Does Kusari-Gama deal all the damage?
Asked by Chandrian 8 years ago
If I equip Kusari-Gama on Zurgo Helmsmasher and he deals damage to a blocking creature, all other creatures will receive damage equal to Zurgo's strength. But does Kusari-Gama deal all the damage or can Zurgo add counters for all creatures killed this way?
Or do I need Brutal Hordechief to force multiple blockers on Zurgo for him to spread his damage?
I forgot to add that this will work on a maximum of seven blockers by default, as you actually have to assign damage to those creatures with Zurgo - it's not enough to have creatures block him, and then be destroyed by the Kusari-Gama.
July 14, 2015 6:50 a.m.
nobu_the_bard says... Accepted answer #3
As the card says, Kusari-Gama deals itself damage to each other blocker. It is the source of damage for all purposes, such as considering protection. It does not say "Whenever equipped creature deals damage to a blocking creature, that creature deals that much damage to each other creature defending player controls."
You can't split up the damage assigned to creatures blocking Zurgo Helmsmasher unless it is fatal to each creature involved. The attacking creature deals lethal damage at minimum to each blocker in sequence; you can't assign less than lethal. If Zurgo is blocked by 8 2/2 cat tokens, even with Kusari-Gama equipped, he cannot simply assign 1 damage to 7 of the tokens in order to kill all of them and gain 7 +1/+1 counters. He would, without being pumped by the firebreathing on the equipment, be able to get credit for killing 3 them of at most (because he won't hurt the next one in blocking order without dealing lethal damage to the previous one).
To "spread out" the damage the way you want, you'd have to give him deathtouch. That would allow him to deal only 1 damage to each blocker to kill them. Because Kusari-Gama doesn't have deathtouch, it would not kill creatures it deals damage to that Zurgo Helmsmasher doesn't hit.
July 14, 2015 6:53 a.m.
@nobu_the_bard: In your example with 8 2/2 cats, actually 4 of them would count towards Zurgo's last ability - Zurgo kills the first three cats, and deals 1 damage to the fourth one. Kusari-Gama triggers 4 times and ultimately deals 3x 2 damage and then another 1 damage to all but the respective cat that's been dealt damage in the first place.
That means that all cats will be dealt 5 damage, except for the one that's only been dealt 1 damage by Zurgo - it will get dealt 6 damage.
All of the cats will die, four of which have actually been dealt damage by Zurgo, so he gets 4 counters.
July 14, 2015 7:07 a.m.
nobu_the_bard says... #5
Oh I misread it as him needing to personally kill them. Yes you're right.
But yes they all die either way. I was only concerning myself with how much credit Zurgo gets.
Also I wasn't clear on the last sentence; the Kusari-Gama still kills them all in this example it just doesn't gain deathtouch because Zurgo does.
BlueScope says... #1
Kusari-Gama deals the damage - your Zurgo won't get any counters from creatures destroyed that way.
Brutal Hordechief isn't directly related in any other way than you being able to force all creatures to block Zurgo. That will work, though, as long as they die (which they probably will due to the additional damage from the Kusari-Gama).
July 14, 2015 6:48 a.m.