Can Fog Bank be killed by combat damage?

Question

Let's say I have a 4/4 Serra Angel and my opponent has defender 0/2 Fog Bank, which has Defender, flying, prevent all combat damage that would be dealt to and dealt by Fog Bank. Since my Serra Angel has enough power to defeat Fog Bank, would it kill it? Or would I follow the card text and let it remove all combat damage dealt by it? If so, how could I kill Fog Bank?

I think it's an easy answer, but I just wanted to make sure about the rules of combat when it comes to Fog Bank.

Answer 1

Fog Bank would not be destroyed. This is because of the way "prevent" works. When something is prevented, that thing never happens:

615.6. If damage that would be dealt is prevented, it never happens.

It sounds like from your wording that you think that to prevent damage means to remove that damage from the creature after it is dealt, but this is not the case. Fog Bank will not take any combat damage; the damage simply doesn't happen to it.

You can kill Fog Bank with non-combat damage, such as shock.

Answer 2

The Serra Angel would not destroy the Fog Bank in combat. As the Fog Bank says, all combat damage dealt to it is prevented.

In general, if you just do what the card says, everything will work correctly.

There are numerous other ways you could get rid of a Fog Bank. You could deal damage to it with a spell, which doesn't count as combat damage. You could also destroy it or exile it directly. If you just need to attack without it blocking, you could also return it to its owner's hand or tap it.

Answer 3

Strictly speaking, yes, you can kill a Fog Bank through combat damage. I can think of 2 general ways:

(1) Remove Fog Bank's ability (the one that prevents combat damage). An example would be if you resolved the spell Turn to Frog before combat damage. Without the relevant ability, combat damage to Fog Bank would no longer be prevented.

(2) Use an effect that does not allow combat damage to be prevented. For example, if you resolved the spell Skullcrack before combat damage or if Fog Bank were blocking a creature whose damage can't be prevented, such as Malignus, then the damage would NOT be prevented. This interaction is governed by the following rule:

101.2. When a rule or effect allows or directs something to happen, and another effect states that it can't happen, the "can't" effect takes precedence.

In this case, Fog Bank says "prevent combat damage" and another effect says "damage can't be prevented", and so the "can't" effect will win out and Fog Bank will not be able to prevent damage.