What does Deflect do?

Deflect is a keyword in Riftbound: the League of Legends trading card game that puts a price on aiming at a unit. An opponent who chooses a unit with Deflect for a spell or an ability pays extra Power on top of that card's own cost. Deflect never makes a unit impossible to choose, but it makes every answer to that unit cost more.

Most cards with Deflect are units, and a few cards, some of them gear, give the keyword to other units or make tokens that have it.

How much extra does Deflect cost?

Deflect costs an opponent one extra Power for each time they choose the unit, and a number after the keyword raises that amount. Plain Deflect counts as Deflect 1, Deflect 2 asks for two extra Power, and Deflect 3 asks for three.

The extra Power may be of any domain, whatever the domains of the spell and the unit, and it is added to what the card already costs. Void Seeker, a Fury spell, deals 4 to a unit at a battlefield for 3 Energy and one Fury Power. Aimed at Navori Scout, a 4 Might Calm unit with Deflect, it costs 3 Energy, one Fury Power and one more Power of any domain.

Power usually comes from recycling a rune, so each Power spent on Deflect takes a rune off the opponent's board. Most cards have plain Deflect, such as Pouty Poro. A few champions carry Deflect 2, such as Volibear, Furious. Kayle, Justified, an Order champion from Vendetta, reaches Deflect 3 once she has been Empowered three times.

Which spells and abilities have to pay for Deflect?

Only spells and abilities that an opponent controls have to pay, and only when they choose the unit with Deflect, which the Core Rules call targeting it. Your own spells and abilities never pay, so you can buff or move your own Deflect unit at the usual price.

Abilities of units, gear and Legends pay as well, both the ones a player activates and the ones that trigger. Blastcone Fae gives a unit -2 Might for the turn, to a minimum of 1, when it is played. If its controller chooses an enemy unit with Deflect, that ability asks for one extra Power.

The cost is counted for each choice. Falling Star deals 3 to a unit and then 3 to a unit, and it may choose the same unit twice. Aimed twice at one unit with Deflect, it costs two extra Power, the same as aiming it at two different units with Deflect.

Effects that do not choose a unit pay nothing. Unchecked Power deals 12 to all units at battlefields without choosing any of them, so units with Deflect are hit at no extra cost. A spell that hits all enemy units at one battlefield chooses the battlefield, not the units, so it is not taxed either.

Combat is not a spell or an ability, so damage assigned to a unit with Deflect in a fight costs nothing extra. Deflect protects a unit from removal, not from a bigger army.

What happens when the extra Power cannot be paid?

When the extra Power cannot be paid, a spell cannot be played with that choice. Deflect adds to the spell's total cost while it is being played, and a spell whose costs are not all paid fails the legality check, so the play is undone as if it never happened. The opponent then chooses another unit or keeps the card.

A triggered ability works a little differently. Its controller still has to choose a target if a legal one exists, but they may decline to pay the cost that Deflect adds. The ability then leaves the Chain without doing anything.

Because Deflect is a cost, a card played from facedown with Hidden ignores its own cost but still pays for Deflect: a hidden Hidden Blade aimed at a unit with Deflect costs one Power. Power paid for Deflect is not refunded if the spell is countered afterwards.

How do units gain Deflect from other cards?

Many units have Deflect printed on them, and other cards hand it out. Allay, Eager Admirer has Deflect and gives your other units at its battlefield Deflect while it is there. Petricite Monument is a Body gear with Temporary that gives all your units Deflect until the start of your next Beginning Phase, when it is killed. Spirit's Refuge, a Calm gear, gives Deflect to your buffed units.

Deflect from several sources adds up. When a unit that already has Deflect is given Deflect by another card, the numbers are added together, so Navori Scout at a battlefield with Allay has Deflect 2. Some cards are worded to avoid this: Spirit's Refuge gives your buffed units Deflect only if they did not have it already.

Other units have Deflect only some of the time. Fiora, Victorious has Deflect, Ganking and Shield while she is Mighty, with 5 Might or more. Several units from Vendetta gain Deflect once they are Empowered, such as Solari Sunhawk, which then has Deflect 2. Bird tokens are 1 Might units with Deflect, and cards such as Flurry of Feathers and Ultrasoft Poro make them.

Can a player ignore Deflect?

A player can ignore Deflect when a card says so. Decree of Insight, a Mind spell with Reaction from Vendetta, ignores Deflect while its cost is paid and gives an enemy Body unit -5 Might for the turn. Heisho, Shell of the World is a battlefield where every player ignores Deflect when paying for spells and abilities that choose something there. Ignoring Deflect applies only to the spell or ability the card names, so a second spell aimed at the same unit pays as usual. Cards that do not choose at all, such as Unchecked Power, never pay for Deflect in the first place.

How should you play with and against Deflect?

Deflect is worth the most on a unit your opponent badly wants to remove, such as Draven, Audacious, who scores you 1 point the first time he wins a combat each turn. Each Power spent on Deflect is usually a rune off your opponent's board, and that hurts most early in the game, when they have few runes to give up.

Against Deflect, count the extra Power before you plan to answer a unit with a spell, or beat the unit in combat, where Deflect does nothing. Deflect appears in all six domains, and Calm has the most cards with it.

Searching the card list for Deflect finds every card that has it or gives it, and the Bird tokens are among the tokens. Deflect does nothing in a fight, but Tank does: it makes a unit take lethal combat damage before the units beside it that lack Tank. The full wording of Deflect is rule 809 of the Core Rules on Riot's Rules Hub.