Ruling · 900.40
Zero-damage and dead-target activations
This rule is part of the Comprehensive Rules, where every cross-reference resolves in one page.
- Question
- What still happens when the hit does not land?
- Answer
- Post-damage effects still resolve. The damage step is skipped.
- 900.40aIf the computed damage is 0 or less, or the target died earlier in the same step, the base hit is skipped.
- 900.40bPost-damage effects still resolve against that target — including Cull, which will simply fail its threshold test against a dead unit.
- 900.40cEffects gated on "require hit" are the exception: they check whether a hit actually landed and are skipped.
- 900.40dA card's own self-buff clauses — a Focus gain, an Armor gain, a Shield — still resolve, unless the card gates them on the hit landing.
- 900.40eIf no living target existed at all when the activation started, the whole attack is skipped but immediate rune effects still resolve.