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Suppose my opponent attacks with 2 grizzly bears and I control 2 palace guard. I am on 1 life and must block both creatures to survive. I elect to block both creatures with both my palace guard.

In this situation, my assumption is that both the attacker and blockers must assign a damage order for their creatures, however this is confusing as each player can potentially choose a different order. I am at a loss as to what happens in that situation.

How are combatants ordered in this situation, and do player decisions have any significant impact on the outcome?

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  • The damage is dealt simultainously unless someone has first strike. In your case, your opponent will probably choose to assign 4 dmg to your palace guard and 2 to your grizzly bear. You'll probably assign all yoru dmg to a single bear of his, if you dont have any tricks in hand. I cant see any "order assigning" here.
    – K.L.
    Nov 12, 2013 at 10:12
  • the damage is dealt simultaneously but assigned according to a chosen order by the controller of each creature, I will try and modify the example to make a little more sense.
    – Patters
    Nov 12, 2013 at 10:19
  • I have updated the example - they now have to choose what they are killing by explicitly ordering the blockers. this should clarify the question slightly. I recognize that there are very few (possibly none, hence the question) situations where this could matter or even occur, but I would like to have clarity on it
    – Patters
    Nov 12, 2013 at 10:29
  • boardgames.stackexchange.com/questions/12107/… this question seems to have the answer you are looking for, attacking creatures assign order before blocking creatures assign order.
    – Nick
    Nov 12, 2013 at 13:17
  • what is double block?
    – Pow-Ian
    Nov 12, 2013 at 13:42

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For each blocking creature, you choose the order of the creatures that it is assigning damage to. So, for your palace guards, you have 4 total options:

  1. Palace Guard 1 and Palace Guard 2 both assign damage to Bear 1 first.
  2. Palace Guard 1 and Palace Guard 2 both assign damage to Bear 2 first.
  3. Palace Guard 1 assigns damage to Bear 1 first, Palace Guard 2 assigns damage to Bear 2 first.
  4. Palace Guard 1 assigns damage to Bear 2 first, Palace Guard 2 assigns damage to Bear 1 first.

If you choose either #1 or #2, you will do 2 damage to 1 Bear and kill it, while not touching the other Bear. If you choose #3 or #4, you will do 1 damage to each Bear, and not kill anything.

Also, for each attacking creature Your opponent gets to choose the order that your blocking creatures will take damage, so he also has 4 total choice:

  1. Bear 1 and Bear 2 both assign damage to Palace Guard 1 first.
  2. Bear 1 and Bear 2 both assign damage to Palace Guard 2 first.
  3. Bear 1 assigns damage to Palace Guard 1 first, Bear 2 assigns damage to Palace Guard 2 first.
  4. Bear 1 assigns damage to Palace Guard 2 first, Bear 2 assigns damage to Palace Guard 1 first.

Similar to your choices, if he chooses #1 or #2, he will deal 4 damage to 1 Palace Guard and kill it; if he chooses #3 or #4, he will deal 2 damage to each Palace Guard and won't kill anything.

509.2. Second, for each attacking creature that’s become blocked, the active player announces that creature’s damage assignment order, which consists of the creatures blocking it in an order of that player’s choice

509.3. Third, for each blocking creature, the defending player announces that creature’s damage assignment order, which consists of the creatures it’s blocking in an order of that player’s choice.

The key here is that players get to choose separately how each attacking creature (and each blocking creature) orders/assigns its damage.

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  • And the next sentence needs to be fixed as well. "...Bear. If you choose #3 or #4, you will do 2 damage to each Bear, and not kill anything." They would only deal 1 damage each.
    – Pow-Ian
    Nov 12, 2013 at 15:07
  • it would make more sense also if you took the 'first' out of most of those sentences since the damage is all dealt at once. You would assign it all at the same time as well and there is no real order required, just if damage is assigned to 1 bear or the other.
    – Pow-Ian
    Nov 12, 2013 at 15:08
  • @pow-lan, the damage is dealt simultaneously, but I meant first in terms of order of assignment. I updated the second half to match the first half, where it says "assigns". You do assign damage to 1 before the other as in the order of assignment, because you will only deal damage to the second assigned one if it deals lethal damage to the first assigned one. So there is a first and a second one, just not when damage is actually dealt.
    – GendoIkari
    Nov 12, 2013 at 15:14
  • fair enough. In this instance though if you split the assignment among the two creatures, it is irrelevant because there is no chance for lethal damage.
    – Pow-Ian
    Nov 12, 2013 at 15:21
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    I thought about that; as there are only 2 meaningful options. But the fact is that they are separate creatures; if you have no creatures other than 2 Bears on the field, and you are forced to sacrifice a creature, you still have a choice to make. Just not a meaningful one. And listing all 4 options makes it easier to extrapolate to the case where there are different types of creatures attacking.
    – GendoIkari
    Nov 12, 2013 at 18:03

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