Activating abilities in between the first and second strike effects
Asked by Monomanamaniac 4 years ago
So I actually seen this combo on you tube about a strange card interaction where Balan, Wandering Knight and Bloodforged Battle-Axe where if you hit them with the first strike, you can activate balan to attach the new battle-axe before the second attack and get that effect added in. Didn't know you could do something like that. I wonder how Sigarda's Aid and double strike, or with Leonin Shikari. I guess this boils down to, can you really do stuff between first strike damage and regular damage with double strike and one of these abilities with the axe
Gidgetimer says... #2
Also, oddly enough, with just a single Bloodforged Battle-Axe you can hit with his native first strike, activate the ability to attach the new axe giving him double strike, and hit a second time.
February 11, 2020 1:31 p.m.
Monomanamaniac says... #3
That makes sense. It gets out of hand really quick. I was running it in the 99 of my Kemba, Kha Regent deck and have been more impressed by it in most games. Better voltron commander but kemba is a better go big, go wide commander in multiplayer. Now I know this works I'm going to make a Balan edh deck.
Rhadamanthus says... Accepted answer #1
Yes, that works.
If any creatures with first strike or double strike are involved in combat then the combat phase has two damage steps instead of just one. First strike damage and the first part of double strike damage are dealt in the first damage step, and regular damage and the second part of double strike damage are dealt in the second damage step. After damage is dealt in the first step, players get a chance to make responses before the second damage step begins.
In your example, Balan, Wandering Knight deals combat damage to a player in the first damage step, so Bloodforged Battle-Axe makes a token copy of itself. Before the second damage step starts, you can either use Balan's last ability to attach the token Axe to himself or get help from Sigarda's Aid, Leonin Shikari, etc. to attach it to something else.
February 11, 2020 1:24 p.m.