Magic The Gathering Question: Can Stuffy Doll use his ability at the end of my turn?

Question

I'm rather new to MTG and I am wondering is this is legal. If the guy I am playing has Stuffy Doll out in play untapped and it is the end of my turn can he then tap his Stuffy Doll right before my turn is over, activate the Stuffy Doll ability to give 1 damage to itself thus giving me one damage, then it is his turn and he untaps Stuffy Doll.

The reason this seems questionable is that I can't figure out a way to get around it unless I have an enchantment that reduces his toughness to 0 or less. The way he does it allows him to use Stuffy Doll as a blocker so that if I attack with 2 creatures a 3/1 and a 5/3 he can always block my 5/3, give me 5 damage and then tap the Stuffy Doll at the end of my turn for an additional 1 point of damage.

If this is legal then what are some good ideas to deal with this?

Answer 1

Depends on how it goes.

If the opponent played the doll last turn, and waited till the end of your turn before tapping it, then it is illegal. The doll still has summoning sickness. (Creatures without haste can't be tapped or untapped for one turn cycle. This lasts until the player's Next upkeep, which is the step before the draw step.)

However, if the sickness has already passed, then the actuion is perfectly legal.

Yes. you are right. A creature that is industructable can still be destroyed if its toughness is less than 0. It can't be destroyed any other way. Combat damage doesn't do anything; destroy effects doens't affect it. The only way to remove it is to remove it from the game, bounce it back into a hand, shuffle it into a library, or make its toughness less than zero.

Now you see why Stuffy Doll is a rare and costs a whopping 5 to play. It is a very good card, if you can use it properly.

hope that helped!

Answer 2

Yup, he can do that, tap effects are instant speed. It's hard to get rid of indestructible creatures unless you have for planned it. I'd keep some cards like Ichor Slick sideboarded, and when you play a deck with indestructible guys, use 'em. Or you could just get some cloaks for unblockablility (Whispersilk, Mists, etc.).