Abzan Falconer killed with an instant after attacks are declared.

Asked by Argy 9 years ago

My friend declared attacks with three creatures, who all had counters, including an Abzan Falconer. That meant they all had flying.

My other friend cast an Instant in response, killing the Abzan Falconer.

I think he is able to now block the other creatures with non-fliers as everything has now lost flying?

Thanks for any help.

Epochalyptik says... Accepted answer #1

You don't "respond" to the declaration of attackers or blockers in the sense that you respond to spells or abilities. Declarations are turn-based actions that don't use the stack. They happen as soon as the relevant steps begin.

In this case, what's happening is that the active player is declaring attackers, and the defending player is casting an instant during the round of priority that follows before the game proceeds to the declare blockers step.

Because the defending player is casting the instant at the end of the declare attackers step (this is implicit in the notion of "responding" to attackers), the Abzan Falconer will be dead before the defending player declares blockers. Because Abzan Falconer's second ability functions only while Abzan Falconer is on the battlefield, the active player's attacking creatures won't have flying anymore by the time the defending player declares blockers.

March 4, 2015 1:55 a.m.