pie chart

Welcome to the Band

Commander / EDH Aggro Banding Legendary Matters Mono-White Theme/Gimmick

CannedCanOpener

Upvote 0
0

Creature (37)

Land (34)

Artifact (7)

Sorcery (3)

Commander (1)

Commander: Masako the Humorless

Enchantment (11)

Instant (6)

Planeswalker (1)

Now you get to abuse the most annoying keyword in Magic's history, and Masako allows you to abuse both the attacking and blocking benefits of Banding, and Banding itself already allows you to assign damage at your own discretion. See below for the rules of Banding:

Rule 702.22: Banding (Last Updated 8/16/2023)

TL;DRs included for more complicated rules.

Banding is a static ability that modifies the rules for combat.

“Bands with other” is a special form of banding. If an effect causes a permanent to lose banding, the permanent loses all “bands with other” abilities as well.

TL;DR "Bands with other" is a form of Banding - anything that affects the Banding ability affects "Bands with other" abilities too.

As a player declares attackers, they may declare that one or more attacking creatures with banding and up to one attacking creature without banding (even if it has “bands with other”) are all in a “band.” They may also declare that one or more attacking [quality] creatures with “bands with other [quality]” and any number of other attacking [quality] creatures are all in a band. A player may declare as many attacking bands as they want, but each creature may be a member of only one of them. (Defending players can’t declare bands but may use banding in a different way; see rule 702.22j.)

TL;DR Bands are declared when declaring attackers. Any number of bands can be declared, but a creature can't be a part of more than one band. With Banding, a band can only have up to one creature without Banding - all other creatures must have Banding [Band = ("Banding" × ∞) + (Non-"Banding" × ≤1)]. "Bands with other" does not count as Banding in this situation. With "Bands with other," only one creature must have "Bands with other" but all other creatures must fit the "Bands with other" condition to form a band [Band = ("Bands with other" × ≥1) + ("Other" × ∞)].

All creatures in an attacking band must attack the same player, planeswalker, or battle.

Once an attacking band has been announced, it lasts for the rest of combat, even if something later removes banding or “bands with other” from one or more of the creatures in the band.

An attacking creature that’s removed from combat is also removed from the band it was in.

Banding doesn’t cause attacking creatures to share abilities, nor does it remove any abilities. The attacking creatures in a band are separate permanents.

TL;DR Attacking Banded creatures are still separate permanents - separate attackers with separate abilities. Keywords are not shared among a band unless stated specifically otherwise.

If an attacking creature becomes blocked by a creature, each other creature in the same band as the attacking creature becomes blocked by that same blocking creature.

TL;DR Block one band member to block the whole band.

If one member of a band would become blocked due to an effect, the entire band becomes blocked.

During the combat damage step, if an attacking creature is being blocked by a creature with banding, or by both a [quality] creature with “bands with other [quality]” and another [quality] creature, the defending player (rather than the active player) chooses how the attacking creature’s damage is assigned. That player can divide that creature’s combat damage as they choose among any creatures blocking it. This is an exception to the procedure described in rule 510.1c.

TL;DR When an attacking creature is blocked by at least one creature with Banding, the controller of the defending band(s) chooses how combat damage is dealt to the defending Band(s) by the attacking creature, rather than the attacking player. Damage timing is not changed (regarding First/Double Strike). The same applies for "Bands with other" if the attacking creature is blocked by both a creature with "Bands with other" and a creature of the Band condition.

NOTABLE INTERACTION: Trample Rule 702.19b "The controller of an attacking creature with trample first assigns damage to the creature(s) blocking it. Once all those blocking creatures are assigned lethal damage, any excess damage is assigned as its controller chooses among those blocking creatures and the player or planeswalker the creature is attacking..." This means that if a creature with Trample is blocked by a creature with Banding (or a creature with "Bands with other" and a qualifying creature) then the defending player can assign excess Trample damage to a defending creature and nullify any excess damage.

During the combat damage step, if a blocking creature is blocking a creature with banding, or both a [quality] creature with “bands with other [quality]” and another [quality] creature, the active player (rather than the defending player) chooses how the blocking creature’s damage is assigned. That player can divide that creature’s combat damage as they choose among any creatures it’s blocking. This is an exception to the procedure described in rule 510.1d.

TL;DR When an attacking band is blocked by one or more creatures, the controller of the attacking band(s) chooses how damage is dealt to the attacking band(s) by the defending creature(s), rather than the defending player(s). Damage timing is not changed (regarding First/Double Strike). This applies if a single creature with Banding attacks and is blocked, or if a band with a "Bands with other" creature and a creature of the band condition attacks and is blocked.

Multiple instances of banding on the same creature are redundant. Multiple instances of “bands with other” of the same kind on the same creature are redundant.

Suggestions

Updates Add

Comments

Attention! Complete Comment Tutorial! This annoying message will go away once you do!

Become a supporter of TappedOut and hide ads for only $3/month!

Important! Formatting tips — Comment Tutorial — markdown syntax

Please login to comment

91% Casual

Competitive