Decoding Hexproof: A Comprehensive Guide to Bypassing Magic’s Elusive Shield
Hexproof. Just the word can send shivers down the spines of Magic: The Gathering players. This potent ability protects permanents (primarily creatures) and players from being targeted by your opponents’ spells and abilities. But fear not! Hexproof isn’t an impenetrable fortress. While it shuts down a wide array of removal options, there are still plenty of ways to overcome this seemingly invincible defense.
So, what can beat hexproof? The key is understanding what hexproof prevents: targeting. Anything that doesn’t target bypasses hexproof entirely. This opens the door to a variety of strategies, from board wipes that indiscriminately affect all creatures to sacrifice effects that force your opponent to get rid of their own permanents. Let’s delve deeper into the strategies and specific card types that can outmaneuver hexproof.
The Untargeted Arsenal: Strategies to Overcome Hexproof
Here’s a breakdown of the most effective ways to deal with hexproof:
- Board Wipes: These are your primary weapon against hexproof. Spells like Supreme Verdict, Wrath of God, and Damnation destroy all creatures, regardless of whether they have hexproof or not. Remember, these cards don’t target, they simply affect everything.
- Sacrifice Effects: Spells like Diabolic Edict and Grave Pact force your opponent to sacrifice a creature. Crucially, these spells target the player, not the creature. This means even if your opponent’s only creature has hexproof, they’re still forced to sacrifice it.
- -X/-X Effects: While destroy effects can be avoided with indestructible, reducing a creature’s toughness to 0 still works, even with indestructible. Cards like Toxic Deluge, Black Sun’s Zenith, and Mutilate apply a negative toughness modifier to all creatures, bypassing hexproof and potentially eliminating them, or at least severely weakening them for combat.
- Combat: Hexproof only prevents targeting; it doesn’t stop creatures from being blocked and destroyed in combat. Out-muscle your opponent with superior creatures or use deathtouch creatures to ensure even a blocked hexproof creature is eliminated.
- Exile Effects (Non-Targeting): Certain exile effects, such as those found on cards like Farewell, bypass hexproof since they affect all of the specified type, such as all artifacts, creatures, enchantments, and graveyards.
- Indirect Removal: While a planeswalker ability can not directly target a Hexproof creature, you can utilize a planeswalker ability or other abilities to kill the other supporting creatures that are not hexproof. Make the hexproof creature the only creature available for your opponent to block with while you kill them with direct combat.
- Copy Effects: Cards that allow you to copy creatures, like Cursed Mirror or Clone, don’t target. This lets you create your own version of the hexproof creature, potentially turning the tables on your opponent.
- Proliferate: Abilities like Proliferate target a player. Since it only targets the player, not the creature, the ability works regardless of hexproof.
- Deathtouch: Hexproof does not make a creature immune to abilities, it just makes them unable to be targeted by an opponent’s spells or abilities. As deathtouch does not target, the creature with hexproof will still be affected.
FAQs: Demystifying Hexproof
Here are some of the most frequently asked questions regarding hexproof and how to play around it:
1. Do board wipes kill hexproof creatures?
Yes. Board wipes, such as Wrath of God or Supreme Verdict, destroy all creatures on the battlefield without targeting. Since they don’t target, hexproof offers no protection.
2. Does hexproof stop sacrifice effects?
No. Sacrifice effects, like Diabolic Edict, target the player, not the creature. The player is forced to choose a creature to sacrifice, even if that creature has hexproof.
3. Does deathtouch kill hexproof creatures?
Yes. Deathtouch doesn’t target the creature. If a creature with deathtouch deals damage to a hexproof creature, it will be destroyed (unless it also has indestructible).
4. Does hexproof stop all spells?
No. Hexproof only prevents creatures from being targeted by spells or abilities your opponents control. It doesn’t stop spells that affect all creatures or spells that target players.
5. Can you counter a hexproof creature?
Yes. You can counter a creature spell with hexproof while it’s on the stack. Hexproof only applies when the card is a permanent on the battlefield.
6. Does hexproof prevent blocking?
No. Hexproof has one meaning on a creature: “It can’t be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control.” Blocking and being blocked don’t involve targeting.
7. Can I enchant a creature with hexproof?
If you control the spell, you can enchant the Hexproof creature, as long as it targets that specific creature to cast. However, once an Aura is attached to a creature, hexproof doesn’t cause it to fall off. Hexproof only prevents new targeting.
8. Does hexproof stop proliferate?
No. Proliferate doesn’t target specific permanents or players. It allows you to choose any number of permanents and/or players with counters on them and add another counter of each type already there.
9. Does hexproof stop -1/-1 counters?
Hexproof does not stop the placement of -1/-1 counters by a non-targeting ability like that of Mutilate. It cannot be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control. Anything passive or battlefield wide would still effect a hexproofed creature. If a creature’s toughness is reduced to zero, it still dies, even if it has indestructible.
10. Does hexproof prevent curses?
No. Hexproof prevents the creature from being targeted, so an enchantment can still be placed.
11. Does hexproof survive destroy all creatures?
Yes, cards with “destroy all …” don’t target the permanents they affect, so Hexproof does not protect them from being destroyed.
12. Can you copy a Hexproof creature?
Yes, you can copy a Hexproof creature. The Mirror, like other Clone cards, doesn’t Target anything. Cursed mirror and other clone effects in the same general style do not target and thus effectively bypass hexproof, protection, or shroud.
13. Does Hexproof stop Planeswalker abilities?
Planeswalker abilities are abilities. They cannot target objects with hexproof that you do not control, just like any other ability in the game. You can utilize a planeswalker ability or other abilities to kill the other supporting creatures that are not hexproof. Make the hexproof creature the only creature available for your opponent to block with while you kill them with direct combat.
14. Does Hexproof stop Mutate?
With Gladecover Scout and Paradise druid available, the downside of mutate can be mitigated through hexproof. Also by only running mutate triggers which generate card advantage.
15. Does Hexproof stop double strike?
No, that refers to targeted abilities. Anything passive or battlefield wide would still effect a hexproofed creature.
Mastering the Metagame: Adapting to Hexproof Strategies
The prevalence of hexproof in a particular metagame often dictates deckbuilding choices. If you anticipate facing numerous hexproof creatures, it’s crucial to include several of the strategies discussed above in your deck. Board wipes are always a solid choice, but consider diversifying your removal options to include sacrifice effects and -X/-X spells for increased flexibility.
Consider the color pie when choosing your strategies. Black excels at sacrifice effects and -X/-X spells, while white provides access to powerful board wipes. Red offers some non-targeting damage spells, and blue provides countermagic to stop hexproof creatures before they even hit the battlefield.
Ultimately, overcoming hexproof requires a combination of strategic deckbuilding and smart in-game play. Understanding how hexproof works, and more importantly, what it doesn’t do, is the key to turning a seemingly insurmountable obstacle into a manageable challenge.
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