A good way to begin this guide is by explaining perhaps the most important combat mistakes that new players always make. After an image explaining the concepts, I will continue the guide in the form of a bullet list.

-Once an attacking creature's target has left the field, the attacker is exhausted and cannot retarget another creature. However, if the attacking creature leaves the field, the target can still block.

-An Unstoppable unit attacking a creature will not deal its leftover damage to the hero if the creature leaves the field because the whole attack is canceled.

-A creature with Murder Instinct attacking 2 creatures can have both attacks blocked by 1 creature. Or, If the original target leaves the field (like Cavalry field captain in the image below), the additional targets will not be attacked.


In this image you can see a good example of all three of these in action. The Library guards has Murder instinct allowing him to attack more than 1 target, as well as Unstoppable which allows his leftover damage to attack the hero. Now, since his first target is the Cavalry Field captain, if it retreats to the back row, all three attacks are canceled and the Guard is exhausted. Similarly, if Scoicarious here had another 3 speed blocker, he could prevent the attack against the Cavalry and the Dwarf with 1 single block. Remember also, if the library guards is instantly killed, say with a double flashfreeze, the Cavalry field captain and the Dwarf are both free to block other creatures.

-If two Brothers in Arms attacks a ranged unit and one of them gets killed, the second one will be removed before attacking the ranged unit.

-A shield will absorb as much damage from an attacker as would have been needed to kill the creature entirely (useful for determining double blocks/attacks)

-A deadly creature deals 1 damage to a creatures shield because that is the amount that would have been needed to kill the creature.

-A shielded creature with forcefield also in play will absorb with his shield counter first, and then the forcefield.

-Swift creatures can move from the support to the front row and attack immediately.

-If a ranged creature kills a creature with a Weakness token in combat, Bloodseeking Mutants gain a might emblem BEFORE the rest of combat, which can change how the battle plays out.

- Might and Weakness emblems cancel each other out. Therefore, a creature with 1 Might and 1 Weakness emblem each will not buff Bloodseeking Mutant when it dies.

- A creature with both Deadly and Lifebound only drains 1 life from each creature it deals damage to.

- When Ranged and non-Ranged creatures are attacking a non-Ranged target, the Ranged creature(s) will suffer the target's counterattack unless the Ranged damage was enough to kill the target.

-Dreyla can steal a creature after it has declared it's attack, because it is exhausted.

-When Fae of Charm makes an enemy creature attack while opponent has Guardian of the Faithful in play, the attacking creature does not count as one of the three needed to trigger Guardian's effect.

-When you attack with three creatures against Guardian of the Faithful and use Fae's ability to charm one of his creatures into attacking, all your creatures will be destroyed but NOT the charmed attacker.

-If your Fae of Charms takes a lifebound creature to attack its owner, you will gain the life.

-When Treant slows a creatures speed to 0, Fae of Charms can still use it to attack.

-Swiftblade Assassin ONLY needs to pay the upkeep cost if it ATTACKS or actively BLOCKS. If it GETS ATTACKED, it doesn't need to pay the cost.

-Disciple of Zash's with Murder Instinct / Deadly can instantly kill using his 1 damage fireball. He can also steal life if lifebound.

-You can't activate Summoner Druid's effect after playing Brothers in Arms, because the second Brothers in Arms counts as the second creature you played this turn.

-When Runelit Incarnate has a might emblem, it can't die to damage because damage only reduces its energy and it still has 1 HP with 0 energy.

-Runelit Incarnate doesn't die to deadly or freeze because it doesn't actually take damage, but loses energy instead.

-A buffed Militia will still have 2 speed even with Hands from Beyond giving it -1 speed due to the order of global effects. The same with Dwarven Spellbreaker if a spell is in play (including Sleep on him).

-A creature can have more than 1 shield.

-Creatures with Namir's Blessing cannot be targets, BUT the spells and artifacts on that creature CAN.

-A Lamp of Zaffir will hold onto the buffs given to it while in creature form even as it reverts back to lamp form.

-A creature with Sleep on it can still attack if it is given a speed buff. Sleep make the creatures speed value 0 and the Mantle of Winds / Cavalry Field captain buff adds +1 speed.

-basic Ne'eva's ability doesn't apply to summoned creatures. For example, the goblin that brings a buddy [Gibo and Roni]. The card played will gain swift, but not the summoned goblin.

-Summoned creatures will trigger Jungle Deathtrap

-Artifacts stack from left to right and Helm of Dominion overrides all previous Helms equipped. So if you Helm a creature, it gets Helmed again and you want it back, you have to destroy the MOST RECENT Helm which is the one on the FAR RIGHT because artifacts stack left to right even though you would expect them to stack from the creature outward*. If the creature is Triple Helmed, you have to destroy the MOST RECENT one and NOT the original. The most recent is the one on the FAR RIGHT. [special thanks to scoicarius for help in the experiment].

- Putting a creature under Ka'ainu counts as played, which makes the Spoiled Aristocrat able to attack.