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In Magic:The Gathering it is possible to trigger abilities of creatures at the same time you can play instants?

I play it that I can block with a creature and sacrifice it at the same time. The attacking creature blocked this ways does not deal damage because the blocking creature is gone - and I get the bonus for the sacrifice (e.g. Blood Pet gives me an extra B-Mana).

In a recent discussion the topic came up again. It seems like the rulings even allow for the blocking player to wait until the damage is put on the stack. Once the damage is on the stack, I can sacrifice my creature, gain the benefits from the sacrifice ability AND deal damage to the attacking create. In my Blood Pet example I would be able to kill an attacking creature with toughness 1 and get 1 B-Mana.

Is this correct? Where can I find the official ruling that clarifies that?

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1 Answer

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There was a fairly long period of time, between I believe 6th edition rules and a few years ago, when you could put damage on the stack, and then play instants and abilities before the damage resolved. Those days are over!

Nowadays, you declare blockers, and then both players have a change to play spells and abilities. Once everyone is finished doing this, we move onto the combat damage phase, and only then do creatures even start thinking about dealing damage to each other. If you sacrificed your creature after declaring it as a blocker, then it never gets an opportunity to deal damage, I'm afraid!

One corner case: if your creature has First Strike and also a sac ability, you can have it deal its first strike damage and then sac it in the window of opportunity both players have to play spells and effects before normal combat damage. Try this page for a handy breakdown of when players have a chance to do things in the course of a Magic game.

Also have a look at this document, explaining some of the latest changes made to the game rules, particularly section 5, about combat damage not using the stack. Much more readable than the Comprehensive Rulebook, I think you'll find...

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+1: Thanks for the quick response. I especially like the turn structure table. This will help me a lot in the future. – Demento Aug 5 '11 at 10:40
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Though, actually, looking at that turn structure table, it's not QUITE right - because it's still checking for mana burn at the end of phases, and mana burn no longer happens! So I guess it's a bit out of date. It seems mostly okay though, so probably still useful for better visualising the steps of a turn. – thesunneversets Aug 5 '11 at 12:14
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@thesunneversets - they got rid of mana burn?!?! That's ridiculous. – Charles Boyung Aug 5 '11 at 20:08
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@Charles Boyung I don't really agree with the assessment that by removing little-used edge-case rules like "mana burn" and confusing combat steps like "assign damage, deal damage assigned" that the game is "dumbed down". The streamlining of the rules is a process that has always been happening and keeps the game accessible and the rules interactions manageable. New mechanics/keywords/card interactions is what keeps the game "complex", not bizarre, arbitrary, and obscure rules. – ghoppe Aug 8 '11 at 22:15
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That turn structure table link is also out of date because it includes "damage on the stack" which is no longer part of the rules. Here is a more up-to-date turn structure from the MTG Wiki: wiki.mtgsalvation.com/article/Category:Turn_structure – ghoppe Aug 8 '11 at 22:27
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