When exactly does lifegain and creature death happen?
Asked by DreamGoddessLindsey 11 years ago
Here's the situation I had tonight. I was playing against someone who had a Colossal Whale out. I had Whip of Erebos , Blood Baron of Vizkopa , and other big creatures. I attacked all-out and he blocked my Blood Baron.
Now he was under 10 life already. All my creatures had lifelink. The Collosal Whale did 5 damage to Blood Baron. The thing is, all the lifelink put me above 30 life, which would give Blood Baron +6/+6 and flying.
The question is, when does the lifegain happen and when do creatures die? I thought that creatures only died when the game checked board state. In my thinking, the lifegain happened simultaneously with the damage dealt. I figured that would mean Blood Baron would get +6/+ before the game checked the damage versus toughness to kill it, which would allow it to live. Am I right, or did I misunderstand the rules? The organizer said that the death happened before the lifegain happened, so Blood Baron died first, but I'm not sure that's correct.
If anyone knows the answer and can cite the precise rules for it, I'd be grateful. Thank you kindly.
Epochalyptik says... Accepted answer #2
Lifegain from lifelink damage happens simultaneously with the damage.
Creatures are destroyed by lethal damage as a state-based action.
Because state-based actions are not performed until after combat damage in a combat damage step has been dealt, Blood Baron of Vizkopa will be a 10/10 by the time SBAs check.
If you had instead gained life through a triggered ability (like that of Armadillo Cloak ), then SBAs would have destroyed Blood Baron of Vizkopa before the lifegain ability resolved.
Slycne says... #1
You are correct. Lifelink happens as damage is dealt, and creatures don't die until state-based actions check when someone gets priority. By that point Blood Baron of Vizkopa 's static ability would have grown him and the damage would no longer be lethal.
January 18, 2014 1:10 a.m.