When you cast a spell that requires a target, you have to be able to choose a legal target or you can’t cast it at all. However, that spell must still have a legal target when it resolves, or it will be countered by game rules.

For example, one of the more interesting plays I saw at GP: Nashville was when a player attacked with Kindercatch, and his opponent cast Rebuke targeting it. The Kindercatch’s controller responded by casting Hollowhenge Spirit, and used its triggered ability to remove his own Kindercatch from combat. When Rebuke went to resolve, it saw that its target was no longer an “attacking creature,” so it was countered by game rules for having no legal target. Hollowhenge Spirit became the most unusual counterspell I’ve ever seen!

Today’s Rules Tip written by
Josh Stansfield, Level 2 judge from Orange, CA