Can You Target Planeswalkers in Commander? A Comprehensive Guide
Yes, you can absolutely target planeswalkers in Commander, but with a critical caveat: you can only target them with spells and abilities that explicitly state they can target a planeswalker. Unlike creatures, which can be targeted by generic damage spells, planeswalkers are a distinct card type that requires specific targeting. Let’s delve deeper into the intricacies of targeting planeswalkers within the Commander format and explore some of the common questions that arise.
Targeting Planeswalkers: The Basics
The core principle to understand is that planeswalkers are not treated as creatures when it comes to targeting. Spells like Lightning Bolt, which state they target “any target,” actually refer to a player or a creature and therefore cannot directly target a planeswalker.
To target a planeswalker, you need spells like Hero’s Downfall, Assassin’s Trophy, or abilities that specifically say “target planeswalker” in their text. This is a crucial distinction, as it prevents planeswalkers from being easily removed by common damage spells. Think of it this way: Planeswalkers have their own special “shield” that can only be penetrated by very specific effects.
Why This Distinction Matters
This separation in targeting is intentional for balance within Magic: The Gathering. Planeswalkers, with their potent abilities and potential for strategic board control, need to be protected in some way. Making them susceptible to every damage spell would make them far too fragile and less appealing to play. By requiring specific targetting abilities, the game introduces an additional layer of strategy into planeswalker interaction.
Understanding Loyalty Counters
Planeswalkers use loyalty counters as their form of “health”. When a planeswalker takes damage, it loses loyalty counters equal to that amount of damage. If a planeswalker’s loyalty reaches zero, it is placed into its owner’s graveyard. This is how damage translates into removing planeswalkers from play. Unlike creatures, planeswalkers cannot “die” from lethal damage, they must lose all their loyalty counters.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Planeswalkers in Commander
Here are 15 frequently asked questions that explore the intricacies of planeswalkers in the Commander format:
1. Can a planeswalker be attacked by creatures?
Yes, planeswalkers can be attacked by creatures controlled by your opponents. During the combat phase, your opponents can choose to attack you, your creatures, or one of your planeswalkers. If your opponent’s creatures attack a planeswalker, you can’t choose the blocker. The damage is dealt directly to the planeswalker, reducing its loyalty counters.
2. Does Deathtouch work against planeswalkers?
No, deathtouch does not work on planeswalkers in the traditional sense. Deathtouch only applies to creatures. It causes one point of damage to be considered lethal damage for creatures. Since planeswalkers are not creatures, deathtouch alone cannot kill them. You need additional abilities, such as those found on cards like Vraska, Swarm’s Eminence, to deal lethal damage to a planeswalker using deathtouch.
3. Can you deal damage to planeswalkers with regular damage spells?
You cannot directly deal damage to planeswalkers with regular spells like Lightning Bolt or Shock, unless the spell specifically says it can target a planeswalker. These spells must target a player or a creature, not a planeswalker. You’ll need abilities like Lava Spike which were errata’d to include “target player or planeswalker.”
4. Can you target a planeswalker before it uses its abilities?
A player can activate a planeswalker’s loyalty ability only when it’s their main phase, and the stack is empty, or in other words, at sorcery speed. If your opponent casts a planeswalker, it resolves and they gain priority. They will have the chance to activate an ability before you can respond. You can target it on your turn as long as you have specific spells or abilities to target it, or choose to attack it with your creatures.
5. Do planeswalkers have summoning sickness?
No, planeswalkers do not have summoning sickness. You can play a planeswalker and immediately activate one of its loyalty abilities on the same turn.
6. How does Commander damage interact with planeswalkers?
Normally, commander damage doesn’t apply directly to planeswalkers, as they can’t attack. However, some cards like Luxior, Giada’s Gift turn your planeswalker into a creature, allowing you to deal commander damage. If your commander is a planeswalker, any damage that planeswalker-creature deals is tracked as normal Commander damage.
7. Can planeswalkers be commanders?
Not all planeswalkers can be commanders. A planeswalker can only be your commander if it explicitly states on the bottom of the card, “This card can be your commander.” If it doesn’t have that line of text, it cannot be a commander.
8. What is the “legendary planeswalker rule?”
The legendary planeswalker rule states that if a player controls more than one legendary planeswalker with the same name (even different printings of the same planeswalker card), that player must choose one and put the others in their owner’s graveyard. You can only have one copy of each unique Planeswalker in play.
9. Can you have multiple different planeswalkers in play at once?
Yes, you can have multiple different planeswalkers in play simultaneously, provided they don’t have the same name. You can have as many different unique planeswalkers in play as your resources allow.
10. How can I protect my planeswalkers in Commander?
You can protect your planeswalkers in various ways, such as using counterspells like Swan Song, Counterspell, and Arcane Denial. You can also use creatures with vigilance to block for them, or cards with hexproof or indestructible to give them protection.
11. Can an opponent steal my commander?
Yes, an opponent can take control of your commander, planeswalker or otherwise, using cards that grant temporary or permanent control of permanents. However, when your commander would leave the battlefield, you can choose to put it into the command zone instead, meaning they may not be able to keep it.
12. Do two deathtouch abilities cancel each other out?
No, two instances of deathtouch do not cancel each other out. If two creatures with deathtouch block each other they will both deal 1 damage and kill each other.
13. Does Indestructible stop deathtouch?
Yes, indestructible creatures ignore deathtouch. A creature with indestructible cannot be destroyed by “lethal damage”, and deathtouch simply changes the amount of damage that is considered lethal from the normal damage total to one point.
14. How does Crawl Space affect planeswalkers?
Crawl Space does not protect planeswalkers. While it limits the number of attacking creatures your opponents can have during combat, it doesn’t prevent them from attacking your planeswalkers specifically.
15. What happens if a planeswalker loses all loyalty counters?
If a planeswalker loses all of its loyalty counters, it’s put into its owner’s graveyard. It does not die from damage as a creature would, but rather has its loyalty reduced until it reaches zero.
Conclusion
Understanding how to target planeswalkers in Commander is crucial to mastering the format. Remember that direct damage spells won’t usually be enough; you need specific effects that explicitly target planeswalkers. Knowing these rules allows you to protect your own planeswalkers, remove those of your opponents, and make the most of the strategic depth that planeswalkers bring to Magic: The Gathering. By mastering the nuanced rules surrounding planeswalkers, you can elevate your Commander gameplay and make more informed decisions at the table.