Say I have out Knights of Thorn and a Fire Drake. My opponent also has a Knights of Thorn and he attacks. If I band my Knights and Drake can the band block my opponents Knights?
I'm thinking that my Knights of Thorn part of the band can block his Knights and only my Knights can deal damage to his, but I can still divide his damage among both my creatures if I so choose.
Or, because one of my creatures is red, my band cannot block his Knights due to the protection from red.
I'm not sold that latter scenario is correct but just want to be sure.
While declaring which creatures you control block, it's irrelevant whether they have banding (review C.R. 702.21). (Notably, you don't declare any bands when declaring blockers, and Fire Drake still can't block a creature with protection from red even if another blocker has banding and isn't red [C.R. 702.16f].) Thus, in your scenario, the two creatures you control can't form a band, and only the Knights of Thorn you control can block the attacking creature.
However, if your opponent has an attacking band consisting of Knights of Thorn and Shivan Dragon, you can block the Shivan Dragon with Fire Drake, and if you do, every other creature in the band (here, the attacking Knights of Thorn) will likewise become blocked by that Fire Drake regardless of protection abilities or the like (C.R. 702.21h).
To be clear: If a creature with banding blocks another creature with banding—
the defending player (not any other player) chooses how the attacking creature assigns its combat damage (C.R. 702.21j), and
the active player (not any other player) chooses how the blocking creature assigns its combat damage (C.R. 702.21k).
I'm thinking that my Knights of Thorn part of the band can block his Knights and only my Knights can deal damage to his, but I can still divide his damage among both my creatures if I so choose.
Or, because one of my creatures is red, my band cannot block his Knights due to the protection from red.
I'm not sold that latter scenario is correct but just want to be sure.
However, if your opponent has an attacking band consisting of Knights of Thorn and Shivan Dragon, you can block the Shivan Dragon with Fire Drake, and if you do, every other creature in the band (here, the attacking Knights of Thorn) will likewise become blocked by that Fire Drake regardless of protection abilities or the like (C.R. 702.21h).
To be clear: If a creature with banding blocks another creature with banding—