Other effects of counterspells on spells that can't be countered
Asked by The_Potato_Judge 7 years ago
If a spell cannot be countered, can it not be targeted with a counterspell at all? If it can, do other effects on the counterspell still happen even if the spell is not countered?
As an example, if I am playing Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, and my opponent plays Essence Backlash, it seems to me pretty clear that Emrakul is going to hit the field---but will I take 15 damage (and probably lose) because of the secondary non-countering effect?
Named_Tawyny says... #2
Exactly. It's the similar to (for example) casting a 'tap target creature' spell, on a creature that is already tapped, or a destroy spell on something indestructible. There's a difference between having no effect and not being able to target.
Raging_Squiggle says... Accepted answer #1
Correct. All spells will always try to do as much as they can legally do. When casting a counterspell on an uncounterable spell, it will try to counter Emrakul, but can't because it's uncounterable, so it continues on to the rest of its abilities. Which in this case is dealing much damage.
Essentially, the counterspell will try to counter it, see that it can't, shrug its shoulders and say "oh well, I tried" and continue on with the rest of the effect,
May 2, 2016 8:09 p.m.