First Strike + Deathtouch Definitive
Asked by MoFi 7 years ago
I have a question that seems to get asked a lot, but all I seem to find are conflicting answers. I apologize in advance for the amount of times that some of you may have had to explain this to others but I would really like an absolute, definitive answer. Forgive a newbie.:)
A 1/1 with deathtouch and first strike. It attacks and is blocked by a 5/5 anything. Will the 1/1 survive or not? Half the answers I find say that yes, the 1/1 would survive as the 5/5 is dead before it can deal its damage. The other half say they both die because deathtouch is an "end of combat" effect.
Tyrant-Thanatos says... #3
To further expand, Deathtouch functions with any damage dealt, not just combat damage. In fact, almost nothing about Deathtouch cares about combat at all. It cares about damage.
This is a bit of an oversimplification, but basically deathtouch means "any damage is lethal damage" So a 1/1 First strike deathtouch survives against a 5/5 vanilla for the same reason a 7/1 First strike survives against the same said 5/5.
Raging_Squiggle says... Accepted answer #1
It lives. The 1/1 deals its combat damage in the first combat damage step. The 5/5 deals its damage in the step following that, but since it will be dead by then due to being dealt legal damage, it won't be alive to deal any damage.
March 29, 2017 11 a.m.