Searching and Finding
General Rules
Searching means looking through a set of cards, typically to select one or more cards from that group for a purpose. Finding a card is selecting a card or cards from that set.
If an effect instructs a player to search for or find a card with certain characteristics (cost, name, element, etc.) in a private zone, the player has the option to not select a card, even if there is a legal choice. This can be considered an optional "failure to find."
If there is a legal choice among revealed cards or legal choices among public cards, players do not have the option to decline choosing the legal card, i.e., they cannot opt for a failure to find.
If an effect instructs a player to find or search for a card without defined characteristics (stated as "a card"), a card must be chosen if there is at least one legal choice. Players cannot fail to find a card in this case.
Some effects may ask a player to move or put a card from one zone or set of cards to another. This action requires that a player search for a card with the matching or required characteristics to proceed with moving that card. These effects will often specify what zones may be searched.
Any time an effect would specify that a player would search for or activate a card from a zone, or that a player would materialize a card from the material deck, that effect resolves and proceeds if no card is a legal choice or no card is found. There will not be a change in game state.
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