deathtouch, trample and damage prevention

Asked by xxxxxxCronoxxxxxx 13 years ago

if i was to prevent the next 1 damage that would be delt to my 1/1 and i blocked a big creature with deathtouch and trample with the 1/1 and a bunch of other creatures, because you can only assign the order in wich the damage is delt would the it only deal 1 damage that would then get prevented saveing the 1/1 or would it get delt 2 damage wich 1 would get prevented and still take 1 killing it

You need your opponent to verbally declare how much damage he is assigning to your creature and you. Typically most players will do this, and you can be somewhat underhanded by asking the question "How much damage do I take?"

The way damage assignment rules work is that you have to assign at least lethal damage to each blocker, in blocking order, before you can assign damage to other creatures or the defending player.

In your example, you have a 1/1 and an Abuna Acolyte protecting it from 1 damage, and your opponent is attacking with a trampling Wurmcoil Engine . All your opponent has to do to satisfy the rules is assign your 1/1 a single point of damage, and he can have the remaining 5 go over to you. Then when the damage is actually dealt the Acolyte's replacement effect will prevent the 1 to your creature, allowing it to survive.

It all depends on how your opponent assigns the damage. Going back to my original paragraph, in this 1-blocker situation it's pretty easy to use the "How much damage do I take?" question to try and 'trick' them into sparing your 1/1: If you ask and they say 5, then they explicitly say they're assigning 5 to you and only 1 can go to the blocker meaning it lives. If they put 4 on you and 2 on the blocker, it will die.

June 28, 2011 3:40 p.m.

B33b3 says... #2

Not quite, from what I've read the new rules states that those things have to be done before damage is assigned. So the creature would still be destroyed and you would still take trample damage equal to whatever is left.

June 29, 2011 2:59 a.m.

Scorpse says... #3

They have to order the blockers for the damage assignment.

after blockers are ordered, you can see if they intended to kill something. This is, because in order to deal damage to the next blocker, the one before it must be assigned lethal damage.

Most players will assign the normal amount of damage (as the blockers toughness), but if they suspect something they might put more.

With deathtouch, it is needed only 1 point of damage to be considered lethal (no matter how much toughness the blocker has)

If a player attacks with a trampler an you block with a (only 1) smaller creature, it is not necessarily needed to say the damage. It is defaulted that lethal is dealt to creature and the rest tramples over.

June 29, 2011 6:56 a.m.

Prevent the next one damage, then at least 2 damage would have to be assigned in order for it to even receive damage. Deathtouch is useless against 1/1. Your 1/1 is destroyed and you take the attacking creature's power - 2 in damage.

June 29, 2011 4:31 p.m.

BrightGreenLine says... Accepted answer #5

Even if you block with a 1-toughness creature, they still need to declare somehow how much damage is being assigned to it. If, back to the original example, there is an effect like Abuna Acolyte protecting a creature then it very much makes a difference whether they assign the default 1 damage to an X/1 or more. Even with deathtouch, if that 1 damage is prevented by an Acolyte or any other damage prevention effect, the defending creature will not die.

As per the damage assignment rules this is a perfectly legal damage assignment, and it is one way for players to make mistakes if they intended to kill your creatures.

June 29, 2011 8:28 p.m.

the way i understud the new combat rules, you decided what order your creature deals damage to the creatures blocking it and then it deals the damage but you dont get to chose how much damage it deals to each creature, i thought it just did as much leathal damage as it could in the order chosen

June 30, 2011 3:56 a.m.

Scorpse says... #7

no.

you do choose how much damage you assign to each creature. But to assign damage to the second blocker, the first must have been assigned lethal damage.

So if you attack with a 5/5, and he block with a 1/3 and a 4/4, you order the blockers, and if you want to assign dmg to the second the first must have already been assign lethal. In this case 3 or 4, whichever was the first.

June 30, 2011 4:06 a.m.

so you could assign all the damage to the first one even if its well past leathal so you can gain 5 life from lifelink if the 2nd creature prevents all damage delt to it

June 30, 2011 4:40 a.m.

Scorpse says... #9

yes..but this is done on declare blockers step.

after this it will be another round of priority for players, and he might prevent damage or do something else.this is covered in CR509.

June 30, 2011 5:03 a.m.

isnt the damage assigned and delt at pity much the same time?

June 30, 2011 11:23 a.m.

Okay, here's how combat assignments work:

  1. Declare Attackers. Attacking player picks his attackers, pays all costs (including tapping to attack), and after that's done both players respond.
  2. Declare Blockers. Defending player assigns as many blocking creatures as they want to each attacker, and pays all costs associated with their actions.
  3. Still Declare Blockers: Now, the attacking player decides the order in which he will deal damage to the defending creatures. Then, if possible (Such as with Echo Circlet or banding) the defending player chooses the order in which his defenders deal damage to attackers.
  4. Still Declare Blockers: Triggers are put on the stack, then both players get the opportunity to respond until the stack is empty. Abuna Acolyte activation goes here.
  5. Combat Damage: Now, the active player chooses the amount of damage his attacking creatures will assign, obeying the blocking order (unless Banding is involved, for simplicity's sake let's assume not.) Then, defending player chooses how much damage his creatures will assign, obeying the order he chose in #3. After the damage numbers have been assigned, damage is dealt to everything simultaneously; the last action before moving on is a SBA check to remove dying creatures.
  6. Triggers that may occur are put onto the stack, players may activate abilities and cast spells, and repeat #5 if there are any first-strike or double-strike creatures involved, as per the rules for first and double strike.
June 30, 2011 3:19 p.m.

This discussion has been closed