<p>Damage does not modify toughness, so your creature will not become 3/1. It will remain a 3/4, but it will be marked with three damage. (Some video game versions of Magic show this as 3/1, but that is inaccurate.) That alone is not enough to kill it, so something is missing from your description. </p>

<ul>
<li>Maybe your creature was marked with damage earlier in the turn.</li>
<li>Maybe an effect enhancing your creature's toughness was removed.</li>
<li>Maybe the attacking creature had deathtouch.</li>
<li>etc</li>
</ul>

<p>A more detailed description of the scenario would allow us to give a more detailed answer.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-10-26T02:06:18.113Z
By 3/1 I mean during the combat phase, after that yes, the creature will remain a 3/4.
I will try to pay more attention next time, thank you very much for the answer.
Lesmitw
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-10-26T02:07:14.500Z
No, I stand by what I said. The creature is NEVER becomes 3/1 in the scenario you presented (because damage does NOT reduce toughness (wither/infect aside)). If Arena shows 3/1, it is lying to you. Furthermore, marked damage is removed at the end of the turn (Cleanup Step), not when the Combat Phase ends.
ikegami
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-10-26T02:22:00.207Z
I want to add that unfortunately Arena does display damage as a toughness decrease, like Magic Duels did. So, the most likely explanation here is that the 3/3 did have deathtouch, which would result in the 3/4 immediately dying.
murgatroid99
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-10-26T02:26:09.413Z
@murgatroid99, I did mention that, and another equally likely scenario: Say the creature was a Soldier, and their Aven Brigadier died from blocking a different attacker.
ikegami
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-10-26T02:26:57.750Z
Right, that would make sense too.
murgatroid99
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-10-26T02:42:51.907Z
My money is on deathtouch.  Was the attacking creature a [Nightveil Predator](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=452941) by any chance?
Arcanist Lupus
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-10-26T01:49:36.127Z
2018-10-26T02:18:25.127Z
2018-10-26T02:18:25.127Z
ikegami
<p>I found myself in a situation where my adversary attacked with a 3/3 creature and I blocked him with a 3/4, what happened later was that both creatures died.</p>

<p>Shouldn't my 3/4 creature be alive with 3/1? In other situations this was always the case and I didn't get confused.</p>

<p>To clarify, there was no instantaneous card activated and there was no active spell that could be used to improve the enemy's creature.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-10-26T15:59:57.003Z
From my time playing MTG arena, and seeing the decks and cards it gives, was their creature a zombie and they had Death Baron on the field also? That would mean your creature died because of deathtouch.
Andrew
<magic-the-gathering><mtg-arena>
3/4 creature versus a 3/3 creature, why would the 3/4 creature die?
Lesmitw
# 3/4 creature versus a 3/3 creature, why would the 3/4 creature die?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-10-26)

I found myself in a situation where my adversary attacked with a 3/3 creature and I blocked him with a 3/4, what happened later was that both creatures died.

Shouldn't my 3/4 creature be alive with 3/1? In other situations this was always the case and I didn't get confused.

To clarify, there was no instantaneous card activated and there was no active spell that could be used to improve the enemy's creature.

**Tags:** magic-the-gathering, mtg-arena

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: From my time playing MTG arena, and seeing the decks and cards it gives, was their creature a zombie and they had Death Baron on the field also? That would mean your creature died because of deathtouch.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2018-10-26. Score: 4

Damage does not modify toughness, so your creature will not become 3/1. It will remain a 3/4, but it will be marked with three damage. (Some video game versions of Magic show this as 3/1, but that is inaccurate.) That alone is not enough to kill it, so something is missing from your description.

* Maybe your creature was marked with damage earlier in the turn.
* Maybe an effect enhancing your creature's toughness was removed.
* Maybe the attacking creature had deathtouch.
* etc

A more detailed description of the scenario would allow us to give a more detailed answer.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: By 3/1 I mean during the combat phase, after that yes, the creature will remain a 3/4. I will try to pay more attention next time, thank you very much for the answer.  
> **username_2**: No, I stand by what I said. The creature is NEVER becomes 3/1 in the scenario you presented (because damage does NOT reduce toughness (wither/infect aside)). If Arena shows 3/1, it is lying to you. Furthermore, marked damage is removed at the end of the turn (Cleanup Step), not when the Combat Phase ends.  
> **username_3**: I want to add that unfortunately Arena does display damage as a toughness decrease, like Magic Duels did. So, the most likely explanation here is that the 3/3 did have deathtouch, which would result in the 3/4 immediately dying.  
> **username_2**: @username_3, I did mention that, and another equally likely scenario: Say the creature was a Soldier, and their Aven Brigadier died from blocking a different attacker.  
> **username_3**: Right, that would make sense too.  
> **username_4**: My money is on deathtouch.  Was the attacking creature a [Nightveil Predator](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=452941) by any chance?  

---

