When using Baited Hook to look at the top 5 cards and choose one to play, can you reveal an Undertitan to get the +2 energy?

Question

Accepted Answer

Yes. If you choose to banish and play Undertitan from the top five cards with Baited Hook, its “As I'm revealed from your deck, Add 2 Energy” will trigger when it is revealed/banished and will add 2 Energy to your Rune Pool. The added Energy finalizes immediately and is available to spend as soon as it resolves [429.2].

When resolving Baited Hook, if you banish Undertitan from among the top five and that action reveals it from your deck, Undertitan’s reveal ability triggers and adds 2 Energy to your Rune Pool. That Add ability finalizes immediately when it resolves [429.2]. If you only look at the top five and do not banish/reveal Undertitan, its reveal ability does not trigger. If the banish/reveal is prevented or replaced such that the card is never revealed from your deck, the reveal ability will not trigger [359.3.e.12].

You resolve Baited Hook: kill the friendly unit as instructed, then look at the top five cards of your Main Deck [359.3.e.12]. You may choose a unit among those five that meets the Might restriction and banish it to play it. Banishment from the top-of-deck selection is the moment the card is taken out of the deck and (per our assumption) is considered revealed from your deck. If the chosen card is Undertitan, its printed line “As I'm revealed from your deck, Add 2 Energy” triggers when it is revealed/banished and becomes a pending chain item. The Add resolves immediately when it finalizes and puts 2 Energy into your Rune Pool [429.2]. With that Energy in your Rune Pool you can spend it where legal (including to pay costs if timing and restrictions permit) because Adds finalize immediately and place resources into the pool [429.2]. The banished-and-play instruction for the unit goes pending on the chain (per the behavior described in [FAQ:unleashed#16]) and will be finalized and placed onto the battlefield in the appropriate later step; at that time the unit's “When you play me” triggered ability (the +2 Might to your other units) will trigger when it is played.

If you only look at the top five and do not banish the Undertitan, its reveal line does not trigger—merely looking does not by itself trigger “As I’m revealed from your deck.” If something responds before the banish that prevents the banish or replaces it so the card was never revealed from the deck (or the earlier instruction that allowed the reveal was ignored), the reveal trigger will not occur [359.3.e.12]. If the unit you killed as part of Baited Hook becomes an illegal target or is returned before the cost is paid, its Might may be treated as null and you might be unable to choose any card from the top five that depends on that reference [359.3.e.12]. Timing matters: the Add from Undertitan finalizes immediately when it resolves, so the energy is available immediately, but the play action for the unit itself is a separate pending/ finalization step (see [FAQ:unleashed#16]).

When you resolve Baited Hook you perform its listed actions in order: kill the friendly unit, then look at the top five cards and you may banish a unit among them to play it [359.3.e.12]. If you choose to banish Undertitan from among those cards, that act of taking it from the deck to banished (i.e., revealing it from the deck) is the event that triggers its line “As I'm revealed from your deck, [Add] :rb_energy_2:.” That Add is a resource-adding effect and, per the rules, Spells and triggered/activated abilities that Add resources finalize immediately when they resolve, placing Energy into your Rune Pool right away [429.2]. Because Adds finalize immediately, the 2 Energy from Undertitan will be available as soon as that Add ability resolves (and can be used to pay costs if timing and restrictions allow) [429.3].

If you never actually banish/reveal Undertitan (for example you only looked at the top five but selected something else, or a replacement effect prevented the banish/reveal), the reveal line will not trigger. Also, if the initial killed unit’s Might becomes null because the kill was prevented before resolution, you may be unable to legally choose any unit from the top five per the Baited Hook example in the rules [359.3.e.12].

This ruling follows the behavior described in the official clarification showing units banished from deck and placed pending on the chain (so the play instruction happens separately from the reveal/Add) [FAQ:unleashed#16].