Had this scenario come up at the pre-release today. My opponent controls Temur Sabertooth and another creature. He attacks and I block with my 1/1, marking one damage on the Sabertooth. If I cast Ethereal Ambush with an Orc Sureshot in play, and target the Temur Sabertooth with both -1/-1 effects. Can my opponent activate the Sabertooth's ability to save it?
Had this scenario come up at the pre-release today. My opponent controls Temur Sabertooth and another creature. He attacks and I block with my 1/1, marking one damage on the Sabertooth. If I cast Ethereal Ambush with an Orc Sureshot in play, and target the Temur Sabertooth with both -1/-1 effects. Can my opponent activate the Sabertooth's ability to save it?
Sure, he can. The Sabertooth will be an indestructible 2/1 with 1 damage marked on it until end of turn, so it will survive.
So it doesn't matter which order the damage is dealt to the creature vs when the creature gets -1/-1?
704.5g If a creature has toughness greater than 0, and the total damage marked on it is greater than
or equal to its toughness, that creature has been dealt lethal damage and is destroyed.
Regeneration can replace this event.
That rule doesn't care whether the most recent event was the marking of damage or a decrease to the creature's toughness. More importantly, turning off that rule by giving the creature indestructible doesn't care about the order of recent events.
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Why bother with mere rulings when so many answers can be found in the Rules?
So it doesn't matter which order the damage is dealt to the creature vs when the creature gets -1/-1?
No. To kill an indestructible creature with -N/-N effects, you need to actually reduce its toughness to 0. Mixing damage with -X/-X won't kill it because, regardless of order, you will still have a creature with 1+ toughness and some damage marked on it, so it's just lethal damage and indestructible creatures aren't destroyed by it.
So the player just needs to activate the Sabertooth's ability in response to the Orc's triggers, and the Sabertooth will survive.
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Had this scenario come up at the pre-release today. My opponent controls Temur Sabertooth and another creature. He attacks and I block with my 1/1, marking one damage on the Sabertooth. If I cast Ethereal Ambush with an Orc Sureshot in play, and target the Temur Sabertooth with both -1/-1 effects. Can my opponent activate the Sabertooth's ability to save it?
Multiplayer:
MonoBlack
Mono-Red
Cycling
Crush of Wurms
Zoo
Immortal Coil
Control
Reanimator
Mono-G
Cruel Ascension
Landfall
Esper Spirits/Tokens
Phantom Vigor
Not Explicitly Multiplayer:
Allies
Bant
Artifacts
Sure, he can. The Sabertooth will be an indestructible 2/1 with 1 damage marked on it until end of turn, so it will survive.
Multiplayer:
MonoBlack
Mono-Red
Cycling
Crush of Wurms
Zoo
Immortal Coil
Control
Reanimator
Mono-G
Cruel Ascension
Landfall
Esper Spirits/Tokens
Phantom Vigor
Not Explicitly Multiplayer:
Allies
Bant
Artifacts
No. To kill an indestructible creature with -N/-N effects, you need to actually reduce its toughness to 0. Mixing damage with -X/-X won't kill it because, regardless of order, you will still have a creature with 1+ toughness and some damage marked on it, so it's just lethal damage and indestructible creatures aren't destroyed by it.
So the player just needs to activate the Sabertooth's ability in response to the Orc's triggers, and the Sabertooth will survive.