanent, turn it over so that its other face is up."

Alternatives rejected

• Using the face's name as the object's name. Rejected: the name would change as the card moves between zones and faces, breaking the name check (section 6.3 of the spec) and making the same card look like different cards.

Consequences

• Converting and melding stay in "Not yet covered".
• See examples/more-situations.md.