Deathgrip

Deathgrip

[NEW TEXT] [Reaction] (Play any time, even before spells and abilities resolve.)

Kill a friendly unit. If you do, give +[M] equal to its Might to another friendly unit this turn.

Draw 1.

[OLD TEXT] [Reaction] (Play any time, even before spells and abilities resolve.)

Kill a friendly unit to give +[M] equal to its Might to another friendly unit this turn. Draw 1.

Deathgrip

Q: Is the first friendly unit on Deathgrip a cost or a target? When do I kill it, and what happens if I don't?

Deathgrip uses a nonstandard wording that we normally avoid, precisely because of these ambiguities. We're issuing errata to bring it more in line with how other cards and abilities work. This errata establishes that 1) the friendly unit is a target, not a cost; 2) it is chosen along with the other friendly unit and killed as the spell resolves; 3) if you don't actually kill it for any reason, either because it's no longer a legal target or because you replaced its death with an effect like Zhonya's Hourglass, you do not give the second friendly unit any Might. (You do still draw 1; we've introduced a paragraph break to make that clear.)

Deathgrip (revised text)

[Reaction] (Play any time, even before spells and abilities resolve.)

Kill a friendly unit. If you do, give +[M] equal to its Might to another friendly unit this turn.

Draw 1.

359.3.e.14.b. If the Game Action performed in an earlier linked instruction is Negated, this will not affect the later linked instruction, unless the later linked instruction directly references the Game Action being performed. An instruction is Negated if the event its execution generates is replaced or skipped, or if the game action can't be performed because of a reason other than it being Ignored. Example: Hidden Blade reads "Kill a unit at a battlefield. Its controller draws 2." This effect is split into two instructions: killing the unit and the targeted unit's controller drawing 2. The later linked instruction doesn't reference an action directly, so it will execute even if the kill action of the earlier linked action is negated. Example: Deathgrip reads "Kill a friendly unit. If you do, give +[M] equal to its Might to another friendly unit this turn." If the friendly unit in question is not killed by Deathgrip because its death is replaced with another event, the later linked instruction will not execute because "if you do" directly references the game action. Example: Ride the Wind is a spell that reads in part "Move a friendly unit and ready it." Vilemaw's Lair is a battlefield that reads "Units can't move from here to base." If Ride the Wind is played on a unit at Vilemaw's Lair choosing the base as its destination, the move instruction will be negated on resolution by the passive ability of Vilemaw's Lair, but the ready instruction will still execute.