End of Fight Lifelink Issue

Spangles

Has anyone else noticed that if a creature that has Lifelink attacks and defeats an enemy, the health that would normally be restored doesn't get added and you then have to wait or heal your planeswalker?

Example: my PW has 40 / 50 health, enemy has 6/50 health. My creature has Lifelink and attacks for 7.
enemy PW is killed, but my health doesn't increase to 47 / 50.

Mburn7

Spangles said:

Has anyone else noticed that if a creature that has Lifelink attacks and defeats an enemy, the health that would normally be restored doesn't get added and you then have to wait or heal your planeswalker?

Example: my PW has 40 / 50 health, enemy has 6/50 health. My creature has Lifelink and attacks for 7.
enemy PW is killed, but my health doesn't increase to 47 / 50.

Once lethal damage is dealt to a Planeswalker, the match ends.  Any additional effects do not trigger, including gaining life from lifelink.

DragonSorcerer

The same is true with trampling thru for a win, the creature killed does not register as a kill for secondary bonuses. V annoying.

FindingHeart8

Yeaah, the end of fight glitch you mention has cost me a good many "Kill X creatures," objectives

Mburn7

FindingHeart8 said:

Yeaah, the end of fight glitch you mention has cost me a good many "Kill X creatures," objectives

Its not actually a glitch, that's the way it is supposed to work (works the same in paper, too).

That being said, it is really annoying when you can't get the last kill because of trample winning you the game

Tombstone

As Mburn7 noted previously, as soon as the final blow is dealt to the opponent the match ends and no additional effects will trigger. This is by design. 

Tilwin90

Mburn7 said:

Spangles said:

Has anyone else noticed that if a creature that has Lifelink attacks and defeats an enemy, the health that would normally be restored doesn't get added and you then have to wait or heal your planeswalker?

Example: my PW has 40 / 50 health, enemy has 6/50 health. My creature has Lifelink and attacks for 7.
enemy PW is killed, but my health doesn't increase to 47 / 50.

Once lethal damage is dealt to a Planeswalker, the match ends.  Any additional effects do not trigger, including gaining life from lifelink.

Except in paper magic here is how it works:
- All combat damage is dealt by all creatures.
   -- Damage and lifegain both "happen" at the same time. Lifelink is not a triggered ability.
- Then state-based actions are checked.
    -- Since your opponent has 0 or less life, that players loses the game.
    -- Assuming there are no other opponents, you or your team win the game.

But then again, MTGPQ does not have clear rules (for both the players and the developers), so there's no surprise these things are based on hunches and non-cohesive affirmations.

Mburn7

Tilwin90 said:

Mburn7 said:

Spangles said:

Has anyone else noticed that if a creature that has Lifelink attacks and defeats an enemy, the health that would normally be restored doesn't get added and you then have to wait or heal your planeswalker?

Example: my PW has 40 / 50 health, enemy has 6/50 health. My creature has Lifelink and attacks for 7.
enemy PW is killed, but my health doesn't increase to 47 / 50.

Once lethal damage is dealt to a Planeswalker, the match ends.  Any additional effects do not trigger, including gaining life from lifelink.

But then again, MTGPQ does not have clear rules (for both the players and the developers), so there's no surprise these things are based on hunches and non-cohesive affirmations.

Normally I would agree with you there, but the logic behind this one is pretty sound.

The reason the match instantly ends when someone hits 0 HP is to prevent funky interactions or ties.  What if you have something where "when one of your creatures dies, you gain life equal to its _" (there's a legacy card that does just that, I just can't remember all the details"  In that case do you survive the turn (since you gain health after damage is dealt, so you will have more than 0) or not?  With the current code, you correctly would lose the game, since you hit 0 HP and the match instantly ended.  If creatures were allowed to die or lifelink and other abilities were allowed to trigger, there could be issues.

Tilwin90

In paper magic ties are actually allowed precisely because of how state-based actions are checked. One actually occurred during my very first draft due to a Duskmantle Seer leading to both me and my opponent going down to 0 life. And indeed, that would be awkward in MTGPQ.

But in the example presented above, please notice the difference between checking state based actions and triggers. Your situation would happen as follow even in paper magic:
0) Let's assume you are at 5 life and are attacked by a 15/15 trample, berserker creature. 
1) It slams into a 7/3 lifelinker, deathtouch that has "When this creature dies, you gain 20 life".
2) All combat damage is dealt, resulting into:
   - 3 damage slammed into the lifelinker, 12 into the player
   - lifelinker simultaneously deals 7 damage which leads to a gain of life of 7.
   -  it also subsequently marks the damage as lethal on the trampler.
    Doing the math: 5-12+7=0 (that's exactly lethal)

3) Next, state-based actions are checked (simultaneously, so the order here really doesn't matter)
    - Your 3/3 lifelinker was dealt lethal damage (is at 0 toughness), so it goes into the graveyard. This does trigger the "gain 20 life" on death ability, but it won't resolve yet.
    - Your opponent's trampler was dealt lethal damage too (due to deathtouch), so it also goes into the graveyard.
    - You are at 0 life, so you have lost the game.

How you code all this? Well imho you properly implement state-based actions. Then you no longer have to worry about all the situations since you follow a clear set of rules.