What happens when you block with two creatures?
Asked by zigkid3 14 years ago
i know that if you can successfully block and kill with two creatures that one of your creatures dies and the other lives. but how exactly is the combat damage assigned and how exactly does the 2nd creature live if say it blocked alone it would die.
Okay, here is a good senario for you:
You attack me with a 4/4 creature.
I block with a 3/3 creature and a 2/2 creature.
Now what happens is your creature deals all it's combat damage to one first, and the remaining to the second. The person that is blocking chooses the order of which creature takes damage first. So I decide that the 2/2 takes the damage first. Your 4/4 deals 2 damage and receives 2 damage to/from the 2/2.
Now what we have is this:
Your 4/4 is temporarily a 4/2 that already dealt 2 damage and my 2/2 is dead. However, your 4/4 still has my 3/3 to contend with so your 4/4 deals it's remaining 2 damage (it already dealt 2 to the 2/2) to my 3/3 and my 3/3 deals 3 damage to your 4/4.
Your 4/4 has now taken 5 damage total killing it and my 3/3 has only take 2 damage because the 2/2 soaked up 2 of the damage and so my 3/3 lives after combat damage is dealt.
However, what you needs to see is when someone blocks your creature with 2 creatures, one of their creature won't always die. Lets use a similar scenario as the last.
You attack me with a 4/4.
I block with a 2/5 and a 2/2.
I decide that the 2/5 takes/receives damage first (because I'm the defending player). What happens now is that the 4/4 deals 4 damage to the 2/5 and the 2/5 deals 2 damage to the 4/4.
After damage is on them what er are left with is you have a 4/2 and I have a 2/1 and a 2/2. However, my 2/2 has not seen action yet. It now gets to deal/receive damage. Your 4/4 deals 0 damage to my 2/2 because my 2/5 soaked it all up but my 2/2 still deals 2 damage to your 4/4 delivering the final blow. In this case both my creatures lived and yours died after combat damage was dealt.
If you'd like to continue on you could use a burn spell to kill the 2/5 because it currently only would have 1 toughness, but that is a different matter.
October 24, 2010 5:04 p.m.
@xeratheenigma Well, looks like I typed mine up just before you posted. :P
at any rate, xeratheenigma may be right that the attacker assigns the damage, that's the only part I am not 100% sure of.
October 24, 2010 5:06 p.m.
xeratheenigma says... #4
in the comprehensive rulebook it says
310.2c : a blocked creature will assign combat damage, divided as its controller chooses to the creatures blocking it.
note: the same goes for blocking creatures as well.
(i would've just copy and pasted the rules but my phone isn't able to but the rule wording is verbatim)
October 24, 2010 6:09 p.m.
Attacker assigns damage after blockers are declared.
This is important as the attacker decides which creatures should be dealt lethal.
October 24, 2010 6:10 p.m.
so the 4/4, the 2/2 and the 3/3 again. the 4/4 is blocked. you can deal 4 damage between the 3/3 and 2/2. math time. 3 for 3/3 and 1 to 2/2, the 3/3 dies. 2 for 3/3 and 2 to 2/2, the 2/2 dies. 4 to 3/3 and 0 to 2/2, 3/3 dies. your power divided as you choose to the defending creatures in any order you want. but your 4/4 deals 4, even if you only want it to deal 3.
October 24, 2010 9:36 p.m.
The attacker assigns damage. I think this is what you where looking for xeratheenigma.
310.2a Each attacking creature and each blocking creature will assign combat damage equal to its power. Creatures that would assign 0 or less damage this way don't assign combat damage at all.
310.2b An unblocked attacking creature that's attacking a player will assign all its combat damage to the defending player. An unblocked attacking creature that's attacking a planeswalker will assign all its combat damage to the planeswalker it's attacking. If the creature isn't currently attacking anything (if, for example, it was attacking a planeswalker that has left play), it will assign no combat damage.
310.2c [color=black]A blocked creature will assign combat damage, divided as its controller chooses, to the creatures blocking it.[/color] [color=black]If no creatures are currently blocking it/color, [color=black]it will assign no combat damage.[/color] [indent] 502.9b The controller of an attacking creature with trample first assigns damage to the creature(s) blocking it. If all those blocking creatures are assigned lethal damage, any remaining damage is assigned as its controller chooses among those blocking creatures and the player or planeswalker the creature is attacking. When checking for assigned lethal damage, take into account damage already on the creature and damage from other creatures that will be assigned at the same time (see rule 502.9e). The controller need not assign lethal damage to all those blocking creatures but in that case can't assign any damage to the player or planeswalker it's attacking.
502.9c If an attacking creature with trample is blocked, but there are no creatures blocking it when damage is assigned, all its damage is assigned to the player or planeswalker it's attacking.[/indent]
310.2d A blocking creature will assign combat damage, divided as its controller chooses, to the attacking creatures it's blocking. If it isn't currently blocking any creatures (if, for example, they were destroyed or removed from combat), it will assign no combat damage.
310.2e An effect that states a creature deals its combat damage in a different manner than normal affects the assignment of combat damage.
October 24, 2010 9:55 p.m.
xeratheenigma says... #8
yea i was on my phone when i posted my last response to this question and couldn't copy and paste what i wanted to looking so i only took a small part that pertained to the attacking player choosing how attacking creatures deal their combat damage (i didnt feel like typing all of the rules for combat on my phone)
thanks for posting the rules for assigning damage sgteads
xeratheenigma says... #1
the attacking player decides how the attacking creature assigns its damage
for example lets say : your opponent attacks with a Grizzly Bears and you decide to block with a Raging Goblin and a 1/2 creature. your opponent decide to have the grizzly bears deal lethal damage (1) to the raging goblin and the 1/2 would take 1 damage as well which will live the blocking creatures deal lethal damage to the grizzly bears
so the raging goblin and grizzly bears die but your 1/2 lives.
but lets say you cast Giant Growth on your goblin the only creature that dies is the grizzly bears and the 1/2 takes 0 damage.
October 24, 2010 4:59 p.m.