Indestructibility on a Planeswalker?
Asked by The_Lost_Primarch 7 years ago
Can Indestructibility be cast on a Planeswalker like Garruk Wildspeaker to prevent him getting killed by a Goblin Grenade?
Unlike most Auras, Indestructibility says "Enchant permanent", which means you're allowed to target any permanent. Planeswalkers are permanents on the battlefield, which makes Garruk a legal target, and the Aura will attach just fine. (this is here for completeness' sake, you probably knew that).
However, what kills Planeswalkers isn't damage, but lack of Loyalty - and just like creatures with toughness of 0 or less, he's not destroyed, but simply put in the graveyard as a state-based action:
704.5i If a planeswalker has loyalty 0, its put into its owners graveyard.
And just as with creatures, being indestructible doesn't prevent damage, therefore being dealt damage will remove loyalty counters from Garruk as normal:
306.8. Damage dealt to a planeswalker results in that many loyalty counters being removed from it.
So the only way to survive a Goblin Grenade in this example is to have 6 or more loyalty counters.
April 21, 2017 6:41 a.m.
chosenone124 says... #3
That's why Gideon planeswalkers say "prevent damage" when they become creatures. Otherwise they would be sort of useless.
hyperlocke says... #1
Indestructibility will save a Planeswalker from being destroyed. That is the case with cards like Dreadbore.
When a Planeswalker gets damage, that much loyalty counters are removed from it. A Planeswalker that has 0 loyalty counters is put into its owner's graveyard. This is not "destroying", so Indestructibility doesn't help here.
April 21, 2017 6:38 a.m. Edited.