Oko and Manifest

[Arkmer]

If I use Oko, Thief of Crowns to turn an opponent's manifested creature (card tag just for example) in an Elk, can it still be turned up later for it's mana cost? Can I look at that card now to see what it is under the Manifest?

I know you can't unmorph things in this situation. I found this article talking about Turn to Frog and how when you reveal the card to unmorph it it has no morph ability, but Manifest never actually appears on a card as a flip cost. Is this treated differently than Morph and Megamorph?

Additionally, compare the wiki for Manifest and Morph; Manifest is a "keyword action" while Morph is a "keyword ability".

• Can it still be turned up later for it's mana cost?
• Can I look at that card now to see what it is under the Manifest?

[user_938036]

A manifested creature can still be turned face up if it had all its abilities removed by something like Oko. However it doesn't accomplish much as it is still affected by whatever removed its abilities so in this case, they can pay W to reveal that their 3/3 green elk is actually a 3/3 green elk.

Being manifested is a state like tapped or untapped it isn't an ability and isn't affected by things that alter abilities.

You can not look at your opponent's face-down cards regardless of whether they have abilities or not. Turning them into elks doesn't give you the ability to see what they were.

[Arkmer]

Ha! I forgot that it would still just be a 3/3 Elk! That's pretty funny.

Thanks for the response, is there a specific line in the rules that would define the flipping? Or is it pretty much what I found already?

[peteroupc]

In general, a face-down object can't be turned face up unless a rule or effect allows it (for permanents, see C.R. 707.7; review C.R. 110.5).

A manifested permanent can be turned face up (under certain circumstances) because of C.R. 701.33b. A face-down permanent whose face-up counterpart has a morph ability can be turned face up because of C.R. 702.36e. In both cases, a player can turn a permanent of either kind face up only if they control that permanent (C.R. 701.33b, 702.36e).

In general, a player "can't look at face-down cards in any other zone [than the stack or the battlefield] or face-down spells or permanents controlled by another player" (C.R. 707.5).

[WiseWarriorQc]

Ha! I forgot that it would still just be a 3/3 Elk! That's pretty funny.

Thanks for the response, is there a specific line in the rules that would define the flipping? Or is it pretty much what I found already?

The rule that allows one to turn a manifested card face-up if it's a creature card is this one:

701.33b. Any time you have priority, you may turn a manifested permanent you control face up. This is a special action that doesn't use the stack (see rule 116.2b). To do this, show all players that the card representing that permanent is a creature card and what that card's mana cost is, pay that cost, then turn the permanent face up. The effect defining its characteristics while it was face down ends, and it regains its normal characteristics. (If the card representing that permanent isn't a creature card or it doesn't have a mana cost, it can't be turned face up this way.)

Besides paying the cost, what's required to take the special action of turning the card face-up is just showing that that card is a creature card. It's not an ability of the face-down creature, just a rule that defines what you can do with manifested cards.