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Moxonomy

Untimely Malfunction

Instant1 generic manaRed mana

Redirection is the rarer and stranger of the three modes here, and it's the reason this belongs in a conversation about interactive red. Changing the target of a spell or ability with a single target is defensive misdirection: point an opponent's burn back at its caster, save your own creature from a targeted kill, or bend a "destroy target permanent" trigger onto something you'd rather lose. Red has carried a thread of this trick going back to Deflection and its descendants, but folding it into a modal instant means the card always has a line to take. If nothing needs redirecting, it destroys an artifact; if the board is what matters, one or two creatures can't block, which turns a stalled ground into an alpha strike or clears a blocker off your would-be-lethal attacker. That combat line is the one doing quiet aggressive work: an evasion enabler priced to fit a curve that wants to be attacking anyway. Each of the three choices answers a different axis (artifacts, the stack, combat), so the card slots into whatever hole the game hands you rather than committing you to a plan on the draw step. It's a modal utility instant built for a color that historically had to main-deck its answers or go without.

Untimely Malfunction (dsk)
DSK · #161uncommon
Pricing
Normal: $8.02
Foil: $8.42
Oracle Text

Rules text

Choose one — • Destroy target artifact. • Change the target of target spell or ability with a single target. • One or two target creatures can't block this turn.
Legalities

Format Status

Standard
Legal
Pioneer
Legal
Modern
Legal
Legacy
Legal
Vintage
Legal
Commander
Legal
Pauper
N/A
Brawl
Legal
Historic
Legal
Alchemy
Legal
Timeless
Legal
Standard Brawl
Legal
More formats
Old School
N/A
Premodern
N/A
PreDH
N/A
Pauper Commander
N/A
Oathbreaker
Legal
Gladiator
Legal
Penny Dreadful
N/A
Duel Commander
Legal
Future Standard
Legal
COMPETITIVEBRAWL
Legal
TLR
Legal
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