Divvy

Divvy is the nickname used in R&D for an otherwise unnamed mechanic that was first used for a group of cards in Invasion. Divvy cards involve one or more players creating piles from ("divvying up") some set of cards, and those players' opponents making a choice regarding those piles.

Description

Among the original divvy cards, only Fact or Fiction has been reprinted. It further inspired two later cards, Gifts Ungiven and Truth or Tale.

Although the term "divvy" hadn't yet been applied, Phyrexian Portal from Alliances is functionally a divvy card. In addition to those, divvy cards have been printed in Time Spiral, Shards of Alara, Magic 2012, Innistrad, Return to Ravnica, Theros, Shadows over Innistrad and Theros Beyond Death. In each case, only one new divvy card has been printed at a time. The mechanic has never reappeared as a theme, but the mechanic will probably one day return.

Piles have also been used for a pair of otherwise unrelated non-divvy cards, Camouflage, Raging River and Whims of the Fates.

List of Divvy cards

• Atris, Oracle of Half-Truths
• Bend or Break
• Boneyard Parley
• Brilliant Ultimatum
• Death or Glory
• Do or Die
• Ecological Appreciation
• Emergent Ultimatum
• Epiphany at the Drownyard
• Fact or Fiction
• Fight or Flight
• Fortune's Favor
• Gifts Ungiven
• Jace, Architect of Thought
• Liliana of the Veil
• Phyrexian Portal
• Realms Uncharted
• Sphinx of Uthuun
• Stand or Fall
• Steam Augury
• Truth or Tale
• Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign

Rules

From the Comprehensive Rules (June 7, 2024—Modern Horizons 3)

• 700.3. Some effects cause objects to be temporarily grouped into piles.
  • 700.3a Each of the affected objects must be put into exactly one of those piles, unless the effect specifies otherwise.
  • 700.3b Each object in a pile is still an individual object. The pile is not an object.
  • 700.3c Objects grouped into piles don’t leave the zone they’re currently in. If cards in a graveyard are split into piles, the order of the graveyard must be maintained.

    Example: Fact or Fiction reads, “Reveal the top five cards of your library. An opponent separates those cards into two piles. Put one pile into your hand and the other into your graveyard.” While an opponent is separating the revealed cards into piles, they’re still in their owner’s library. They don’t leave the library until they’re put into their owner’s hand or graveyard.

  • 700.3d A pile can contain zero or more objects.