I sent a question to Nate about moving damage from one unit to another, and if it's treated in the same way as assign or deal damage. The answer is:
Moving damage is not considered dealing or assigning damage (it is
considered moving), and damage moved from one unit to another does
bypass toughness.
Yeah someone else posted this a few weeks ago. Unfortunately this boards search function blows.
wouldnt have guessed this ruling...
Well moving damage certainly is not dealing combat damage, and is really not dealing non-combat damage either. There is nothing saying that it must be assigned and applied with the various action windows, moving damage should not logically be any different than moving power icons or resources. So while most of us never thought about what it is, we can tell what it isn't based on the rules we have. Not being affected by toughness is a direct result of it not being dealt damage, there is no application step, and no application means no window for a cancel.
I'm interested to see if anyone can find cards or combos that have become stronger with this clarification. Obviously Stubborn Refusal is better than a lot of people started saying it was once they found out that it only works on applied damage and not assigned damage so it couldn't save a unit who would die.
dormouse said:
Well moving damage certainly is not dealing combat damage, and is really not dealing non-combat damage either. There is nothing saying that it must be assigned and applied with the various action windows, moving damage should not logically be any different than moving power icons or resources. So while most of us never thought about what it is, we can tell what it isn't based on the rules we have. Not being affected by toughness is a direct result of it not being dealt damage, there is no application step, and no application means no window for a cancel.
The rules say nothing about what moving is or isn't.
Power icons or resources are never assigned and applied. So why shuld there be any correlation betwene if they get assigned and applied when moved and if damage gets assigned and applied when moved? (I think you are comparing apples to walruses here)
What i do find in the rules is: (Non Combat Damage)"Outside of combat, some card effects also deal damage to units or to a players capital." Deal seems to be a hidden keyword (like target). So only in cases of where the effects specifically says that, deal X damage, will the damage be assigned and applied (appart from combat damage).
Considering that was more or less the example and explanation given to me, I'm going to stick with it, but feel free to use whatever works for you. The important thing is playing it right, not whether or not we agree on examples.