There are some weird rules in Magic: The Gathering. For example, a gigantic Mutant that towers above the trees can be easily blocked by a Cheeky House-Mouse. But many large creatures have an ability that represents their ability to bully through smaller blockers; trample.
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Trample is one of the oldest, most well-known keyword abilities, but it bears explanation for new players. And veteran players may take it for granted, only to discover there are some unique rules interactions they didn’t account for. So grab the reins and hold on, there’s ample information about trample.
What Is Trample?
Trample is one of the oldest keywords in Magic. It was introduced all the way back in Alpha for large creatures like Force of Nature and Lord of the Pit, to represent those creatures being too large for one small creature to ‘chump block.’
Creatures with trample can assign excess damage to a defending player, planeswalker, or battle after dealing with all blockers. For example if you throw a Cheeky House-Mouse in front of a 12/12 trampling Phyrexian Dreadnought, it will assign one damage to the Mouse and the remaining 11 damage to you.
Before a trampling creature can deal excess damage to a player, it needs to deal lethal damage to all blockers. So that same 12/12 Phyrexian Dreadnought can be effectively blocked by 12 1/1 Mice.
“Lethal damage” doesn’t necessarily mean damage equal to the blocking creature’s toughness. If a creature has both trample and deathtouch, it can deal one damage to a blocking creature and the rest to the defending player, planeswalker, or battle, because one damage from a deathtouch creature is considered lethal.
This still applies if the blocking creature has indestructible. Lethal damage doesn’t have to actually kill a creature, just be enough to if no other abilities are in effect.
If a creature with trample is blocked, but the blocking creature is removed from combat (for example, its owner casts Unsummon to return it to their hand), the creature with trample can assign damage as if it were unblocked.
Trample is most common on green creatures, but it can appear on creatures of any color. Generally large creatures like Dinosaurs get trample, but it often shows up on small green creatures that are able to buff themselves.
Trample Over Planeswalkers
“Trample over planeswalkers” is a variant of trample introduced in Modern Horizons 2. Cards with trample over planeswalkers can attack planeswalkers, and if their power is greater than that planeswalker’s loyalty, they can destroy the planeswalker and deal excess damage to that planeswalker’s controller.
Thrasta, Tempest’s Roar has both trample and trample over planeswalkers. If it attacks a planeswalker with four loyalty and that planeswalker’s controller blocks with a 2/2 Grizzly Bears, Thrasta, Tempest’s Roar can destroy the Grizzly Bears, trample over to destroy the planeswalker, and then trample over the planeswalker to deal one damage to the planeswalker’s controller.
Non-creature Spells With Trample
Silver-bordered “un-sets” were sometimes used to test new mechanics before they made their way into full Magic sets. In Unstable, Super-Duper Death Ray was printed as the only sorcery with trample.
Super-Duper Death Ray is a direct damage burn spell. It costs two colorless and one red to deal four damage to any creature. If that creature has less than four toughness, the excess damage goes to the creature’s controller, just like if it was a creature with trample instead of a burn spell.
As the rules for trample are written, it can only be printed on creatures in legal sets. However, this noncreature version of trample was later printed into a legal set as Flame Spill, which is functionally identical to Super-Duper Death Ray. While not technically trample, this ability is inspired by the popular keyword.
How To Use Trample
Trample is a type of evasion ability that allows your creatures to deal damage to your opponents even if they block. Since green doesn’t usually get creatures with flying or unblockable, trample is green’s primary form of evasion.
Trample works best when combined with other forms of evasion like flying, to limit the number of creatures that can block your creatures. It also works well with first strike, which allows your big creatures to trample over blockers before they can deal potentially lethal damage or hit them with deathtouch.
Deathtouch works remarkably well with trample. As mentioned, one damage from a creature with deathtouch is considered lethal, so a creature with both deathtouch and trample can assign one damage to each blocking creature and hit the defending player for the remaining damage.
Double strike is also a great ability to combine with trample. Normally, if a creature with double strike is blocked and it deals lethal damage to the attacker with its first strike damage, it deals no damage in the regular damage step. With trample, the attacking creature can destroy the blocking creature and still deliver full damage to that creature’s controller.
Trample isn’t really an ability that you need to build around, because it’s good on practically every creature that you want to attack with. But if you have one or two bit Beasts with trample attacking, feel free to drop all of your Giant Growth style buffs onto them in order to force their damage through.
Best Cards With Trample
Trample is an evergreen keyword ability that’s been around since the very first Magic set, so there are hundreds of cards with the ability, and dozens of truly awesome ones. We narrowed it down to a handful of favorites.
Blightsteel Colossus
Also known as the one-shot Robot, Blightsteel Colossus is capable of dropping up to eleven poison counters on a player in a single hit. This monstrosity is an 11/11 with trample, infect, and indestructible, so once it’s on the board your opponent is up against a ticking time bomb.
Vigor
Vigor is only a 6/6 with trample, which isn’t particularly terrifying in modern Magic. But it makes all the rest of your creatures grow instead of taking damage, so you can swing safely against much larger defenders and be even more of a threat later. Vigor is a must-have in any “go wide” deck that wants to win by combat damage, and in Gruul (red/green) decks that want to do a lot of mass burn.
Thrasta, Tempest’s Roar
Not only does Thrasta, Tempest’s Roar have trample on a 7/7 body, it’s also the first creature with trample over planeswalkers.
Planeswalkers don’t usually hang around for very long, as players try to destroy them before they can pull off their ultimate abilities, but Thrasta stomps right over the likes of Jace and Liliana, their blockers, and the player behind them.
Primeval Titan
Primeval Titan would be great without trample, but that ability makes it even better. This Giant is a staple in Modern formats, where it combos with Amulet of Vigor to fetch multiple lands each turn and put them into play untapped.
Using Primeval Titan’s enter/attack ability to fetch buffing lands like Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion means that it can hit like a tank or act as a combo piece to fetch other lands.
Primeval Titan is banned in Commander.
Atarka, World Render
Flying and trample are a great combination, because it limits the number of creatures that can block your creature. Double strike and trample are also an amazing combination.
Atarka has all three abilities while attacking, making her an enormous threat. On top of that, she gives all your other Dragons double strike while they’re attacking.
Hellkite Tyrant
Hellfire Tyrant wants to steal all of the artifacts, and it has both flying and trample to make sure it happens.
When this red Dragon flies over most blockers and tramples through the rest of the Birds in the air trying to stop it, it steals all the artifacts that the defending player controls. Then, once you control twenty artifacts, you win the game!
