Double Strike
thej...@gmail.com
Suppose a 5/5 Monster with double strike.
a) if it attacks a player directly, it will deal 10 damage right? 5
from first strike and 5 from normal?
b) if it attacks a monster, it deals the first strike to it, and if it
kills it, the damage DOES NOT go on to player.
c) if I played an instant that gives trample to my creature on b)
before my opponent declares blockers, than it will kill the monster,
then extra damage goes to the player?
Thank you
P.S.
Sorry for sounding "square", just wanted to be as straight forward as
possible.
David DeLaney
OK. (That means it assigns-n-deals first strike combat damage, then assigns-n-
deals 'normal' combat damage also.)
>a) if it attacks a player directly, it will deal 10 damage right? 5
>from first strike and 5 from normal?
Yep. Double strike is not "deals first strike and regular combat damage
_against creatures only_".
>b) if it attacks a monster, it deals the first strike to it, and if it
>kills it, the damage DOES NOT go on to player.
Correct. _Unless_ something gives the attacker trample. It's blocked; blocked
attackers without Trample don't assign any combat damage to defending player.
Yes, there's no blocker left, but that doesn't "unblock" the attacker, in
general.
>c) if I played an instant that gives trample to my creature on b)
>before my opponent declares blockers, than it will kill the monster,
>then extra damage goes to the player?
Yep yep yep. [Also doable as c) in response to first strike combat damage
or d) after first strike combat damage is dealt, but before the 'regular'
combat damage step ... but in these cases any extra damage from the _first_
5 won't "trample over" - if it's killing a 3/3 blocker, for instance - because
trample-damage gets divided up on assignment of combat damage. If you see what
I mean.]
>Sorry for sounding "square", just wanted to be as straight forward as
>possible.
Oh, don't worry; asking questions as unambiguously as possible is an art form.
Not everyone can manage to do it.
Dave
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Jax
> Hi Guys,
>
> Suppose a 5/5 Monster with double strike.
>
> a) if it attacks a player directly, it will deal 10 damage right? 5
> from first strike and 5 from normal?
>>
Okay, first thing: You ALWAYS attack a player in Magic (unless you're
attacking a planeswalker, but that's another matter.)
So your answer is, yes, if your creature attacks and isn't blocked, it
will deal 5 during the first strike damage step, and 5 during the
normal damage step.
<<
> b) if it attacks a monster, it deals the first strike to it, and if it
> kills it, the damage DOES NOT go on to player.
>>
As I said above, you always attack players (or planeswalkers) in
Magic. You never attack creatures directly*. An opponent has the
option of blocking your creature with another. If that happens, no
damage is dealt to the player. If first strike damage is enough to
destroy the other creature, then normal damage simply isn't dealt.
(This is important for abilities like lifelink.) The only exception
to this is...
<<
> c) if I played an instant that gives trample to my creature on b)
> before my opponent declares blockers, than it will kill the monster,
> then extra damage goes to the player?
>>
...when the creature has trample. Trample means after you deal enough
damage to kill a creature (this means damage equal to its toughness
minus the amount of damage already dealt to it this turn), you have
the option of dealing the rest of its damage to the player. If you
played the instant in between first strike and normal damage, the
excess first strike damage wouldn't go through, but the normal damage
would.
<<
> P.S.
> Sorry for sounding "square", just wanted to be as straight forward as
> possible.
>>
That's what everyone's here for.
*Well, it's possible that a creature could be made that attacks
creatures directly, but there currently isn't one.
David DeLaney
>The only exception to this is...
>> c) if I played an instant that gives trample to my creature on b)
>> before my opponent declares blockers, than it will kill the monster,
>> then extra damage goes to the player?
>
>...when the creature has trample.
Well, there is one other exception-set - when the creature has an ability
that specifically says you can decide to damage the player directly (Rhox,
Lone Wolf, and a few others). But very few creatures have that, so I usually
don't bring it up because double strike + Trample is complex enough on its own.
Blackheart
> *Well, it's possible that a creature could be made that attacks
> creatures directly, but there currently isn't one.
Magus of the Arena? He makes creatures do damage directly to each other
David DeLaney
Yeah, but that's still not Pokemon/Versus-style "I attack this with that".
(We have things like Tracker or Karplusan Yeti, which are closer ... but
which aren't actually attacks and don't have combat damage involved.)
Zoe Stephenson
> Hi Guys,
> Suppose a 5/5 Monster with double strike.
> a) if it attacks a player directly, it will deal 10 damage right? 5
> from first strike and 5 from normal?
If it's unblocked or otherwise ends up dealing all of its damage to
the opponent, yes.
> b) if it attacks a monster,
You probably mean "If it's blocked by one or more creatures" here.
> it deals the first strike to it, and if it
> kills it, the damage DOES NOT go on to player.
That's correct. Blocked is blocked.
> c) if I played an instant that gives trample to my creature on b)
> before my opponent declares blockers, than it will kill the monster,
> then extra damage goes to the player?
Correct. As long as the creature has trample at the point you
assign the damage, you can use the trample ability. For example,
your 5/5 has double strike and trample, and is blocked by a 1/4
creature:
First strike damage step: You assign 4 damage to the 1/4 blocker
and 1 damage to the opponent.
When the damage event resolves: 4 damage is dealt to the blocker
and 1 to the opponent. The blocker is destroyed and goes to the
graveyard.
Regular damage step: You assign 5 damage to the opponent.
When the damage event resolves: 5 damage is dealt to the opponent.
Total 6 damage to the opponent, 4 damage to the blocker.
As long as you divide it up into the separate steps, it's easy to
work out what happens.
--
-- Zoe Stephenson, NetRep rec.games.trading-cards.magic.rules
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