Beginning of combat buffs and vehicles
General forum
Posted on July 27, 2018, 11:39 a.m. by saproling_martyr
Hello, I'm just asking a question about the rules of mtg as applied to a vehicle deck:
So, this card gets +2/+1 at the beginning of combat if you control an artifact. Vehicles aren't creatures and cannot attack unless a creature with the correct power activates them.
Let's say i have my exemplar and a vehicle with crew 3. Since exemplar is only 3/2 at the beginning of combat, can he still be used to activate a vehicle with crew 3?
When does combat actually begin, do you have to declare attackers for combat to actually being? If that were the case, then toolcraft exemplay could only be 3/2 if it was attacking.
Caerwyn says... #2
The Combat Phase contains 5 basic steps (up to seven total steps depending on whether there are creatures with Double/First/Last/Triple strike attacking). It officially begins once all players have passed priority in the First Main Phase.
Once you enter the Beginning of Combat Step (Rule 507) Toolcraft Exemplar's ability will trigger and go on the stack. Once it resolves, it will be a 3/2. You will then have priority and can activate the crew ability of your vehicle turning it into a creature.
The next step is the Declare Attackers Step (Rule 508) - the first part of this step is declaring which creatures you wish to use as attackers. So long as you have crewed your vehicle before entering this step and your vehicle is a creature at this time, you can use it as an attacker.
For future note, there is a Rules Q&A section of this forum designed for these types of questions. You can usually find some pretty quick answers there.
July 27, 2018 11:53 a.m. Edited.