Rules glossary

↑ Section 510. Combat Damage Step

510.1 First, the active player announces how each attacking creature assigns its combat damage, then the defending player announces how each blocking creature assigns its combat damage. This turn-based action doesn’t use the stack. A player assigns a creature’s combat damage according to the following rules: ☆

• ☆ 510.1a 🔗 Each attacking creature and each blocking creature assigns combat damage equal to its power. Creatures that would assign 0 or less damage this way don’t assign combat damage at all.
• ☆ 510.1b 🔗 An unblocked creature assigns its combat damage to the player, planeswalker, or battle it’s attacking. If it isn’t currently attacking anything (if, for example, it was attacking a planeswalker that has left the battlefield), it assigns no combat 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. If exactly one creature is blocking it, it assigns all its combat damage to that creature. If two or more creatures are blocking it, it assigns its combat damage to those creatures divided as its controller chooses among them. Example: An attacking Elvish Regrower (a 4/3 creature) is blocked by Vampire Spawn (a 2/3 creature) and Helpful Hunter (a 1/1 creature). Elvish Regrower’s controller can assign all 4 damage to the Hunter, 1 damage to the Spawn and 3 damage to the Hunter, 2 damage to each creature, 3 damage to the Spawn and 1 damage to the Hunter, or all 4 damage to the Spawn.
• ☆ 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. If it’s blocking exactly one creature, it assigns all its combat damage to that creature. If it’s blocking two or more creatures, it assigns its combat damage divided as its controller chooses among them.
• ☆ 510.1e 🔗 Once a player has assigned combat damage from each attacking or blocking creature they control, the total damage assignment (not solely the damage assignment of any individual attacking or blocking creature) is checked to see if it complies with the above rules. If it doesn’t, the combat damage assignment is illegal; the game returns to the moment before that player began to assign combat damage. (See rule 733, “Handling Illegal Actions.”) (refs: 733)

↑ Back to top