Excess Damage to an Indestructible Permanent

Asked by Delphen7 1 year ago

Say Player A controls some card that cares about excess damage, like Aegar, the Freezing Flame. Player B controls a 1/1 creature with Indestructible, and no other abilities.

If Player A casts Lightning Bolt on B's creature, then Aegar will trigger as that creature has been dealt excess damage.

If Player A casts another Lightning Bolt on that same creature, is this instance of damage considered excess (thus triggering Aegar)?

Gidgetimer says... Accepted answer #1

120.4a defines excess damage in detail. The relevant part of rule 120.4a is that "the excess damage is the amount of damage in excess of what would be lethal damage, taking into account damage already marked on the creature and damage from other sources that would be dealt at the same time." The 1/1 already has 3 damage marked on it, which is above the threshold for lethal damage to it. So the entire 3 points of damage from the second Lightning Bolt is excess damage. A Blindblast after the first Lightning Bolt would also trigger Aegar.

120.4a First, if an effect that’s causing damage to be dealt states that excess damage that would be dealt to a permanent is dealt to another permanent or player instead, the damage event is modified accordingly. If the first permanent is a creature, the excess damage is the amount of damage in excess of what would be lethal damage, taking into account damage already marked on the creature and damage from other sources that would be dealt at the same time. (See rule 120.6.) Any amount of damage greater than 1 is excess damage if the source dealing that damage to a creature has deathtouch. (See rule 702.2.) If the first permanent is a planeswalker, the excess damage is the amount of damage in excess of that planeswalker’s loyalty, taking into account damage from other sources that would be dealt at the same time. If the first permanent is both a creature and a planeswalker, the excess damage is the greater of those two amounts.

July 3, 2022 9:49 p.m.

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