Trample

[["Keyword Ability",[{"data":"[[Static ability|Static]]","label":"Type"},{"data":"''[[Alpha]]''","label":"Introduced"},{"data":"''[[Evergreen]]''","label":"Last used"},{"data":"Trample ''(This creature can deal excess combat damage to a player, planeswalker or battle it's attacking.)'' Trample over planeswalkers ''(This creature can deal excess combat damage to the controller of the planeswalker it's attacking.)''","label":"Reminder Text"}]],["Scryfall Search",[{"data":"[https://scryfall.com/search?q=keyword%3A%22Trample%22 keyword:\"Trample\"]"}]]]

Trample (Trample over Planeswalkers)
Keyword Ability
Type	Static
Introduced	Alpha
Last used	Evergreen
Reminder Text	Trample (This creature can deal excess combat damage to a player, planeswalker or battle it's attacking.) Trample over planeswalkers (This creature can deal excess combat damage to the controller of the planeswalker it's attacking.)
Scryfall Search
keyword:"Trample"

Trample is a keyword ability that changes the rules for assigning combat damage. Under normal circumstances, an attacking creature can only deal combat damage to the creatures blocking it. However, if the attacking creature has trample, and has more than enough power to deal lethal damage to all of its blockers, the excess damage can "trample over" and deal damage to the defending player, planeswalker, or battle.

Trample has a notable interaction with deathtouch: if an attacking creature has both keywords, it can deal lethal damage by assigning only a single point of damage to each blocker. This can leave a large portion of the attacker's damage available to assign to the defending player or permanent.

Development

Trample is usually found on creatures with high power, such as Ghalta, Primal Hunger, or creatures with the ability to increase their power, such as Wildheart Invoker. The keyword is primary in green and secondary in red. Any color is allowed access to trample if the creature is large enough and of a higher rarity. Both green and red have used trample counters, introduced in Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths.

Trample is one of the first keywords, printed on five cards in Alpha. Due to its perceived complexity, it was removed from core sets from Sixth Edition through Eighth Edition, before returning in Ninth Edition. During trample's absence, a vertical cycle of "super tramplers" was printed in Starter 1999, but that ability also proved difficult for new players. In an "Ask Wizards" column, Aaron Forsythe explained the decision to restore trample to introductory products.

“

Three things combined to get trample back in the Core Set with Ninth Edition. One, newer players were running into trample in expert-level sets and not knowing how it worked. Most keywords without reminder text in black-bordered sets (flying, swampwalk, first strike, etc.) are clearly explained in the Core Set. But trample (and protection) were not, meaning the first time players saw it, they were clueless. Two, our replacement for trample (the Thorn Elemental ability) was not particularly easy to understand either. Three, our rules people came up with good reminder text for the mechanic, allowing it to exist happily in the Core Set. We're not trying to dumb the game down. In fact, we want the Core Set to be a teaching tool, which means we want it to cover as much ground as realistically possible, which is why we worked so hard for a way to get trample (and protection and equipment) into Ninth Edition.

”

History of reminder text

Prior to Ninth Edition, trample did not have reminder text. Its reminder text has since been updated intermittently. In Magic 2010, it was expanded to include reference to planeswalkers, and then it was shortened for clarity in Magic Origins. It was most recently updated in Dominaria, due to the removal of the planeswalker redirection rule.

Ninth Edition:

If this creature would assign enough damage to its blockers to destroy them, you may have it assign the rest of its damage to defending player or planeswalker.

Tenth Edition:

If this creature would deal enough damage to its blockers to destroy them, you may have it deal the rest of its damage to defending player or planeswalker.

Magic Origins:

This creature can deal excess combat damage to defending player or planeswalker while attacking.

Dominaria:

This creature can deal excess combat damage to the player or planeswalker it's attacking.

Spell trample

Many burn spells have been designed that attempt to realize a "spell trample" ability. One of the earliest, Liquid Fire, now has Oracle text much longer than its original printing.

The silver-bordered set Unstable included a burn spell with trample, Super-Duper Death Ray. At the time, its designer felt that it was unlikely that the Comprehensive Rules would be updated to support trample on spells, but the acorn environment allows for cards that do not strictly work within the rules. Trample has still not been printed on a black-bordered instant or sorcery, and there is no spell trample keyword.

The most recent approximation of spell trample is the rules text phrase "excess damage". Excess damage had previously been described in reminder text, but did not formally exist in the Comprehensive Rules until Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths, which included the card Flame Spill. Many cards since Ikoria reference excess damage for a variety of effects. Some cards, such as Goblin Negotiation, scale with the amount of excess damage, while others like Rith, Liberated Primeval simply track whether excess damage has occurred.

Trample over planeswalkers

Trample over planeswalkers is a variant of the trample keyword. Where ordinary trample allows for reassigning excess damage after accounting for blocking creatures, trample over planeswalkers allows for reassigning damage above a defending planeswalker's loyalty. It does not include the usual effects of trample, but the sole card with trample over planeswalkers, Modern Horizons 2's Thrasta, Tempest's Roar, has both keywords. The reminder text for trample over planeswalkers is This creature can deal excess combat damage to the controller of the planeswalker it's attacking.

Rules

From the glossary of the Comprehensive Rules (April 4, 2025—Tarkir: Dragonstorm)

Trample

A keyword ability that modifies how a creature assigns combat damage. See rule 702.19, “Trample.”

From the Comprehensive Rules (April 4, 2025—Tarkir: Dragonstorm)

• 702.19. Trample
  • 702.19a Trample is a static ability that modifies the rules for assigning an attacking creature’s combat damage. The ability has no effect when a creature with trample is blocking or is dealing noncombat damage. (See rule 510, “Combat Damage Step.”)
  • 702.19b The controller of an attacking creature with trample first assigns damage to the creature(s) blocking it. Once all those blocking creatures are assigned lethal damage, any excess damage is assigned as its controller chooses among those blocking creatures and the player, planeswalker, or battle the creature is attacking. When checking for assigned lethal damage, take into account damage already marked on the creature and damage from other creatures that’s being assigned during the same combat damage step, but not any abilities or effects that might change the amount of damage that’s actually dealt. The attacking creature’s controller need not assign lethal damage to all those blocking creatures but in that case can’t assign any damage to the player or planeswalker it’s attacking.

    Example: A 2/2 creature that can block an additional creature blocks two attackers: a 1/1 with no abilities and a 3/3 with trample. The active player could assign 1 damage from the first attacker and 1 damage from the second to the blocking creature, and 2 damage to the defending player from the creature with trample.

    Example: A 6/6 green creature with trample is blocked by a 2/2 creature with protection from green. The attacking creature’s controller must assign at least 2 damage to the blocker, even though that damage will be prevented by the blocker’s protection ability. The attacking creature’s controller can divide the rest of the damage as they choose between the blocking creature and the defending player.

  • 702.19c Trample over planeswalkers is a variant of trample that modifies the rules for assigning combat damage to planeswalkers. The controller of a creature with trample over planeswalkers assigns that creature’s combat damage as described in rule 702.19b, with one exception. If that creature is attacking a planeswalker, after lethal damage is assigned to all blocking creatures and damage at least equal to the loyalty of the planeswalker the creature is attacking is assigned to that planeswalker, further excess damage may be assigned as the attacking creature’s controller chooses among those blocking creatures, that planeswalker, and that planeswalker’s controller. When checking for assigned damage equal to a planeswalker’s loyalty, take into account damage from other creatures that’s being assigned during the same combat damage step, but not any abilities or effects that might change the amount of damage that’s actually dealt.

    Example: A player controls a planeswalker with three loyalty counters that is being attacked by a 1/1 with no abilities and a 7/7 with trample over planeswalkers. The active player could assign 1 damage from the first attacker and 2 damage from the second to the planeswalker and 5 damage to the defending player from the creature with trample over planeswalkers.

  • 702.19d If an attacking creature with trample or trample over planeswalkers is blocked, but there are no creatures blocking it when damage is assigned, its damage is assigned to the defending player and/or planeswalker as though all blocking creatures have been assigned lethal damage.
  • 702.19e If a creature with trample over planeswalkers is attacking a planeswalker and that planeswalker is removed from combat, the creature’s damage may be assigned to the defending player once all blocking creatures have been dealt lethal damage or, if there are no blocking creatures when damage is assigned, all its damage is assigned to the defending player. This is an exception to rule 506.4c, and it does not cause the creature to be attacking that player.
  • 702.19f If a creature without trample over planeswalkers is attacking a planeswalker, none of its combat damage can be assigned to the defending player, even if that planeswalker has been removed from combat or the damage the attacking creature could assign is greater than the planeswalker’s loyalty.
  • 702.19g Multiple instances of trample on the same creature are redundant. Multiple instances of trample over planeswalkers on the same creature are redundant.

From the glossary of the Comprehensive Rules (April 4, 2025—Tarkir: Dragonstorm)

Trample Over Planeswalkers

A variant of trample that modifies how a creature assigns combat damage if it’s attacking a planeswalker. See rule 702.19, “Trample”

Rulings

• If a creature with both Deathtouch and trample is blocked by one or more creatures, assigning 1 damage each to the blockers (and the rest to the initial target, being player or Planeswalker, regardless of their toughness or previous damage), is considered a legal way to assign the damage. However, if the attacking player desires, the attacking player may distribute excess damage any other way they see fit.

Examples

Example

Stampeding Rhino
Creature — Rhino
4/4
Trample (This creature can deal excess combat damage to the player or planeswalker it's attacking.)

See also

• Super trample
• en-Kor ability

External links

• A Planeswalker's Primer for Magic 2010: Trample (Video). Magic: The Gathering. YouTube.