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I cast Fireball targeting two creatures, and one of them gains shroud. Does fireball fizzle? Does it deal X to the remaining creature?

[[Fireball]]

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Using the stack here's what happens:

1.) You cast fireball, declare your targets and the value of X

2.) Your opponent responds by putting an ability on the stack to give one creature shroud.

3.) FOLO, so the shroud giving ability resolves first.

4.) Fireball resolves and makes a check on each of its targets. Since one target is now illegal, it's excluded from receiving damage.

5.) You do X damage, divided evenly, to the one remaining target

608 Resolving Spells and Abilities


608.2b If the spell or ability specifies targets, it checks whether the targets are still legal. A target that’s no longer in the zone it was in when it was targeted is illegal. Other changes to the game state may cause a target to no longer be legal; for example, its characteristics may have changed or an effect may have changed the text of the spell. If the source of an ability has left the zone it was in, its last known information is used during this process. The spell or ability is countered if all its targets, for every instance of the word “target,” are now illegal. If the spell or ability is not countered, it will resolve normally, affecting only the targets that are still legal. If a target is illegal, the spell or ability can’t perform any actions on it or make the target perform any actions.

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Multi-target spells will only fizzle when all of their targets become illegal. So in your example, the Fireball would still damage the creature without shroud (or whatever we're using instead of shroud to make the example work - Unsummon, say).

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So ... does it deal X damage or X/2? – ripper234 Jan 8 at 16:42
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It deals X damage, for exactly the reason that Shushoto states. This, however, is almost unique to Fireball and its wording - it wouldn't work the same way with Comet Storm or with Firespout, which don't care about the number of affected creatures in the same way. – Krinn Jan 8 at 20:54

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