diff --git a/packages/ui/src/lib/components/NewRequest.svelte b/packages/ui/src/lib/components/NewRequest.svelte
index 8843b0f..804bbf1 100644
--- a/packages/ui/src/lib/components/NewRequest.svelte
+++ b/packages/ui/src/lib/components/NewRequest.svelte
@@ -77,18 +77,24 @@
     error = ''
     try {
       const result = await write(requestArgs(draft, { brief, assignee }))
+      // Everything this card still has to say about the draft is read BEFORE it is closed. `draft` is
+      // a prop of the view that owns the compose state, so `closeDraft()` does not merely hide the
+      // card — it makes `draft` undefined on the very next read, and `lands` is derived from it.
+      const requested = draft.type
+      const system = lands
+      const named = assignee ? space.directory.get(assignee) : undefined
       closeDraft()
-      if (lands) {
+      if (system) {
         // The one case that navigates: a capture's row lands in System, not in the goal this card
         // was opened from, and a toast over an unchanged list would be the app saying something
         // happened somewhere the reader cannot see. `write` has already re-read the author's repo,
         // so the row is there — and a unit with nothing landed is keyed by its request (§3.7).
-        toast(wroteCapture(draft.type))
-        await goto(unitHref(systemHref(lands), { key: result.primary.uri }))
+        toast(wroteCapture(requested))
+        await goto(unitHref(systemHref(system), { key: result.primary.uri }))
       } else {
         // No navigation: the request is a new row in the list this card is sitting on top of, and
         // `write` has already re-read the author's repo, so it is there by the time the card closes.
-        toast(wroteRequest(draft.type, assignee ? space.directory.get(assignee) : undefined))
+        toast(wroteRequest(requested, named))
       }
     } catch (failure) {
       error = failure instanceof Error ? failure.message : String(failure)