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Moxonomy

Defensive Formation

EnchantmentWhite mana

The damage-assignment rules are the rarely-touched substrate of combat, and few cards reach in and rewire who controls them. Normally the attacking player decides how an attacker's damage is divided among multiple blockers; the defender just declares blocks and absorbs the result. Flip that control to the defending player and the math of multi-blocking inverts. You can throw two small creatures in front of a single attacker and put none of its damage on the one you care about saving, or pile all of it onto a single chump while the rest of your wall survives untouched. Gang-blocking stops being a sacrifice and becomes a precision instrument: the defender, not the attacker, decides which blocker eats the blow and which walk away. Against a creature with a damage-dependent trip wire (anything that wants to deal a certain amount to a certain target), seizing assignment control can defang it entirely. The limit baked in is that it only operates while you are the one being attacked, on the opponent's turn; it does nothing to govern your own attacks, which keeps it a wall-and-grind tool rather than an offensive engine. This is pure rules-text manipulation, an effect that lies dormant until two creatures meet in combat and then quietly hands you the most consequential decision of the step.

Defensive Formation (usg)
USG · #9uncommon
Pricing
Normal: $0.56
Foil:
Oracle Text

Rules text

Rather than the attacking player, you assign the combat damage of each creature attacking you. You can divide that creature's combat damage as you choose among any of the creatures blocking it.
Legalities

Format Status

Standard
N/A
Pioneer
N/A
Modern
N/A
Legacy
Legal
Vintage
Legal
Commander
Legal
Pauper
N/A
Brawl
N/A
Historic
N/A
Alchemy
N/A
Timeless
N/A
Standard Brawl
N/A
More formats
Old School
N/A
Premodern
Legal
PreDH
Legal
Pauper Commander
N/A
Oathbreaker
Legal
Gladiator
N/A
Penny Dreadful
N/A
Duel Commander
Legal
Future Standard
N/A
COMPETITIVEBRAWL
N/A
TLR
Legal
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