Morphed Sagu Mauler and targeting spells
Asked by piebandit 9 years ago
I was playing a game store owner the other day and a situation almost came up (long story short, I didn't have the mana to flip him)
I had a morphed Sagu Mauler, and he used Magma Jet on it. He commented that even if I had flipped the mauler, it still would take 2 damage because the Magma Jet had targeted the Sagu Mauler before I flipped it, and hexproof only prevents targeting.
Is this situation different from, say, casting a Ranger's Guile on the morph because it doesn't use the stack?
It's also worth noting that using a Morph ability doesn't use the stack. Take for instance if Murderous Cut had been cast on your Sagu Mauler. If the Mauler was face down and was targetted, you can turn it face up and it would then have hexproof, causing the spell to get countered by game rules. If the Mauler was turned face up and then the spell was put on the stack, it still couldn't be a target because you can't respond to a morph ability.
December 19, 2014 6:39 p.m.
PhilJol, that was actually the core of my question. with something like Ranger's Guile cast in response, that would cause it to go on the stack before the spell, and cause it to not have a legal target. I wasn't sure if morph, because it didn't use the stack, somehow got around that. Sounds like it doesn't, because the spell checks the target upon resolution.
Epochalyptik says... Accepted answer #1
Magma Jet would have been countered.
If a target gains hexproof or shroud before the targeting spell or ability revolves (make the necessary control assumptions for hexproof), then the target becomes an illegal target for that spell or ability. If a spell or ability with no remaining legal targets tries to resolve, it is countered by the game rules on resolution.
December 19, 2014 2:07 p.m.