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Rules Answers › Targeting & Protection

Does Deflecting Swat redirect a spell targeting your commander even if your commander has hexproof?

Short answer
Yes. Deflecting Swat can redirect a spell targeting your commander even if your commander has hexproof, because you control the Swat and are choosing a new target yourself.

Deflecting Swat allows you to change the target of a spell or ability to a new legal target. Importantly, hexproof only prevents opponents from choosing your permanent as a target (CR 702.11b). It does not prevent you from targeting your own hexproof permanent, and it does not restrict your ability to cast or activate spells that affect your own creatures.

When you cast Deflecting Swat, you are the one choosing the new target — not your opponent. Therefore, hexproof on your commander is not relevant to whether Deflecting Swat can redirect the spell. The Swat simply changes where the original spell points; it does not make you the controller of the original spell (CR 114.1, 702.11b).

However, there is still a legality requirement: the new target you choose with Deflecting Swat must be a legal target for the original spell (CR 115.7g). So if the original spell targets 'target creature an opponent controls,' you cannot redirect it to your own commander — not because of hexproof, but because your commander doesn't satisfy that targeting restriction.

Concrete example: Your opponent casts Doom Blade targeting your hexproof commander. You cast Deflecting Swat (free if you control your commander). You redirect Doom Blade to one of your opponent's black creatures. Hexproof on your commander is irrelevant here — you chose the new target, not your opponent, and Doom Blade now legally targets the opponent's creature instead.

In summary: hexproof stops opponents from targeting your commander, but it does not interfere with your own use of Deflecting Swat, which is controlled by you. The only constraint is that the new target must be legal for the redirected spell.

HIGH confidence CR 702.11b CR 114.1 CR 115.7g
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