Do creatures brought back by Alesha, Who Smiles at Death trigger Mardu Ascendancy's ability?
Asked by Darthagnon 10 years ago
Asking, due to a confusing extra ruling on Alesha that says the creatures she brings back "tapped and attacking" do not trigger "whenever this creature attacks" abilities... I'll swear that extra ruling contradicts card text, thereby granting priority to the card...
Epochalyptik says... Accepted answer #2
There's a difference in Magic between "attacking" and "attacks/attacked."
A creature is an attacking creature as long as it is attacking something during the current combat phase.
However, a creature only attacked if it was declared as an attacking creature during the declare attackers step.
Therefore, a creature becomes an attacking creature when it attacks, but a creature can also become an attacking creature later through an effect that makes it attack.
If the latter occurs, the creature is an attacking creature, but it never attacked because it wasn't declared as an attacker. This means that on-attack abilities won't trigger for it (the time at which such abilities could have triggered has passed by that point, anyway; those abilities can only trigger during the turn-based action of declaring attackers).
June 10, 2015 10:41 a.m.
Darthagnon says... #3
Thanks, Epochalyptik :D! Sorry to bring up that issue again... just got kinda annoyed that it messed up Alesha, Who Smiles at Death + Blood-Chin Rager , a combo I had liked to play until now... a bit like back when I was a total noob and I got annoyed at the difference between Soldiers and Warriors, or (more recently) about the difference between "cannot be prevented" and "cannot be countered" ;). All those ones are now sorted, though.
Boza says... #1
Abilities that trigger when a creature attacks only trigger when creatures are declared as attackers during beginning of the declare attackers phase.
In order for the creature to return to the battlefield, Alesha must be declared as an attacker. There is only one phase in which to declare attackers and by the time that card has returned, that part of the phase has already passed.
June 10, 2015 9:42 a.m.