I came across a video about MTG's "fail to find" rule
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qhX_fohdgY
It discusses MTG's own version of Painful Choice (called Gifts Ungiven), with a few differences: instead of "you choose 5, opponent chooses 1", it's "you choose 4 different cards, opponent chooses 2". The unchosen cards are still dumped to GY.
In Yugioh you obviously can't cast Painful Choice if you have fewer than 4 cards in your deck. In MTG, not only you can do that, you can have 4+ unique cards in the deck and literally lie to your opponent by saying "I fail to find 4 unique cards in my deck" and just reveal 1-3 different cards. That is completely legal.
I think this exemplifies the greatest difference between MTG and Yugioh.
In Yugioh the ruling is generally always looking ahead. I'd even say kind of paternalistic. If the result of an action isn't what the card designer wanted, you are forbidden from even playing it (e.g. playing Raigeki on an empty board, or the mess that is Gozen/Rivalry). It's a very eastern way of thinking. Respect your elders, follow the rules, don't act smart, do what the cards say or don't play it at all.
In MTG generally it's a "sure you can". Go ahead, cast Wrath on an empty board. Go ahead, cast that Gifts when your deck is empty. Technically nothing has changed and you'll just waste your mana, but sure you can. It emphasizes the player's freedom, even if it's the freedom to shoot their own foot.
Thanks for reading my ted talk.
