Yesterday we talked about Searing Blaze, and how your opponent removing their own creature in response to your Blaze won’t save them from taking 3 damage. The reason for that, as we explained, is that the spell still has a legal target (your opponent!), and the game’s rules won’t counter it unless ALL the targets are illegal on resolution. Now, let’s look at something similar, but not exactly the same: Draconic Roar. If you controlled a Dragon as you cast Roar (or revealed a Dragon as an additional cost!), the Roar also damages your opponent. The thing is, this isn’t a targeted part of the spell! Draconic Roar, empowered by dragons or not, only has a single target: “target creature”. So, if you aim a Roar at your opponent’s creature and they respond by sacrificing it (or killing it with their own removal), they will NOT take damage, unlike with Searing Blaze. Since Roar only targets the creature, removing that lone target will cause the spell to be countered on resolution (or “fizzle”, as many players would say). The only reason Roar fails where Blaze doesn’t is because Roar’s only target is the creature!

Today’s Rules Tip was written by Trevor Nunez