Where does the damage go?
Asked by MindAblaze 12 years ago
This came up the other night in EDH, I understand that Engulfing Slagwurm deals no damage to the player after a blocker is declared and subsequently destroyed by the slagwurm's ability. But why is this different than if someone declares a blocker for my Regal Force and I Doom Blade the blocker? Doesn't the damage get through in the second case or am I misinformed?
Epochalyptik says... Accepted answer #3
Once a creature is blocked, it is blocked for the rest of combat. No matter what happens to the blocking creature, the attacking creature will not deal combat damage to the defending player or planeswalker unless it has trample.
Since Regal Force does not have trample, no damage will go through, even if its blockers are removed from combat.
August 25, 2012 11:22 p.m.
shifterfox is right, and to add on about the trample, it's bad if you're the defender. When an attacking creature with trample is blocked and the blocker is removed from play (or just combat altogether), by use of things such as Unsummon the blocker, Doom Blade the blocker or if Engulfing Slagwurm just had trample. The "blocker" (which is now no longer there) is considered to have a toughness of 0. So all of the attacking creature's power would trample on through to the opponent.
August 25, 2012 11:26 p.m.
MindAblaze says... #5
Ok, so thats the technicality of taking damage off the stack. You can still block but you can't deal the damage. Forces you to take that action earlier. Thanks guys.
August 26, 2012 1:43 a.m.
Epochalyptik says... #6
It doesn't really have anything to do with damage no longer being on the stack - if a creature, player, or planeswalker isn't there to deal damage to, the damage would not have been dealt anyway (this is similar to how spells and abilities fizzle when they no longer have legal targets).
August 26, 2012 1:51 a.m.
MindAblaze says... #7
I just meant the outcome was the same. The damage is dealt to nothing because the creature is declared as blocked by a blocker that no longer exists when it comes time to assign combat damage.
August 26, 2012 2:32 p.m.
MindAblaze says... #8
One of those funny intricacies that isn't so easy to grok, to borrow MaRo's lingo.
shifterfox says... #1
no. Once a creature is assigned a blocker, that creature is still blocked even if that creature were to be removed at the time of damage.
A good example of this is blocking with Brindle Boar then sacrificing it for its +3 life ability. You'd gain the 3 life, AND block the creature, even if that creature would have been a 6/6.
Trample, makes things more difficult when involved, however...Someone else would have to clear that one up for me. I've luckily not been in that position.
August 25, 2012 11:12 p.m.