Jitte and sacrificed blockers

[Solpugid]

I know this is probably a stupid question, but I keep being told different things about this interaction, and I'd like to settle it once and for all:

My opponent attacks with a, say, dark confidant with jitte on it, and I block with a goblin legionnaire. I put damage on the stack, and then sacrifice my goblin for the two damage to my opponent's dome. Does the confidant actually deal damage to put counters on jitte, considering what it would deal damage to is gone?

[dahcmai]

Placing damage on the stack essentially means damage is going to be dealt. Whether or not the target remains the original source is considered to have done it's damage.

You can respond to damage before it goes on the stack though after blocking the Confidant and then sac the Legionarrie. This would prevent the confidant from dealing damage and also make him to be considered blocked. The Jitte would not recieve counters in this case which I think is what you were wanting to do. The problem is since it's before damage is dealt, you won't get to kill the Confidant unless you use the Legionarrie to hit the Mage with it's ability since your guy won't have done it's damage either.

Hope that makes sense.

Here's the appropriate section if you need to quelch any futher arguements.

310.2c A blocked creature will assign combat damage, divided as its controller chooses, to the creatures blocking it. If no creatures are currently blocking it (if, for example, they were destroyed or removed from combat), it will assign no combat damage.

[umbowta]

Placing damage on the stack essentially means damage is going to be dealt. Whether or not the target remains the original source is considered to have done it's damage.

You can respond to damage before it goes on the stack though after blocking the Confidant and then sac the Legionarrie. This would prevent the confidant from dealing damage and also make him to be considered blocked. The Jitte would not recieve counters in this case which I think is what you were wanting to do. The problem is since it's before damage is dealt, you won't get to kill the Confidant unless you use the Legionarrie to hit the Mage with it's ability since your guy won't have done it's damage either.

Hope that makes sense.

Here's the appropriate section if you need to quelch any futher arguements.

310.2c A blocked creature will assign combat damage, divided as its controller chooses, to the creatures blocking it. If no creatures are currently blocking it (if, for example, they were destroyed or removed from combat), it will assign no combat damage.
That doesn't even answer the question. JUDGE! ???

Once the damage has been "assigned" and is on the stack, does Jitte's trigger stack <or> does damage assigned by the creature equipped with Jitte have to sucessfully resolve in order for Jitte's trigger to go on the stack.

I contend that the latter is true.

[Obfuscate Freely]

People who don't doublecheck themselves should be banned from this forum.


310.4. Combat damage resolves as an object on the stack. When it resolves, it’s all dealt at once, as originally assigned. After combat damage finishes resolving, the active player gets priority.

310.4a Combat damage is dealt as it was originally assigned even if the creature dealing damage is no longer in play, its power has changed, or the creature receiving damage has left combat.

310.4b The source of the combat damage is the creature as it currently exists, or as it most recently existed if it is no longer in play.

310.4c If a creature that was supposed to receive combat damage is no longer in play or is no longer a creature, the damage assigned to it isn’t dealt.
The rule in bold is the most relevant to this situation. Basically, creatures cannot be dealt damage if they aren't in play (or aren't creatures any longer), even if damage was assigned to them and put onto the stack. Therefore, blocking with Legionnaire, putting damage on the stack, and then sacrificing the Legionnaire is a great way to prevent the Jitte from triggering and likely kill whatever it is equipped to.

Another thing of note regarding Jitte (and other similiar equipment) is that removing the equipped creature will also prevent it from triggering, even if damage is on the stack already. The assigned damage will still be dealt, as per rule 310.4a above, but Jitte will not trigger because it is no longer equipped to the source of that damage.

For example, imagine that you had a Jitte instead of your opponent, and that you equipped your Goblin Legionnaire and sent it into battle. Now, if the Boy Scout gets blocked by something with 2 power, you have to choose whether you want to sacrifice the Legionnaire for one of his built-in effects, or you want a couple of counters on Jitte. You can't have both because sacrificing the Goblin at any point before damage resolves will prevent Jitte from triggering.