Misleading Signpost and battles

Asked by koylucumert 7 months ago

So, the reminder text on the signpost says it cant attack its controller or permanents that player controls. However, battles are still under the casters control, yet they can attack it. So my question is: can I redirect my opponents attack into their own battle protected by another player?

wallisface says... #1

I have no clue how the actual rules play out - but my gut instinct is that this card is just written terribly and the intention is that you should be able to have the creatures attack battles controlled by the same player, but not battles the player is defending.

I would read this as defending == controls for the purposes of battles only for this card, though without any gatherer ruling this is super unclear and probably plays-out in the most awkward way possible rules-as-written.

October 16, 2023 7:52 a.m.

Rhadamanthus says... Accepted answer #2

You can use Misleading Signpost to point a creature at a battle it would otherwise be allowed to attack.

Reminder text (the parenthetical text in italics) isn't rules text, and is just meant to be a summary of additional information to help players figure out interactions with other cards and rules. Because it's also meant to be quick and simple, it isn't written to be 100% accurate for all situations, just 99-ish% accurate for most "normal" situations.

The reminder text on the Signpost is just reminding you that you have to reselect a legal player/permanent to attack, and the most common examples of illegal choices would be the attacking player or a planeswalker they control. Since the suggested way to play with battles is to place them on the "side" of the battlefield of the player protecting it, maybe that's why the words "their permanents" were deemed to be close enough language to say what needed to be said. There also isn't much room left on the card for additional text without having to use a smaller font, which is avoided whenever possible, so that could be another reason why this reminder text is particularly compact.

October 16, 2023 9:07 a.m.

PirateCptAstera says... #3

Rule 310.8d If a battle’s protector is a different player than its controller, all rules and effects that refer to the “defending player” relative to a battle that is being attacked refer to that battle’s protector rather than its controller.

October 17, 2023 9:28 a.m.