Omnath LoR + Warstorm Surge + Evolving Wilds vs Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Asked by moonknights01 6 years ago
I would like some help explaining this to my friend as to how I destroyed their Gisela. Is this called damage on the stack? I hope I did not misplay.
It is my turn and my opponent only has Gisela, Blade of Goldnight.
During my main phase :I have Omnath, Locus of Rage & Warstorm Surge on the battlefield.
1) I play Evolving Wilds - Triggers a 5/5 elemental token & Warstorm Surge
Deals 3 damage to Gisela
2) Tap Evolving Wilds for a land - Triggers a 2nd 5/5 elemental token & Warstorm Surge again
Deals 3 damage again to Gisela and she is destroyed.
Gisela was destroyed because it was still my turn and the damage added up. Damage that I deal but is not lethal is removed in my end step. Is this right?
Thank you for helping!
moonknights01 says... #2
Ah thank you acbooster for the clarification, since it was 2.5 damage we weren't sure and assumed 3. I'll keep this in mind for our next game.
July 23, 2017 12:01 a.m.
Schuesseled says... #3
2.5 rounded up is 3. But otherwise yes, acbooster is correct
July 23, 2017 3:41 a.m.
Schuesseled says... #4
Having just read the card and various discussion, I now realise it's busted and ac booster is probably correct. I'll probably keep rounding up damage it takes for fairness though.
July 23, 2017 3:47 a.m.
@Schuesseled: Cards are fair only if you're doing what's written on them. The card doesn't give you the option to choose how much damage you prevent (and neither do the game rules), so what you're talking about is more of a house rule than anything else. Part of the card's strength is that it prevents single points of damage, effectively negating many infinite combos.
Since Gisela is primarily a Commander card, judge it by what it is - an expensive creature with an upside that rewards you for the high mana cost, but can also be handled by staples of every color rather easily and inexpensively (Swords to Plowshares, Pongify, Doom Blade, Blasphemous Act, Crushing Vines).
That said, cards do exactly what's written on them. 2.5 damage rounded up is 3, and that much damage is prevented - that's what acbooster described correctly. If the damage dealt would be rounded up, it would be a different story, but that's simply not what's written on the card.
July 23, 2017 6:36 a.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #6
To be clear about the "damage on the stack" side question: This refers to a specific process for assigning combat damage that was first introduced in the 6th Edition rules update and removed again in the M10 rules update. During the period of time it was in effect, there was a window after assigning combat damage where players got the opportunity to make responses before the damage was actually dealt.
acbooster says... Accepted answer #1
Damage stopped using the stack in the big 6th Edition rules rework.
Your reasoning is correct however. Damage falls off a the end of each turn as a part of the Cleanup Step, which is the very last part of the turn. So long as enough damage is dealt in a single turn, it doesn't matter when it was dealt.
There is a slight problem with the situation. Gisela, Blade of Goldnight's last ability says to PREVENT half of the damage rounded up. This means that she would only take two damage per elemental token and still need one more point of damage to have lethal marked.
July 22, 2017 11:39 p.m.