The Combat Phase - Step by step, EVERYTHING you need to know - MTG Foundation Rules

[@keepingitcasualmtg]

Great video! Combat step is easily the most complicated of all the steps.

[@sakurakinomoto52]

Remember people: you can activate the ability of Reconnaissance (Pay 0: Remove target attacking creature you control from combat and untap it.) during the end of combat step, giving it sudo-vigilance if that creature survives the combat. This is important if you have beefy creatures and doesn't want to be vulnerable to attacks, but want to deal some damage at your opponents. :D It's a must in most combat decks that have access to White

[@theArcosa]

Your hard work really paid off on this one! I can’t begin to express how much I look up to you. This video is going to become the “definitive” guide.

[@ianx333]

This is great - I’ve been playing Magic for over 20 years and I still learn stuff I didn’t know from your rules videos! It would be cool if you did a step by step break down like this of an entire turn

[@attackoncardboard]

I'll be honest, this video was miserable to edit (it took way to long, hence why there's been literally no other content )😅 I could have easily made this video another 10 minutes (it was originally 21, but I cut a bunch out). Now that Shorts are allowed to be 3mins, I might look to do something there 👀

[@TheLuckySpades]

Love Keeping ut Casual's sketches, definitely feels like people wanna choke me when I say that I don't have to pay for myriad copies attacking through propaganda

[@danieluhrenholt4873]

Good video. Keep up the good work. I suggest covering the scenario involving an attacker with double strike + trample vs. a blocker with either indestructible, "prevent all damage to this creature" or "protection from X" (which also prevents damage) in your next video. Many newer players might wonder if the blocking creature is dealt both first strike and regular damage or only first strike damage.

[@Amazementss]

Oh wow, you got it quite compressed down. Nice!

[@attackoncardboard]

I could have easily added another 10 mins to this video 😂

[@minu2910]

I recently taught two people how to play the game and Combat is one of the phases that confuses them the most. I've had to explain double strike and the concept of damage being dealt simultaneously many times.

[@elmares1402]

This should be a mandatory in every LGS.

[@Player-Won]

What happens when creatures block more than 1 attacker? Night Market Guard and Hundred Handed One can do this, how and when do they assign combat damage? You mentioned what happens if illegal damage assignment is declared (rewind and try again), I’m assuming the same is true when attackers or blockers fail the legality checks or fail to pay the cost? If I attack with two creatures that each must be blocked if able, and the defender has 1 blocker, what happens, is every blocking assignment illegal, or does the “if able” take care of it, then who decides which one to ignore? Great video! I really liked the example of how to use this information, like ninjutsu with first strike and killing the sheoldred, and exactly which effect you’re playing around by doing it that way

[@attackoncardboard]

11:39 - It's the exact same way as how the attacker assigns their damage 🙂 Correct, if you can't meet the requirements of attacking or blocking, the game rewinds. There are some exceptions to this, for example a creature with "must attack each turn" cannot be forced to attack into an opponent with Ghostly Prison. The "if able" takes care of it. If you only have one blocker, you're only able to block one creature. Glad you enjoyed the video! Let me know if you have any other questions 😁

[@27777BigRedBarn]

Why can't you have the at the beginning of combat trigger on your creature go onto the stack, hold priority and turn your land into a creature then when they resolve in reverse order have the trigger buff the creature land? Then declare the creature land attacking?

[@oneeyedjack2190]

I had this same thought too, and I think the reason is when your "at the beginning of combat" ability triggers, you have to choose a target creature right then and there and at that point in time the land is not a creature yet. Making the land a creature on the stack wouldn't help because the time at which you were supposed to target a creature happens when the "at the beginning of combat" ability triggers. I hope this is right lol.

[@attackoncardboard]

For the same reason you can't put a spell on the stack, like Murder, and choose the targets later on. When the ability it put on the stack, targets MUST be selected right then and there.

[@27777BigRedBarn]

@@attackoncardboard that is awesome thank you for clarifying this for me. So much to learn. Need more AOC.

[@seandun7083]

​@@27777BigRedBarnof course if the trigger doesn't target (maybe it affects "creatures you control"), then you can turn something into a creature in response.

[@schaedli177]

something that i always seem to forget is simply if the beginning of combat stuff triggers even if i don't wanna attack like, does my packsong pup get the counter even if i don't wanna attack cause opponent has a bigger creature and i have no response or removal to deal with it

[@lukasn20th]

It does. At the beginning of combat, packsong pup's trigger goes on the stack and is resolved before attackers are declared. In the declare attackers step you declare no attackers, then move through the remaining steps of combat, trigger any end of combat triggers that may exist, then move on to post-combat main

[@attackoncardboard]

Even if you don't want to attack, the beginning of combat step always happens (unless there's an effect that has you skip the combat step completely), so yes, it will trigger. As the other comment mentions, if you declare no attackers during the declare attackers step, you skip right to the end of combat 🙂

[@Welch01]

he still wins here, just should not have imprinted the transmute. he still casts transmute for 2 targeting iso, paying the one extra after for basalt and then combo’ing off from there

[@attackoncardboard]

Wrong video? 😅

[@TeaGarrison]

Jeez man. Im only 6 and a half minutes into this and the amount of rules, sub rules, subsections etc.. How were you surprised people didn’t know this stuff? It seems like it takes a law degree to understand and remember all the combat details, especially when they change. No way I’m going to remember everything but thanks for the info either way and here’s to hoping we’ll play slightly more correctly next time.

[@attackoncardboard]

The most important take away from this video shouldn't be learning each individual steps, it should know *when* you can do certain things. Knowing when you get priority, when you can crew vehicles etcs is what's going to stop mistakes and win you more games.

[@MrFierygrave]

any time pokemon snap music played in the background i stopped listening and just started vibing

[@Yatogamiii]

Can we get a Magar video 🤣

[@attackoncardboard]

Sure, love that card! What specifically would you like me to cover?

[@Yatogamiii]

@ the intricacies of the token triggers during/after/in combat. I used to run him as a commander deck but couldn’t for the life of me explain fully midgame what was happening and why. People just had to hope i wasnt lying.

[@attackoncardboard]

@Yatogamiii hmmm, do you mean "what are the characteristic of the facedown card?" Other than that, it's basically a manifest creature with two abilities. One triggered ability and one replacement effect. And if a card tries to copy it, it will copy everything apart from the "noted name" because that's not a copyable trait.

[@Yatogamiii]

@ more of the combat damage trigger “spell casts” from the face down cards connecting

[@attackoncardboard]

Ah, you create a copy of the noted card and you may cast it. You don't actually do anything with the 3/3 in play. It just stays facedown.

[@LakeVermilionDreams]

You can't call this EVERYTHING one needs to know if you're going to overlook parts of the Combat Phase...

[@attackoncardboard]

What parts have I overlooked? As far as the rules are concerned, the only things I didn't cover were the differences between Attacking and Attacks, which I linked to a resource.

[@LakeVermilionDreams]

@attackoncardboard exactly that, and you then saved how combat damage works for a future video to farm views instead of including it in the video you claim had EVERYTHING and is DEFINITIVE. Words have meaning. Clickbait titles and thumbnails ensure I hide the channel, which otherwise is disappointing because your production is quality and with the abandonment of the MTG Judge program by WotC in recent years, comprehensive rules need more attention than ever.

[@attackoncardboard]

It's a shame you can't see behind the scenes for this video. The original script was going to include Deathtouch, trample and double strike. By the time I got through all the phases and examples I was going to cover, the video was 25 mins. If I was to add the mechanics, it was going to add another 10 mins, not forgetting that I'm the one editing all of this. I said I was going to cover the entire combat phase and I did. If you feel my content is "click bait" after watching this, then my content is not for you and I do implore you to click the dislike and hide channel button.

[@ABarros548]

Love your content! < 3

[@ardeenroydiamante]

first.