Can you use a Planeswalker to defend your life?

Asked by Midnightshu 11 years ago

I recently encountered a match where my friend tried to say he could use his Planeswalker to defend his life points, as i recited by saying that it could not happen, i was cut down and over ruled.

ScionLocke says... #1

no he can't. Planeswalkers can only be targeted by you. they cannot redirect damage from the player to it. It's a target that YOU redirect damage to. Unless a card says otherwise, your opponent CANNOT make that decision

June 4, 2013 11:39 p.m.

Emrakool says... #2

When a player declares attackers, they choose whether each attacking creature is attacking that player or a planeswalker that player controls. The defending player can only assign creatures to block attacking creatures. Planeswalkers cannot be assigned as blockers.

If non-combat damage would be dealt to an opponent, that source's controller may redirect the damage to a planeswalker that player controls.

June 4, 2013 11:44 p.m.

Rhadamanthus says... Accepted answer #3

You were right about this. I'm not sure exactly what you mean when you say "defend his life points", so I'll cover the most important things I think you might mean by it:

• A planeswalker isn't a creature, so it can't be declared as a blocker.
• When you declare attackers, you say whether each creature is attacking the defending player or a planeswalker he controls. A planeswalker can't soak up damage from creatures attacking the player.
• When you would deal non-combat damage to an opponent, you can choose to redirect that damage to one of his planeswalkers. The controller of the planeswalker doesn't have any say in this decision.

June 4, 2013 11:45 p.m.