Blocking multiple creatues with Guardian of the Gateless
Asked by CamperCarl00 12 years ago
Let's say my opponent attacks me with an 6/6 trample and 2 1/1 saproling tokens with deathtouch and I block all of them with a Guardian of the Gateless that has been regenerated. I know that Guardian of the Gateless is a 6/6 upon me resolving my blockers, but who chooses the order in which the blocked creatures deal damage?
Is it that all damage is dealt at once and I get trampled over for 2? Is it that my opponent can choose which creature attackers and can effectively trample me over for 6? Or is it that I get to choose, which would allow me to negate the trample and effectively block the saprolings with deathtouch?
You get to choose the order of which your Guardian assigns damage to creatures. So you can assign the trample creature as the first one, then the other two tokens. Your guardian will do all six damage to the trample creature, and the trample creature and tokens will do all their damage to you. Nothing will trample over to you, and your angel and their trample creature will die, leaving them with the two token creatures.
March 7, 2013 10:11 p.m.
http404error says... #3
Or you could kill one or both tokens and leave the trampler as you wish.
March 7, 2013 10:19 p.m.
The attacking player decides how attacking creatures assign their damage, and the defending player decides how defending creatures assign their damage. In this scenario, you can choose to assign all six damage to the trample creature, making sure it dies, or you can deal 1 to each of the saproling tokens and 4 to the trampler, killing both tokens. However, the attacker can assign the two saprolings to deal their damage first, then the trampler, so they can still trample 2 damage over you, no matter how you block.
March 7, 2013 10:19 p.m.
http404error says... #5
Careful dcarpntr, your comment could misread as implying that the tokens deal damage to the player, which they don't.
March 7, 2013 10:20 p.m.
linkofhyrule says... Accepted answer #7
the tokens have deathtouch, so wouldn't the 6/6 trample give all 6 to the defending player? the guard has lethal already on it, from one/both of the tokens...
March 7, 2013 10:51 p.m.
A typo, http. I meant to say, "damage to your angel" and not "you." I got in a hurry. My bad.
March 7, 2013 10:58 p.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #9
linkofhyrule has a good point. Because the damage from the deathtouchers counts as lethal, it's legal to assign all the trampler's damage to the defending player.
March 7, 2013 10:59 p.m.
Oh, I wasn't aware that it worked like that. I knew that in the case of a creature having both Trample and Deathtouch, it could assign 1 then trample over the rest, I didn't realise multiple creatures could bring the same result.
March 7, 2013 11:10 p.m.
Trample only cares if lethal damage is assigned to the blocking creature. It doesn't care how the damage got there. You could use a burn spell if you really wanted to to allow the trample to get by.
March 8, 2013 2:48 a.m.
TheGreatStargazer says... #13
If the attacker only attacks with one creature, a 6/6 with trample, Guardian will get+1/+1 and become a 4/4, Guardian will die and 2 damage will get through to the player, the 6/6 trample creature will survive. If Guardian is not assigning damage to an attacking creature, why would it get a +1/+1 x2 bonus for the 2 Saprolings which it(guardian) is not blocking.
July 20, 2015 6:38 p.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #14
The original question (which is over 2 years old at this point, FYI) specifically says all 3 of the opponent's creatures are attacking.
July 20, 2015 8:20 p.m.
Hopefully the player would not want to lose the 6/6 trample creature needlessly and (FYI) Guardian gets +1/+1 for each creature it blocks, it does not get +1/+1 for each attacking creature! I stand by my insightful answer, I will now use my Time Powers to go back two years and reply immediately. (FYI/ no one has first strike.)
sanitypassing says... #1
If I'm interpreting it correctly, according to 509.3 (in the comprehensive rules), the defending player decides in which order the damage is done.
March 7, 2013 10:09 p.m.