Does trample go past protection?
Asked by PaladinRyan 12 years ago
Okay in my playgroup there is some debate regarding how protection works versus trample. Some claim that it goes through but others, myself included, believe that since damage is completely prevented trample cannot go through as what would be lethal damage was never dealt. The example that has come up most often is I have a Mirran Crusader and am blocking a massive Primordial Hydra to keep myself alive. I want a definitive answer to bring to my group because I am sick of debating this.
Sorry, to clarify: when I said "Y damage" I meant Y is the creature's toughness.
But here is the ruling anyway:
702.18b The controller of an attacking creature with trample first assigns damage to the creature(s)blocking it. Once all those blocking creatures are assigned lethal damage, any remainingdamage is assigned as its controller chooses among those blocking creatures and the player orplaneswalker the creature is attacking. When checking for assigned lethal damage, take intoaccount damage already marked on the creature and damage from other creatures thats beingassigned during the same combat damage step, but not any abilities or effects that might changethe amount of damage thats actually dealt. The attacking creatures controller need not assignlethal damage to all those blocking creatures but in that case cant assign any damage to theplayer or planeswalker its attacking.
Example: A 2/2 creature that can block an additional creature blocks two attackers: a1/1 with no abilities a 3/3 with trample. The active player could assign 1 damage fromthe first attacker and 1 damage from the second to the blocking creature, and 2 damageto the defending player from the creature with trample.
Example: A 6/6 green creature with trample is blocked by a 2/2 creature with protectionfrom green. The attacking creatures controller must assign at least 2 damage to theblocker, even though that damage will be prevented by the blockers protection ability.The attacking creatures controller can divide the rest of the damage as he or shechooses between the blocking creature and the defending player.
August 18, 2012 6:06 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #3
As a note, this works because protection stops the damage from being dealt, but not from being assigned. Trample only cares about damage assignment and doesn't take into account any effects that would modify the damage dealt after assignment.
August 18, 2012 6:12 p.m.
PaladinRyan says... #4
The ruling is what makes this clear honestly. Once I read that it became clear this was kind of an order of operations type thing. Trample assigns damage before protection activates so as far as trample is concerned it did assign lethal damage. Thanks for clearing that up.
August 18, 2012 6:24 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #5
That's kind of inaccurate. Protection never "activates." It's a static ability that's always on. It's just that trample and protection don't care about the same thing, so they don't interact with one another.
August 18, 2012 6:28 p.m.
PaladinRyan says... #6
Okay perhaps "activates" was a bad choice of words. Protection is not relevant yet when trample is assigning damage. Protection is relevant during the damage itself not when it is being assigned which is what trample cares about. I think I understand the logic here; sorry for my misuse of the term "activate" I know protection is static.
CptDanger says... Accepted answer #1
When a creature with protection from color X is blocking a creature with color X with trample then the creature of color X with trample will have to assign Y damage to the blocking creature (because that is lethal damage and that is how combat damage is assigned with trample), and the rest is assigned to you. The blocking creature will not die, however, because it can not be damaged by sources of that color.
For your specific example let's say the Hydra is a 10/10 and your Crusader is still 2/2. The Hydra swings. You block with the Crusader. The crusader deals 2 first strike damage, then the Crusader deals 2 regular damage to the Hydra while the Hydra deals its assigned 2 damage to the Crusader simultaneously, then deals 8 damage to you via trample, but because of the P.F.Green ability the Crusader shrugs off that 2 damage like nothing ever happened.
I'm pretty sure I'm 99.9% right about that.
August 18, 2012 6:02 p.m.