Deck of Many Things: What consequences does the obligation to declare have

dnd-5emagic-items

The description of the Deck of Many Things (DMG p. 162) states the following:

Before you draw a card, you must declare how many cards you intend to draw and then draw them randomly […]. Any cards drawn in excess of this number have no Effect. […]. If you fail to draw the chosen number, the remaining number of cards fly from the deck on their own and take Effect all at once.

So you have to decide on a number of cards you want to draw and then do so.
My question is:
What prevents me from simply declaring that I want to draw a single card, get its effect, then deciding if I want to risk another card?

If there is nothing that prevents me from doing so:
What benefit would it have to ever declare that I want to draw multiple cards?

Best Answer

You Might Only Be Able to Declare Once

Any cards drawn in excess of this number have no Effect.

With no duration described for this or similar limitation, there would be no effect created when drawing additional cards beyond what you've declared. Even if you announce some new number at a later point, those draws would be in excess of the originally declared number.

This interpretation is fairly broad as a limitation of the deck for what's written here, but it's consistent with previous edition's versions of the item which were more explicit.

3.5 > The character with a deck of many things who wishes to draw a card must announce how many cards she will draw before she begins. Cards must be drawn within 1 hour of each other, and a character can never again draw from this deck any more cards than she has announced.