Can you tap a creature after it has been declared to attack?
Asked by Junius01 13 years ago
Can you tap a creature that is attacking and is already declared attacking to prevent it from attacking?For example: My opponent declares to attack with a Dreg Reaver . Can I tap the Dreg Reaver with a card like Twitch or Trip Noose to prevent it from attacking, saying it is already tapped and can no longer attack?
And a little side-question: Can you tap a permanent when your opponent want to use its tap-ability (like person A uses the effect of engraved-cryptologist or Skeleton Shard and person B uses Twitch to tap it and preventing the effect from happening?
I'd say no in both questions, but my friend says you can do this.
Rhadamanthus says... #2
You're right to say no, but there are different reasons for each case.
Declaring attackers is a turn-based action done at the beginning of the Declare Attackers step, and can't be interrupted while it's being done. The last opportunity a player has to tap creatures to prevent them from attacking is during the Beginning of Combat step.
Tapping a permanent as part of the cost of an activated ability also can't be interrupted. After an ability has been activated, the next chance anyone has to respond is after all the costs have been paid, which means it's too late to tap it to prevent using the ability. If you want to do that, you have to tap the permanent before the ability is actually activated (but for most activated abilities, they can just be activated in response).
December 25, 2011 5:24 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #3
It's also worth noting that tapping or untapping a creature does not remove it from combat. An effect must specifically state that the creature is removed from combat.
December 25, 2011 5:52 p.m.
SwiftDeath says... #4
if you only went straight to your declare attackers phase as most do with out declaring the end of main phase 1 then your friend can say in respone to the declare attackers step tap target creature. this is common among my play group, my friends go from step to step without declaring the end of anything except their turns so in this situation we have a house rule that says if your opponent does something with out the declaration of passing priority before phases we are allowed to reverse to the last time we were allowed priority but we can not go back more than one phase. note that they cannot declare they have passed priority between steps and phases. this isn't an official answer this is just how my friends play because many of my friends are still considered noobs and don't play like you would in competitive play.
December 25, 2011 10:05 p.m.
Dreamlocke says... #5
As a note on the usefulness of tap-response actions, like using Twitch on a permanent with an activated ability that has tapping as a cost; While you can't prevent the ability from being used, you can use this to force them to use it at a time of your choosing. For instance, if they were going to use card:Gideon's Lawkeeper to tap your Primeval Titan , you could attempt to use Twitch on their main phase, forcing them to use their card:Gideon's Lawkeeper's ability then, or not be able to use it at all. This would then keep them from using their card:Gideon's Lawkeeper on your turn, as it would be tapped at that time, which means it would be unable to tap the Primeval Titan to prevent you from attacking with it.
Just an additional bit of technical trivia that might be of use...
metalmagic says... Accepted answer #1
It all depends on timing. The way you have the scenario set up, no. After attackers are declared, attempting to tap the creature will not remove it from combat or stop it from attacking. You have a chance during the first Main Phase and during the Combat Step in which you will receive priority to activate and ability or cast a card to tap creatures. Once it moves to the Declare Attackers step, neither player receives priority to do anything until AFTER attacks have been declared.
Answer to the side question, no. Tapping those cards is a cost of activating the ability. Your opponent will have priority when they activated the ability, and priority will be passed to you after their ability goes on the stack (all costs will have been paid by this point) and if they choose to not do anything else while they still have priority.
Let's say you are the player with priority. You activate an ability to tap your opponent's Skeleton Shard. You choose your target, pay all the costs and do what is necessary to activate it, then your ability goes on the stack. You pass priority and since your opponent can now actiavte abilities and cast spells and your ability is on the stack waiting to resolve, they can activate the ability of their Skeleton Shard in response. Their ability will go on the stack above yours, and resolve first.
All in all, short of Split Second, it is rare to be able to prevent an opponent from activating an ability where they need to tap it to activate it.
So in both instances, the answer is no.
December 25, 2011 5:22 p.m.