Combat is a core part of Magic: The Gathering. The decision of when to attack, which creatures to block with, and whether to shift the tide of battle with instants all have a massive impact on the outcome of the game. If the creatures involved have first strike or double strike, there are even more variables to consider.
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Used correctly, these two abilities can give you a massive advantage during combat in a game of Magic. They’re not flawless – nothing in this game is – but knowing how to leverage them to your advantage will put you in a strong board position.
What Does First Strike Do?
Normally, when creatures enter combat in Magic: The Gathering, they deal damage to one another simultaneously. The attacking creature deals damage to the blocking creature, and the blocking creature deals damage to the attacking creature, at the same exact time. This can result in both creatures dying as a result of the battle.
Creatures with first strike deal damage before creatures without it, potentially allowing them to dispatch their opponents before they can hit back. For example, if a 2/2 with first strike blocks a 2/2 without first strike, the blocker will destroy the attacker and take no damage itself, because the attacker dies before it has a chance to deal its own damage.
Think of combat as taking place in two rounds; one for creatures with first strike, and then one for everyone else. That’s important for understanding double strike, below.
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What Does Double Strike Do?
A creature with double strike deals damage as though it had first strike, and then deals damage again when creatures without first strike do so. This allows it to attack in both “rounds” of combat, provided that its target is still alive after the first attack.
If a creature with double strike deals lethal damage to its target with its first strike, it needs another valid target to be able to use its second attack. In nearly every case, this means that it will only get to attack again if it was attacking and there were multiple blockers assigned to it. If a double strike creature is only blocked by one opposing creature, and kills it on its first strike, it doesn’t get to deal its second attack to the opposing player, unless it also has trample, because it’s still considered blocked until the end of combat.
If a creature with double strike attacks and is not blocked, it will deal damage equal to its power to the opponent twice!
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