Indestructible
Asked by miel94 12 years ago
Being indestructible stops only effects that would destroy the permanent, including destruction due to lethal damage and destruction that doesn't allow regeneration. An indestructible permanent can be exiled, returned to a player's hand, put into a graveyard for having 0 or less toughness, or sacrificed. (from mtg salvation wiki)
So lethal damage dos not destroy an indestructible creature, but if it has 0 or les toughness, it still is put into the graveyard?
That seems to talk against eachather, so if a 1/1 indestructible would block another 1/1 creature, is it destroyed or not? Or is indestructible just some sort of hexproof against cards that say destroy?
When you take damage, your toughness doesn't change. Your 4/4 Angel that takes 4 damage doesn't become a 4/0 because it got hit. but if you put 4 -1/-1 counters on that angel, it has 0 toughness and is dead dead. If a 1/1 indestructible blocks a 1/1 regular, they each deal 1 point to each other, then check for lethal damage (have i taken enough to die). the regular one does, so it goes to the graveyard. The indestructible one has, but says that it doesn't care because it is indestructible. That's why putting a -1/-1 counter on a Stuffy Doll is so damn funny :)
August 31, 2012 10:33 a.m.
AmethystDragon23 says... #3
When combat damage is dealt to a creature, it is destroyed because it has more damage marked on it than it does toughness. Damage does not actually change the creature's toughness or lower its toughness, so the indestructible 1/1 survives the "lethal damage". -1/-1 counters are how toughness is lowered to or below 0. That is what "having 0 or less toughness" refers to. For example, your 1/1 indestructible creature dies to Grasp of Darkness , because it would then have -4/-4, making the creature a -3/-3.
August 31, 2012 10:34 a.m.
NobodyPicksBulbasaur says... #4
When a creature takes damage, damage becomes "marked" on the creature until it is removed during the cleanup step at the end of the turn. If the amount of damage marked on a creature ever equals or exceeds its toughness, then that creature will die unless it is indestructible. The creature's power and toughness remain unchanged during this process; marking the damage is simply done to track how much damage that creature has taken this turn.
An indestructible creature will never die to having "lethal" damage marked on it. They can pretty much just shrug off as much damage as they want. In your combat example, only the 1/1 that is NOT indestructible will die.
An indestructible creature will, however, die if its toughness ever becomes zero or less. This can happen through effects like Dismember that lower power and toughness until end of turn, or through -1/-1 tokens. card:Black Sun's Zenith is probably the best example of that right now.
It's probably easiest to think of "Toughness" as a life-force. It doesn't matter how tough your armor is, if you run out of life-force, you're going to die.
August 31, 2012 10:34 a.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #5
Being dealt damage doesn't reduce a creature's toughness. Some digital versions of the game (most notably, Duels of the Planeswalkers) display a toughness reduction as a visual shortcut to show how close the creature is to dying, but that's not what's really going on.
When damage is dealt to a creature, that much damage is "marked" on it until the cleanup step. If the total amount of marked damage exceeds the creature's current toughness, it's destroyed, so being indestructible prevents this. However, creature death for 0 or less toughness isn't a "destroy" effect, so being indestructible won't save it.
August 31, 2012 10:44 a.m.
A creature reduced to zero or less toughness is put into the graveyard as a state-based action, regardless of whether it is indestructible or not. In this way a creature that is indestructible can be put into the graveyard from play by creatures with wither, infect, or by something like card:Black Sun's Zenith.
August 31, 2012 11:53 a.m.
Damage doesn't lower toughness. This is the only thing you need to know when dealing with an indestructible creature.
If Darksteel Myr blocks a 23/23, it lives. If it blocks a 1/1 Infect, it dies. If it is hit with Tragic Slip , it dies.
August 31, 2012 1:52 p.m.
a creature with indestructible can't die because of combat damage. however, if you cast Dismember on your 1/1 token with indestructible, it will go to the graveyard, because his toughness go to 0.
August 31, 2012 4:47 p.m.
Thx all
Why don't they explain indestructible as "cannot take damege" ?
August 31, 2012 5:10 p.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #10
Because that's not how it works either. If it did, then being indestructible would turn off things like lifelink, wither, and infect, which it's not intended to do.
August 31, 2012 5:11 p.m.
They should just put "Damage does not lower a creature's toughness" in the reminder text of Indestructible. It would answer a lot of the questions people have about it.
kldfjlaksdj says... #1
It would NOT be destroyed. Combat damage, like from blocking a 1/1 critter, is going to fall under the "Lethal Damage". When a 1/1 critter takes damage, it doesn't make it's Toughness 0 or 1 less. It simply takes 1 damage, which drops at end of phase.
August 31, 2012 10:33 a.m.