Ok, so I recall hearing somewhere that tapped creatures don't deal damage, i.e. if I had a creature that could tap to do 1 damage to something and it blocked, if I activated it's ability, it wouldn't deal any combat damage to the creature it blocked. Is this correct?
What about creatures that are attacking but become tapped during the process (i.e. after they've been declared attackers but before the damage step resolves or whatever)? Do they still deal damage? Even if they had to tap to attack? What about vigilant creatures?
Ok, so I recall hearing somewhere that tapped creatures don't deal damage, i.e. if I had a creature that could tap to do 1 damage to something and it blocked, if I activated it's ability, it wouldn't deal any combat damage to the creature it blocked. Is this correct?
No. It's completely and utterly wrong.
It used to be true, before Sixth Edition, that tapped blocking creatures didn't deal combat damage, but that was more than twelve years ago. It hasn't worked that way for a long, long time.
What about creatures that are attacking but become tapped during the process (i.e. after they've been declared attackers but before the damage step resolves or whatever)? Do they still deal damage? Even if they had to tap to attack? What about vigilant creatures?
As far as dealing combat damage is concerned, there is absolutely no difference between a tapped creature and an untapped one. They all deal combat damage.
And so people say to me, "How do I know if a word is real?" You know, anyone who's read a children's book knows that love makes things real. If you love a word, use it! That makes it real. Being in the dictionary is an artificial distinction; it doesn't make the word any more real than any other word. If you love a word, it becomes real. --Erin McKean, Redefining the Dictionary
Just as an aside to your question, don't forget that there are multiple steps taken during the combat phase, and declaring attackers is where all non-vigilant attacking creatures would be tapped not during declare blockers or damage.
This is news to me... happened last night playing mtg2012 on steam..
What is the thinking on why this should be changed? The only thing I can see is new people seeing attacking creatures tapped, and doing damage, and blocking creatures tapped not doing damage and getting confused...
Takes a lot away from the icy decks of old.
They didn't mess with the activate with tap on Prodigal and icy did they? What about winter orb tapped?
What is the thinking on why this should be changed? The only thing I can see is new people seeing attacking creatures tapped, and doing damage, and blocking creatures tapped not doing damage and getting confused...
I think you hit it exactly. It was a strange and asymmetrical rule.
Takes a lot away from the icy decks of old.
Keep in mind you can still tap a creature preemptively, in order to make it unable to attack or block in the first place
They didn't mess with the activate with tap on Prodigal and icy did they?
There was no change to this interaction, but i wonder if you might not know what the interaction is. Icy manipulator cannot counter Prodigal Sorcerer 's ability, nor can it make prodigal sorcerer's cost unpayable, nor can it force the sorcerer's ability to activate. At best, icy manipulator can give prodigal sorcerer's controller a choice: activate the sorcerer's ability at an inconvenient time, or don't activate it (they'll usually choose to activate it)
What about winter orb tapped?
Continuous Artifacts shutting off while tapped was eliminated from the game in 6th edition as well. For most of the time since then, winter orb had errata which said "as long as winter orb is tapped [etc]". While it had this errata, Icy Manipulator could be used in conjunction with winter orb in pretty much the same way as before 6th edition.
However, Winter orb's errata has been recinded. Icy manipulator no longer interacts with winter orb.
The artifact tapping change seems to also clear up the change of tap to activate vs activate. It was a big deal originally to have cards that didn't require tap to use ability, and I guess "always on" artifacts would be more similar to them than to say lands.
There goes my wb control deck though... already injured by vise restriction, time to put it to rest.
Unless you can now tap stasis instead of bouncing it, but that's wishful thinking =)
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