Does damage stack on an indestructible creature?
Asked by xXDrChaosXx 12 years ago
Let's say that my opponent has a darksteel colossus in play and chooses to attack. I have 7 1/1 tokens in play and one of them is equipped with an Umezawa's Jitte that already has 2 counters on it. I block with all 7 1/1 tokens and the Jitte goes to 4 counters. Does damage stack on darksteel colossus in such a way that I can remove the counters for the Jitte, thereby giving it -4/-4 and sending to the graveyard via state based effect?
metalmagic says... #2
No, you cannot. The damage will still be marked on the Darksteel Colossus like normal. Indestructible creatures cannot be destroyed by damage, no matter how much is marked on them. Giving the Colossus -4/-4 will then make it a 7/7 with 7 damage marked on it. It's toughness will need to actually need to be reduced to 0 in order to send it to the graveyard.
June 23, 2012 12:49 a.m.
Damage doesn't contribute to the death of an indestructible creature. Even if you dealt 20 damage to Darksteel Sentinel and then hit it with Disfigure , it would all be for naught.
June 23, 2012 1:01 p.m.
Unless, of course, you manage to take away his indestructible somehow. Then the damage will kill him.
June 23, 2012 3:14 p.m.
aeonstoremyliver says... #5
Yep. If an indestructible creature's toughness becomes 0, state based action is checked, and it goes to the graveyard.
You can always exile it with Oblivion Ring , Journey to Nowhere , Path to Exile , etc.
June 23, 2012 5:30 p.m.
UmbrotheUmbreon says... #6
So dealing 7 damage to Darksteel Colossus then using something like Dismember on it afterwards won't kill it?
June 23, 2012 10:30 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #7
No. The damage dealt to Darksteel Colossus is marked on it, but since Darksteel Colossus is indestructible damage won't contribute anything to its death. You have to reduce its toughness to 0 or less.
June 23, 2012 10:39 p.m.
UmbrotheUmbreon says... #8
so the only way to effectively kill the Colossus is to give it 11 -1/-1 counters or some combination of counters and -X/-X cards.
June 23, 2012 10:50 p.m.
xXGhostInSpadeXx says... #10
No, damage can't stack on an indestructible creature, the only way to kill it in this scenario is to put 7 -1/-1 counters on the creature. The only way to kill an indestructible is by using counters. So you only did 4 points of damage to Darksteel Colossus
June 24, 2012 12:49 a.m.
Epochalyptik says... #11
You don't necessarily need to use counters to kill an indestructible creature. "-X/-X until EoT" effects will work just as well.
June 24, 2012 1:12 a.m.
GoblinsInc says... #12
Oh, and yes damage will stack on an indestructible creature in that any damage marked on it will remain until the cleanup step (even if it won't destroy the creature). If you somehow get rid of the Colossus being indestructible, it will then be destroyed from having lethal damage (7 damage, and -4/-4).
June 24, 2012 1:23 a.m.
Damage stacks on indestructible creatures. It just doesn't cause them to be destroyed from it.
If your Grizzly Bears is equipped with Darksteel Plate attacks and takes 3 damage from a blocker, then you equip that Darksteel Plate to your Storm Crow main-phase-2, the Grizzly Bears will die as soon as the Plate becomes unequipped due to having lethal damage on it and no indestructibility.
Epochalyptik says... Accepted answer #1
Damage is marked on a creature until the end of the turn or until it is regenerated.
That being said, normal damage doesn't reduce toughness. Even if you can deal 7 damage to Darksteel Colossus and then give it -4/-4, it will still be an indestructible 7/7 with 7 damage marked on it. It won't die unless you can give it another -X/-7 or more.
June 23, 2012 12:48 a.m.