Burning Anger + Deathtouch?
Asked by phrosen63 7 years ago
Let's say I play Burning Anger on a creature that has Deathtouch, and use the ability to deal damage to another creature - will Deathtouch trigger and destroy that creature?
The rules say: "Deathtouch (Any amount of damage this deals to a creature is enough to destroy it.)" It doesn't say that damage had to be combat damage.
Scenario: Player A plays Dread Slaver, Player A plays Burning Anger on that Dread Slaver, then Player A plays Aspect of Gorgon on the same Dread Slaver, finally Player A taps Dread Slaver to deal damage to Player B's Avatar of Might. -Will the damage destroy Avatar of Might, then return it to the battlefield under Player A's control?
Also, yes, Dread Slaver's return to the battlefield ability will trigger, because it does not specify that it had to deal combat damage. You will get the Avatar of Might.
Rhadamanthus says... Accepted answer #1
You're right to notice it's important that the rules for Deathtouch don't specify "combat damage". Deathtouch applies to all damage the creature deals, whether combat or non-combat. Burning Anger + Deathtouch sounds pretty good.
One point of detail: a triggered ability always starts with "when", "whenever", or "at", and Deathtouch isn't a triggered ability. This distinction actually makes a difference with how it interacts with certain other effects in the game. You might notice that some older cards with Deathtouch (printed before 2010) have reminder text that makes it sound like a triggered ability. This is because it did start out as a triggered ability, but was changed in one of the game's various rules updates over the years.
May 2, 2017 2:13 p.m.