Face down

Some cards (Illusionary Mask, Ixidron, Tezzeret, Cruel Machinist, Obscuring Aether and Yedora, Grave Gardener), the morph and megamorph abilities, and the manifest keyword action allow spells and permanents to be face down.

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 also colorless).

Face-down permanents put onto the battlefield by Tezzeret, Cruel Machinist are 5/5 artifact creatures. Face-down permanents put onto the battlefield by Yedora, Grave Gardener are Forest lands. Originally Illusionary Mask would cast the permanents as 0/1 creatures, but it was changed via Oracle to make it in line with morph.

Turning a face-down permanent face up is a special action that can be done any time the player has priority (in other words, any time they could cast an instant), but it doesn't use the stack and can't be responded to (in this way, it is similar to playing a land). To do this, it must either have morph or megamorph (and its controller pays its morph cost), or be a manifested creature card (and its controller pays its mana cost). A token, or a card that is already face up (such as a Clone</c> copying a face down creature), can't be turned face up. If the face-down creature has any counters on it, those remain on the face-up permanent. It's not a new object, and it doesn't enter the battlefield just by turning face up. Any Auras or Equipment attached to it remain attached to it after it turns face up. There are three enchantments in Fate Reforged that manifest a card and then become an Aura attached to it.

Face down (together with its opposite, face up) is part of a permanent's status. Permanents have their own status, which is not a copiable value. Consequently, a copy of a face-down creature will be a face-up 2/2 creature with no characteristics except any that the copy effect gives it (e.g. Cryptoplasm</c>). Since it's face up, such a copy can't be turned face up, unlike the object it's a copy of.

Cards may additionally be face down in other zones. This is the default for the library, but some effects also exile a card face down, and the cards in the special decks in the command zone for Planechase and Archenemy are also usually face down. None of these situations has any correlation with the "face down" status of a permanent.

Rules
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Exiled face down
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