Yes. In Magic: The Gathering, you can enter the combat phase and declare no attackers. Beginning of combat comes before the declare attackers step, and choosing attackers is a separate decision.
How combat begins before attackers are declared
The combat phase has multiple steps. Wizards of the Coast lists them in this order: beginning of combat, declare attackers, declare blockers, combat damage, and end of combat. The active player gets priority at the beginning of a step or phase; if both players pass without taking action, the game advances. That means entering combat does not itself commit you to attacking. Wizards of the Coast, “Attacking and Blocking” (2015).
What happens if you declare no attackers?
During the declare attackers step, the active player chooses which creatures, if any, will attack. You may choose none. The combat phase still proceeds through its remaining steps; with no attackers, there are no ordinary attackers for the defending player to block and no ordinary attacker to deal combat damage.
That does not mean every combat-related effect is skipped. An ability may trigger at the beginning of combat or refer to a particular combat step, and its wording determines what happens even when no creature attacks. Check the relevant card text rather than assuming an empty attack makes the entire phase irrelevant. For exact rules and corner cases, consult Wizards’ Comprehensive Rules reference.
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Practical timing to remember
- Beginning of combat: The combat phase starts, and players get the chance to act before attackers are declared.
- Declare attackers: The active player chooses attackers or declares none.
- Later combat steps: The phase continues. Apply any abilities or effects that refer to those steps according to their text.
The sequence is also outlined in Wizards’ “The Dynamics of a Turn”; for unusual interactions, the current Comprehensive Rules are the more appropriate reference than an older overview.
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This is a rules question, so no product is needed to understand the answer. If you are new to Magic and want a broader introduction, Wizards’ How to Play page presents Foundations as a way to learn the essentials through play. That beginner-learning resource serves a different purpose from the Comprehensive Rules, which are for looking up exact rules and edge cases.
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