Targeting
Unofficial Riftbound rules answers about targeting, with examples and Core Rules citations.
What makes something a target?
Unless one of the exceptions below applies, a game object, player, or zone mentioned by a spell, activated ability, or triggered ability is a target. Card text does not need to say "target" or "choose"; for example, "Kill a unit" targets a unit.
The only exceptions are:
- Objects in non-public zones: An object in a non-public zone is not a target. For example, "You may play a unit from your hand" does not target a card in hand.
- Restrictions or permissions for another choice or action: Something mentioned only as a targeting restriction, or as a restriction or permission for another game action, is not a target. "Kill a unit at a battlefield" targets the unit but not the battlefield, while "Play a unit from your hand to a battlefield" does not target the battlefield.
- Objects used only in costs, trigger conditions, or replacement effects: Something included only as part of a cost, trigger condition, or replacement effect is not a target. The dying unit in "When a friendly unit dies, kill a gear" is not a target, but the gear is.
- Objects determined without a choice: An object identified from its characteristics without that controller choosing it is not a target when no choice is ever possible. "Ready your legend" does not target your legend because you can have only one. In "Kill all units at a battlefield," the units are not targets, but the battlefield is. An instruction to "Kill a unit at a battlefield" still targets a unit when only one is legal.
- Sets chosen by other players: An object in a set chosen wholly or partly by other players is not a target. "Each player kills a unit they control" targets nothing.
- Objects identified by "must" instructions: An object identified by that instruction is not a target, even if the player chooses which object satisfies it. "You must recycle one of your runes" does not target, while "Recycle a rune you control" does.
Does "Kill a unit if it has 3 might or less" mean I can only choose a unit with 3 might or less?
No; you can choose any otherwise legal unit, and the might condition controls only whether the kill instruction is performed.
Targeting restrictions describe the target, as in "Kill a unit with 3 might or less." In "Kill a unit if it has 3 might or less," the later "if" condition is instead part of the effect executed when the spell or ability resolves.
What happens if a target becomes illegal before a spell or ability resolves?
The spell or ability still resolves, but the illegal target is unaffected, instructions related to it cannot be followed, and independent instructions continue normally.
If all of an instruction's targets are illegal, that instruction does not execute. If at least one target remains legal, the instruction executes using only the legal targets. If a group of targets no longer collectively meets its targeting restriction, the spell or ability's controller chooses a legal subset of the original targets for it to affect.
A target is illegal when the spell or ability resolves if it no longer meets the targeting requirements or has changed zones to or from a non-board zone. A target that stops meeting a requirement and then meets it again is legal, but a target that changes to or from a non-board zone is a new object and remains illegal even if it returns.
If an instruction needs information from the illegal target, that information is null and calculations using it are ignored. If a later instruction is linked to an earlier instruction that was ignored, the later instruction is also ignored.
What is the difference between an ignored and a negated instruction?
An instruction is ignored only when it isn't performed because its spell or ability mistargeted; an instruction whose effects are skipped, replaced, or prevented for another reason is negated under the August 2026 Vendetta Rules FAQ and Clarifications. Mistargeting means that a chosen target is illegal or unavailable when the instruction executes.
The distinction controls later linked instructions. If an earlier linked instruction is ignored, its later linked instructions are also ignored. If an earlier linked instruction is negated, later linked instructions continue unless they specifically require the negated action to have occurred.
Rules citation needed
Core Rules 1.4 still calls instructions that fail because of circumstances other than mistargeting "ignored." The Vendetta FAQ narrows that term to mistargeting and expressly takes precedence on this point until a later Core Rules Document says otherwise.
Example
If a unit chosen by Hidden Blade is at base when the spell resolves, Hidden Blade mistargets, so its kill and linked draw instructions are ignored. If the unit remains a legal target but can't be killed, the kill instruction is negated instead, so its controller still draws 2.
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Written by Christian “Near” Ivicevic.
Last updated on .