Trample vs Protection?
Asked by UpperDeckerTaco 9 years ago
If Siege Rhino attacked into a Stormbreath Dragon or Soldier of the Pantheon, how does the trample take effect? And what if Rhino is at 6 power from an Abzan Charm (in the case of SBD blocking Rhino)?
zephramtripp says... #2
When a creature with trample is blocked, it only needs to assign damage to each blocking creature equal to its toughness. Then the rest can trample over onto an opponent. The protection in this case just prevents Soldier of the Pantheon or Stormbreath Dragon from dying.
March 9, 2015 8:01 p.m.
Tyrannosary says... #3
Ummmm... The siege rhino wouldn't be dealing damage equal to his toughness to his blockers, it would be his power.
March 9, 2015 9:30 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... Accepted answer #4
Since the current answers are missing bits of important info or contain inaccuracies, I'll offer the following explanation:
One of protection's primary functions is to prevent damage. When damage is prevented, it is never dealt.
Trample, however, cares about damage assignments. When you deal combat damage, you actually assign damage first, then deal damage according to the assignments. Trample means that if an attacking creature can assign lethal damage to all of its blockers, then it can assign the remaining damage to the defending player (or to the planeswalker, if it's attacking a planeswalker).
Because trample only cares about damage assignment, it doesn't care that damage that would be dealt to a creature with protection will be prevented. Protection doesn't interfere with damage assignment, so you assign an amount of damage that would be lethal if it were successfully dealt to the blocking creature. You are then free to assign the rest to the defending player. The damage that would be dealt to the protected creature is simply prevented.
Also, damage is dealt equal to a creature's power, not its toughness. I assume zephramtripp mistyped there.
March 9, 2015 10:42 p.m.
Schuesseled says... #5
Important to note you must assign lethal damage to each creature blocking, before any damage can trample over. (lethal damage is normally equal to toughness but not always, I.e. Deathtouch)
March 10, 2015 5:40 a.m.
PhantasmagorianFan says... #6
I think zephramtripp was referring to the blocking creature when using the word its, meaning the creature with trample would assign damage equal to the toughness of the creature blocking it.
ShamaLamaDingDong says... #1
If Stormbreath Dragon blocks a 6/6 Siege Rhino, the Siege Rhino would deal 4 damage to the dragon and deal the remaining 2 to the player or a planeswalker that player controls.
March 9, 2015 5:30 p.m.