I am moving to combat with a Laccolith Titan and a Trap Runner in play. My opponent to my left (we'll call him "Bob") has less than 6 life left with no creatures in play (after spot removal) and the player in front of me (we'll call him "John") has a Seedborn Muse that I want gone. I declare Laccolith Titan as my attacker sending him towards Bob. With no creature to block and no further responses from either player the damage goes through eliminating Bob.
The Question
At the end of combat, now that damage has already been dealt, can I activate Trap Runner to have my Laccolith Titan become blocked to trigger its ability to do 6 damage to John's Seedborn Muse?
My Thoughts
I assume yes on two counts: Trap Hunter's ability would behave similar to how Reconnaissance is used at the end of combat to give attacking creatures sudo-vigilance, and Trap Hunter's ability's rules and oracle text doesn't state that it's limited to "After blockers are declared, before damage is dealt." Am I correct?
There we go, I think I can clarify this with my play group with how banding changes the rules for the blockers step). So I can ignore damage assignment order and just allocate damage how I please when the player otherwise couldn't.
As long as I can still assign an amount of damage that's greater than lethal to a creature in my band (or blockers with one bander or 2 "bands with other _insert_keyword_" creatures) I am a happy man.
Does announcing the damage assignment order happen before any "block" or "becomes blocked" triggered abilities go on the stack?
I think blockers step is declare blockers (players can't respond), damage assignment order (players can't respond), check for any relevant triggered abilities (if there are, players can respond), then end blockers step (players can respond). Just want to make sure I am correct before going into my next game tomorrow.
Thank you both! This kind of reminds me of trample. So trample basically includes the defending player in the damage assignment order in addition to the creatures blocking the trampler. However the defending player must always be last in the damage assignment order. That provides an easier understanding ability for me.
It's a shame I can't just spread the damage how I please. But at least with the last part of the ruling, "An amount of damage that's greater than a creature's lethal damage may be assigned to it," I can still make my banding deck function with protection, indestructible, or prevent combat damage. I will just choose to have a creature with any of the three aforementioned abilities be the one receive an amount of damage greater than lethal first and foremost thus protecting my band or protecting my blockers.
I have one question in regards to the legal choices I can make when I am deciding in what order creatures will receive damage and how it is distributed.
I attack with a 6/8 then my opponent blocks with a 2/2, a 3/3 and a 4/4. After blockers are declared I determine in which order I will have the creatures receive the damage. I determine the defending creatures will receive damage in this order: 4/4 is first, the 2/2 is second, and the 3/3 is last.
Can I assign three damage to the 4/4, one damage to the 2/2, and two damage to the 3/3 or must the first creature be assigned lethal damage before I can distribute damage to the second creature in turn?
If my question is confusing, I can try my best to clarify better, I'm not the best in asking clear questions.
Thanks for the input, I didn't notice that. I was restricting my 99 to time shifted and pre-modern goodies. By those rules I guess Icy Prison, Tawnos's Coffin, Man-o'-War and the newly time-shifted Flickerwisp are the only viable options for the desired effect with each having their ups and downs. Flickerwisp won't prevent the opponent from keeping Gilded Drake, Icy Prison would be risky with its Oblivion Ring rules text, Man-o'-War brings counter spells into the picture, and Tawnos's Coffin is the best option as long as it isn't "erratafide."
My first time here on MTG Salvation so bear with me.
It's my Pre-Combat Main Phase and Brago, King Eternal is now able to attack. I then play my land for turn and cast Gilded Drake(GD) to then target my opponent's creature for to exchange my GD with. After resolving GD's Triggered Ability (TA), I cast Banishing Light (BL) targeting GD with its TA. BL's TA resolves and I move to combat. I swing with Brago and successfully deal combat damage to trigger his ability targeting BL. During resolution BL leaves the battlefield and state-based actions brings GD back under my control. GD's TA cannot go on the stack until Brago's TA resolves. BL then returns to the battlefield and Brago's TA finishes resolving.
Question?
Will I be able to stack GD's and BL's TAs however I want or must GD's TA go on the stack first and BL's TA second? I just want to know if this set will allow me to steal a creature every successful combat step. Thanks in advance!
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-MadMage
I am moving to combat with a Laccolith Titan and a Trap Runner in play. My opponent to my left (we'll call him "Bob") has less than 6 life left with no creatures in play (after spot removal) and the player in front of me (we'll call him "John") has a Seedborn Muse that I want gone. I declare Laccolith Titan as my attacker sending him towards Bob. With no creature to block and no further responses from either player the damage goes through eliminating Bob.
The Question
At the end of combat, now that damage has already been dealt, can I activate Trap Runner to have my Laccolith Titan become blocked to trigger its ability to do 6 damage to John's Seedborn Muse?
My Thoughts
I assume yes on two counts: Trap Hunter's ability would behave similar to how Reconnaissance is used at the end of combat to give attacking creatures sudo-vigilance, and Trap Hunter's ability's rules and oracle text doesn't state that it's limited to "After blockers are declared, before damage is dealt." Am I correct?
As long as I can still assign an amount of damage that's greater than lethal to a creature in my band (or blockers with one bander or 2 "bands with other _insert_keyword_" creatures) I am a happy man.
Thanks a lot, this helps me out immensely.
Does announcing the damage assignment order happen before any "block" or "becomes blocked" triggered abilities go on the stack?
I think blockers step is declare blockers (players can't respond), damage assignment order (players can't respond), check for any relevant triggered abilities (if there are, players can respond), then end blockers step (players can respond). Just want to make sure I am correct before going into my next game tomorrow.
It's a shame I can't just spread the damage how I please. But at least with the last part of the ruling, "An amount of damage that's greater than a creature's lethal damage may be assigned to it," I can still make my banding deck function with protection, indestructible, or prevent combat damage. I will just choose to have a creature with any of the three aforementioned abilities be the one receive an amount of damage greater than lethal first and foremost thus protecting my band or protecting my blockers.
I attack with a 6/8 then my opponent blocks with a 2/2, a 3/3 and a 4/4. After blockers are declared I determine in which order I will have the creatures receive the damage. I determine the defending creatures will receive damage in this order: 4/4 is first, the 2/2 is second, and the 3/3 is last.
Can I assign three damage to the 4/4, one damage to the 2/2, and two damage to the 3/3 or must the first creature be assigned lethal damage before I can distribute damage to the second creature in turn?
If my question is confusing, I can try my best to clarify better, I'm not the best in asking clear questions.
It's my Pre-Combat Main Phase and Brago, King Eternal is now able to attack. I then play my land for turn and cast Gilded Drake(GD) to then target my opponent's creature for to exchange my GD with. After resolving GD's Triggered Ability (TA), I cast Banishing Light (BL) targeting GD with its TA. BL's TA resolves and I move to combat. I swing with Brago and successfully deal combat damage to trigger his ability targeting BL. During resolution BL leaves the battlefield and state-based actions brings GD back under my control. GD's TA cannot go on the stack until Brago's TA resolves. BL then returns to the battlefield and Brago's TA finishes resolving.
Question?
Will I be able to stack GD's and BL's TAs however I want or must GD's TA go on the stack first and BL's TA second? I just want to know if this set will allow me to steal a creature every successful combat step. Thanks in advance!
Using card tags is mandatory in the Magic Rulings forum. Please check your private messages to learn how to use them. I've added them for this post.
-MadMage