Farewell Planeswalker Redirection, Hello Oracle Changes!
The planeswalker redirection rule is going away when Dominaria releases on Friday. In its place, many cards that can deal damage to players are receiving errata that allows them to target planeswalkers directly.
Planeswalker Redirection What?
For any of you that are reading this and don’t know what I’m talking about, the planeswalker redirection rule was a rule that allowed you to redirect noncombat damage from a source you control that would be dealt to an opponent to one of their planeswalkers instead. It’s going away though, so don’t worry about it.
Why Did It Exist?
When planeswalkers were first introduced in Lorwyn in 2007, no one was sure how long they would last. Because of this uncertainty, Wizards didn’t want to have to change the text of hundreds of cards for a new card type that might not last. (Consider the Tribal card type, was also introduced around the same time. but the last new Tribals were printed in 2010, with Wizards abandoning the type soon after.)
So, if spells couldn’t damage planeswalkers directly, there still needed to be a way for players to damage them without attacking them. It was for this reason that the planeswalker redirection was created.
Why Change Things Now?
It has now been 11 years since planeswalkers were introduced, with 110 unique planeswalker cards printed in that time. Planeswalkers are an established, core part of the game. Magic’s story revolves around them and the card type isn’t going away. (In fact, Planeswalkers have been in the game for longer now than Interrupts were around in Magic’s early years until they were obsoleted in the Sixth Edition rules changes.) The planeswalker redirection rule has been a clunky workaround since its introduction and it went against the way that all but the most pedantic players actually played Magic.
Yes, changing the Oracle text of hundreds of cards and the effective function of hundreds more that aren’t changing is going to be painful, especially in formats like Modern and Commander that go farther back into Magic’s history, but this is a change for the better and will benefit the game in the long run.
What’s Changing?
Lots and lots of cards that deal (or prevent) damage to targeted players are changing, and I’m going to lead you the different templates that were used in the past and how to translate them going forward. They fall into two categories:
“Target creature or player” changes to “any target”
These spells could target anything before and they can target the new definition of anything now. “Any target” here means a target creature, player, or planeswalker. This means a spell like Electrolyze or Forked Bolt can now deal damage to both a player and a planeswalker they control, or two planeswalkers controlled by the same player.
“Target player” changes to “target player or planeswalker” in most cases. “Target opponent” changes to “target opponent or planeswalker” in most cases.
This is another easy one to understand. Most spells that could damage players and targeted them directly can now target planeswalkers directly. And yes, these “target opponent” cards can now target your own planeswalkers.
What’s Not Changing?
There are two types of damage effects that aren’t getting Oracle text updates. These effects can therefore no longer deal damage to planeswalkers directly.
The exception to the “target player” and “target opponent” cards discussed above are cards that check a characteristic related to the player, such as the number of creatures they control or the number of cards in hand to determine the amount of damage. These spells remain unchanged and can only target and damage players.
Cards that deal non-targeted damage to a player or opponent aren’t changing. These cards do what they say they do, with the only change in their function being that they can no longer damage planeswalkers.
For example, Hazoret the Fervent’s activated ability still deals 2 damage to each opponent. It cannot deal damage to planeswalkers your opponents control. She can still attack them directly though.
(There’s one exception to this class, though, as Vial Smasher the Fierce will now be able to deal her damage to a planeswalker controlled by the randomly selected player.)
Umm...
Are you confused? Are you not sure what a card you play in a deck does anymore? Well, you can check the card’s current Oracle text in Gatherer and you can see the list of all the cards affected by these Oracle changes here on the Dominaria update bulletin.
Cards printed in Dominaria and beyond will do what they say on them, but always check the text of older cards if you’re not sure.
Also, if you’re still confused and need more clarification on any of these points, please put your question in my inbox and I’ll answer you as soon as I can!