Reflect Damage & Halvar, God of Battle Flip interaction?
Asked by Swebb87 2 years ago
Hi I was playing against someone using Halvar, God of Battle Flip, he equipped a Sun Titan with a Batterskull making it a 10/10 with vigilance, lifelink and because of Halar's ability - double strike. He swung it at me, I had no blocks and played Reflect Damage. I thought he should take all 20 damage but he disagreed as he says sun titan was the source of 10 of the damage and Halvar was the source of the other ten (due to the double strike). Please can someone clear this up?
Hi there, so if it was any equipment that didn't provide lifelink, or enchantment aura for that matter, he would have taken all the damage?
November 24, 2021 7:32 a.m.
Reflect Damage's oracle text reads:
"The next time a source of your choice would deal damage this turn, that damage is dealt to that source's controller instead."
Because double strike causes damage to be dealt in two instances, once during the first strike damage step and once during the regular damage step, Reflect Damage will only cause the damage during the first strike damage step to be redirected. Sun Titan is the source of all the damage though.
November 24, 2021 9:47 a.m.
Rhadamanthus says... Accepted answer #4
Sun Titan is the source of all the damage, but you still take 10. It has to do with how Reflect Damage actually works versus what the printed text appears to say.
Reflect Damage was printed at a time when the rules worked a little differently and the standards for rules text on cards weren't as formalized. Its current Oracle text (viewable in Gatherer) has been updated to be more clear about exactly what it does:
The next time a source of your choice would deal damage this turn, that damage is dealt to that source's controller instead.
Because a creature with double strike deals its damage in two different combat damage steps, the "next time" part of Reflect Damage's text means it will only affect the first of those damage events. The second damage event will happen normally.
November 24, 2021 10:15 a.m.
Thanks Rhada and Neo. The two of you are always the answers to my prayers. Appreciate the help
Gleeock says... #1
I'm no judge... but it seems like the player was incorrect. Halvar states: "creatures you control that are ench. or equipped have double strike", the source of the dmg is Sun Titian (not Halvar). All that being said; if the 20 dmg was not lethal for the player that you used Reflect Damage on, then the player's life total would go nowhere basically, since the Titan had lifelink; however your lifetotal would have been spared as well.
November 24, 2021 7:29 a.m.