Questions about Trample come up a lot, and I know firsthand that it’s not always terribly intuitive. When my friends and I were first learning Magic, Trample was one of the things that constantly made us shrug and guess. However, those of you who shrug don’t HAVE to guess, because you can just come to […]
Category: Combat Phase
You have the freedom to kill an animated land or flashed in creature before it can block.
Creatures with flash or animated lands are generally a good thing to have when you’re being attacked. They can’t be destroyed or removed by sorceries before blocking, and you’ll know exactly which creatures your opponent is attacking with before you have to decide whether you want to cast or animate them. As the attacking player, […]
How Silverblade Paladin and first strike blockers/attackers interact.
‘s ability allows it to pair with another creature, and for as long as the two are paired, they both have double strike. In order for creatures to un-pair, one of the three things must happen: One of the creatures leaves the battlefield; one of the creatures changes control; or one of the creatures stops […]
Deathtouch only works if a creature actually deals damage.
When a attacks and is blocked by , the Crusader will not die. As we discussed a few weeks ago, protection does several things, such as preventing all damage from any source it has protection from. That means that deathtouch will not apply, as damage that is prevented is not considered dealt. Now let’s say […]
What first strike and double strike mean for the combat phase.
First Strike and Double Strike: Fun abilities that make creatures scary good in combat. But what exactly ARE they? How do they work? How does my deal damage ‘first’? Normally, during the Combat Phase, there’s only one step where damage is dealt. Immediately after the Declare Blockers step, but before the End of Combat step, […]
The combat shortcut: What it means when you say, “Declare attackers?”
Many players are unsure about how the combat shortcut works; when they tried to tap an attacker before their opponent swung, the opponent said, “You can’t tap it, I already attacked.” Whether that’s true or not depends on what was said before that. There is a default tournament shortcut that says, “A statement such as […]
A blocked creature stays blocked for the rest of combat, no matter what happens to the blocker.
The first thing that happens in the declare blockers step is that the defending player chooses which creatures will block and how they’re blocking. Once that happens, the blocks are locked in. Attackers that had a blocker declared become “blocked” creatures, and nothing can change that (aside from a few obscure effects that specifically say […]
Pyreheart Wolf’s triggered ability is not cumulative.
has a triggered ability that makes it harder for your opponent’s to block your attacking creatures. When Pyreheart Wolf attacks, its ability triggers. When this triggered ability resolves, it creates an effect that prevents your attacking creatures from being blocked by just one creature. This ability is not cumulative in any way. If two Pyreheart […]
Prevention effects can only prevent the trample damage that is assigned to a creature.
There are many ways to prevent damage that would be dealt to or by a creature. Some effects specify a specific amount of damage (), some will prevent all damage from specific sources or types of damage (the portion of the protection ability of that prevents damage), and others will prevent all damage (). However, […]