Do you have to choose a target for a spell, or can you just cast it with no target and let it fizzle?

Question

Let's say I have Lightning Bolt and my one opponent has a Leyline of Sanctity and no creatures in play. I might still want to cast Lightning Bolt to delve it later or to buff up my Tarmogoyf or whatever. My question is... can I cast Lightning Bolt without targeting anyone? Can I just decline to name a target and let the spell fizzle? Or if either I or my creatures are the only valid targets do I have to target myself?

Answer 1

You cannot cast a spell without choosing all specified targets. In the process of casting a spell, we have these rules

• 601.2. To cast a spell is to take it from where it is (usually the hand), put it on the stack, and pay its costs, so that it will eventually resolve and have its effect. Casting a spell follows the steps listed below, in order. If, at any point during the casting of a spell, a player is unable to comply with any of the steps listed below, the casting of the spell is illegal; the game returns to the moment before that spell started to be cast (see rule 717, "Handling Illegal Actions"). Announcements and payments can't be altered after they've been made.
  • 601.2c The player announces his or her choice of an appropriate player, object, or zone for each target the spell requires. A spell may require some targets only if an alternative or additional cost (such as a buyback or kicker cost), or a particular mode, was chosen for it; otherwise, the spell is cast as though it did not require those targets. If the spell has a variable number of targets, the player announces how many targets he or she will choose before he or she announces those targets. The same target can't be chosen multiple times for any one instance of the word "target" on the spell. However, if the spell uses the word "target" in multiple places, the same object, player, or zone can be chosen once for each instance of the word "target" (as long as it fits the targeting criteria). If any effects say that an object or player must be chosen as a target, the player chooses targets so that he or she obeys the maximum possible number of such effects without violating any rules or effects that say that an object or player can't be chosen as a target. The chosen players, objects, and/or zones each become a target of that spell. (Any abilities that trigger when those players, objects, and/or zones become the target of a spell trigger at this point; they'll wait to be put on the stack until the spell has finished being cast.)

So, when you cast a spell, you have to choose legal targets to legally cast the spell.