Is there a way to assign damage to multiple defenders?

Question

I have noticed that whenever the computer blocks with multiple defenders, the computer clearly decides which distribution of damage is most advantageous. It does not seem to matter what order I assign the defenders; no matter whether I assign them first, last, or in the middle, the damage will be assigned in such a way as to destroy my most important defender, leaving only the weakest defender if there isn't enough damage to destroy all of them.

Is there a way that I can assign the damage to defenders in a similar fashion, when I am attacking? Because right now it seems to default to the least beneficial distribution for me when there is not enough damage to destroy all defenders (i.e. the weakest defenders are killed first, in rather an opposite fashion to what happens when I'm the defender). Is this biased both ways in favor of the computer, or is there a way for me to enable further control?

Answer 1

In the normal tabletop card-game, if there are multiple creatures blocking one creature, it's the attacking-player who gets to choose what order to assign the damage.

In Magic 2012: DotP, when you are the attacker, by default the computer chooses an order for you (to keep the game "simple"). You can however change it so that you get to decide the order every time by going to Settings --> Advanced --> uncheck "Auto assign damage."

Answer 2

From the MTG wiki:

Once the attacking player declares attackers, the defending player chooses which creatures he or she will block with. A creature must be untapped in order for it to block. Unlike attacking, the act of blocking does not cause the blocking creatures to tap, and creatures with summoning sickness can block. Each creature can only block a single attacker(unless specifically indicated on the card, such as: Two-Headed Giant of Foriys), although multiple creatures can be used to block a single attacking creature. In this case, the attacker chooses the order of the blocking creatures. The ordering becomes relevant in the combat damage step.

Now how you actually do this in Duels of the Planeswalkers I don't remember, but you should get to choose the order of blocks when you're attacking and being blocked by multiple creatures

Also, I know this is not directly answering your question of how to do it in the game, but thought it could still be relevant.