Can You Target a Creature Before It Resolves?
In Magic: The Gathering, targeting is a crucial aspect of playing the game. However, there’s a common misconception about when you can target a creature. Can you target a creature before it resolves? The answer is no, and in this article, we’ll dive into the details.
When Can You Target?
In Magic, you can target a creature only after it has been on the battlefield for at least a turn. This means that if your opponent casts a creature, you can’t target it until it has been on the battlefield for at least one turn. This is because targeting is a way to affect a permanent, and you can’t affect a permanent until it has been created.
Why Can’t You Target Before Resolution?
There are a few reasons why you can’t target a creature before it resolves. Firstly, the creature isn’t yet a permanent on the battlefield. It’s still in the process of resolving, and it doesn’t have a physical presence on the battlefield yet. Secondly, targeting is a way to affect a permanent, and you can’t affect something that doesn’t exist yet.
What Happens If You Try to Target Before Resolution?
If you try to target a creature before it resolves, nothing will happen. The spell or ability will simply be ignored, and the creature will resolve as normal. This is because the creature isn’t yet a targetable permanent, so you can’t affect it.
When Can You Target a Creature?
So, when can you target a creature? You can target a creature only after it has been on the battlefield for at least a turn. This means that if your opponent casts a creature, you can target it on the following turn. You can also target a creature that you control, as long as it has been on the battlefield for at least a turn.
Examples and Scenarios
Here are a few examples and scenarios to illustrate when you can and can’t target a creature:
- Example 1: Your opponent casts a creature on turn 1. You can’t target it on turn 1, but you can target it on turn 2.
- Example 2: You cast a creature on turn 1. You can target it on turn 1, as it has been on the battlefield for at least a turn.
- Example 3: Your opponent casts a creature on turn 2. You can target it on turn 2, as it has been on the battlefield for at least a turn.
In Conclusion
In conclusion, you can’t target a creature before it resolves. Targeting is a way to affect a permanent, and you can’t affect something that doesn’t exist yet. You can target a creature only after it has been on the battlefield for at least a turn. Remember, targeting is a crucial aspect of playing Magic, and understanding when you can and can’t target is essential to improving your gameplay.
Table: When Can You Target a Creature?
| Turn | Can You Target? |
|---|---|
| 1 | No |
| 2 | Yes |
| 3 | Yes |
| … | … |
Note: This table assumes that the creature has been cast on the previous turn. If the creature is cast on the current turn, you can target it on the same turn.
Conclusion
In this article, we’ve explored the concept of targeting in Magic: The Gathering. We’ve seen that you can’t target a creature before it resolves, and that targeting is a way to affect a permanent. We’ve also seen that you can target a creature only after it has been on the battlefield for at least a turn. Remember, understanding targeting is essential to improving your gameplay, and this article has provided you with the knowledge you need to take your gameplay to the next level.