Lifelink and Delaying Shield interaction
Asked by SteelNinja 11 years ago
Say I had a Spikeshot Elder enchanted with Gift of Orzhova and a Delaying Shield in play and I used the Elder's activated ability on myself. Would I gain 2 life and have the shield get 2 counters, or does relocating the damage prevent the Lifelink trigger? I'm slightly confused since there's a ruling saying the damage isn't prevented, it's just put somewhere else.
Absinthman says... #2
The way I see it, the damage doesn't happen, so lifelink doesn't gain you any life. It is true that it isn't prevented, but it is replaced instead with the Delaying Shield 's replacement effect. The difference is not so obvious and is actually irrelevant in this particular case, but it matters when you for example deal with damage that can't be prevented (Combust ). The key to understanding how this works lies in knowing how replacement effects generally work. If a replacement effect replaces an event A with event B, event A never happens.
January 7, 2014 6:34 a.m.
Agreeing with Absinthman. The damage is not prevented, but the replacement effect still causes it not to be dealt to you. Since damage is not actually dealt, no life an be gained.
January 7, 2014 8:09 a.m.
Gidgetimer says... Accepted answer #4
The relevant rule to what Absinthman and Kathoran are talking about is:
This means that the damage was never dealt, so lifelink will have no effect. Delaying Shield
's replacement effect isn't the same as infect or Elderscale Wurm
's 3rd ability that changes the outcome of damage. It changes the damage event itself so that damage never happened.
Draugo says... #1
If we take that ruling to account then I'd say it works like wither. It is still damage but it is dealt in the form of delay counters instead of actual damage but the lifelink would still apply so you would get the life.
January 7, 2014 5:27 a.m.