Olivia voldaren deals 1 damage to dark confidant with stromkirk captain on battlefield, will Dark Confidant live?

Asked by DesignatedDriver 8 years ago

I control Olivia Voldaren, and use her first ability to deal one damage to my Dark Confidant. Meanwhile, Stromkirk Captain is also controlled by me. Since DC is now a Vampire, he would be entitled to a +1/+1 boost.

Will Bob die because Olivia resolves before Captain, or does Captain's ability and Olivia's resolve simultaneously?

BlueScope says... Accepted answer #1

The important part here is that Captain's ability never resolves. Instead, it hands out a static buff to all Vampires you control that doesn't have to be activated or anything like it. And because state-based actions (which are what would put your Confidant into the graveyard for having toughness of 0 or lower) aren't checked inbetween Olivia dealing damage and Olivia granting the Vampire creature type, you'll have a 3/2 Confidant (Human Wizard Vampire) with 1 damage marked on it.

August 14, 2015 3:05 a.m.

Boza says... #2

In short: Creatures do not die from damage, they die to state based actions.

Clarification:

When a creature is dealt lethal damage, it only dies the next time state-based actions are checked. In this case, olivia's ability has to resolve fully before they are checked.

Since there is now a static ability affecting the Dark Confidant from stormkirk captain (his ability is a static buff, it never "resolves", it just always applies to relevant permanents) it will survive the SBA check, since its toughness is now 2 (still has 1 damage marked on it).

August 14, 2015 3:09 a.m.

This discussion has been closed