Obscure Tricks with Abilities

I'm not sure why I'm posting this, but it feels like something that I want to share. There are some things abilities do that are not commonly used. Generally this is due to lack of opportunity, but I'm sure sometimes due to ignorance. There are also some combinations that are not regularly noticed. Things like Flample and First strike + Deathtouch are obvious and need not be covered here.


Trample + Deathtouch

Okay, everyone knows how trample works. Attack with a 5/5 trampler, opponent blocks with a 2/2, the blocker is killed and they take the remaining 3. Easy. Throwing in deathtouch might seem wasteful, but the wording of trample actually means it's anything but. Trample lets you assign any leftover damage to the opponent once at least enough damage to be lethal is assigned to the blocker. It specifically refers to "lethal damage," not "damage equal to the creature's toughness." What does this mean? If the trampler has deathtouch, even 1 point is lethal - no matter how tough the blocker is! If you attack with a 5/5 who has trample and deathtouch, then you can deal 1 to a 2/2 blocker and the other 4 to the opponent. Heck, if you attack with a 2/2 who has trample and deathtouch and your opponent blocks with a 5/5, you can still deal 1 to the blocker and 1 to the opponent. (Obviously your 2/2 will die in this case, but it wasn't a bad trade.)

First Strike + Fog

This one is pretty obtuse. Basically, since first strike and regular damage are assigned at different times, they can be responded to seperately. This means that you can play a card like Fog after first strike damage was already dealt but before regular damage, preventing only the latter.

Let's say you have five 2/2s with First Strike and your opponent has two 5/5s. If you attack with all five and your opponent blocks two of them, you can have your creatures assign their damage (your opponent's blockers live, obviously, but you dealt six to him or her) and then play a Fog before his blockers kill your two creatures. Obviously now you're tapped out and your opponent is primed to label you with 10 points of damage, but this was merely an illustrative example.

As another, let's say you attack with a 3/3 with first strike and deathtouch and your opponent blocks with four 5/5 demon tokens. You can assign that one necessary point of damage to kill three of them, then play Fog before normal damage resolves, saving your creature from the counterattack of the fourth. Not bad, hm?

Banding + Trample

This one is not so much a 'combo' per se. I mean to explain how Banding is in fact a very powerful defense against trample, so it's more the first countering the second than a combo.

Most people have little-to-no idea how banding works, and I could take a very long time explaining it, so I'm going to make a simple point worth remembering: a creature with banding can eat up all of the damage of a trampler it blocks. Ever since sixth edition, trample works when a creature, after assigning at least lethal damage to each creature blocking it, can assign any remaining damage to the defending player. I italicized 'at least' since the attacker can in fact assign any or all of the remaining damage to its blockers if its controller wants to - say, if the blocking creature has an ability to pump its toughness at instant speed.

Meanwhile, if a creature with banding/a band of creatures blocks, the blockers' controller gets to decide how damage is assigned. See where I'm going with this? If your opponent attacks with a Darksteel Colossus and you block with a 1/1, chances are he's making the 10 points of leftover damage spill over to you. However, if you block with a 1/1 banding Benalish Hero, you can choose to have the Colossus deal all eleven points to the Hero, with none trampling over to you. In this way, an Errand of Duty on an Isochron Scepter can hold off the biggest trampler indefinitely. That said, it would probably be better to start down that road if you have a Knight Exemplar in play....

Even if you don't understand anything else about banding, this can be a nifty trick to pull out if you're on the ropes.

Ninjutsu + First Strike

Are you sad because combat damage stopped using the stack and you're not a retarded four-year-old, as Wizards assumes? Don't worry, thanks to this underrated Kamigawa ability, you can pull some pretty weird effects with triggers.

Remember from the First Strike + Fog example how players got priority between damage steps? This indeed means you can slip a ninjutsu trigger in there when you want. Say you attack with a 2/2 with first strike. During the declare blockers step, your opponent lets it through. During the first strike damage step, your creature hits your opponent for two damage. Now, it is still an attacking creature - it will be until the combat phase is over - so before the step is over, you can activate Ninja of the Deep Hours, he'll come into play attacking and unblocked, then hit your opponent for two more damage during the regular damage step.

Not messy enough? How about hitting your opponent twice with the same creature? Give your preferred ninja first strike - No-Dachi was a handy in-block card for this effect - then attack and deal first strike damage to your opponent. Then, swap it out for a ninja with a cheap ninjutsu cost - say, Mistblade Shinobi - and then immediately swap that one back out for the original attacker in time to deal regular combat damage. With a No-Dachi wielding Ninja of the Deep Hours, you can deal six damage and draw two cards all for 1UU.

You can also combine it with triggers other than simple damage dealing. Creatures that have abilities that trigger simply when they're "attacking and unblocked" - Ophidian, Kukemssa Pirates, Guiltfeeder - fulfill ninjutsu at the same time, meaning you can reap the benefits of their ability and still swap out for a ninja to deal its damage.