ummm... did they change the wording for deaththouch?
you have to deal lethal damage to a creature before you can target another one right?
does that mean you can assign one damage to a creature and consider it lethal damage then and target a different blocker?
well, the more practical and easier to see question is, what happens when i give this thing trample?
the wording for deathtouch seems to suggest that i can assign 1 damage to a creature with...
lets say 5 toughness, and consider it as leathal damage
so instead of having to assign all three points of damage to the blocker
can i now assign one to blocker, consider it as lethal damage, and be free to let the extra two land in my opponent's face?
majinara
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(3 votes)
@ Shell shokkun: Doesn't work that way. You can divide the damage of a multiple blocked creature with deathtouch any way you want to among the blocking creatures (like 1 to each blocker). This does not help you with trample though. When you assign 1 combat damage of a deathtouch creature to a blocker with more than 1 toughness, that's not considered lethal damage. In short: death touch helps killing creatures. It does not help you trampling over to your opponent though.
Endlessor
★★★★☆ (4.4/5.0)(4 votes)
@Shell shokkun and @majinara:
Starting with M11, deathtouch no longer ignores blocking order in situations involving multiple blockers. Additionally, you only need to assign a single point of damage from a creature with deathtouch to each blocker, which makes deathtouch a potent combination with trample. A 4/4 with trample and deathtouch can assign one damage to a blocking 8/8 and the other 3 damage to the defending player. The full FAQ entry for deathtouch appears below. Note that it's subject to changes before the final version of the FAQ is posted, and not all the cards in the examples appear in M11.
From an Aaron Forsythe article on 28 june 2010.
RPGsr4me
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Trample and Deathtouch are great together, woot!
Cardcypher42
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
This guy equipped with Sword of Vengeance won games for me in the release party tournament (got second overall). Good times, good times...
GengilOrbios
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
very solid common
RobinHood3000
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(4 votes)
I'm really digging the art on this card. Something about the smoking eyes and the smoldering arm says "FEAR MY LASER FACE!!"
Or something like that.
NARFNra
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
All I can say is that this fella is a near perfect blocker for Green. He has decent defenses and kills things that get him anyway.
DacenOctavio
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
A hugely underrated and very playable common. Green gets this out turn 3 and rapes face. Green player runs Sword of Vengeance alongside this and wins the game 3 turns later.
Basically reads 5/5 for {3GG} that says "whenever this creature deals combat damage to a creature, destroy that creature, and whenever this creature would deal combat damage to a player, it gets -2/-0 until end of turn." How do you not play this in a budget green deck?
Concerned_Bystander
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I'm not sure how a basilisk would hold a Viridian Longbow but he really wants one.
WotC_ErikL
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(8 votes)
Erik's Random card 7/16/2011 When Aaron Forsythe led the design of Magic 2011, he originally entered this as:
3GG Deathtouch 3/4
He decided to make a it a 2/4. At 3/4 it killed creatures a bit too well, and deathtouch was a little less important.
In development, it turned out green was a bit weak, so I changed this back to a 3/4 (not realizing I was reversing Aaron's change).
I also noticed the problem that at 3/4 deathtouch wasn't mattering enough. Also I noticed that green didn't have any 5 toughness commons or uncommons. Green-Blue was not doing as well as some other color combinations in limited, and I thought this would be a nice filler card for that combination; against a ground color, this card can really clog up the ground while you attack with fliers. On the other hand, if your opponent is playing a lot of fliers, you can keep your blue fliers back to block and send in this beast; if your opponent gang blocks to kill it, deathtouch means it can kill up to 3 blockers. I did not think this would be an early draft pick, but I was hoping it would be a role-player in that deck.
So we moved it to 5 toughness. Blue-Green decks seemed to do fine after the change. But it might be a complete coincidence! When you do things right, you aren't sure you did anything at all.
penguinmage25
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@WotC_Erikl do you really work for WotC because if you do thats AWESOME!!!
TheWrathofShane
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@Erik Great change dude, 3/5 is perfect and well costed. Hes not overpowered and anything less then he is now he would be underpowered. He is an intimidating creature and very appealing to new players. Even as a competitive player, I consider him over acidic slimes just because he hits harder, and has so much more survivability.
Comments (15)
you have to deal lethal damage to a creature before you can target another one right?
does that mean you can assign one damage to a creature and consider it lethal damage then and target a different blocker?
well, the more practical and easier to see question is, what happens when i give this thing trample?
the wording for deathtouch seems to suggest that i can assign 1 damage to a creature with...
lets say 5 toughness, and consider it as leathal damage
so instead of having to assign all three points of damage to the blocker
can i now assign one to blocker, consider it as lethal damage, and be free to let the extra two land in my opponent's face?
Doesn't work that way. You can divide the damage of a multiple blocked creature with deathtouch any way you want to among the blocking creatures (like 1 to each blocker). This does not help you with trample though. When you assign 1 combat damage of a deathtouch creature to a blocker with more than 1 toughness, that's not considered lethal damage.
In short: death touch helps killing creatures. It does not help you trampling over to your opponent though.
Starting with M11, deathtouch no longer ignores blocking order in situations involving multiple blockers. Additionally, you only need to assign a single point of damage from a creature with deathtouch to each blocker, which makes deathtouch a potent combination with trample. A 4/4 with trample and deathtouch can assign one damage to a blocking 8/8 and the other 3 damage to the defending player. The full FAQ entry for deathtouch appears below. Note that it's subject to changes before the final version of the FAQ is posted, and not all the cards in the examples appear in M11.
From an Aaron Forsythe article on 28 june 2010.
Or something like that.
Basically reads 5/5 for {3GG} that says "whenever this creature deals combat damage to a creature, destroy that creature, and whenever this creature would deal combat damage to a player, it gets -2/-0 until end of turn." How do you not play this in a budget green deck?
When Aaron Forsythe led the design of Magic 2011, he originally entered this as:
3GG
Deathtouch
3/4
He decided to make a it a 2/4. At 3/4 it killed creatures a bit too well, and deathtouch was a little less important.
In development, it turned out green was a bit weak, so I changed this back to a 3/4 (not realizing I was reversing Aaron's change).
I also noticed the problem that at 3/4 deathtouch wasn't mattering enough. Also I noticed that green didn't have any 5 toughness commons or uncommons. Green-Blue was not doing as well as some other color combinations in limited, and I thought this would be a nice filler card for that combination; against a ground color, this card can really clog up the ground while you attack with fliers. On the other hand, if your opponent is playing a lot of fliers, you can keep your blue fliers back to block and send in this beast; if your opponent gang blocks to kill it, deathtouch means it can kill up to 3 blockers. I did not think this would be an early draft pick, but I was hoping it would be a role-player in that deck.
So we moved it to 5 toughness. Blue-Green decks seemed to do fine after the change. But it might be a complete coincidence! When you do things right, you aren't sure you did anything at all.
Great change dude, 3/5 is perfect and well costed. Hes not overpowered and anything less then he is now he would be underpowered. He is an intimidating creature and very appealing to new players. Even as a competitive player, I consider him over acidic slimes just because he hits harder, and has so much more survivability.