Teferi's Time Twist and Gideon's Sacrifice

Question

I recently had a match with a friend. This was the situation: On my board, I had a 4/4 Zombie token produced with Amass and a Vampire Opportunist. My opponent had Neheb, Dreadhorde Champion on the board.

In this situation I was unsure, if I could do this. I would attack my opponent with my 4/4 Zombie token. In the case he would block with his Neheb, Dreadhorde Champion I would cast Gideon's Sacrifice and redirect all damage to my Vampire Opportunist. In response of casting Gideon's Sacrifice I would cast Teferi's Time Twist and target my Vampire Opportunist.

After resolving Teferi's Time Twist, my Vampire Opportunist isn't on the board anymore, so the damage dealt to my Zombie token is redirecting to nowhere, so my Zombie token would survive and his Neheb, Dreadhorde Champion would die. In my end step then, Vampire Opportunist would return with an additional +1/+1 counter.

Are my thoughts right? Or do I miss something here?

Answer 1

That is incorrect and if you look at the rulings on the card in gatherer you will see that they have a ruling for this case that states that the damage will not be redirected.

If the chosen creature or planeswalker isn’t on the battlefield or isn’t a creature or planeswalker at the time damage would be dealt, the damage won’t be redirected.

In the sequence of events both the zombie token and the Neheb, Dreadhorde Champion will die from damage in combat unless something else is done to save one of them.

This is based on 614.9 of the comprehensive rules

614.9: Some effects replace damage dealt to one creature, planeswalker, or player with the same damage dealt to another creature, planeswalker, or player; such effects are called redirection effects. If either creature or planeswalker is no longer on the battlefield when the damage would be redirected, or is no longer a creature or planeswalker when the damage would be redirected, the effect does nothing. If damage would be redirected to or from a player who has left the game, the effect does nothing.

Answer 2

This doesn't work. Gideon's Sacrifice only works while the permanent you chose is on the battlefield. See the reminder text on the card:

Choose a creature or planeswalker you control. All damage that would be dealt this turn to you and permanents you control is dealt to the chosen permanent instead (if it's still on the battlefield).

Answer 3

A minor thing for this question, but a mis-wording I've seen way too often. You wrote:

In response of casting Gideon's Sacrifice I would cast Teferi's Time Twist and target my Vampire Opportunist.

Note that Gideon's Sacrifice is not a targeted spell, so you choose the creature/planeswalker that will receive the redirected damage when Gideon's Sacrifice resolves. If you have exiled the Vampire Opportunist in repsponse to Gideon's Sacrifice, you simply cannot choose it when Gideon's Sacrifice resolves.

Of course, you can do this part of your plan by casting Gideon's Sacrifice, let it resolve and choose the Opportunist, then exile the Opportunist afterwards.

As has been explained in the other answers, the overall plan doesn't work either, but this answer is only about the quoted part.