MDFC Rules in MTG That Players Keep Getting Wrong

Before playing MH3 draft or sealed, there are some MDFC rules that players ought to know.

Modal Double-Faced cards, or MDFC as most players like to call them for short, can be some of the most confusing cards in MTG’s history. That’s because, unlike other cards, they actually have multiple types and characteristics depending on the side of the card!

MH3 just released new MDFC cards, and players are already finding them pretty powerful. Not only are they going to see frequent play in Draft and Sealed, but also Commander. In fact, a few of them made our list of the top 10 cards for Commander from MH3.

These cards are easy to misplay. So much in fact, I have to admit I’ve played them wrong on occasion. Before you go off playing with the new MDFC cards in limited & constructed formats, we have some rule overviews and scenarios that will help you play them correctly.

How to Identify Front vs Back Face of a MDFC

Modal Double-Faced Cards (MDFC) have two faces that are independent of each other. A front-face, and a back-face. The front-face is denoted with a single triangle symbol at the top left. The back-face is denoted with a double triangle symbol.

As you can see in Sink into Stupor from MH3 above, the instant side is the front-face and the land side is the back-face.

How To Play & Cast MDFC

There are two very important rules that answer 99% of questions around MDFC. If you know these two rules, you can figure out almost all interactions involving Modal Double-Faced Cards.

You can “play” or “cast” either face of an MDFC card from anywhere, just like it were any other card. The key word here is “play” or “cast”. Lands are played and spells are cast.
When MDFC are in your library, hand, graveyard, or exile, they are considered the front-facing card. IE, if Sink into Stupor is your library, it is only considered the instant side, and not the back-facing land. This does NOT prevent you from “playing” or “casting” either side from any of those zones. After all, it may be considered the “front-facing” card when in your hand, but you can still “play” or “cast” either side.

Additional details from previous MTG’s Official MDFC release notes expand by saying:

To determine whether it is legal to play a modal double-faced card, consider only the characteristics of the face you’re playing and ignore the other face’s characteristics. For example, you can cast Sejiri Shelter if you’ve already played a land for the turn, and you can play Sejiri Glacier even if an effect stops you from casting instant spells.

If an effect allows you to play a specific modal double-faced card, you may cast it as a spell or play it as a land, as determined by which face you choose to play. If an effect allows you to cast (rather than “play”) a specific modal double-faced card, you can’t play it as a land.

If an effect allows you to play a land or cast a spell from among a group of cards, you may play or cast a modal double-faced card with any face that fits the criteria of that effect. For example, if Sejiri Shelter / Sejiri Glacier is in your graveyard and an effect allows you to play lands from your graveyard, you could play Sejiri Glacier. That effect doesn’t allow you to cast Sejiri Shelter.

The converted mana cost of a modal double-faced card is based on the characteristics of the face that’s being considered. On the stack and battlefield, consider whichever face is up. In all other zones, consider only the front face. This is different than how the converted mana cost of a transforming double-faced card is determined.

A modal double-faced card can’t be transformed or be put onto the battlefield transformed. Ignore any instruction to transform a modal double-faced card or to put one onto the battlefield transformed.

MDFC Release notes

When MDFCs are on the stack, they are treated exclusively as the card being played or cast. The other side of the card is not considered in any way.

That’s all there is to it, for the most part. Now, let’s get into some cards that cause most of the confusion around MDFCs.

What Happens When You Flicker a MDFC?

When MDFCs are no longer on the battlefield, such as in exile, they are treated as the front-facing side. So, when the card returns to play, it will return as the front side.

If the front-face is a permanent, it will return as the front-face. If the front-face is a non-permanent, it will remain exiled and fail to return.

For example, if you were to Flickerwisp a Soporific Springs, it would be exiled, then fail to return, because the front-face is an instant, and it is not possible for instant cards to enter the battlefield. It would then remain exiled forever.

Can You Use Crucible of Worlds To Play MDFC Lands?

The answer is yes. You can “play” MDFC land cards like Soporific Springs with Crucible of Worlds. Crucible of Worlds says “you may play lands from your graveyard”.

The word here is “play”. It doesn’t say return, it says “play”. Again, it doesn’t matter which side is the front or back-facing side when you “play” a MDFC. You can always “play” either side when able.

Can You Return MDFC Cards From Your Graveyard To The Battlefield or Your Hand?

While MDFC cards are in your graveyard, hand, or library for anything other than “playing or casting” the card, they are treated exclusively as the front-facing side of the card.

First identify which side is the front side of the card (the single triangle symbol). In the case of Sink Into Stupor / Soporific Springs, the front side is Sink Into Stupor.

This means, the card is treated as Sink Into Stupor when in your graveyard.

If you were to cast a spell like Grapple with the Past to return a land from your graveyard to your hand, you would NOT be able to select Soporific Springs, because it is treated as Sink Into Stupor, which is an Instant.

Because it is the Instant side when in your graveyard, you could use Pinnacle Monk to return Sink into Stupor to your hand from your graveyard.

It’s important to note again, you can always “play or cast” either side of a MDFC from your graveyard. But doing anything else, such as giving the card abilities, returning them, etc… they are always treated as the “front-facing side” only.

MDFC Playing & Casting Expanded Rules Examples

To really drive home the difference here between playing/casting something vs anything else with MDFC, let’s look at how Yawgmoth’s Will and The Mending of Dominaria work.

Yawgmoth’s Will & MDFC

Yawgmoth’s Will says “play”. The oracle text actually says “Until end of turn, you may play lands and cast spells from your graveyard.”

The important words here are “play” and “cast”. So if you have resolved a “Yawgmoth’s Will”, you can play or cast any side of a MDFC that is in your graveyard. There is no restriction. You can always “play” or “cast” any side of a MDFC card at any time you are able.

The Mending of Dominaria & MDFC

The Mending of Dominaria Saga lore 1 & 2 will “return” a creature card from your graveyard to your hand. That means you can only “return” a MDFC card to your hand from your graveyard if the “front-facing” side is a creature.

The lore 3 trigger will “return” all land cards from your graveyard to the battlefield. Again, the keyword here is “return”. So it will only return MDFC cards if the front-facing part of the card is a land.

As you can see, knowing the front vs back side of a card is 99% of the work in identifying how a MDFC card works.

Tutoring MDFC From Your Library Rules

Can you search your library for a MDFC card and put it into your hand or into the battlefield? Yes, you can!

However, as explained previously, the card is always treated as the front-facing side when not in play or on the stack.

Slyvan Scrying and Crop Rotation could not search your library for Soporific Springs because it exists as the instant-face in your library, but it could for search for Barkchannel Pathway, because it exists as a land in your library.

Also note that you can only bring the Barkchannel Pathway face of the card into the battlefield or to your hand. You would not be able to use Crop Rotation to bring the other-faced side of Barkchannel into play.

As always, a MDFC is treated as its front-face when it is not being cast or played.

That’s it for our primer on how to play Modal Double-Faced Cards. If you can recognize which side is the front, know that they are always treated as the front when not in play or on the stack, and that you can always “play” or “cast” them from anywhere, you will be able to answer 99% of the niche corner cases involving these cards.