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Celestial Flare is an instant that says:

Target player sacrifices an attacking or blocking creature.

Suppose the instant is played on on the attacking player after the defending player has declared blockers, and the attacker sacrices a creature that was being blocked. What happens to the creature that was blocking the now-sacrificed attacking creature?

Does the blocker now block nothing, or is it assigned to a different attacker, or are blockers redeclared?

This was done in a multiplayer game by a third party who was not involved in the blocking or attacking.

2 Answers 2

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The blocking creature now blocks nothing. You cannot have it block another creature and blockers cannot be assigned again.

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    Also, since nothing is blocked, no combat damage gets exchanged.
    – Googooboyy
    Commented Jun 12, 2014 at 8:50
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    at least, not between the blocker and any other creature. (It'll still get exchanged between others!) Commented Jun 12, 2014 at 11:55
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Assuming it was only blocking one creature, it no longer has any creature to which to assign and deal damage, so it doesn't do either of those things.


The Combat phase progresses as follows:

  1. ...
  2. [CR 509] Declare Blockers Step:
    1. [CR 509.1] Defender declares blockers.
    2. [CR 509.2] Attacker declares damage assignment order.
    3. [CR 509.3] Defender declares damage assignment order.
    4. [CR 509.5] Players get priority.
  3. [CR 510] Combat Damage Step:
    1. [CR 510.1] Attacker assigns combat damage.
    2. [CR 510.2] Damage is dealt
    3. [CR 510.4] Players get priority
  4. ...

Celestial Flare is cast and resolves in 2.4. The next thing that happens is the Combat Damage Step. The blocking creature has nothing to which to assign damage, so it won't, so it won't deal any damage.

510.1c A blocked creature assigns its combat damage to the creatures blocking it. If no creatures are currently blocking it (if, for example, they were destroyed or removed from combat), it assigns no combat damage. [...]

510.1d A blocking creature assigns combat damage to the creatures it’s blocking. If it isn’t currently blocking any creatures (if, for example, they were destroyed or removed from combat), it assigns no combat damage. [...]

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