Can Planeswalkers with Hexproof Be Attacked? The Definitive Guide
The short answer is: yes, planeswalkers can be attacked, even if they, or their controller, have hexproof. While hexproof prevents opponents from targeting you (the player) or permanents you control with spells or abilities, it doesn’t stop creatures from being declared as attackers against you or your planeswalkers. Think of hexproof as a personal force field that prevents targeted attacks, but doesn’t stop someone from simply walking up and punching you! Let’s dive into the intricacies of this crucial Magic: The Gathering rule.
Understanding Hexproof and Targeting
What Hexproof Does
Hexproof is a keyword ability that means “This permanent or player can’t be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control.” This is a powerful defensive ability, preventing direct interference from your opponents. A creature with hexproof, for example, can’t be targeted by a removal spell like Murder or a buff spell like Giant Growth controlled by an opponent.
What Hexproof Doesn’t Do
Crucially, hexproof only protects against targeting. It doesn’t prevent:
- Board Wipes: Spells like Wrath of God or Damnation destroy all creatures, regardless of whether they have hexproof.
- Non-Targeted Effects: Abilities that affect all players or permanents without targeting, such as a global life drain effect.
- Combat Damage: Creatures can still attack a player or a planeswalker controlled by a player with hexproof.
Planeswalkers and Combat
Attacking Planeswalkers
Planeswalkers are permanents that represent powerful characters from the Magic: The Gathering lore. They have loyalty counters, which act as their life total. During combat, an attacking player can choose to attack a planeswalker controlled by the defending player instead of attacking the player directly.
Redirecting Damage
While you can’t directly target a planeswalker with a damage dealing spell, you can target the planeswalker’s controller (the player). Upon resolution, that player then has the option to redirect that damage to a planeswalker they control. Hexproof only comes into play if the spell targets the planeswalker directly, which, with very few exceptions, is not possible. This means even with hexproof, your planeswalkers are still vulnerable.
Protecting Your Planeswalkers
Since hexproof doesn’t offer complete protection, how can you safeguard your planeswalkers?
- Creature Defense: The most common strategy is to have creatures that can block attackers. Having a robust board presence dissuades opponents from attacking your planeswalkers.
- Pillowfort Strategies: Cards like Ghostly Prison and Sphere of Safety make it costly for opponents to attack you or your planeswalkers. These strategies don’t stop attacks, but they discourage them.
- Removal Spells: Instant-speed removal spells can eliminate attacking creatures before they deal damage to your planeswalkers.
- Planeswalker Protection Spells: Some cards exist specifically to protect planeswalkers, granting them indestructible or preventing damage.
- Increasing Loyalty: Using planeswalker abilities that increase their loyalty can give them a bigger “life pool”, allowing them to withstand more attacks.
- Fey Steed Effects: Cards like Fey Steed that give indestructible can save planeswalkers.
Strategic Considerations
Understanding the limitations of hexproof is essential for building effective decks and making smart plays. Don’t rely solely on hexproof to protect your planeswalkers. Instead, combine it with other defensive strategies to create a multi-layered defense. Recognizing the nuances of targeting and non-targeting effects is key to mastering the game. Understanding how people learn and interact with games is critical to the Games Learning Society, which is why we should strive to understand these intricacies of the game.
Planeswalkers and Learning
Magic: The Gathering provides endless opportunities to explore game design concepts. The Games Learning Society is a great source of information on how people learn while interacting in various games. You can find more at GamesLearningSociety.org.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. Does Hexproof protect against planeswalker abilities?
Planeswalker abilities are just like any other ability in the game. They can’t target objects with hexproof that you don’t control. So, if an opponent tries to use a planeswalker ability to target a creature with hexproof that you control, the ability will be an illegal target.
2. Can planeswalkers with protection be attacked?
Protection prevents damage, targeting, attaching, and being blocked. It does nothing to prevent a planeswalker from being attacked. However, damage from an attacking creature to a planeswalker with protection will be prevented.
3. What are the rules for targeting planeswalkers?
You can’t directly target a planeswalker with damage-dealing spells, with the exception of a small handful of cards. Instead, you must target a player and then redirect the damage from that player to a planeswalker they control.
4. How can you protect planeswalkers in Commander?
In Commander, consider a creature-heavy deck, or a deck that makes many creature tokens, so that you can defend your planeswalkers. You can also use “pillowfort” type cards to discourage attacking, such as Norn’s Annex and Sphere of Safety.
5. How do you prevent planeswalkers from being attacked?
The defending player can prevent damage to their planeswalkers the same way they’d prevent attacking creatures from dealing damage to them: by blocking the attack with their creatures or by using an instant-speed spell to remove the attacking creatures.
6. Can you protect a planeswalker from damage?
Yes, there are various ways to protect a planeswalker from damage. Some cards prevent a certain amount of damage to planeswalkers. Others can grant indestructible, or prevent damage from specific sources.
7. What are the rules for planeswalkers with indestructible?
Planeswalkers with indestructible will still have loyalty counters removed from them as they are dealt damage. If a planeswalker with indestructible has no loyalty counters, it will still be put into its owner’s graveyard, as the rule that does this doesn’t destroy the planeswalker.
8. Is attacking a planeswalker considered targeting?
Attacking a planeswalker is not considered targeting in the spell-targeting sense. You declare an attacking creature as attacking the planeswalker, but it’s not a spell or ability targeting the planeswalker. Damage redirection is the issue, and hexproof will protect against this.
9. Can you have two planeswalkers out at the same time?
Yes, but planeswalkers have their own version of the Legend rule. You cannot have multiple copies of the exact same planeswalker card, even if they are different printings. You can have as many different planeswalkers in play as you can cast.
10. Does Deathtouch work on planeswalkers?
Deathtouch only affects creatures. It doesn’t work on planeswalkers unless they are specifically stated.
11. Does Hexproof stop Deathtouch?
Hexproof only prevents targeting by spells or abilities your opponent controls. Deathtouch doesn’t target; it’s a static ability that makes any damage from the source lethal. Therefore, hexproof doesn’t prevent Deathtouch damage.
12. Do board wipes affect Planeswalkers?
Most board wipes affect creatures. However, some board wipes can destroy all permanents, including planeswalkers. Read the card carefully to determine its effect.
13. What happens when a planeswalker is attacked?
When a planeswalker is attacked, the attacking creature deals combat damage to the planeswalker, reducing its loyalty counters by that amount. A planeswalker with no loyalty counters is then put into the graveyard as a state-based action.
14. Do Planeswalkers enter with counters?
Planeswalkers enter the battlefield with the number of loyalty counters printed on their card.
15. How does attacking a planeswalker count as combat damage?
An unblocked creature assigns its combat damage to the player or planeswalker it’s attacking. If the planeswalker leaves the battlefield during the declare attackers or blockers step, the creature assigns no combat damage.