Explore in MTG: Rules, History, and Best Cards

Last updated on March 5, 2024

Cenote Scout | Illustration by Caroline Gariba

Explore is a mechanic that debuted in Ixalan, a set filled with adventure and exploration tropes. The Lost Caverns of Ixalan brought us back to that plane, and the explore theme returned, now in the underworld. Ixalan people have plenty of exploration on their hands, and so do we.

Today we’re looking at explore and its ins and outs. I’ll also highlight the best explore cards, so stay with me until the very end!

How Does Explore Work?

Jadelight Ranger | Illustration by Jason Rainville

Explore is a keyword action. When a creature you control explores, you’ll look at the top card of your library. If it's a land card, you’ll always put it in your hand. If it’s a nonland card, two things happen. First, you can either leave the revealed nonland card on top of our library or put it into your graveyard. Second, you’ll put a +1/+1 counter on the creature that explored, regardless of what you did with the card. With explore, you’ll either put a land card in your hand, or you’ll put a +1/+1 counter on your creature and surveil 1.

There are many ways to explore. Typically, creatures explore when they ETB. Some enchantments and artifacts allow other creatures to explore, and now we have Map tokens, which make a creature explore when they’re cracked.

The History of Explore in MTG

Explore debuted in Ixalan in 2017, and it was mainly used in green and black cards since it was the theme for this set. Ixalan had 15 explore designs across all colors, being 14 on creature cards, and one on a vehicle card.

Explore returned in the next set, Rivals of Ixalan. In Rivals, explore was used in a different way, so we had cards like Enter the Unknown, a sorcery that lets a creature explore, or Path of Discovery, an enchantment that makes a creature explore on ETB.

The mechanic was also used in the Doctor Who Commander precon decks in a few designs, and it returned in full force in The Lost Caverns of Ixalan.

What Is a Map Token?

Map tokens were introduced in The Lost Caverns of Ixalan. They allow you to pay 1 mana and sacrifice them to have a target creature you control explores.

When You Explore, Do You Have To Reveal The Card I Draw?

Yes. Each time you explore, you have to reveal the top card, otherwise you could cheat by drawing a nonland card with the ability.

Does Explore Trigger “Whenever You Draw a Card” Effects When You Reveal a Land Card?

It doesn’t. If you reveal a land from the top of your library while exploring, you’ll put the card into your hand. That’s effectively the same as drawing a card, but MTG rules don’t consider that as drawing a card so it does not count towards card draw payoffs.

Is Explore Card Advantage?

It’s a mix of card advantage and card selection. If you revealed a nonland card while exploring, you’ll get card selection. If you reveal a land card, you get card advantage because it’s like drawing a card.

Can You Stack Multiple Explore Triggers?

You can.

Let’s take Jadelight Ranger as an example, a card that lets you explore twice when it enters the battlefield. You’ll have two explorer triggers, so each explore trigger is resolved separately. You can reveal a nonland card with the first explore trigger and leave it on the top of your library, so each trigger sees a nonland card and grants the Ranger two +1/+1 counters. You can also have two lands stacked on top of your library and get both with the explore triggers, and so on.

If multiple creatures explore at the same time, you’ll have to resolve each explore trigger for each creature. Also, you’ll have to state which creature explores in which order, because maybe one of them gets +1/+1 counters, while the other one doesn’t.

Explore vs. Mill

It’s a different matter entirely. When you mill, you simply put the top card of your library into your graveyard, which is one possible outcome of exploring. Mill doesn’t have anything to do with +1/+1 counters.

Explore vs. Scrying

When you scry, you look at the top card of your library, and you can leave it on top or put it on the bottom of your library. Explore puts the card directly into the graveyard, and you can put a land card directly into your hand while exploring.

Explore vs. Surveil?

When you explore and reveal a nonland card, you’ll put a +1/+1 counter on the creature that explored and do an action identical to surveil 1. It’s a more elaborate action. Also, when exploring you’ll need to reveal the card first, and that’s not needed when surveilling.

Decklist: Yarok, the Desecrated Explore Deck in EDH

Yarok, the Desecrated | Illustration by Daarken

In my search for a commander who could embody the spirit of explore, I ended up with Yarok, the Desecrated. It allows you to play all the main explore colors, and most (not all) of the explore cards that trigger on ETB, so that’s double explore for you.

There’s also the explore Simic () merfolk Commander precon led by Hakbal of the Surging Soul. Another possibility was to tack some explore cards into +1/+1 counter EDH decks like Reyhan, Last of the Abzan. I even thought of a green Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider +1/+1 counter deck, but there are few good green explore cards.

You appreciate the synergy between Path of Discovery and Avenger of Zendikar in this deck. I’ve added a few good ETB effects, good explore creatures, and some proliferate, since there’s a lot of +1/+1 counter synergies going on.

Wrap Up

Deepfathom Echo | Illustration by Matt Stewart

Anyway, that’s all from me on explore. The Lost Caverns of Ixalan expanded the possibilities of the explore mechanic by branching it heavily into other colors, and although explore isn’t an evergreen mechanic, I can see it being used from time to time.

It’s not tied thematically to any set and it’s an awesome fit in sets that have some graveyard component or +1/+1 counters. What explore cards are you most willing to put in your decks? Which commanders are currently best at supporting an explore strategy? Let me know in the comments section below or over on Draftsim’s Discord.

Thanks for reading, and let’s keep exploring!