quietous spike

Commander (EDH) forum

Posted on Jan. 1, 2012, 2:22 a.m. by wodan

I was teaching someone to play commander who knows the basics of magic but doesn't trust my rules judgements so I'm looking for some backup on this question:

Olivia Voldaren with quietous-spike hits the player(at 40 life) for 4 damage(she had a +1/+1 counter from her ability).

He thinks the total lost life is 22 therefore that's a loss due to commander damage.

my explanation to him is that the commander does 4 damage and then the player simply loses 18 life. If anything, quietous spike is responsible for the 18 lost life, NOT the commander, therefore I've taken a big hit, but not a lethal one.

wodan says... #2

Quietus Spike

January 1, 2012 2:22 a.m.

abdulbaqr says... #3

The quietus spike causes the half life lost, not Olivia. You are correct.

January 1, 2012 2:49 a.m.

bcurran says... #4

Also, loss of life is not damage at all.

January 1, 2012 12:05 p.m.

aebersole10 says... #5

You're correct. The only damage that counts toward "commander damage" is COMBAT damage. Nothing from abilities or other sources. Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind 's pokes don't count, Heartless Hidetsugu 's ability won't count (good thing too), etc.

January 1, 2012 12:06 p.m.