Deathtouch and first strike stacking?
Asked by yinnyyxd 12 years ago
Lets just say I'm a 5/1 death touch and hes a 3/3 normal creature. When I declare an attack with my 5/1 death touch and he blocked with his 3/3 normal creature and I use Zealous Strike on my creatures. Does my creature live because of death touch and first strike stacking?
NobodyPicksBulbasaur says... Accepted answer #2
If two creatures are in combat, and one of them has first strike, then combat works differently than normal. The combat damage is broken into two steps: The First Strike damage step, and the normal damage step.
Your creature with First Strike would deal its combat damage during the First Strike damage step. Because you've dealt 5 damage to his 3/3, and his creature hasn't dealt combat damage yet, his creature dies and yours survives.
The game then moves on to the normal combat damage step, but your opponent's creature is no longer alive to deal damage. Your creature remains alive, without ever taking damage.
It's worth noting that your creature having Deathtouch was irrelevant in this case, but the end result would have been the same even if your creature had been a 1/1 with Deathtouch and First Strike.
October 4, 2012 12:34 p.m.
@landgrafb so you're saying even if I have a 1/1 death touch and first strike vs a 10/10 creatures my creatures will live and he die?
October 4, 2012 12:40 p.m.
Giving Deathtouch creatures first strike is a powerful tool.
As is giving a Deathtouch creature the ability to deal direct damage to creatures, as the damage does not need to be 'combat damage' for Deathtouch to work.
October 4, 2012 1:09 p.m.
Referring to what Rayenous said, Cunning Sparkmage and Basilisk Collar were a popular duo when it came to dealing Deathtouch damage without actually using combat.
October 4, 2012 2:17 p.m.
First-Strike + Deathtouch is a very powerful combination. Only a few creatures have been printed with the combo, and all of them are very strong and typically quite rare. See: Glissa, the Traitor .
October 4, 2012 2:50 p.m.
Bigburlybill says... #8
Does this occur even when blocking? I know that trample doesnt work when you block, so im curious if the same thing happens with first-strike.
October 4, 2012 3:48 p.m.
First Strike occurs any time a creature deals combat damage. Deathtouch occurs any time a creature would deal any damage. So yes.
October 4, 2012 3:49 p.m.
cartwheelnurd says... #10
funny story. Back when my brother and I were noobs I was playing a black blue vampires and he was playing green eldrazi ramp. He had a bunch of eldrazis like ulamogs crusher and artisan of kozilek, but I had 1 nirkana cutthroat leveled up and a bunch of lands to sac, so I won.
The moral of the story is that first strike and deathtouch are really good.
Almost make sme wonder a little bit why glissa wasn't played so much...
October 4, 2012 8:03 p.m.
Let's say having first strike is like having a spear, and having deathtouch is like a poison tipped weapon. If you have a spear with a poison tip, the enemy is going to die first before he could even lay a hand on you. Just an example.
Epochalyptik says... #1
Deathtouch and first strike don't really stack, they just are. A creature can have any number of static abilities.
When your creature deals combat damage in the first strike damage step, it will kill its blocker because of deathtouch. The blocker won't be around in the normal combat damage step to assign damage.
October 4, 2012 12:31 p.m.