If an opponent plays a card like Elvish Archdruid that gives other elf creatures they controls +1/+1 and they declare the Elvish Archdruid and another Elf creature as attackers, when I go to block them, if I block the Elvish Archdruid first and it dies, does the other Elf creature keep its buff when I go to block it on the same Combat Phase?
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1Closely related: boardgames.stackexchange.com/questions/47217/…– AllureOct 15, 2019 at 6:34
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2 Answers
You do not block any creature "first". You assign all of your blockers simultaneously, and all the damage is assigned simultaneously. So when the other Elf is blocked, it still has its +1/+1. However, damage stays for the rest of the turn, so the other Elf would eventually die. The order of events would be:
You declare blockers against the Elvish Archdruid and the other Elf.
The Elvish Archdruid and the other Elf both receive damage. At this point, the other Elf still has the +1/+1, so it survives, while the Archdruid dies.
The next time state-based actions are checked, the other Elf will no longer have its +1/+1, but it will still have its damage, so it will die.
For most purposes, the set of deaths will be the same result as if you had been able to block Archdruid "first", but there are some differences. For one, while the other Elf gets the same damage, and the same final toughness, in both scenarios, if you were able to kill the Archdruid before the Elf's combat resolves (which could be done with First Strike), then the other Elf would have its power reduced during its damage assignment, so while its fate would be the same, the creatures blocking it would take one less damage. And one might be able to come up with a scenario where both dying from the initial SBA after damage assignment would differ from the Elf dying from a later SBA.
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It's not just "for most purposes". The archdruid did die first. Players just aren't allowed to play anything between the two deaths, as rechecking state-based actions is the very next thing that happens. If you, for instance, manage to give the archdruid an ability like "whenever another creature dies", it will not see the other elf dying. If they died simultaneously, the ability would have seen the other elf.– ArthurOct 15, 2019 at 5:16
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First strike can throw a spanner into this - if I kill Elvish Archdruid with a first striker and it dies, then the other elf indeed doesn't get +1/+1 when it deals damage.– AllureOct 15, 2019 at 6:34
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@Arthur I was responding to the OP talking about them blocking Archdruid first. I'll clarify. As for the hypothetical of the Archdruid having "whenever another creature dies", I had thoughts along those lines, but between the OP's actual conception (the Archduke is blocked and dies "first", and the other Elf is blocked and dies "later") versus the actual sequence (the Archduke dies immediately from damage assignment, while the other Elf dies later from SBA), the Archduke doesn't see another creature dying in either scenario. Oct 15, 2019 at 13:54
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@Acccumulation Fair enough. Also, just to clarify, the Archdruid also dies as an SBA. You haven't mentioned that explicitly. "dies immediately from damage assignment" isn't really a thing; combat damage happens, and then SBA are checked, and then creatures that would die from assigned damage actually die.– ArthurOct 15, 2019 at 14:00
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This answer isn't technically correct. Static buffs aren't checked and applied each time state-based actions are checked; instead, they apply as long as they are "in play". The only reason that time will be identical in this case is because the Archfruid doesn't die before SBAs are checked (unlike your second bullet point suggests). So, to clarify: Creatures are dealt damage; they might be put into the graveyard by the respective SBA (at which point the buff vanishes). If SBAs had an effect, they are repeated and might cause additional creatures that now have 0 toughness to die. Oct 15, 2019 at 15:55
When the Elvish Archdruid dies, elf creatures your opponent controls don't get that +1/+1 bonus anymore. If then any elf creatures your opponent controls has more damage assigned to them than their toughness is (or equal to), they'll die as well. Combat damage is applied simultaneously to every creature.
answered Oct 15, 2019 at 3:14
