Flag Knight

[Keith Katsikas]

015
Flag Knight
Human
Knight
9
1
2
2
ACTION: All Spells, Effects, and Abilities able to Target Flag Knight must do so until the end of turn. Damage dealt to Flag Knight cannot be prevented, reduced, or redirected in any way.
0
0
0
0
9
Chris Seaman
C

[cadrac]

Does Flag Knight's Ability, when it resolves at Speed 9, re-Target Spells, Effects, Abilities with already declared Targets that are to resolve later in the same Event or does it only affect Target declaration from that point forward. If it does re-Target, what about Spells etc. that have, or can have multiple Targets? Does Flag Knight become an additional Target for cards which can affect any number of Targets or does it replace one of the declared Targets? For cards who's number of Targets are fixed, either inherently or by the process of adding that card to the event, such as a spell that affects a number of Targets equal to the number of Creatures sacrificed when casting it, does Flag Knight replace a single one of the previously declared Targets, and if so, who decides which one, the original Targeter, or the controller of Flag Knight. If the card being Targeted is something like Lightning Bolt where in the act of declaring Targets you also declare something else, such as how much Damage is applied to that Target, does the amount of the declaration for the original Target now apply to Flag Knight or does it get redeclared during the re-Targeting?

[Deleted]

Excellent, excellent questions my friend. I love where your brain is all the time with the level of scrutiny you have for language and game integrity. Had I the ability to bestow upon you the position in the company that deals with R&D proofing and editing, it'd been done faster than it took you to read this sentence. I'm on Team Cadrac.

Questions like these are the very reason that most redirecting effects and abilities in all games refrain to single-targeted entities, b/c multiple targeting gets real messy real fast. I'd rather abstain from trying to work this one out lest I actually makes things worse, and would actually prefer to get the designers pov. Keith?

[Keith Katsikas]

First let me say, I agree with "Q" regarding your ability to find issues with card text and rules, and if it were up to me you'd be on the team right now! Perhaps "q" should talk to his boss and find out if you can get a job on the team, as it is his team that is suppose to be greatly supporting the R&D efforts in the VERY near future.

The answer here is NO, because at the point resolution has started all targets have already been chosen, making those Abilities, Spells, and Effects, unable to target Flag Knight.

[spiller]

Great job Cadrac. I have not been making comments as I haven't had the chance to get my hands on any cards to playtest with. I try to refrain on making judgements until I can see how they interact as a whole. With this specific example I can see some issues however. Keith's answer of NO may not have fully covered them all.
#1- Single target spell, ability, or effect. Since the target has been chosen and nothing on the Flag Knight states it changes targets, activating Flag Knight would not effect any current spells in an event. Any future spell, ability, or effect (SAE) must target Flag Knight once it's ability resolves. I think this has been covered by Keith.
#2-Multiple target SAE with fixed number of targets (ie Lightning Bolt). Again, cannot change targets of a spell once it has been added to an event. When a spell requires multiple different targets, one must be the Flag Knight. Again, I think this one is somewhat clear.
#3-Multiple target SAE with any number of targets (ie Fireball) Cannot change targets if spell is already added to the event. Now this one gets a bit tricky. I would rule that only one of the targets must to be the Flag Knight. Once you have chosen Flag Knight as one of the targets, you may choose any number of other targets as well. We could have a discussion about Fireball being able to choose more than 3 targets but that is another topic of conversation altogether(Could I choose 4 targets, one being the Flag Knight? ”divided any way you choose among any number of Living Targets” )
#4- Use of card. This card is going to require quite a bit of skill to be used effectively. At first I thought it may be a completely useless card given the fact it can’t change the target of a SAE. I can see ways to make it useful. While this is more of a strategy issue than ruling, it is important to recognize that priority issues will come up when this card is in play. If I am playing against a wizard burn style deck, when is the first time I would gain priority since it is likely that Flag Knight should be activated at that time.

Thanks for the brainteaser. I hope I added something useful to the topic without further confusing the issues.