0 toughness in battle = no damage?

Asked by GLBoxingGlove 9 years ago

I was watching a game and Player A had a 5/6 and attacked. Player B blocked with a 1/1. Then Player B used a creature ability to give the 5/6 -2/2. Making it a 3/4. Then he used a burn spell to deal 4 damage.They had this kill the 5/6 and no damage dealt to blocker.But since they were still in combat and blockers have already been declared, shouldn't Power have been swapped, killed the 1/1, the both die as the Attack Phase ends?

Named_Tawyny says... Accepted answer #1

No.

After blockers are declared, there is a period of priority, where either player can cast spells. This happens BEFORE combat damage is assigned.

Player A's creature died during this declare blockers phase, and before the combat damage phase. Since his creature was dead, he was no longer around to cause damage.

NB: Blocking with the 1/1 was (probably, everything depends on specific card interactions so I can't say anything 100%) unnecessary. With the ability and the burn spell, Player A's creature would have died before doing damage to player B, even if unblocked.

July 23, 2014 12:06 a.m.

Named_Tawyny says... #2

(It's also important to note that the 5/6 creature never had 0 toughness. After the ability and the spell, he was a 3/4 creature, with 4 damage marked on it, killing it. Damage does not reduce toughness.

July 23, 2014 12:07 a.m.

GLBoxingGlove says... #3

Ok Thanks for clearing that up. I knew about the 0 toughness thing, I just didn't know how else to work the subject.

July 23, 2014 12:14 a.m.

nobu_the_bard says... #4

Without knowing more about which creatures or decks were involved or anything, Player B may have had some other reason to block with his 1/1 before casting the spells. For example, he may have suspected Player A might try some of his own trickery (Counterspell , Giant Growth , etc) and had preventing this creature's damage as a high enough priority to have a backup plan.

July 23, 2014 9:19 a.m.

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