Well, first we have to look at the Drogskol Reaver’s triggered ability. It says “Whenever you gain life, draw a card.” Ok, that makes sense. An experienced player will know that combat damage occurs as a single damage event. So, in each combat damage step, the two Reavers deal a total of 6 damage (3 each), and you gain a total of 6 life. This might lead you to assume that this is a single life gain event, and each Reaver triggers only once and you just draw 2 cards, right? Wrong. You get a total of 4 triggers to draw a card in each combat damage step (two triggers from each Reaver).
“What? Are you sure about that?!”
Since this is a somewhat unintuitive outcome, I’m going to pull out the Comprehensive Rules to clarify:
118.9. Some triggered abilities are written, “Whenever [a player] gains life, …” Such abilities are treated as though they are written, “Whenever a source causes [a player] to gain life, …” If a player gains 0 life, no life gain event has occurred, and these abilities won’t trigger.
Let’s break it down:
First combat damage step:
- Two Drogskol Reavers (Reaver A and Reaver B) deal 3 damage each, and cause you to gain 3 life each.
- Reaver A’s ability sees that its trigger condition of “a source causes a player to gain life…” happened twice (Reaver A caused you to gain life, and Reaver B caused you to gain life), and it triggers twice.
- Simultaneously, Reaver B’s ability sees that its trigger condition of “a source causes a player to gain life…” happened twice (Reaver A caused you to gain life, and Reaver B caused you to gain life), and it triggers twice.
- You draw a card four times.
Second combat damage step:
- (See first combat damage step)
So yeah. In the end, you deal 12 damage, gain 12 life, and draw 8 cards. Not a bad turn! Too bad you still have a maximum hand size of 7… #firstworldproblems
Today’s Rules Tip written by Josh Stansfield