Turn Structure
When Does the Game Check Damage, Control and Winning?
Automatic checks handle lethal damage, winning and battlefield control before play continues. They are not an extra action to announce.
RiftPal explanation · Answer first
The short answer
When a spell or ability finishes, the game automatically checks its results before anyone can respond again. A unit with Lethal DamageMarked damage sufficient to kill a unit in cleanup. Normally it must be a nonzero amount at least equal to the unit's Might. Effects can change the amount needed.View in Glossary dies at that check: you cannot wait for the spell to finish and then squeeze in a healing ReactionA timing keyword that includes Action's permissions and also permits a card or activated ability while a Chain is waiting. You still need the proper opportunity, normally Priority; it does not allow an interruption halfway through resolution.View in Glossary to save it.
These automatic checks are called CleanupAn automatic rules check that handles winning, lethal damage and board conditions before play continues. It is not an action you choose or normally announce, and an ordinary check does not heal units.View in Glossary . They also check winning and battlefield control. Cleanup is not a phase or an action you choose or normally announce.
An ordinary check does not heal surviving units.
RiftPal explanation
How it works
Damage: normally, a unit dies when it has a nonzero amount of damage at least equal to its MightMight represents both how much Combat Damage a unit can contribute and how much marked Damage it can normally take before being killed.View in Glossary . A 0 Might unit with no damage does not die just for having 0 Might. Effects can change how much damage is lethal.
Winning: the automatic check looks for a winner first. At or above the game's Victory Score, you win only if you have more points than every opponent. A tie at that score does not win through this check.
Control: losing your last unit at a battlefield does not always mean losing control immediately. The control check waits until the ChainAn off-board zone that holds cards and abilities during the process of playing them. Cards and abilities on it are public information.View in Glossary is empty, with no ShowdownA Showdown is a structured opportunity for players to act when a Battlefield is contested.View in Glossary or Combat ongoing there. Those contests settle control through their own ending steps.
Healing: ordinary checks leave nonlethal damage marked. Combat and end-of-turn checks heal units, but only after lethally damaged units have died. An effect can also instruct you to heal.
Checks also happen after relevant changes such as moves. They wait for a resolving spell or ability to finish; they do not interrupt its instructions halfway through.
In practice
Example
Card example
Noxus Hopeful
Example 1 - Lethal damage after a spell
A 4 MightMight represents both how much Combat Damage a unit can contribute and how much marked Damage it can normally take before being killed.View in Glossary unit has no damage. A spell deals it 4 damage, with no other effects changing the result:
Spell finishes → automatic check sees Lethal DamageMarked damage sufficient to kill a unit in cleanup. Normally it must be a nonzero amount at least equal to the unit's Might. Effects can change the amount needed.View in Glossary → the unit dies.
A healing ReactionA timing keyword that includes Action's permissions and also permits a card or activated ability while a Chain is waiting. You still need the proper opportunity, normally Priority; it does not allow an interruption halfway through resolution.View in Glossary would need an earlier legal opportunity; there is no response window between that finished spell and the unit dying.
Example 2 - Damage below lethal
A different 4 Might unit has only 2 damage after a spell. It survives the automatic check with that damage still marked. The check does not heal it.
Unit
Noxus Hopeful
[Legion] — I cost [Energy 2] less. (Get the effect if you've played another card this turn.)