Face down

Some cards allow permanents and spells to have the face-down status. Face-down cards are usually treated as simple 2/2 creatures, and some also have ward 2. A few effects turn cards face down with completely different properties instead. The Morph keyword ability introduced the face-down status category, and it was followed by Manifest, Megamorph, Cloak and Disguise.
Hidden zones such as the library contain face-down cards by default, and some abilities may exile cards face down. These cards are simply hidden from view, and are unrelated to permanents or spells being face-down.
==Description==
A face-down permanent is, by default, a 2/2 creature with no rules text, no name, no subtypes, no expansion symbol, and no mana cost or color indicator (consequently, it is colorless). Similarly, Morph-type abilities allow cards to be cast as face-down spells, which have the same properties and become face-down permanents when they resolve. Disguise and Cloak also grant ward 2 to the face-down creature. Some abilities provide alternative characteristics for the face-down object instead of using the 2/2 creature default (e.g. the Cybermen from Doctor Who). A player may look at the front of face-down spells and creatures they control at any time.
All Morph-like keywords allow any of their face-down creatures to be turned face up as a special action (i.e. the actual card must be a creature). This can be done any time the player has priority - any time they could cast an instant - but it doesn't use the stack and can't be responded to (like playing a land). A cost must be paid by the controller at this time: morph, megamorph and disguise can turn up by paying the ability's cost (which varies per card), even if its ability wasn't what resulted in it being face down; manifested or cloaked creature cards may turn up with the creature's mana cost. Either cost can be paid for a manifested or cloaked card which itself has a morph or disguise ability. Cards turned face down by means other than these abilities often do not have a way to be turned face up.
A permanent that is already face up can't be turned face up again, even if it's a copy of a face-down creature. Permanents turning face down or face up remain the same object, and don't trigger enters the battlefield abilities. Any counters on it remain on it, and any Auras or Equipment attached to it remain attached to it.
Cards with morph and disguise abilities are frequently designed with "when this creature is turned face up" triggered abilities.
===Special interactions===
Like other status categories, face-up or face-down is not a copiable value, so a copy of a typical face-down permanent or spell will counterintuitively be a face-up 2/2 creature or creature spell with no other characteristics. It would still have any characteristics given to it by the effect that made the original creature face down, or given by the copy effect itself. Since it's already face up, such a copy can't be turned face up. Copy effects cannot "see" the true creature under the face-down object, so the object that is a copy has no characteristics of the original card whatsoever, regardless of subsequent changes to its status.
While most cards which allow permanents to be turned face down are specifically written to avoid applying to tokens, there is no general rule preventing tokens from doing so. Tokens have status just like any other permanent, so they may be turned face down with the same mechanics as nontokens. This could most easily happen by creating a token copy of another permanent which has the ability to turn itself face down.
Double-faced cards (DFCs) and Meld cards may be cast or placed onto the battlefield face down if the appropriate abilities are applied to them, just like any other card. In this case the object has the same properties as any other face-down card, not the properties of the back face of the real card, which remains hidden via substitute card or opaque sleeve just as when it was in the deck or hand. However, once they are face-up on the battlefield, they cannot be turned face down. Players may informally say "face-up" and "face-down" to describe DFC and meld mechanics, but "front face" and "back face" or "melded" are preferred to avoid confusion.
==Other zones==
Cards may be face-down in zones other than the battlefield and the stack. This is the default for the library, which is therefore known as a "hidden zone", as is the hand. Some effects also place cards into exile or the command zone face down. The special decks in the command zone for Planechase and Archenemy are usually face-down as well, as are Attraction and Contraption decks. Drafting is normally done face down, but some cards from the Conspiracy series may be drafted face up. Depending on the effect, certain players may be allowed to look at specific face-down cards.
None of these uses is related to the face-down status of a permanent or spell, which only occur on the battlefield or stack. Therefore, face-down cards outside of those two zones simply have characteristics hidden from players without permission to look at them, and do not count as 2/2 creatures.
==Cards==
These cards have unique effects that allow cards on the battlefield to be face-down without involving Morph-like abilities. Most retain the 2/2 sizing, with additional types for flavor.
* formerly allowed casting creatures face down with no known characteristics at all, but was changed to cast them as 0/1 creatures, then changed again to cast them as 2/2s in line with the Morph behavior.
* turns all other creatures face down.
* turns itself, an enchantment, face down.
* turns tapped creatures face down as Horror creatures.
* is an Instant that turns a creature face down, into a Cyberman.
* returns nonartifact creatures that die to the battlefield but face down as a Cyberman.
A small number change the power and toughness entirely:
* puts cards onto the battlefield face down as 5/5 artifact creatures.
* returns creatures to the battlefield face down as Forest lands.
* , an acorn card, puts a card onto the battlefield face down as a 4/4 Present creature.
* puts instants or sorceries onto the battlefield face down as 3/3 creatures with a special ability.
==Rules==
=== Exiled face down ===
==Rulings==
*At any time, you can look at a face-down spell or permanent you control. You can't look at face-down permanents or spells you don't control unless an effect instructs or allows you to do so.
*If a face-down creature loses its abilities, it can't be turned face up with a disguise or morph ability because it will no longer have that ability (or the associated cost) once face up.
*Because the permanent is on the battlefield both before and after it's turned face up, turning a permanent face up doesn't cause any enters-the-battlefield abilities to trigger.
*Because face-down creatures don't have a name, they can't have the same name as any other creature, even another face-down creature.
*A permanent that turns face up or face down changes characteristics but is otherwise the same permanent. Spells and abilities that were targeting that permanent and Auras and Equipment that were attached to that permanent aren't affected unless the new characteristics of the object change the legality of those targets or attachments.
*Turning a permanent face up or face down doesn't change whether that permanent is tapped or untapped.
*If a face-down spell leaves the stack and goes to any zone other than the battlefield (if it was countered, for example), you must reveal it. Similarly, if a face-down permanent leaves the battlefield, you must reveal it. You must also reveal all face-down spells and permanents you control if you leave the game or the game ends.
*You must ensure that your face-down spells and permanents can be easily differentiated from each other. You're not allowed to mix up the cards that represent them on the battlefield to confuse other players. The order in which they entered should remain clear, as well as what ability caused them to be face down. (This includes manifest, disguise, cloak, morph, and a few older effects that turn cards face down.) Common methods for doing this include using markers or dice, or simply placing them in order on the battlefield.
*If something tries to turn a face-down instant or sorcery card on the battlefield face up, reveal that card to show all players it's an instant or sorcery card. The permanent remains on the battlefield face down. Abilities that trigger when a permanent turns face up won't trigger, because even though you revealed the card, it never turned face up.
==Terminology==
Generally "face-up" and "face-down" with hyphens are the adjective forms of the status. "Face up" and "face down" are adverbs, including with the verb "is". For example, a face-down creature is face down, and may turn face up.
==Gallery==
File:Morph Overlay card.jpeg|Khans of Tarkir morph overlay card.
File:Manifest Overlay card.png|Fate Reforged manifest overlay card.
File:Morph Overlay card 2.png|Masters 25 morph overlay card.
File:Cyberman Overlay card.jpg|Doctor Who Cyberman overlay card.
File:Disguise.png|Murders at Karlov Manor A Mysterious Creature overlay card for Cloak and Disguise.
==References==