Question about Blood Artist/Falkenrath Noble vs combat

Asked by greyninja 11 years ago

We had a disagreement the other day on the order of operations during the combat phase. i did accidentally ask this question in the "general" forum, but i want to hear more answers:

i'm attacking with an XL-trample creature... my opponent has four 1/1 tokens, a medium creature, a Falkenrath Noble , and just enough life that if he blocks with everybody but the Noble; i would bring him down to -3 life.

now how does the next part play out... does my opponent lose? or do his five creatures die, i lose 5 life he gains 5 life, then he sits at 2 life?

i realize that the change during M10(?) says that "Lifelink" means life is lost and gained at the same time during combat. but that's not exactly happening here.

trample states that once enough lethal damage is assigned to all blocking creatures, any remaining damage is assigned to the defending player. the creatures don't have to die first for the player to take damage, they all take it at the same time right? he would have to be at 0 life for the creatures to also be dead, but they died so he gains 5 life...

Epochalyptik says... Accepted answer #1

Falkenrath Noble has a triggered ability. The ability has to go onto the stack and resolve before your opponent gains life from it. Therefore, your trampler will deal lethal damage to the blockers and your opponent. State-based actions cause the creatures to be destroyed at the same time they cause your opponent to lose the game, so the instances of Falkenrath Noble 's ability never get put onto the stack.

Remember that combat damage is dealt simultaneously, then state-based actions are checked, then triggered abilities are handled.

August 1, 2013 8:19 a.m.

greyninja says... #2

word

another portion of the argument was that once a phase has started, the phase must also end. so during the combat phase, even if a player is brought down to 0 life, the phase still must end regardless of life totals. therefore all the abilities are still triggered during the combat phase

August 1, 2013 1:13 p.m.

diamondmx says... #3

That's incorrect, you lose the game as a state based action, which are checked just before any time a player could cast spells.

August 1, 2013 1:18 p.m.

Epochalyptik says... #4

@greyninja: That's incorrect. State-based actions check throughout steps and phases. When your opponent loses the game as a state-based action, the game ends. You win.

August 1, 2013 2:25 p.m.