in one of my battles I had my it that rides as one
followed by serene steward up against that 1/8
imp that matches black for deathtouch and reach.
on my turn I attacked the imp. imp dies, my it
that rides as one was reduced to 0 toughness
by deathtouch. then before it ‘died’ serene
steward used the heal to give it 1/1. result, one
dead imp and one very alive it that rides as one.
is this what’s supposed to happen?
HH
Of the imp died then deathtouch never triggers since it that rides as one has first strike.
must have been that the imp didn’t die the 1st time.
I do remember the imp taking the toughness down
to 0 and then it being raised to 1 or 2.
HH
I’m guessing it’s mostly a graphical versus stack issue.
The first strike damage resolves before the deathtouch would resolve.
Lone Rider I find is a little weird with damage assignment graphically in that there seems to be one or two too many attack animations. This is basically how combat resolves mechanically:
LR dmg
Serene triggers
Imp dies
So, it’s not a cheat so much as a graphical bug.
This particular case revolves around the fact that Deathtouch is handled as “creature receives damage = to toughness” instead of “Destroy other creature”.
Thus it is processed when damage is dealt, however other effects can occur AFTER that point in the sequence (NOT STACK!) which can save the creature. Serene Steward’s buff effect is triggered on life gain, which is processed after all currently battling creatures have dealt their damage.
So, yes, Serene Steward DOES cheat Deathtouch in these cases.
Undergrowth Champion used to survive “destroy” spells for similar reasons (destroy used to mean creature receives damage = to toughness) until patched.
Until Deathtouch is handled like Destroy effects, Serene Steward can keep other creatures in these situations alive.