Forgive me for being stupid here, but is the term "whenever {said creature} deals damage to an opponent, {carry out stated ability}" the same as "whenever {said creature} deals damage to a player, {carry out stated ability}" ??
It sounds the same to me, but I'm not sure, so I thought I would ask. Just I have a few cards that say this. Can this be clarified and cleared up for me please?
if there are replacement effects that redirect the damage back to you for example there would be a difference "player" would trigger, "opponent" would not
I'm not sure what the question is here. The situations you mention seem similar. Can you ask the question again using an actual in game scenario? That may get you an answer more like what you are looking for.
...or I could be completely wrong. Who really knows?
Back when I was in high school, I used to write little quotes on the whiteboard of my chemistry class, little, funny things that I'd made up and attributed to an anonymous author. Just tiny things I found amusing. Some time near the end of the year, a substitute teacher game in, read it, and told us a quote she had heard from a 13 year old girl. I don't remember what it was, but the quote sounded deep and philosophical. Then I actually thought about it. I realized that the quote was actually meaningless, but simply couched in the language of philosophy and depth. And that's what your post is. It is meaningless bull**** that you said in such a way as to make it seem sophisticated. But just as a lab coat doesn't make you a scientist, language won't make you a philosopher. Only love of wisdom will. And until then, you will always remind me of a nameless 13 year old.
In some team variants there are also players who are not you opponents (because they are your teammates).
If you enchant a Crypt Rats with Curiosity , when you pop it, you draw cards for having hurt your opponents, but not yourself or your teammates. If Curiosity said "player" rather than "opponent", you would draw more cards.
Forgive me for being stupid here, but is the term "whenever {said creature} deals damage to an opponent, {carry out stated ability}" the same as "whenever {said creature} deals damage to a player, {carry out stated ability}" ??
It sounds the same to me, but I'm not sure, so I thought I would ask. Just I have a few cards that say this. Can this be clarified and cleared up for me please?
It is a relevant distinction in any format with teams, where you have other players who are not your opponents.
It is also possible that {said creature} will cause damage to it's controller, which will cause the second example ability to trigger, but not the first.
Well, I'm trying to build a new deck, and I want to put Whirling Dervish into it. However, I want to know if dealing the damage to an opponent would mean to the player in question (being the player that is blocking), or to any of the creatures he/she would block with?
All opponents are players. (Not all players are opponents). Creatures are none of the above. Dealing damage to a creature does nothing special to Whirling Dervish - it does not cause it to gain a counter.
Okay, that's basically what I wanted to know, but because I've seen both of the two phrases on different cards, like Curiosity or Lava Axe , I wasn't sure. It has to deal damage to a player in order for the counters to increment.
