Vampiric Link and Double Strike
Asked by Bakayarro 8 years ago
Lets say an opponent throws Vampiric Link on one of my creatures, a 3/3 with no other abilities for this example. I understand that unless this creature deals lethal damage, my opponent will be gaining 3 life back after the Combat Damage Step ends and priority passes. So if my opponent was at 3 health or less, my creature could kill them even with Vampiric Link on there.
Now lets say that my creature is a 3/3 with Double Strike. I would have thought that my creature could kill my opponent if they were at 6 or less health but after reading a bit I believe the attack would actually go like this; first strike damage step happens, my creature assigns 3 damage, damage is resolved (assuming no blockers or anything else), activated abilities go on the stack, then priority passes and my opponent gains 3 life, then onto the normal combat phase and the same thing happens again, thus my opponent would never be at zero health when state based effects were checked. Is that correct?
Raging_Squiggle says... Accepted answer #1
You are mostly correct. The only correction is that Vampiric Link's ability is a triggered ability, not an activated ability, which triggers whenever the enchanted creature deals damage.
If a creature that is attacking has first/double strike, an additional combat damage step is created to accommodate said creature(s). During the first combat damage assignment step, Vampiric Link's ability triggers from your 3/3 dealing 3 damage. Your opponent will gain 3 life and go from 3 life back to 6. Then the regular combat damage step happens and 3 more damage is dealt to the opponent which also triggers Vampiric Link. Your opponent will ultimately remain at 6 life.
February 22, 2016 6:21 p.m.