Indestructible

Indestructible
Keyword Ability
Type	Static
Introduced	Alpha (mechanic); Darksteel (keyword)
Last used	Evergreen
Reminder Text	Indestructible (Effects that say "destroy" don’t destroy this.)
Statistics	85 cards; 24% 9% 5% 3%; 2% Multicolor 23% ; 29% 1%
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	keyword:"Indestructible"

Indestructible is an evergreen keyword ability. Indestructible permanents can't be destroyed by rules or effects.

Description

Indestructible permanents can still be put into their owner's graveyard by other means, such as by the "legend rule", by being sacrificed or (in the case of creatures) having zero or less toughness. They can also be removed from the battlefield by being bounced or exiled for example.

The first card that conferred indestructibility was Consecrate Land in Alpha, followed by Guardian Beast in Arabian Nights, but no other cards followed (and no formal rules existed) until Darksteel.^[1]^[2]^[3] The word was originally used as a normal English descriptor rather than as a keyword. In this way, it was was just an attribute that some permanents had. ^[4]^[5] Enough players confused it with a keyword that R&D eventually decided to just make it one in Magic 2014. ^[6] ^[7]

Starting with Kaladesh, regeneration was retired. Instead, the phrase “gain indestructible until end of turn” came into being for new, but similar cards.^[8]^[9]

Indestructible is primary in white, secondary in black and green, and tertiary in in blue and red.^[10] White, and to a lesser extent green, tend to have creatures that naturally have indestructible. Black and green, as the replacement for regeneration, often have activated abilities that grant indestructible until end of turn. White will at times use temporary indestructibility where it used to use protection.^[10]

Rules

Template:Keyword CR

Rulings

Damage accumulates on indestructible creatures, and that damage is removed during the cleanup step.
Lethal damage is defined as an amount of damage greater than or equal to a creature’s toughness. Even though an indestructible creature isn't destroyed by lethal damage, that definition is still used for things like assigning trample damage.
If a creature with lethal damage on it stops being indestructible, it's destroyed the next time state-based effects are checked.
Being indestructible stops only effects that would destroy the permanent, including destruction due to lethal damage and destruction that doesn't allow regeneration. An indestructible permanent can be exiled, returned to a player's hand, put into a graveyard for having 0 or less toughness (via anything that gives -/-X), or sacrificed.
You can use a regeneration effect on an indestructible permanent, but since that permanent can't be destroyed, the effect does not apply, unless it loses indestructibility before the end of the end step, then it would regenerate.
Planeswalkers with indestructible will still have loyalty counters removed from them as they are dealt damage. If a planeswalker with indestructible has no loyalty counters, it will still be put into its owner's graveyard, as the rule that does this doesn't destroy the planeswalker.

Magic 2014 updates:

In most cases, indestructible becoming a keyword doesn’t represent a functional change. There are two exceptions:
Previously, if a permanent was made indestructible by a resolving spell or ability (such as Withstand Death), and then that permanent lost its abilities, it would still be indestructible. This was because indestructible wasn’t an ability; it was just something true about the permanent. Now, the permanent will gain the ability indestructible, and it will lose this ability along with its other abilities.
Previously, if a group of permanents were made indestructible by a resolving spell or ability (such as creatures you control being affected by Rootborn Defenses), permanents that joined that group or entered the battlefield after that spell or ability resolved would also be indestructible. This was because the effect making the permanents indestructible wasn’t changing any of those permanents’ characteristics. Now, a permanent that enters the battlefield or comes under your control after the spell or ability resolves won’t have indestructible, as it wasn’t under your control at the appropriate time to gain it.