Community

Scenario: I attack with one creature. Opponent blocks with one creature. Can I then cast Shock on the blocking creature?

Sure.  What's stopping you?

Yes, there's a chance to cast spells after blockers are declared and before damage is assigned and dealt.

But even if you destroy his blocker then, your attacker will still be blocked. It won't deal any damage to the attacked player or planeswalker unless it has trample.

On the plus side, your attacker would take no damage since there would be no blockers left to deal damage in the Combat Damage Step.

Jan 1, 2013 -- 12:48PM, Meejahor wrote:

Scenario: I attack with one creature. Opponent blocks with one creature. Can I then cast Shock on the blocking creature?

Yes, you can; Shock is an instant so you can cast it during the Combat Phase, in the Declare Blockers Step in your example.

Just notice that even if Shock is enough to kill the blocker, your attacker will stay blocked.

We weren't sure if the attacking player's Shock could be applied directly to a blocking creature, or if the attacking player has to use Shock on the opponent and then the opponent can decide how to handle that damage (ie take the hit or assign a creature to take it).

Shock works the way the card says it does:  The caster targets either a player or a creature.  The targetted player or the targetted creature's controller has no say whatsoever how damage is handled, in or out of combat.

you cannot "block" Shock if it is directed at a player

or maybe I'm reading your last post wrong

You're thinking of the Planeswalker damage redirection option, but you got it very wrong.

It's the spell's controller that has the option of redirecting the spell's damage or not (not the player targetted of the spell), and it can only be redirected to a Planeswalker (not a creature).

But that's not even an option in this case because Shock is targetting a creature, not a player.

Jan 1, 2013 -- 2:08PM, Meejahor wrote:

...and then the opponent can decide how to handle that damage (ie take the hit or assign a creature to take it).

This is very wrong; you are not playing the game correctly.

Chaikov: Care you explain? We're playing in line with Wizards tutorial videos.

What Chaikov is saying is that the controller of the spell chooses the targets, not the recipeint of the spell.

Ah, right, that's sort of what I was originally asking. Thanks :-)

Are we right that creatures attack the player ONLY and then the player can choose to defend with creatures?

or a planeswalker he controls like Jace Beleren

To be clearer, you can attack a planeswalker, but you can't block with a planeswalker.

If you want to "Attack", then you can either attack a player or a planeswalker; only you can make that decision.  The player (or controller of planeswalker) can opt to use creatures to block your attacks.
You can not "Attack" his creatures; but if he uses creatures to block, you will end up dealing combat damage to those creatures.


If you are using a spell or ability to Target, you can (depending on the spell/ability) Target either a creature or player or planeswalker. In general, your opponent has no control or influence on this.
If you use Shock to target a player, that player cannot choose for the damage to instead apply to a creature or planeswalker. You can, however, redirect the damage from the player to a planeswalker if you so choose.
If you use Shock to target a creature, your opponent can't just take the damage himself, nor can he have a different creature take the damage.


Please note: As with most things in Magic, there are spells, cards, abilities, etc that will modify the above. Sometimes drastically.

Thank you. The combat mechanics are clearer now ;:-)

Jan 3, 2013 -- 3:46AM, Meejahor wrote:

Thank you. The combat mechanics are clearer now ;:-)

Don't hesitate to quickly go over the introductory rules (see the link somewhere in my signature). That'll help and you'll be able to go at the rythmn you wish.