Can you respond to declaring attackers/blockers?
Asked by megawurmple 11 years ago
I was playing with a friend a while ago and I declared my attacker. In response, he tried to tap the attacker, saying that it can no longer attack because it is tapped. Similarly, I once declared a blocker, then my opponent cast Aerial Maneuver in response and stated that, since my creature didn't have flying, the block could not happen and the damage would go through. Is this legal?
You cannot respond to declare attackers, but if your opponent skips to declaring attackers without asking if you agree to skip forward to the declare attackers step (usually by asking "Declare attackers?"), then you can stop them, rewind back to Begin Combat step and cast spells there.
It's like this:
Begin Combat
Round of Priority (can cast spells here, tapping potential attackers before they can attack)
Declare Attackers
Round of Priority (can cast spells here, attackers are already tapped and attacking)
Same thing goes for blockers - he can kill a blocker before you declare them, and he can rewind back if you try to skip past the priority round in declare attackers. But, if both of you are clear about which step you're moving to and confirm it, then he cannot know which blockers are being declared and also respond before they are considered blocked.
However, he can give his creature flying during the declare attackers step and make it more difficult to block. If you only had one blocker and it did not have flying, then this would work.
drhumbra says... Accepted answer #1
once attackers or blocker are declared, they are considered attacking or blocking.
In both cases, the decision to use instants have to be made before you announce your attacking or blocking creatures.
In your first example, the tapped creature is still considered attacking because you declared the attacker before he tapped it down. You cannot remove a declared attacker from combat by tapping it after he is declared attacking. If the creature is destroyed, say by Doom Blade it ceases to exist and is no longer attacking. If it is tapped down, using Twiddle after you declare it as an attacker, the creature is still attacking.
In the second example, the creature was blocked before it was granted flying, so it is still considered blocked. The +1/+1 and first strike still apply, but if you blocked with a non flying creature, it is still considered blocked.
July 31, 2013 12:05 p.m.