Summary for Protection

This week for Rulesday Tuesday we discussed Protection, an old school keyword ability that provides a lot to discuss as it does a large variety of things for a keyword. We started off with the basics of what protection did, so question 1 asked whether or not you could Swords to Plowshares a Blood Knight?

• TJ Wall and Josh Olendorf both got the correct answer here, which is that you cannot target objects with protection from a color with spells or abilities of that color. This is the first thing protection does and is located in CR 702.16b.

The next twp questions were in a similar vein as protection acts in basically the same manner for both enchantments and equipment. Question 2 asked whether you could use Arcanum Wings to Aura Swap a Holy Strength onto Blood Knight, and question 3 was whether you could attach a Grafted Wargear to a Nacatl Savage with Auriok Windwalker?

• The first question with Arcanum Wings was slightly more difficult as it hinged on the wording of the Aura Swap ability, but ultimately did serve to illustrate the next part of protection, which is that it stops enchantment by auras if they have a characteristic that the object has protection from, so our Blood Knight here can’t get a Holy Strength, even if we try and sneak it in with Aura Swap.
• Tim White nailed the second question, realizing it was very similar to the Aura Swap example for enchantments. Again even though the source of the ability isn’t protected against, Protection from Artifacts here stops the equipment from being attached as the ability looks on resolution if the attach would be legal.
• These 2 questions showed us the next 2 parts of protection, which cover being enchanted or equipped by objects, or rather, that things with protection can’t be equipped or enchanted. CR 702.16c and 702.16d lay all of this out in more detail.

Question 4 covered the next part of protections many traits. We asked if a Pyroclasm could deal damage to a Vedalken Outlander?

• Christopher Giese and Michael Miles both got this one, and answered that while Pyroclasm doesn’t target, it does deal damage and CR 702.16e tells us that protection prevents any damage from sources with the quality protected against.

Our last question to cover the basics of protection was about combat with creatures with protection. Specifically, can a Goblin Piker block the Vedalken Outlander from the last question?

• A whole myriad of people chimed in with the correct answer here that the Piker cannot block here which is the last part of protection (can’t be blocked by creatures with the quality protected against). Christopher Giese and Daniel Hall both got extra points here for finding the correct part of the CR which is 702.16f.

So, having established our basics for protection (no targeting, enchanting, equipping, damage or blocking) we moved on to some more challenging questions. First up, we asked what the maximum amount of trample damage that could be assigned to a player was when a Ball Lightning was blocked by a Vedalken Outlander?

• The root of this question is based in trample requiring “lethal damage” to be assigned to each creature before moving to face, when our blocking creature has protection and as such we know the damage will be prevented to it. Josh Olendorf, Christopher Giese and Daniel Hall all got the correct answer here, which is that 4 is the maximum assignable damage to face, assuming that Vedalken Outlander had no prior marked damage. In followup discussion we clarified more that lethal damage in the game only looks at the amount of damage marked numerically, not at whether the result of that damage will actually kill the creature, and because of this only 2 needs to be assigned to the Vedalken Outlander.

Our next question actually had its answer specifically in the CR for protection, but is a less known part of it and therefore the question was slightly tricky. We asked what would happen when Mass of Ghouls with Pentarch Ward giving it protection from white also gets protection from white from a resolved Righteous War?

• While several people got the correct answer here, both Daniel Hall and Scott Markwart found the appropriate section of the CR (702.16m) which tells us ” Some Auras both give the enchanted creature protection and say “this effect doesn’t remove” either that specific Aura or all Auras. This means that the specified Auras can legally enchant that creature and aren’t put into their owners’ graveyards as a state-based action. If the creature has other instances of protection from the same quality, those instances affect Auras as normal.” There was some clarification needed here that the ability of Pentarch Ward that allows it to be attached to things with Protection from White is not linked specifically to the protection ability, and is instead a separate static ability of the card. While that distinction is largely irrelevant, there are some corner cases where it could come up and as such is relevant.

The next challenge question should be familiar to those who have played a lot of modern burn, but shows an interesting aspect of protection nonetheless. Player A attacks with a Goblin Guide and Player B blocks with Kor Firewalker. Before damage Player A casts Skullcrack. What happens?

• Josh Olendorf had an actual perfect answer here, he remembered the triggered ability of Kor Firewalker has to go off first. Then because protection prevents damage specifically (instead of replacing it with 0 damage for example) then any effect that stops damage prevention with stop that aspect of protection. So sadly for Player B their Kor Firewalker is going to trade with the Goblin Guide here.

Our next question yet again saw reminder text taking out some of the tricky punch of the question. We asked if, in a 3 player game, a True Name Nemesis (controlled by Player C) naming player B, could be blocked by a Grizzly Bear that is currently controlled by Player A thanks to Control Magic, but was previously owned by Player B?

• The CR explicitly cover Protection from a player in CR 702.16j, and says there that it only affects objects that are owned by the named player AND not currently controlled by another player. So in this case the Grizzly Bear can block, much to the chagrin for the True-Name player.

Here a player requested a clarification regarding the status of protection in non-battlefield zones, and so we asked quickly if, for example a Bloated Toad could be targeted by Counterspell on the stack? After all protection stops targeting right?

• Unfortunately protection, like most keyword abilities, only functions on the battlefield, and as such not even the might Bloated Toad is safe from the terror of blue mages and their Counterspells.

At this point we were into the final stretch of questions. Our second to last question involved asking how much damage would be dealt to various creatures with a Kozilek’s Return, specifically a Vedalken Outlander and Petrified Wood-Kin?

• As a CDA, Devoid functions in all zones and so despite its red mana symbol, Galina’s Knight is not protected from it and would take 2 damage. The Wood-Kin on the other hand, has protection from instants in general and as such still prevents the damage from the colorless Kozilek’s Return. Credit goes to Christopher Giese here for requesting a devoid question, which is good to address given that both standard and modern have playable devoid cards in popular decks.

Our last question of the day came to us from Minh-Duc Vu, who asked what would happen when a Brimaz, King of Oreskos equipped with a Nim Deathmantle blocked a Blood Knight?

• Scott Markwart found the relevant CR section here, which is CR 509.7b, which tells us that creatures put onto the battlefield blocking aren’t affected by requirements or restrictions of blockers, and because of that the Cat Token generated by Brimaz will be put into play blocking the Blood Knight, despite the fact that white creatures can not normally block creatures with protection from white.

And with that last question we wrapped up Rulesday Tuesday for this week. To recap, Protection is a keyword ability that only functions on the battlefield. It prevents the protected object from being targeted, enchanted, equipped, dealt damage and blocked by other objects that have the characteristic that is protected against (usually a color by it can be other things).

Further reading: Protection – CR 702.16
Related article: Protection