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Here's the situation: I'm the defending player and being attacked for lethal damage. I block with all my creatures but still would take enough damage to bring me to 0. Among my blocking creatures are two Zulaport Cutthroats. After combat damage is assigned and I go to less than 0, would I still gain the life from my creatures dying via the Cutthroats?

Justin
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    I think this other question covers what you're asking. – murgatroid99 Mar 05 '16 at 01:19
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    @murgatroid99 All examples in the linked question deal and heal at the same time. This is different because Cutthraot does not use a damage-based trigger, but one that resolves separately. – steenbergh Mar 05 '16 at 09:29
  • And to expand on @steenbergh's point, the question itself is asking about effects which both deal damage and prevent it (or offset it) as part of a single resolution. So I don't think this is a duplicate. Some of the answers there do also address this question, but I don't think that matters. – David Z Mar 05 '16 at 11:00
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    @steenbergh That is not true. One of the examples is Armadillo Cloak, which is a triggered ability that causes life gain. – murgatroid99 Mar 05 '16 at 18:24

1 Answers1

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Here's what happens:

  1. Combat damage is assigned and dealt - no stack
  2. Your life total is set to (less than) 0, creatures that were dealt lethal damage are moved to the graveyard. Cutthroat;s ability is placed on the stack X times, once for each creature that died.
  3. Before Cutthroat's triggered ability can resolve however, you have already died because coming to 0 life or less is a state-based effect. Whatever's on the stack doesn't resolve anymore.
steenbergh
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