quick damage calculation question.

[SH1F722]

so, me and a couple buddies were playing a match and we came across a problem. i put out spitemare, http://magiccards.info/autocard.php?card=Spitemare| and i gave an example to my friend on how the ability would work. i told him if spitemare was dealt for example 6 damage, i can then have 6 damage dealt back to either him or a creature he controls. now, he thinks that if he attacks with a creature with power 6 and i block with spitemare, i can only deal 3 damage back to him because his creature only deals enough damage to kill mine. so does his creature deal the full 6 even though spitemares toughness is only 3, or does it only deal up to lethal damage? just need to settle this argument. thanks in advance.

[Ian]

As long as Spitmare is in play when the damage resolves, the Spitemare will take six damage, triggering its ability. Then you would check state based effects and send Spitemare to the graveyard due to having taken lethal damage. However, his ability had already triggered, so once state based effects are done you would put his triggered ability on the stack (choosing the target at this time) and players would get the chance to respond like normal. The stack would then resolve like normal and Spitemare's ability would do the six damage to the selected target.

[SH1F722]

alright, thanks for clearing that up!!