Redirecting damage to planeswalkers
Asked by Dreykon 7 years ago
If I have Saskia the Unyielding in play when my creatures deal combat damage and saskia's ability triggers and the chosen player has a planeswalker in play. Can I redirect the damage to the chosen players planeswalker?
Raging_Squiggle says... #2
Note that the redirection is part of the resolution of the ability dealing the damage, so your opponent will not know where the damage is going until it's too late.
December 16, 2016 10:56 p.m.
Thank you MerrowMania for clearing this up and Raging_Squiggle thank you for the tip.
December 17, 2016 2:37 a.m.
Raging_Squiggle: What redirection are you talking about? Saskia copies the damage to be done to the "player/planewalker" you chose when you play Saskia, so if you target a Planewalker the player that controls the Planewalker will know that any combat damage the player controlling Saskia does will also be done to that Planewalker. No surprise there at all.
December 19, 2016 4:48 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #5
Saskia's ability only allows you to choose players. It doesn't allow you to choose planeswalkers. The player you choose will know that damage will be coming his/her way, but you don't announce any redirection to planeswalkers until the ability that would deal the damage begins to resolve.
December 19, 2016 4:52 p.m.
Epochalyptik > Saskia's ability flat out does not redirect a single thing. It COPIES the damage to the Target "Player" you chose when it came in play. Anytime you can "target" a player you can "target" a Planeswalker unless I am mistaken.
Saskia literally copies all the damage your creatures do to any player and also does it to the "player" you targeted with Saskia on ETB.
December 19, 2016 5:28 p.m.
I will admit I'm not positive on using Planeswalker as a target for Saskia, but I know I am correct about the copy vs redirect as per the rulings on the Gatherer:11/8/2016 If a creature you control deals combat damage to the chosen player, it deals that much damage to that player again.
December 19, 2016 5:34 p.m.
Raging_Squiggle says... #8
Neither Epochalyptik nor I are saying Saskia's ability has a built in redirection effect. We are referring to rule 306.7:
306.7. If noncombat damage would be dealt to a player by a source controlled by an opponent, that opponent may have that source deal that damage to a planeswalker the first player controls instead. This is a redirection effect (see rule 614.9) and is subject to the normal rules for ordering replacement effects (see rule 616). The opponent chooses whether to redirect the damage as the redirection effect is applied.
Because the ability triggered from Saskia is non-combat damage, this rule applies and you may choose to redirect the non-combat damage to a planeswalker that the chosen player controls.
This does not target the planeswalker, nor does it even target the player.
Replacement effects are applied during the resolution process. So the opponent will not know if you are choosing to redirect the damage or not until the ability is already resolving, which at that point no player has priority and can therefore not respond or do anything. Hence "the surpise".
December 19, 2016 6:13 p.m.
Raging_Squiggle says... #10
Also, no where in either of Saskia's abilities does it target a player. It's first ability is a replacement effect that doesn't target, and it's second ability is a triggered ability that also doesn't target. Minor correction, but an important one.
merrowMania says... Accepted answer #1
Yes you can. You can redirect any instance of non-combat damage to a planewalker that player controls. Even different Saskia triggers can go to face, planewalker 1, and/or planeswalker 2.
December 16, 2016 9:14 p.m.