Tapped blockers

[jazzykat]

I thought I knew the answer to these but...

1. When is the last chance in a turn to tap a blocker before your attacker can be considered blocked.

2. Does a tapped blocker deal damage?

[tyleredw]

I thought I knew the answer to these but...

1. When is the last chance in a turn to tap a blocker before your attacker can be considered blocked.

2. Does a tapped blocker deal damage?

I believe once both players pass priority to go to the declare blockers step of the attack phase, it's too late to try to tap a creature to prevent it from blocking.

As soon as blockers are declared at the beginning of the declare blockers step, the block is set. You can still do things before the damage step occurs, like tap the creature after the block has been declared, but the block still counts, and the creature still deals damage unless its removed from play somehow.

[on1y0ne]

Since Declaring blockers is the first thing that has to be done during the Declare Blockers step, there is no chance to respond or do anything until all blocks have been assigned. Thus, you would have to do it earlier.

During Combat, after Attackers have been declared, active player get priority then the non-active player gets priority. This is your last chance to tap a creature so that it cannot block. Once both players pass priority on an empty stack, the game proceeds to the next step.

Tapping a creature after it has been declared a blocker does not really do anything. Tapped blockers have been dealing combat damage for over a decade, when the Sixth Edition Rules update hit. Old School players may remember times when tapping a blocker prevented its combat damage, but those days are long gone....Like my sanity....