Can You Sacrifice Indestructible Creatures? A Deep Dive into Magic: The Gathering Rules
Yes, you absolutely can sacrifice indestructible creatures in Magic: The Gathering (MTG). While the term “indestructible” suggests invulnerability, it’s crucial to understand its limitations. Indestructible specifically protects a permanent from destruction effects and from being destroyed by having lethal damage marked on it. However, it does not make a creature impervious to every method of removal. Sacrificing a creature, even one with indestructible, is a perfectly valid way to send it to the graveyard. This is a key aspect of MTG strategy and crucial for leveraging certain card abilities.
Understanding Indestructibility
What Does Indestructible Actually Mean?
The indestructible ability in MTG is a static ability that prevents a permanent from being destroyed. However, “destroyed” has a specific definition within the game rules. It means the permanent cannot be put into its owner’s graveyard by effects that specifically use the word “destroy,” nor can it be destroyed due to having damage marked on it that would be considered lethal. Think of it as a targeted protection from specific effects, not blanket immunity. It is not a synonym for “unremovable”.
Why Does Indestructible Not Prevent Sacrifice?
The key difference lies in the mechanics of destruction versus sacrifice. Destruction is an effect that is explicitly defined within MTG and prevented by indestructible. Sacrifice, on the other hand, is a different game action where a player chooses to put a permanent into their graveyard as a cost or effect of another card or ability. This bypasses indestructible entirely because the card is not being “destroyed”.
The Significance of Sacrifice in MTG
Sacrifice mechanics are prevalent in MTG, particularly in black and red color identities. They often provide a cost for powerful effects, making cards that interact with sacrifice a staple of many strategies. Understanding that even an indestructible creature can be sacrificed adds a critical dimension to strategic deck building. For instance, an indestructible creature can be sacrificed to trigger powerful effects such as drawing cards, gaining life, or damaging opponents.
FAQs About Indestructible Creatures and Sacrifice
1. Can an indestructible creature be removed from the battlefield by methods other than sacrifice?
Absolutely. Indestructible only protects against being destroyed. Other methods of removal, such as exiling, bouncing (returning a permanent to its owner’s hand), or having zero or less toughness, can all remove an indestructible creature from the battlefield.
2. If I control a creature with indestructible that gets -X/-X, will it go to the graveyard when its toughness is zero?
Yes. When a creature’s toughness becomes zero or less, state-based actions will put it into the graveyard, not destroy it. Therefore, an indestructible creature with zero or less toughness will be put into the graveyard.
3. Does deathtouch kill indestructible creatures?
No. A creature with deathtouch will deal “lethal damage”, but an indestructible creature cannot be destroyed by lethal damage. This means an indestructible creature will not be destroyed by a creature with deathtouch in combat.
4. Can a board wipe destroy an indestructible creature?
It depends on the type of board wipe. If the board wipe has “destroy” in its text, an indestructible creature will survive it. However, a board wipe that exiles or reduces toughness will still affect indestructible creatures.
5. Can you sacrifice a creature to an effect before it is destroyed by another effect?
Yes. You can sacrifice a creature before it is destroyed by another effect. This is because you can respond to spells and abilities with instants or activated abilities. It should also be noted you can’t sacrifice them “as” they are destroyed as it has to be done between the casting and the resolution of the spell.
6. Does indestructible prevent trample damage?
No. Indestructible creatures still take damage, just not “lethal damage”. When a creature with trample attacks a creature with indestructible, you only need to assign lethal damage equal to the indestructible creatures toughness and the remainder of the damage can go to the player being attacked.
7. Does indestructible protect planeswalkers?
No, planeswalkers do not benefit from indestructible. If an indestructible planeswalker is dealt damage, it will still have loyalty counters removed. If that causes it to have zero loyalty, it will be put in its owner’s graveyard as a state based action.
8. Can an indestructible creature be countered?
Yes, you can counter a spell that creates an indestructible creature, or one that grants indestructible. Indestructible only applies when the permanent is on the battlefield, it has no effect on a spell on the stack.
9. Does hexproof prevent a deathtouch creature from killing a hexproof creature?
No. Hexproof only prevents a card from being targeted by an opponents spell or ability. Deathtouch is a combat ability and does not target. Therefore, hexproof provides no protection from deathtouch.
10. If a creature has both first strike and double strike, will it kill a deathtouch creature it’s fighting before the deathtouch creature can kill it?
Yes. If a creature with first strike or double strike blocks a deathtouch creature, the first-strike creature can deal damage first. If the deathtouch creature dies as a result of this damage, it cannot deal damage back during the regular combat damage step.
11. Can you sacrifice a creature with shroud?
Yes, shroud only makes a card unable to be targeted by an opponent’s spell or ability. Shroud does not stop sacrifice as that is an action controlled by the cards controller.
12. Does protection from a color stop wrath of God?
No. Protection from a color does prevent targeted spells or abilities of that color from affecting the protected card. However, wrath of god is not a targeted effect, so it will still destroy a creature with protection from white.
13. Does deathtouch cancel deathtouch?
Yes, “Any two instances of the Deathtouch ability against one another cancel out the Deathtouch ability.”
14. Does 0 damage trigger deathtouch?
No. Deathtouch does not trigger off of zero damage, it only triggers if damage greater than zero has been dealt.
15. Does indestructible prevent sacrifice?
No. Indestructible only prevents destruction. Sacrificing is not a form of destruction and therefore indestructible is unaffected by it.
Conclusion
The interaction between indestructible and sacrifice is a testament to the depth of MTG’s rules. Indestructible is a powerful ability, but it is not an absolute shield against all forms of removal. The ability to sacrifice creatures, even indestructible ones, opens up a wide range of strategic possibilities, showcasing why Magic: The Gathering remains one of the most popular and complex trading card games.