Serra Ascendant and order of events
Asked by erc1017750 14 years ago
If I have 29 life and attack with [Serra Ascendant] and it is blocked by a 1/2 creature what happens? Which of the creatures, if any dies?
MagnorCriol says... Accepted answer #2
This is an interesting corner case that doesn't necessarily work the way you'd expect. I'm going to try to walk through it but if I don't make sense let me know and I'll try again.
Okay, first thing to know is that Serra Ascendant 's ability is a static ability. It's just something that's true, and at any instant where its condition is met, she's got +5/+5 and flying. This doesn't use the stack, doesn't wait for triggers or state-based actions, it's either true or it isn't.
Second, lifelink as an ability means precisely what it say - i.e. that when it deals damage, you're gaining life in the same instant.
This is different from cards like, say, Spirit Loop , who because of the way they're worded use a triggered ability that goes on the stack. A creature with an ability like that does damage, which puts the triggered ability on the stack, which gains you life when it resolves.
Third, and this sounds like minutiae but it's important here, damage doesn't kill creatures. Damage gets marked on a creature, and then the next time state-based actions are checked - which will always be immediately after whatever caused the damage - the game checks to see if the damage marked on a creature equals its toughness. If it does, it's destroyed, if it doesn't, it lives.
Okay, those things out of the way, here's what happens.
Both the Serra Ascendant and this nameless 1/2 deal combat damage to each other in the same damage step, assuming no first strike shenanigans. 1 damage is marked on the Ascendant, and 1 damage is marked on the 1/2 creature. Because the Ascendant dealt damage, you also gained 1 life, putting you at 30.
Then, SBAs are checked. Because you're at 30 life, the Ascendant's ability is active, making her a 6/6 flying lifelink creature. This means that the 1 damage marked on her does not equal her toughness, so she lives, as does the 1/2 because his 1 damage doesn't equal his toughness either.
Now, an interesting note is that if your opponent managed to do something within that same turn to lower your life total - Lightning Bolt comes to mind - then she'll go back to being a 1/1, and since she still has 1 damage marked on her until the next cleanup step, she'll die then.
April 22, 2011 7:24 p.m.
BrightGreenLine says... #3
Here is where state-based effects come into play. First, creatures are not put into graveyard the moment they receive lethal damage: Instead, all other effects are checked, such as power and toughness modifiers, and then when state-based actions are checked any creature whose has more damage marked than it has toughness is put into a graveyard. This, along with every other state-based conditional check, is performed just before any player gets priority and after any effect is resolved.
Now, on to your situation. Prior to combat damage, you have Serra Ascendant being blocked by a Blinding Mage (Just the most convenient 1/2 I could find, for discussion). When combat damage is assigned, your Ascendant will mark 1 damage against the Mage, the Mage will mark 1 damage against the Ascendant, and you will gain 1 life from your Ascendant's lifelink.
Then, a state-based check will happen, but at this point you've gained life and both creatures have already assigned damage. In this check, you will have 30 life so the Ascendant becomes a 6/6 with 1 point of damage marked against it, surviving. Your opponent's creature has less than lethal assigned as well, so it survives.
So in the end, nothing dies, and you go to 30 life. Both creatures will have 1 damage, and if your health dips below 30 at all before the end of the turn your ascendant will immediately go to the graveyard as it remembers that 1 damage until the end of the turn.
April 22, 2011 7:29 p.m.
erc1017750 says... #4
ok sounds about exactly like what i would have thought, although I hadn't considered that the ascendant might die later in the turn due to my life total going back down. Thanks for the response
erc1017750 says... #1
sorry Serra Ascendant
April 22, 2011 6:27 p.m.