Divine Deflection is a card that suffers from “wall of text” syndrome. It does a few different things all at the same time, so it’s easy to get confused. The most important thing to remember is that Divine Deflection requires you to choose only one target. Don’t choose your own creature! (Unless you want it to die). The target chosen for Divine Deflection is where the damage will be dealt. You decide what damage will be prevented when that damage happens later. This damage can even be from multiple sources! This is different from Divine Deflection’s predecessor, Harm’s Way, which made you choose the source when you cast it.

Also notably different from Harm’s Way is that Divine Deflection is dealing the damage directly (rather than just redirecting it), so abilities like deathtouch, lifelink, infect, and wither don’t get carried along with the damage.

Today’s Rules Tip written by
Jess Dunks, Level 2 judge from Fairfield, CA