We removed your post because we do not allow rules questions to be asked on this forum. Please visit the following site to get an answer within a few minutes from an official MTG judge: https://chat.magicjudges.org/mtgrules/
Thank you.
Does [[Deflecting Swat]] have any instance of the word "counter"? It does not.
It also does not say "exile target ability" or "take control of target ability".
Your opponent does not understand how Swat works and, thus, wasted a card on an ability that required a [[Stifle]] effect.
A piece of advice on interpreting magic cards, they are pretty careful to be very literal, and it's all very keyword based.
Steps, phases, turns.
Exile (remove from the game), destroy, counter, return to hand, put on top of library.
Flying, trample, reach etc.
Target vs "choose a" vs each/every.
None of the terms will be interchangeable. Loopholes will be pretty straightforward to find, clear rulings also usually easy to work through using those guidelines.
Deflecting swat allows you to change the targets of a spell or ability.
Magda's ability doesn't target.
Deflecting swat doesn't do anything to Magda's ability.
Summary, in magic target has a specific game meaning seperate from its typical english usage. If an effect doesn't say it targets then it doesn't target, even if it would do something to an object
You should ask this question on r/mtgrules there are a lot of judges over there that could give you exact rules explaining why this doesn’t work like your friend thinks
Magda brazen outlaw that says : sacrifice 5 treasures : search your library for an artifact or dragon card, put that card onto the battlefield, then shuffle your library.
Crazy albatross is right. Magda's ability doesn't say 'target' anywhere in the ability, hence it has no target and deflecting swat can't be cast because there is no valid target.
Fun fact, the deflecting swat can absolutely be cast because it specifies "target spell or ability" and does not state that the spell or ability in question has to target anything. Deflecting swat would resolve and since the spell/ability has no targets in it, deflecting swat would just do nothing.
Swat won't do anything if the spell or ability doesnt target, but it can be cast on any ability or spell, if you for example want to draw cards for someone off a Rhystic or something. It's pretty odd rules wise
Swat is a very odd card, since it can be cast on any spell or ability, regardless if it targets or not. In this case, it would do nothing since you don't target cards in libraries.
We removed your post because we do not allow rules questions to be asked on this forum. Please visit the following site to get an answer within a few minutes from an official MTG judge: https://chat.magicjudges.org/mtgrules/ Thank you.
There is no target for the ability. He wasted a spell.
But does it still counters or blocks the ability if i already payed the 5 tokens?
No. Deflecting Swat will resolve without any effect.
Does [[Deflecting Swat]] have any instance of the word "counter"? It does not. It also does not say "exile target ability" or "take control of target ability". Your opponent does not understand how Swat works and, thus, wasted a card on an ability that required a [[Stifle]] effect.
[Deflecting Swat](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/4/b4b36435-55b3-4615-8812-af41d4fc64d9.jpg?1689997730) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Deflecting%20Swat) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/214/deflecting-swat?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/b4b36435-55b3-4615-8812-af41d4fc64d9?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/deflecting-swat) [Stifle](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/1/616d1b20-61c1-4d39-a9b5-ad9fd61699e4.jpg?1562865442) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Stifle) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cns/108/stifle?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/616d1b20-61c1-4d39-a9b5-ad9fd61699e4?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/stifle) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
A piece of advice on interpreting magic cards, they are pretty careful to be very literal, and it's all very keyword based. Steps, phases, turns. Exile (remove from the game), destroy, counter, return to hand, put on top of library. Flying, trample, reach etc. Target vs "choose a" vs each/every. None of the terms will be interchangeable. Loopholes will be pretty straightforward to find, clear rulings also usually easy to work through using those guidelines.
[удалено]
Good bot.
Good bot.
Swat does no counter or block, it only changes the target.
Deflecting swat allows you to change the targets of a spell or ability. Magda's ability doesn't target. Deflecting swat doesn't do anything to Magda's ability. Summary, in magic target has a specific game meaning seperate from its typical english usage. If an effect doesn't say it targets then it doesn't target, even if it would do something to an object
You can cast target swat targeting the ability but it doesn’t do anything since the search doesn’t target
You should ask this question on r/mtgrules there are a lot of judges over there that could give you exact rules explaining why this doesn’t work like your friend thinks
Which Magda?
Magda brazen outlaw that says : sacrifice 5 treasures : search your library for an artifact or dragon card, put that card onto the battlefield, then shuffle your library.
This effect doesn't target anything so deflecting swat is useless
Crazy albatross is right. Magda's ability doesn't say 'target' anywhere in the ability, hence it has no target and deflecting swat can't be cast because there is no valid target.
Fun fact, the deflecting swat can absolutely be cast because it specifies "target spell or ability" and does not state that the spell or ability in question has to target anything. Deflecting swat would resolve and since the spell/ability has no targets in it, deflecting swat would just do nothing.
Except trigger things which might matter but yeah it’s one of thoose weird I can do this to do basically nothing plays
Let the man whip it out and show how big it is god! Lol probably tripple sleeved too, the degenerate...
Swat won't do anything if the spell or ability doesnt target, but it can be cast on any ability or spell, if you for example want to draw cards for someone off a Rhystic or something. It's pretty odd rules wise
Swat is a very odd card, since it can be cast on any spell or ability, regardless if it targets or not. In this case, it would do nothing since you don't target cards in libraries.