How does goad work with opponents who can’t be attacked?
Asked by TheField 3 months ago
Scenario: I have two opponents. I goad all creatures of one of my opponents and my other opponent has an ability in play that says they can’t be attacked. Am I now a legal target for attacks from the goaded creatures since they cannot attack the non-goaded opponent?
Thank you!
If there are planeswalkers or battles available to attack, they'll still have the option to attack you or any of those permanents, since they are only required to attack another player, which they can't so that restriction isn't going to be followed.
A quick note about your opponent that can't be attacked, if they have an effect that imposes a cost on attacking them (like Propaganda), they can send their goaded creatures at you even if they can pay the cost, even pay to send a non-goaded creature at that player and the goaded one at you. This is true even if the cost is (such as a Sphere of Safety that has stopped being an enchantment).
If the opponent just can't be damaged due to an effect such as The One Ring or Teferi's Protection, that isn't the same as saying they can't be attacked, so the goaded creatures must be sent at them, they just won't do very much.
January 29, 2024 6:07 p.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #3
TheField: Answers to your question have been up for a while. Since there don't seem to be any follow-ups or corrections that need to be made, I marked one of them as the "Accepted answer" so this topic can move out of the list of unanswered questions. In the future you can take care of this yourself using the "Mark as Answer" button on the response that you feel is the most helpful answer to your question.
February 5, 2024 2:54 p.m.
Rhadamanthus, I appreciate it! I just figured it would move out of there one it was answered. This was my first question on this site. Learn something new everyday.
legendofa says... #1
Assuming no planeswalkers or anything, the goaded creatures will be forced to attack you.
Goad has two checks: a goaded creature must attack if able, and it must attack someone other than the one who goaded it if able. Nothing prevents the creatures from attacking, so they pass the first check. Creatures can't attack their controller, and they can't attack someone who can't be attacked ("can't" overrides "must", but the creatures are still able and required to attack someone), so you would be the only attackable player.
January 29, 2024 3:01 p.m.