I hope this question hasn't been asked already, but it probably has. I have a question about planeswalkers since I'm new to using them. I know planeswalkers aren't considered creatures, so they can't be destroyed normally, but they seem to be somewhere in between creatures and players if I'm not mistaken. The rules say I can't target a planeswalker with non-combat damage directly, but I can redirect damage that would normally be sent to an opponent as the spell resolves. My question is how would I formally declare the misdirection in a tournament setting?

in terms of tournament practice, you can just say something like "bolt your planeswalker" and it'll be unambiguous. technically the damage is redirected as it's being dealt, so until then you don't have to commit to it and your spell is technically targeting the player. if you want to be sneaky, you can say "bolt, targeting you?" but if you do I think you probably should follow it up with a request for responses so they know that once they pass back you have some effects, in this case a non-obvious redirect. this can be useful if you fear counterspells, for instance, to not give them undue information about your intent.

Sounds simple enough, it seemed like a silly question but I just had to be sure. So to sum it up, target the player, and after they accept it but before the damage goes on the stack, declare redirection. That's what I thought, but I wasn't sure if it would cause confusion.

I know planeswalkers aren't considered creatures, so they can't be destroyed normally, but they seem to be somewhere in between creatures and players if I'm not mistaken.