Reduction of Commander damage?

ck3gds · Joined: 21 Jun 2005 Posts: 995

This was the exact situation that cropped up during a Commander game.

I was piloting my Edric, Spymaster of Trest deck. I controlled a bunch of creatures, in addition to my Commander.

My opponent controlled some creatures, including a Jhessian Balmgiver and a Phantasmal Image of that. Relevant ability here is "T: Prevent the next 1 damage that would be dealt to target creature or player this turn."

During combat, after blockers have been declared, my Commander (2/2) and Invisible Stalker (1/1) were unblocked.

Before combat damage, he activated the damage prevention ability of both creatures, targeting himself.

Question: since the ability of Jhessian Balmgiver doesn't explicitly state that damage from a chosen source is prevented, how much Commander damage is dealt - is it still 2 (despite the prevention), or can he choose it to be 0 (Commander "chosen" for both abilities) or 1 (Commander "chosen" for one of the abilities)?

Candace · Joined: 08 Jun 2012 Posts: 35

If the owner of the prevention effect is taking damage from multiple sources simultaneously, he can choose which of the 2 damage to prevent. In this scenario that generally means you'll be dealing zero commander damage.

Clariax · Level 3 Judge Joined: 16 Jan 2006 Posts: 173

It doesn't matter who controls the prevention effect. It's the person that is being damaged that gets to choose which damage the prevention effect gets applied to.

ck3gds · Joined: 21 Jun 2005 Posts: 995

So what you're saying is that this is the case even though the ability doesn't explicitly state that you choose a source from which to prevent damage?

Candace · Joined: 08 Jun 2012 Posts: 35

Yes, that is what I said.

magicman85 · Joined: 22 Aug 2009 Posts: 548

Candace · Joined: 08 Jun 2012 Posts: 35

Egren · Joined: 16 Jun 2008 Posts: 18

When it comes to magic rules, not only is nitpicking okay, it's obligatory Wink