C.4 - Step 3: Declare Blockers


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C.4.1- At the start of this step, the defending player declares any creatures he or she wants to block with this turn. If a legal set of blockers is declared, first place any triggered abilities which triggered on the blocking declaration on the stack, then the current player receives priority to play spells and abilities. [CompRules 1999/04/23]

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C.4.2- For each blocking creature, the defending player chooses which one attacking creature it will block. Any number of blocking creatures can be assigned to block the same attacker. [CompRules 1999/04/23]

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C.4.3- Only untapped creatures the defending player controls can be declared as blockers. [CompRules 1999/04/23]

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C.4.4- Declaration of blockers is simultaneous, not sequential, and it does not go on the stack. [CompRules 1999/04/23]

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C.4.5- A blocking declaration may have costs associated with it. If these costs include a mana payment, then the defending player may play mana abilities in order to make the payment. [CompRules 1999/04/23]

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C.4.6- A creature becomes a blocking creature during the declaration and remains a blocking creature until removed from combat or until the end of the phase. [CompRules 1999/04/23]

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C.4.7- An attacking creature which is blocked by one or more creatures becomes a blocked creature during the declaration and remains a blocked creature until removed from combat or until the end of the phase. [CompRules 1999/04/23] Similarly, an attacking creature which does not have any blockers assigned to it becomes "not blocked" in the same way. [CompRules 1999/04/23]

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C.4.8- Once an attacking creature becomes blocked, it cannot be unblocked. Removing all of the creatures blocking it will still not unblock it, and it still will not damage the defending player. [CompRules 1999/04/23]

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C.4.9- If there are creatures that must block, the blocking declaration is illegal if any subset of the creatures that were required to block but were left out can be added to the set of blockers. [CompRules 2001/07/23 - 500.3]

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C.4.10- If a creature is required to block more creatures than it can legally block, then the defender chooses which creature(s) to block, but must choose to block as many as possible. [D'Angelo 1999/05/01]

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C.4.11- If a blocker legally blocks one creature in a band of attackers, it is considered to block all members of that band, even if it could not legally block some or all of the other creatures in the band. [D'Angelo 1999/05/01]

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C.4.Ruling.1- Players are not allowed to declare an illegal block. If a player announces a creature which cannot block, or some combination of creatures which is not legal, or if a player cannot pay any costs associated with the block, then that blocking declaration is ignored and the player gets a chance to try again. [CompRules 2001/07/23 - 500.3]

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C.4.Ruling.2- Blocking does not cause the creature to tap. [CompRules 1999/04/23]

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C.4.Ruling.3- You don't have to block with any creatures if you don't want to. [D'Angelo 1999/05/01]

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C.4.Ruling.4- Effects can prevent a creature from blocking. For example, Pacifism. [CompRules 2001/07/23 - 500.1]

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C.4.Ruling.5- You only check if the creature is allowed to block (such as a Flying creature can block an attacking Flying creature) during this step. If any blocking enablers are removed or blocking inhibitors are introduced later, it does not make a difference. The creature is still blocking (or not blocking). [CompRules 1999/04/23] For example, giving an attacking creature Flying after a non-Flying creature blocks it will not change anything. The attacker and blocker will still deal damage to each other. [D'Angelo 1999/05/01]

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C.4.Ruling.6- To legally block, a creature must get around all of the attacking creature's evasion abilities (see Rule A.15). For example, a Flying creature with Fear can only be blocked if the blocking creature has Flying (to satisfy the Flying evasion ability) and if it is Black and/or Artifact (to satisfy the Fear evasion ability). [D'Angelo 1998/02/03]

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C.4.Ruling.7- There is no restriction about controlling the creature since the start of your most recent turn on declaring blockers like there is on declaring attackers. You can use any untapped creature you have. [D'Angelo 1998/02/03]

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C.4.Ruling.8- As per Rule C.4.6, once a creature is a "blocking creature", it remains one. Even removing the attackers it blocked from combat will not change this status. So if a spell or ability affects "blocking creatures" the creature will be affected. If the spell or ability asks if the creature is "blocking a creature", however, the answer is "no". To put this in plainer language, asking if a creature is a "blocking creature" means the same as "is involved in the combat on the defending player's side" while "blocking a creature" is a specific question about how it is involved. [D'Angelo 2002/02/23]

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Note- Banding of blockers is not declared at this time. In fact, you never declare banding while blocking. See Rule A.8.11. [D'Angelo 1998/02/03]

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Note- Players do get a chance to play spells and abilities during this step after blockers are declared. This is an ideal time for the attacking player to enhance their attackers, using Howl from Beyond for example. [D'Angelo 1999/05/01]

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Note- Creatures which are destroyed are removed from the combat even if they are regenerated. See Rule C.1.6.

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