Castigate and Willbender

OlegSlayer · Joined: 06 Dec 2006 Posts: 1

If I cast Castigate on my opponent, can he willbender it and choose me as the target?

nico · Administrator Joined: 28 Oct 2003 Posts: 819

CardName: Castigate
Cost: WB
Type: Sorcery
Pow/Tgh: /
Rules Text: Target opponent reveals his or her hand. Choose a nonland card from it. Remove that card from the game.
Set/Rarity: Guildpact Common

CardName: Willbender
Cost: 1U
Type: Creature - Human Wizard
Pow/Tgh: 1/2
Rules Text: Morph 1U (You may play this face down as a 2/2 creature for 3. Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.) When Willbender is turned face up, change the target of target spell or ability with a single target.
Set/Rarity: Time Spiral "Timeshifted" Special, Legions Uncommon

When you willbender castigate, you still need to target an opponent of the person that casted the castigate in the first place, so you cannot target the one that played the castigate, because castigate doesnot see him/her as an opponent.
This means that you can do that in a multiplayer game only, since there are more opponents than just 1 as in a duel.

Greetz Nico

Blah234 · Joined: 19 Nov 2005 Posts: 125

Also, I'd like to add. For those players who think you can Willbender anything, well you cannot!

You can only Willbender spells that target something and spells thats target usually has the word "target" in the text.

Also, the abilities that target has to be targetting one thing at the time, so I don't believe u can willbender a Hellkite ability that has 2 or more targets.

I had someone *cough*Rusher*cough* Willbender one of my Empty the Warrens copies. I didn't dispute it because I didn't take time to actually read the Willbender. I found out after that it was an illegal move (gj RuSheR =\)

Good thing it was a casual match jajaja

LoneWulf · Joined: 02 Sep 2004 Posts: 148

Hope you don't mind my input nico.
You can still target Castigate (or a spell or ability with a single target) with Willbenders ability but in a non-multiplayer game if will fail to do anything.

nasa · Joined: 09 Sep 2004 Posts: 184

lone your wrong you cant choose an illegal target.

ant900 · Joined: 11 Oct 2004 Posts: 2477 Location: somewhere

onecleanceli · Joined: 27 Mar 2005 Posts: 264

i have been corrected so disregard what i had written... TD says it perfectly

TD · Joined: 19 Jul 2006 Posts: 103

Please learn the rules before you chime into a rules question thread; I hate it when people answer incorrectly and confuse people in this sort of medium.

I am a judge, as is Nico. Listen and learn.

Malhavoc · Joined: 21 Sep 2004 Posts: 156 Location: Italy

R3wind · Joined: 24 Jul 2006 Posts: 884

Can you Willbender or Comandeer a spell like Tidings that does not say "Target player". I know that it works with cards like Compulsive Research...

sc4rs · Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 392

You can't Willbender a Tidings, because it doesn't say target. There are some targeted card draw spells (like Compulsive Research) and some that are not targeted. You can only Willbender ones that say the word "target."

Commandeer works differently, because you gain control of the spell, and then if it has targets you're allowed to change them. Therefore, gaining control of the spell changes who the "you" refers to on Tidings and Harmonize, etc, so you, as the controller of the spell, will draw the cards, not because of any changing of targets.

Ronnan · Joined: 08 May 2005 Posts: 146

castigate is a legal choice for willbender
its just that nothing will happen on resolution, since you cannot change the target

LoneWulf · Joined: 02 Sep 2004 Posts: 148

Congrats on being a judge TD. I'm a certified DCI level 2 judge myself. If you don't want non Magic-League judges chiming in a rules question thread then lock it so only M-L judges can answer in here.
I never said you could change the target of Castigate with Willbender. I only said you could target Castigate with Willbenders ability which in the end doesn't do anything useful in a one-on-one game.
Don't believe me? Check StarCityGames.com ask the judge.
From SCG:
Q: Can a Willbender change the target of a played Searing Flesh (which says "target opponent") in a one-on-one game? My girlfriend refuses to believe she cannot redirect the seven damage back to me because "You're my opponent," while I believe, as the player of the spell, the frame of reference is by Me, and there is only one legal target opponent - her.

A: I generally don't like to disagree with the ladies, but in this case I'm forced to. Using Willbender doesn't change the controller of the Searing Flesh; it's still you. If she wants to change its target, she's going to have to find someone that's your opponent - and in a one-on-one game, it's only her.

Note that Searing Flesh also says target opponent. Now if Willbender couldn't target Searing Flesh he certainly would have mentioned that.
PS thanks for the backup Ant

ant900 · Joined: 11 Oct 2004 Posts: 2477 Location: somewhere

dragonprince · Joined: 25 Oct 2005 Posts: 2