Shroud and missing/illegal targets interactions
Asked by UniqueUserID 8 years ago
Basically I am making a deck using Steely Resolve to give EVERYONE shroud, then using Unnatural Selection as a way to make targets illegal by switching anyone's type to my chosen type.
So I got a couple of interactions I want to be certain on...
1) Mogg Assassin in it's rulings say both players pick at the same time. Can I put Unnatural Selection on the stack to protect my creature AFTER they have chosen a target? Will the entire ability fizzle if either target is made illegal? Either by Unnatural Selection a target being Doom Bladeed? Basically when do I need to turn on my protection? Can I do it AFTER the flip, if I fail to win?
2) This is a lot like the above question, anything different in the timings with Diaochan, Artful Beauty? Will the whole ability fizzle if either target was made illegal?
3) Choose/Choice/Target are all totally different things right? Just want to be certain that I can more or less force them to pick select targets with Echo Chamber if I make certain creatures have shroud.
4) This is more of a open question, I just learned that equipping equipment uses the stack and so could be countered. Can I do this with other keywords? Such as Champion, Modular and Bestow (If it was Bestowed, does it just enter as a creature since it died)?
Thanks for Reading!
Rhadamanthus says... Accepted answer #1
An answer to multiple parts of your questions: A spell/ability is countered by the rules ("fizzle" used to be the technical term, but now it's just slang) if all of its targets are somehow illegal when it would start to resolve. If there's at least one legal target left then the spell/ability will do as much as it can and ignore any impossible instructions (it can't perform actions on an illegal target, nor cause an illegal target to perform any actions).
1) Targets are chosen as one of the first steps of putting a spell/ability on the stack. You will know what your opponent chose when you're given the opportunity to make a response. You have to make your response before the ability actually starts resolving, meaning before you know who wins the coin flip.
2) Pretty much the same answer, except without the coin flipping.
3) "Target" is the only word that means "target". Its presence or absence in a spell/ability's rules text is what determines whether or not the effect is targeted. Note that the word may be packed into the full rules text of a keyword ability, like Equip or Enchant (thing).
4) As in #3, it all depends on how the word "target" is used in the full rules text of the keyword. Bestow has special rules that makes the spell switch back to being a creature spell and enter the battlefield as a creature.
March 24, 2016 1:01 p.m.