Trample

Trample (Trample over Planeswalkers)
[[File:{{#setmainimage:mtga_trample.png}}|70x70px]]
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.)
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keyword:"Trample"

Trample is a keyword ability that changes the rules for assigning damage in the Combat Damage Step. An attacker with trample deals excess damage to the defending player, planeswalker or battle even if it is blocked. Trample is primary placed in green on the color wheel, but red's share has been growing over time. Any color is allowed access to trample if the creature is large enough and of a higher rarity.

History

Trample was introduced in Alpha. and is generally printed on creatures with high power, such as Crash of Rhinos, or creatures with the ability to increase their power, such as Keldon Battlewagon. It has also been printed on small creatures with no intrinsic ability to gain power, such as on Defiant Elf, but these are rare.

Trample was removed from the core set with the Sixth Edition. Later on, WotC introduced a vertical cycle of creatures known as "super tramplers" in the Starter 1999 starter-level set, which were all reprinted in Seventh Edition. Lone Wolf, Pride of Lions and Thorn Elemental each can do combat damage to defending players as though they weren't blocked. It is said that this ability was created because Wizards thought trample was too confusing, yet this new ability wasn't taken too well in its place. Consequently, Trample was brought back in Ninth Edition.

In a "Ask Wizards" column, Aaron Forsythe said about Trample:

“

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.

”

Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths introduced trample counters.

Reminder text

The Ninth Edition reminder text read: Trample (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.)

Starting with Magic Origins, it gained a new reminder text: Trample (This creature can deal excess combat damage to defending player or planeswalker while attacking.). There was no change to how trample worked, the reminder text was just changed for clarity and brevity.

In Unstable, the keyword featured on Super-Duper Death Ray (an instant direct damage spell) with a new adapted reminder text (This spell can deal excess damage to its target's controller.)

When Dominaria abandoned the Planeswalker redirection rule, the reminder text was changed to This creature can deal excess combat damage to the player or planeswalker it's attacking.

Excess damage and "spell trample"

The first attempt to introduce trample on a spell came with Liquid Fire, which by most accounts failed, and had to morph into its current unwieldy phrasing. In the silver-bordered set Unstable, Trample appeared for the first time on a non-creature spell (Super-Duper Death Ray) because, ostensibly, putting trample on spells was not possible to be parsed through the black-border rules and Design had conceded that it never would. Flame Spill was later printed in Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths essentially spelling out the reminder text of Super-Duper Death Ray - the phrase "excess damage" was deemed sufficiently clear enough for players that it has been introduced into more designs, with more outputs than mere damage:

• Flame Spill, Pigment Storm, and Gandalf’s Sanction are classic "trampling burn".
  • Ravenous Tyrannosaurus does so as an attack trigger. Megatron, Destructive Force converts excess damage on a creature to deal damage to that creature's controller. This has a distinct wording compared to normal "trampling burn" as it has a "convert Megatron" rider, which if phrased like the others would require an entirely new sentence.
• Ram Through and Windswift Slice are bite spells, so the creature is the source of the noncombat damage. Slice also creates Elf Warrior tokens equal to the excess damage.

The rest of the cards do not use a replacement effect for their excess damage effect. This is most relevant as they can stack effects, but the above trample spells would not qualify i.e. Flame Spill won't trigger Aegar or Toralf.

• Lacerate Flesh, Windswift Slice, Bottle-Cap Blast, Hell to Pay (X tokens), Nahiri's Warcrafting (X cards revealed), Molten Impact (X damage), Ravenous Pursuit (+X/+X), Mephit's Enthusiasm (+X/+0), Contest of Claws (Discover X), Overclocked Electromancer (X Energy), Unleash the Inferno and Brazen Boarding (mana value X) generate an X equal to the excess damage and uses it in another effect. Toralf, God of Fury (damage) and Fall of Cair Andros (Amass X) pay off any instances of excess damage, and Toralf's damage trigger can trigger off himself.
• Aegar, the Freezing Flame, Rith, Liberated Primeval and Magmatic Galleon do not trample in the traditional sense, instead, they reward the player for "overkilling" targets. This generates a binary condition where the excess damage number has no bearing on the effect; it is possible to trigger some of them with Trample by assigning one extra damage to a blocking creature. Ryu, World Warrior/Vikya, Scorching Stalwart, Maarika, Brutal Gladiator/Zangief, the Red Cyclone, Torch the Witness and Intruder's Inquisition use the same template with self-referential designs.

Rules

From the glossary of the Comprehensive Rules (June 7, 2024—Modern Horizons 3)

Trample

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

From the Comprehensive Rules (June 7, 2024—Modern Horizons 3)

• 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.

Trample over planeswalkers

From the glossary of the Comprehensive Rules (June 7, 2024—Modern Horizons 3)

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”

With Thrasta, Tempest's Roar, Modern Horizons 2 introduced the keyword "trample over planeswalkers", which allows an attacking creature to deal excess damage to a planeswalker's controller after attacking a planeswalker.

The reminder text for "trample over planeswalkers" is This creature can deal excess combat damage to the controller of the planeswalker it's attacking.

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.)

Enchantments that grant just Trample

One creature

• Primal Frenzy

All your creatures

• Primal Rage

See also

• Super trample
• Untrample
• en-Kor ability

External links

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