Rules on Indestructible
Asked by unbendingsea 3 years ago
How does indestructible work? I know when a creature with the ability indestructible cannot be killed with lethal damage and board wipes.
How does the interactions work with spells that target a creature. Like Terminate.
I do know if the creature gets bounced, exiled or has negative counter placed on the creature can kill/take out of play.
Just how does the destroy target creature work and can someone send me a legit link on the ruling of the interaction.
Indestructible prevents an object from being destroyed. The rule on what constitutes being destroyed is pretty clearly-written, so I will just let it speak for itself:
701.7b The only ways a permanent can be destroyed are as a result of an effect that uses the word “destroy” or as a result of the state-based actions that check for lethal damage (see rule 704.5g) or damage from a source with deathtouch (see rule 704.5h). If a permanent is put into its owner’s graveyard for any other reason, it hasn’t been “destroyed.”
Here is the other rule stating what “indestructible” means, since you asked for specific rules:
702.12b A permanent with indestructible can’t be destroyed. Such permanents aren’t destroyed by lethal damage, and they ignore the state-based action that checks for lethal damage (see rule 704.5g).
Edit: Omniscience_is_life - There are other ways a creature with indestructible can die, such as being sacrificed.
September 4, 2021 7:02 p.m. Edited.
Omniscience_is_life says... #3
Caerwyn Yeah, I realized after posting that such an absolute word as "cannot" was a mistake without verification. My mistake :/
September 5, 2021 1:42 a.m.
unbendingsea says... #4
So basically a card like Terminate is null and void
September 8, 2021 8:31 a.m.
It would be more accurate to say that Terminate would have no tangible effect upon resolution, rather than “null and void” (it could still trigger other effects), but in spirit you have it correct.
September 8, 2021 9:14 a.m.
zeniongames says... #6
There is nothing about the keyword "Indestructible" that natively prevents a permanent from being the legal target of a spell.
Indestructible does not modify the rules for a permanent being declared as a target, while Protection does. (Rule 702.15b "A permanent with Protection cannot be target by spells with the stated quality and cannot be target by abilities that possess the stated quality").
Unless the spell has a qualifier that checks for indestructibility (IE "Do X to target permanent unless it is indestructible"), permanents with Indestructible are can be targeted by anything that considers them a legal target.
A permanent with Indestructible "cannot be destroyed", so the interaction would be: - I cast Terminate, declaring my opponent's Blightsteel Colossus as it's target. Terminate goes on the stack. - Legality check. Does the creature natively have Protection from any quality of Terminate? No. Does the creature natively have any rules text that prevents it from being targeted by spells (hexproof, shroud, etc)? No. Is the creature a permanent? Yes. Blightsteel Colossus is therefore a legal target. (Rule 115.2) - Barring any other effects or spells being added to the stack, Terminate is cast and we process its rules text: "Destroy target creature. It can't be regenerated." - Blightsteel Colossus has the static ability Indestructible (Rule 702.12b "A permanent with indestructible cannot be destroyed. Such permanents aren't destroyed by lethal damage, and they ignore state-based actions that check for lethal damage." - Terminate attempts to destroy the creature, the state-based effect is applied, the rules text states "this state-based effect cannot be applied", the spell resolves and is placed into the graveyard. Blightsteel Colossus survives, huzzah...for my opponent
September 16, 2021 11:31 a.m.
In the future, please remember to hit the green "Mark as Answer" button to indicate your question has been resolved. Since this question has been answered for several days, I have gone ahead and marked an answer on your behalf.
I normally do not like marking my own answers, but I did so in this case because you asked for the specific rules and it was the most responsive to the underlying question.
Omniscience_is_life says... #1
A permanent with indestructible cannot be destroyed by any effect that says "destroy", nor by lethal damage. It will die only of it loses indestructible or if its toughness is reduced to 0, via -1/-1 counters on an effect like Flunk.
September 4, 2021 6:49 p.m.