Blocker Killed Prior to Damage step
I declared a 5/4 attacker against a planeswalker, the opponent declared a 2/2 blocker, I used elsewhere to deal 3 damage and exile before the damage stage, and no damage was dealt to the planes walker despite it having had no blocker.
-
Rezzahan#77802 commented
Removing blockers does not get an attacker through, they do not become unblocked. Once blocked they stay blocked until they are removed from combat or the combat phase ends, whichever comes first. They just end up as blocked attackers with no blockers, so they do not even get to deal combat damage (could matter for lifelink).
To get through when blocked, an attacker has to have trample or a similar ability allowing for that.
509.1h An attacking creature with one or more creatures declared as blockers for it becomes a
blocked creature; one with no creatures declared as blockers for it becomes an unblocked
creature. This remains unchanged until the creature is removed from combat, an effect says that
it becomes blocked or unblocked, or the combat phase ends, whichever comes first. A creature
remains blocked even if all the creatures blocking it are removed from combat.510.1c A blocked creature assigns its combat damage to the creatures blocking it. If no creatures are
currently blocking it (if, for example, they were destroyed or removed from combat), it assigns
no combat damage. If exactly one creature is blocking it, it assigns all its combat damage to that
creature. If two or more creatures are blocking it, it assigns its combat damage to those creatures
according to the damage assignment order announced for it. This may allow the blocked
creature to divide its combat damage. However, it can’t assign combat damage to a creature
that’s blocking it unless, when combat damage assignments are complete, each creature that
precedes that blocking creature in its order is assigned lethal damage. When checking for
assigned lethal damage, take into account damage already marked on the creature and damage
from other creatures that’s being assigned during the same combat damage step, but not any
abilities or effects that might change the amount of damage that’s actually dealt. An amount of
damage that’s greater than a creature’s lethal damage may be assigned to it.