Voldaren Pariah Flip + attack step
Asked by Octopussie 7 years ago
Let's assume i have one Voldaren Pariah Flip and another 3 tokens in the battlefield, and it's my opponent's turn, and he attacks with some creatures:
-Can i flip pariah in response, so he has to sac 3 attackin creatures ?
-Does any dmg happens or resolves ?
Thanks in advance !
You CAN Flip the Pariah in resonse. When you do so, they will be required to sac 3 creatures. They CAN choose to sacrifice attacking creatures OR creatures that aren't attacking (assuming they didn't attack with everything)
After that, any attacking creatures that are still in play and unblocked will deal damage as usual. If a creature gets killed (or sacrificed) before damage happens it won't be around to deal it's damage.
If you really want to take this further, you can first declare the 3 tokens as blockers, and then in response to declaring blockers sacrifice them. The creatures they blocked will remain blocked and deal no damage to you. (assuming they don't have trample) ADDITIONALLY, and other attacking creatures your opponent sacrifices won't be on the board to deal damage to you.
So to recap:you CAN activate Voldaren Pariah Flip in response to attackers (or blockers). Doing so WILL force your opponent to sacrifice 3 creatures. Those creatures CAN be attacking creatures but DON'T have to be.To deal damage to you a creature has to be ALL of the following:
declared attacking
not be declared blocked (unless they have trample, in which case, see the rules for trample)
still be on board when damage resolves
August 17, 2016 1:17 p.m.
Octopussie says... #3
What if my opponent attacks with the only 3 creatures he has, and i make him sac them after he declares the attackers ?How will the dmg happen ?
August 17, 2016 1:18 p.m.
Octopussie says... #4
oh ! ok thanks dude ! i posted that while u were posting, sorry !
August 17, 2016 1:21 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... Accepted answer #5
As explained above, combat damage is only dealt if the creatures are still attacking by the combat damage step. If all of the attackers are removed before the combat damage step, then no creatures will deal combat damage.
August 17, 2016 1:21 p.m.
Raging_Squiggle says... #6
FireRogue, while you can try to take it a step further and activate the ability after you declare blockers, the opponent would just sacrifice those same creatures that were just blocked, and allow his unblocked attackers (if any) to deal their combat damage.
August 17, 2016 1:22 p.m.
It won't, because they're not on the battlefield when damage resolves.Combat in magic is broken down into lots of little steps.
- Start of Combat
a. Each player gets priority in turn and can do anything before attackers are declared
- Declare Attackers
a. Current player decides what creatures will attack
b. Each player gets priority in turn and can do anything between attackers and defenders being declared
- Declare Defenders
a. They player being attacked decided which creatures will block and how
b. Each player gets priority in turn and can do anything between defenders being declared and damage happening
- Damage step
a. Damage happens
- End of Combat
a. Anything that happens when creatures die happens. Each player gets priority in turn and can respond to the abilities before/after they happen
August 17, 2016 1:26 p.m.
Whoops. Clearly I dont know how multi-level lists work. Hopefully its clear enough as is
August 17, 2016 1:27 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #9
@FireRogue: Note that if a creature is destroyed due to combat damage, that happens during the combat damage step. Abilities that trigger when a creature dies or deals/is dealt damage will trigger in the combat damage step, and they'll be put onto the stack in that step as well.
August 17, 2016 1:28 p.m.
@RagingSquiggle Not necessarily. Sometimes a creature is important enough that you'd rather have it not deal damage one turn than be dead. Obviously this tactic is very situational, but there are times where it will work well and therefore it doesnt hurt to be aware of it
For example, you attack with a Molten Primordial and 3 Eldrazi Scions. I declare the Primoridal and 2 Scions blocked and then activate Pariah. You're still going to sacrifice all 3 scions and keep the primordial rather than lose the Primordial and get in for 1
August 17, 2016 1:31 p.m.
Epochalyptik Thanks for the clarification! I always wondered why damage happening needed its own phase and assumed it was a holdover from damage going on the stack
Raging_Squiggle says... #1
You can activate the ability any time you have priority, so you can do it at the end of the declare attacker step or blocker step if you want.
If the only 3 creatures he controls are the ones attacking, then yes he will have to sacrifice his attacking creatures. Otherwise he can sac a non-attacking creature instead.
As long as you do this before the combat damage step, then the sacrificed creatures will deal no combat damage because they won't be on the battlefield to deal it.
August 17, 2016 1:07 p.m.