One of the many effects of protection from something is that all damage dealt to the protected creature, if it came from a source with the protected quality, is prevented. But what if there’s an effect that says damage can’t be prevented? Just remember one of the Golden Rules of Magic: when one effect says that something happens, and the other effect says that something can’t happen, the “can’t” effect takes precedence.

For example, if Malignus attacks and is blocked by Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts, ordinarily her protection ability would prevent all the combat damage. However, Malignus has an ability that says its damage can’t be prevented, so it will override Teysa’s protection and deal damage to her anyway. (Note that something different would happen if Malignus tried to deal damage with an effect like Wolfhunter’s Quiver: although the damage can’t be prevented, protection still prevents Teysa from being chosen as a target, so the effect never gets to resolve and deal damage in the first place.)

Today’s Rules Tip written by Jen Wong