Can I Block with Summoning Sickness? A Deep Dive into Magic: The Gathering Rules
Yes, you absolutely can block with a creature that has summoning sickness. Summoning sickness is a common stumbling block for new Magic: The Gathering players, but understanding its limitations is crucial for strategic gameplay. While a creature with summoning sickness cannot attack or use activated abilities that require tapping, it can indeed be declared as a blocker. This opens up a range of defensive possibilities, allowing you to protect yourself even with newly summoned creatures. Let’s delve into the nuances of this rule and explore other related aspects of summoning sickness and blocking.
Understanding Summoning Sickness
Summoning sickness is a temporary condition affecting creatures entering the battlefield under your control. It primarily restricts a creature’s ability to participate offensively or use abilities that tap it. However, it doesn’t hinder their defensive capabilities. This is a key distinction to remember.
What Summoning Sickness Prevents
- Attacking: A creature with summoning sickness cannot be declared as an attacker.
- Tapping for Activated Abilities: A creature cannot use activated abilities if those abilities require tapping the creature as a cost.
What Summoning Sickness Doesn’t Prevent
- Blocking: As we’ve established, creatures with summoning sickness can be declared as blockers.
- Using Non-Tap Activated Abilities: Abilities that don’t require tapping the creature can be used, even if the creature has summoning sickness.
- Using Triggered Abilities: Triggered abilities, which automatically activate when a specific condition is met, can be used by creatures with summoning sickness.
- Being Targeted by Spells and Abilities: Your opponent can target a creature with summoning sickness with spells or abilities, just like any other creature on the battlefield.
- Sacrificing: You can sacrifice a creature with summoning sickness to pay a cost, provided the ability doesn’t require tapping.
- Crews Vehicles: you can tap any untapped creature you control to activate a crew ability, including creatures with summoning sickness and even other crewed Vehicles.
The Importance of Blocking
Blocking is a cornerstone of Magic: The Gathering defense. It allows you to prevent your opponent’s creatures from dealing damage to you or your planeswalkers. A well-timed block can turn the tide of a game, saving you valuable life points and disrupting your opponent’s strategy. Understanding the blocking rules and how summoning sickness interacts with them is essential for effective gameplay.
Blocking Mechanics: A Quick Recap
- Untapped Creatures: Only untapped creatures can be declared as blockers.
- One Attacker Per Blocker: Each creature can only block a single attacking creature.
- Multiple Blockers Per Attacker: Multiple defending creatures can block the same attacking creature.
- Combat Damage Assignment: If multiple creatures are blocking a single attacker, the attacking player determines the order in which the blockers will receive damage.
Summoning Sickness and Strategic Gameplay
The ability to block with summoning sickness provides significant strategic depth. It allows you to:
- Stabilize Your Board: Deploy a creature and immediately use it to defend against an incoming attack.
- Protect Your Life Total: Prevent early game aggression by using newly summoned creatures as blockers.
- Gain Time: Buy yourself a turn to develop your mana base or set up a more powerful play.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Summoning Sickness and Blocking
Here are some frequently asked questions to further clarify the rules surrounding summoning sickness and blocking:
1. Does summoning sickness prevent me from activating abilities that don’t require tapping?
No. Summoning sickness only restricts abilities that require tapping the creature. If an ability costs mana or sacrificing the creature, you can still activate it.
2. Can I block and then tap my creature for an ability?
Yes, you are allowed to block and then tap your creatures. It never has to tap when it blocks, so during the declare blockers phase, after it has chosen to block, it can use it’s ability.
3. Can my opponent attack my creature with summoning sickness?
Yes. Summoning sickness only prevents the creature from attacking itself. Your opponent can freely target it with spells, abilities, or attack it with their own creatures.
4. Does blinking a creature remove summoning sickness?
Yes, but the creature will have summoning sickness again on your opponent’s turn when you summon it. You will be able to block but not tap it for special abilities. It will NOT have summoning sickness on your next turn when you are able to attack or tap it for an ability.
5. Does summoning sickness affect sacrifice abilities?
No, unless the ability requires tapping as part of the cost. Sacrificing is a separate action and is not affected by summoning sickness.
6. Can I crew a vehicle with a creature that has summoning sickness?
Yes! You can tap any untapped creature you control to activate a crew ability, including creatures with summoning sickness and even other crewed Vehicles!
7. What happens if I play a creature on my opponent’s turn?
That creature will have summoning sickness on your turn if the creature has not experienced an upkeep before.
8. If I untap a creature with summoning sickness, can it then attack?
No. Untapping a creature does not remove summoning sickness. The creature still cannot attack or use tap abilities until the start of your next turn.
9. Can I block with a tapped creature?
No. A creature must be untapped to be declared as a blocker.
10. How many creatures can block a single attacker?
As many as you want. You can block a creature with as many blockers as you want. The player attacking will then select the order in which the blockers receive damage. Each creature can only block one attacking creature but any number of creatures can block the same attacking creature.
11. Does blocking cause a creature to tap?
No, blocking doesn’t cause the blocking creature to tap.
12. Can Vehicles block?
Yes, vehicles can attack and block just like creatures — but only if creatures are crewing them. To crew a vehicle, tap any number of creatures whose total power is greater than or equal to the vehicle’s crew ability.
13. What is phased out summoning sickness?
As long as they’ve experienced an upkeep before being phased out, creatures and permanents aren’t affected by summoning sickness and can use all abilities they’ve got.
14. Do incubate tokens have summoning sickness?
If you transform an Incubator the same turn it enters the battlefield, the transformed Phyrexian creature will have summoning sickness and not be able to attack. It will not have summoning sickness if its Incubator token entered on a previous turn, though, allowing you to transform and attack on the same turn.
15. Can I sacrifice a creature at any time?
Extra context: sacrifice is a keyword action (like “fights”). You can’t just choose to do keyword actions any time you feel like it, you need something on a card to enable or trigger it.
Conclusion
Summoning sickness is a fundamental aspect of Magic: The Gathering that dictates how newly summoned creatures can interact in combat. While it restricts attacking and using tap abilities, it doesn’t prevent creatures from blocking. This is a crucial distinction that opens up defensive possibilities and strategic depth. Understanding these rules allows you to play the game more effectively, protect your life total, and control the board. For more information on game-based learning and educational resources, be sure to visit the Games Learning Society at https://www.gameslearningsociety.org/.