Triggers Between Combat Stages

After both sides finish assigning damage, their combat damage is dealt simultaneously. The combat procedure then goes into Combat Cleanup; there is no normal Reaction window inserted between that damage and the lethal check.

Cleanup kills units with lethal damage. It records abilities that trigger when the card carrying them dies, before moving those cards to Trash, and keeps the necessary information from before the death. Those abilities wait to be processed; they do not interrupt cleanup halfway through. A replacement effect that sends the dying card somewhere other than Trash can remove its death trigger.

After lethal units are killed, Combat Cleanup heals all units. If defenders remain at the battlefield, surviving attackers there are Recalled to their controllers’ Bases. These are automatic combat steps, not optional choices.

Example - An attacking 4 Might unit and a defending 4 Might unit each are assigned 4 combat damage and prevent 1, taking 3. Both survive. Cleanup heals them, then Recalls the attacker because a defender remains. The defender is now alone, but this combat has No Result because the attacker was Recalled by this combat-cleanup step.

Resolve Chain items from combat damage and Combat Cleanup before determining the result. This includes eligible death abilities and effects triggered by damage. Their instructions can change which units are present when the result is checked.

Worked sequence - Combat damage kills the last defender while one attacker survives → cleanup completes → a death ability resolves and plays a unit at the dead defender’s Base → the result is checked. That Base unit is not at the contested battlefield, so it does not prevent the attacker’s win. If a legal intervening effect instead places a defender at that battlefield, recheck the result using that actual board; do not use the board as it looked just after damage.

At the result check, an attacker or defender normally wins if only that player has units remaining there. No Result applies when both or neither have units there, or attackers were Recalled during the specified cleanup step. If both sides remain, stage another Showdown and Combat.

Next, resolve effects from determining the result before establishing control. If no contest is staged there, establish control for the player with units remaining, or make an empty battlefield uncontrolled. The player taking control need not be the original challenger. Resolve control effects before combat ends; only then remove attacker/defender designations and expire this-combat effects.