“Okay, so my creature survived… why does it still look like it got hit by a bus?”
If you’ve ever stared at a 3/3 with two damage on it and wondered when it’s going to be “good as new,” you’re not alone. This is one of those early MTG questions that keeps coming up because the game looks like it has health bars, but it doesn’t. It has marked damage, toughness, and a very specific moment where the game quietly sweeps the battlefield and says, “alright, reset.”
Here’s the short version: creatures “heal” at the end of the turn, during the cleanup step. But that simple sentence hides a bunch of timing details that matter in real games—especially once you start playing with combat tricks, burn spells, and anything that says “until end of turn.”
The short answer: creatures heal in the cleanup step
In MTG, creatures don’t regenerate naturally mid-turn. Damage doesn’t disappear between phases. It doesn’t fade after combat. And it definitely doesn’t wash off because you said “pretty please.”
If a creature takes damage and survives, that damage stays marked on it until the turn ends. Then, in the cleanup step, the game removes all damage marked on permanents. That’s the “healing” moment most players mean.
So yes: your creature that survived combat will usually start the next turn fresh. But it has to make it to cleanup first.
Damage isn’t “lost toughness” (it’s a mark that sticks around)
A lot of confusion comes from thinking toughness works like hit points. It doesn’t.
When a 3/3 takes 2 damage, it doesn’t become a 3/1. It’s still a 3/3… it just has 2 damage marked on it.
That matters because other effects don’t “see” a wounded creature the way you might expect. A spell that gives -1/-1 doesn’t care that your creature is “basically at 1.” It changes toughness, and then the game checks whether the marked damage is now lethal.
That’s why chip damage matters so much. One point early, two points later, suddenly your creature is dead to a tiny ping before it can “heal.”
Where the healing happens in the turn structure
Magic’s turn has a lot of steps, but for this question you mainly care about the ending phase, which has two parts:
- End step (this is where many “at the beginning of the end step” triggers happen)
- Cleanup step (this is the quiet one)
The cleanup step is where the game does its housekeeping. Two big things happen here:
- Damage marked on permanents gets removed.
- “Until end of turn” and “this turn” effects end.
Most turns end with nobody doing anything in cleanup because players usually don’t get priority there. But the timing still matters because it explains why your creature stays vulnerable for the whole turn.
Translation: if your creature took damage in combat, it’s still wounded during second main phase, during your opponent’s end step shenanigans, and right up until cleanup.
Lethal damage doesn’t wait around (state-based actions clean up fast)
Now the other half of the story: if the damage is lethal, the creature dies long before cleanup.
Magic constantly checks “state-based actions.” One of those checks is basically:
“Does this creature have damage marked on it that’s greater than or equal to its toughness?”
If yes, it’s destroyed.
That happens right after combat damage, and after spells/abilities resolve—basically any time the game is about to hand priority to someone. So you don’t get a grace period where a creature can be “technically dead” but survive until the end of turn. If it’s lethal, it’s gone.
Quick example (classic combat math)
You attack with a 3/3. Opponent blocks with a 2/2.
- Your 3/3 deals 3 damage to the 2/2 → the 2/2 dies.
- The 2/2 deals 2 damage to your 3/3 → your creature survives with 2 damage marked.
That 2 damage stays marked for the rest of the turn. If nothing else happens, it clears in cleanup and your creature begins the next turn fresh.
But if your opponent has a 1-damage instant? Your “fine” 3/3 is suddenly not fine at all.
The gotchas that make people swear the rules are haunted
This is where the real misplays live.
“Until end of turn” buffs wear off at the same time damage clears
Let’s say your 2/2 gets +3/+3 until end of turn (so it’s a 5/5) and takes 4 damage.
- It survives during the turn because 4 damage isn’t lethal to a 5/5.
- In cleanup, the 4 marked damage is removed and the +3/+3 ends.
- Result: it’s a normal 2/2 again, alive and healthy.
This is one reason “end of turn” is a real finish line. Survive the turn and you often get a full reset.
Indestructible doesn’t prevent damage, it prevents dying to it
An indestructible creature can still take damage. It still gets damage marked. It just doesn’t get destroyed by lethal damage. So you can have an indestructible 5/5 sitting there with 12 damage marked on it, looking like it should be dead, and it’s… chilling.
Then cleanup happens and all that marked damage disappears anyway.
Infect and wither don’t “heal” the same way
Damage from infect and wither is dealt to creatures as -1/-1 counters. Those counters don’t vanish in cleanup. They stick until something removes them (or the creature leaves the battlefield).
So if you’re thinking “my creature will heal at end of turn,” that’s true for normal damage. It’s not true for a pile of -1/-1 counters.
Regeneration can remove damage (but it’s not automatic healing)
Regeneration replaces a “would be destroyed” event. It can save a creature from lethal damage and (importantly) it also clears damage marked on it as part of the process. That’s not the same thing as natural healing, but it’s another way damage can disappear before cleanup.
Practical play tips: how to use this without turning into a rules lawyer
You don’t need to memorize the rulebook. Just keep these ideas in your head:
- Wounded creatures are vulnerable all turn. If it took damage, it’s living on borrowed time until cleanup.
- One extra damage can matter more than it looks. A “harmless” ping after combat often isn’t harmless.
- Track marked damage when planning blocks. A creature that “survived” might still be dead to a follow-up spell.
- Don’t confuse damage with counters. Damage clears in cleanup. Counters usually don’t.
If you internalize that, you’ll stop losing creatures to the classic line: “end step, shock your guy.”
Conclusion: when do creatures heal in MTG?
Creatures “heal” in MTG during the cleanup step, at the very end of the turn. Until then, damage stays marked on them, which means they can die to even small follow-up damage before the turn ends. If damage becomes lethal at any point, state-based actions take the creature out immediately—no waiting, no mercy, no dramatic recovery montage.
Once you start seeing the turn as “everything is dangerous until cleanup,” combat math gets a lot clearer. Also, your creatures stop dying to that one last point of damage you “didn’t think mattered.” Funny how that works.
