Quick Verdict
To scry N, look at the top N cards of your library, put any number of them on the bottom, and put the rest back on top in any order you choose. It is not card draw — it does not change how many cards you have, only which ones you get. Scry 2 is strictly better than scry 1 twice, because seeing both cards at once lets you order them; two separate scry 1s can waste the second look entirely.
Scry 1 looks like nothing. You peek at one card and decide whether to keep it. No card is drawn, no damage dealt, no creature added to the board.
It is also one of the most consistently undervalued abilities in Magic, because it attacks the game's most common losing condition. Most games are not lost to a better card — they are lost to a hand of five spells and no lands, or eight lands and nothing to cast. Scry is the ability that turns the worst version of your deck into the average version of it.
The rule is short. The strategy — deciding what to bottom — is where the actual skill is, and it is worth more than most players give it credit for.
The whole rule: look at the top N, bottom any number, put the rest back on top in whatever order you like.
The Rule
To scry N: look at the top N cards of your library. Put any number of them on the bottom of your library, and put the rest back on top of your library in any order you choose.
Four details do all the work.
You do not reveal. Scry is private. Your opponent sees only how many cards you moved to the bottom.
Any number means any number. Zero, all of them, or anything between. There is no requirement to bottom something.
You choose the order of what stays. With scry 2, if you keep both, you decide which one you draw first. This is routinely forgotten and it is free value.
Nothing is drawn. Scry is a filter, not a resource.
Scry is a keyword action rather than a keyword ability. Abilities like trample and lifelink live in the 702 section of the Comprehensive Rules and describe something a permanent has; keyword actions live in the 701 section and describe something a player does. It is a small distinction but it explains why nothing "has scry" the way a creature has flying.
What scry is worth
Scry 1 is generally reckoned at about half a card. That sounds negligible and is not — it is attached to dozens of cards at no extra mana cost, and across a full game it converts several dead draws into live ones. Consistency is the resource it buys.
Scry 2 Beats Scry 1 Twice
This is the rules point most worth knowing, and it comes up more than you would expect.
Two instances of scry 1 resolve separately, one after the other. If you keep the top card during the first, the second scry shows you that same card — you have gained nothing. Scry 2 never has this failure mode, because both cards are in front of you at once and you can arrange them.
The practical upshot: when a card offers you scry 2 versus two triggers of scry 1, take the scry 2.
Scry 1 twice can show you one card. Scry 2 always shows you two. They are not the same ability written differently.
Scry vs Surveil
Identical mechanics, one difference: where the unwanted cards go.
Surveil is strictly better in a deck that wants cards in the graveyard — reanimation, delve, flashback, threshold — and worse in one that does not, because a card on the bottom of your library can theoretically still be drawn while a card in the graveyard usually cannot.
When to Bottom
The rule is easy. This part is the actual skill, and most of it reduces to mana.
Count your lands first. This decides more scry choices than anything else.
- Too few lands? Keep the land. Almost always, almost regardless of what else is there.
- Enough lands? Bottom the land. A land you do not need is the emptiest draw in the game.
- Flooded? Bottom every land you see, without hesitation.
Then ask about the next two turns. A card that is excellent in a game state you are not in — a board wipe when the board is empty, a finisher when you are at three life — is a card you probably cannot afford to draw next turn.
Cost curve by stage. Early, bottom your expensive cards; you will draw them later anyway. Late, bottom the cheap ones; they no longer affect the game.
Do not bottom your only answer. If you are looking at the single card in your deck that beats what your opponent is doing, keep it, even if you cannot cast it yet.
Sequence scry after shuffling, never before
Any effect that shuffles your library destroys the arrangement you just built. If you plan to crack a fetch land or cast a tutor that shuffles, do that first, then scry. Scrying into a shuffle throws the ability away entirely, and it is one of the most common sequencing errors in the game.
Where Scry Comes From
The mechanic appeared unnamed in Alliances in 1996. It was given the name scry in Fifth Dawn in June 2004, where the first cards using it were designed by Aaron Forsythe — and in that first appearance it always looked at exactly two cards.
It returned in Future Sight, then Magic 2011, then made a much larger impression in the Theros block, which built a whole set's identity partly around it. Theros also introduced the Temples: a cycle of dual lands, universally called scry lands, that enter tapped and scry 1 as they do.
Scry became an evergreen keyword — one that can appear in any set — in Magic Origins. That is why it now shows up on ordinary commons in nearly every release rather than as a set mechanic.
Scry lands are a useful lesson in tempo: you trade a full turn of mana for a small amount of selection and colour fixing. That is a good trade in a slow deck and a bad one in a fast deck, which is exactly the calculation covered in our guide to building an MTG deck.
Common Misconceptions
"Scry draws me a card." It does not. Your hand size is unchanged.
"I have to put something on the bottom." You do not. Bottoming zero cards is a legal and often correct choice.
"My opponent sees what I scry." They do not. They see only the count you bottomed.
"Scry 2 is just two scry 1s." It is better. See above.
"I should keep everything expensive because it is powerful." Cards you cannot cast do nothing. Scry rewards playing to the next two turns, not to the best case.
Conclusion: Consistency Is a Resource
Scry is the clearest example in Magic of an ability that is worth far more than it looks. It adds nothing to the board and nothing to your hand. What it does is remove the games you lose to your own deck rather than to your opponent — the flooded draws, the empty ones, the turn where you draw your fifth land instead of the thing you needed.
The rule takes ten seconds to learn: look, bottom what you do not want, arrange the rest. The decisions take longer, and they are mostly about mana — count your lands, then ask whether the card does anything in the next two turns.
And remember the two easy edges: scry 2 is genuinely better than two scry 1s, and you get to choose the order of what stays on top. Both are free, and both are routinely left on the table.
Citations & Resources
- Wizards of the Coast: Comprehensive Rules — keyword actions
- MTG Wiki: Scry — rules and history
- MTG Wiki: Surveil — the graveyard counterpart
- MTG Wiki: Fifth Dawn — where scry was named
- Scryfall: Every card with scry
Related Guides
- The Ultimate MTG Keywords Glossary — every keyword, with a printable cheat sheet
- What Flash Means in MTG — another ability that is about timing and information
- What Trample Means in MTG — the combat keyword, in the same depth
- How to Build an MTG Deck — why consistency matters more than power
- MTG Phases and Turn Structure — when scry triggers actually resolve
- The Stack Explained — how scry triggers go on the stack and resolve
Frequently Asked Questions
🔗 Related Resources
More Reviews:
Related Articles
How Much Does Magic: The Gathering Actually Cost in 2026?
Magic costs nothing to play and thousands to collect, and the gap between those two is entirely made of choices. Real 2026 numbers for every way to play, and why the price went up in January.
Is Magic: The Gathering Dying? What the 2026 Numbers Actually Say
Magic earned over $1.7 billion in 2025 — its best year ever, up 59%. So why does it feel like it's dying? The financial data, the player estimates, and the real thing people are reacting to.
Magic: The Gathering Card Size: Exact Dimensions, the Card Back, and Why Both Matter (2026)
MTG cards are 63 × 88 mm, about 0.3 mm thick and 1.8 g. What that means for sleeves and storage, what is printed on the back, and why the card's blue core is the backbone of authentication.