Wildfire + Knight/Terravore

[Atwa]

I was wondering if a 2/2 Knight of the Reliquary or Terravore would survive a Wirlfire (or variation). I guess they do for the same reason a 2/3 Tarmogoyf can survive a Lightning Bolt, but I wasn't sure.

Thanks in advance!

[cdr]

State-based actions kill creatures that have lethal damage on them. State-based actions are checked after a spell fully resolves, just before the active player receives priority.

[Atwa]

So in small child talk, the Knight/Vore will have grown large enough to survive the damage (since Wildfire let's a player sacrifice 4 lands and deals 4 damage simultaniously) by the time STE are checked?

[Valtrix]

Yep! It's not really that the two happen simultaneously (You still do them in order, like for any spell). However, the check for if a creature would go to the graveyard only happens after the spell is done resolving. (This is the point when the state-based effects cdr mentioned are checked.) After the spell is resolved there is damage on the creatures, but they are also bigger because of the lands in the graveyard. It doesn't matter if they had "lethal damage" at some point during the spell, all that matters is the state after resolution. This is like your tarmogoyf example: Tarmogoyf might be a 2/3 with three damage on him during the spell, but when the spell is done resolving there is now a new card type in the yard which makes goyf large enough to survive.

[jrsthethird]

Yes, the lands are put into the graveyard as part of the resolution of the spell, so the P/T are adjusted before the game checks for lethal damage.

[Atwa]

Ok, thanks!

I was planning on building a Standard deck with the green Titan, Knight and the new 5 damage Wildfire, and a ruling like this would be pretty important for the deck to function properly.

But even if I'd try out a form of new age Terrageddon with the Knight and Devastating Dreams/Wildfire, this is pretty important to know. Zoo's and Merfolk's Reign have lasted too long for my taste.

This was all I needed to know.