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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteMagic: The Gathering Foundations removed combat damage assignment order. When one creature is blocked by multiple creatures, its controller now divides that creature’s combat damage among the blockers during the combat damage step without first assigning lethal damage to one blocker. Trample’s separate requirement to assign lethal damage to all blockers before sending excess damage to the attacked player, planeswalker, or battle remains.
What changed when one creature is blocked by several creatures?
Before Foundations, the attacking player ordered the creatures blocking an attacker during the declare blockers step. When combat damage was assigned, the attacker had to assign lethal damage to the first blocker in that order before assigning damage to the next one.
Under the revised rule, there is no blocker order and no lethal-damage threshold between blockers. During the combat damage step, the attacker’s controller chooses how to divide that attacker’s damage among the creatures blocking it. The Foundations update arrived in November 2024; Wizards published its mechanics article on October 25 and its Update Bulletin on November 14.
Example: a 5/5 blocked by a 3/3 and a 4/4
The attacker may assign all five damage to either blocker, or split it—for example, two damage to one and three to the other. The assigned amounts do not have to be lethal. The change applies to damage assignment; it does not mean damage is assigned earlier in combat.
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Damage assignment happens in the combat damage step
Players may still cast combat tricks before damage is assigned. For example, a trick that increases a blocker’s toughness no longer forces the attacker to satisfy a lethal-damage threshold on that blocker before assigning damage to another. Once damage has been assigned, the Foundations Release Notes specify that players cannot act before that damage is dealt.
Before and after Foundations
| Combat rule | Before Foundations | With Foundations |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple blockers | The attacker ordered the blockers during the declare blockers step. | No order is assigned. |
| Assigning damage among blockers | The attacker had to assign lethal damage to the first blocker before assigning damage to the next. | The attacker may divide damage among the blockers without meeting a lethal threshold between them. |
| When damage is assigned | During the combat damage step. | During the combat damage step. |
| Trample | Assign lethal damage to all blockers before assigning excess damage to the attacked player, planeswalker, or battle. | The same requirement remains. |
Does this change how trample works?
No. A creature with trample still has to assign lethal damage to every creature blocking it before assigning any excess combat damage to the player, planeswalker, or battle it is attacking. Foundations removed assignment order among blockers; it did not remove trample’s lethal-damage requirement.
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The Release Notes give one relevant exception: a trampling creature with deathtouch can assign one damage to each blocker before assigning excess damage. Deathtouch makes that one damage lethal for this purpose.
What if one creature blocks multiple attackers?
The change also removes damage assignment order in the less common reverse situation: one creature blocks multiple attackers. Wizards describes the update as applying to combat damage assignment order, rather than only to the case of one attacker facing several blockers.
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Why did Wizards change the rule?
Wizards said the old rule was complex and unintuitive, and relevant in only a small fraction of combats. Its Update Bulletin explained that players might encounter the rule for the first time during a combat trick, making it an unexpected trap. Wizards said it wanted to streamline combat while preserving strategic decisions, while acknowledging that the update shifts some advantage from blockers to attackers when several creatures block one attacker. “Small fraction” is Wizards’ qualitative description, not a published percentage or measured statistic.
Jess Dunks and Eric Levine, authors of the November 14, 2024 Update Bulletin, summarized the change this way: “We’ve removed a complex concept known as ‘combat damage assignment order’ from the game.”
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How to learn the current combat procedure
Wizards says the Foundations Beginner Box teaches combat using the revised rule. Its October 25, 2024 mechanics article notes that players who learned combat with that product already learned the updated procedure. For edge cases, use the current Comprehensive Rules; Wizards describes those rules as the reference for game rules and corner cases. Its official rules page is Magic: The Gathering Rules. The relevant Wizards explanations are the Foundations Update Bulletin, Foundations Mechanics, and Foundations Release Notes.
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