Evasion ability

From MTG Salvation Wiki

An evasion ability is an ability of a creature that improves its chances of damaging the defending player by restricting which creatures can block it. The ultimate example is "This creature is unblockable" (e.g. Tidal Kraken), but there are several other evasion abilities:

• Flying (Can only be blocked by other creatures with flying or reach) e.g. Wild Griffin.
• Fear (Can only be blocked by Black/Artifact creatures) e.g. Gluttonous Zombie.
• Intimidate (Can't be blocked except by aftifact creatures and/or creatures that share a color with it) e.g. Bladetusk Boar.
• Horsemanship (Can only be blocked by other creatures with Horsemanship) e.g. Lu-Bu, Master-at-Arms
• Shadow (Can only block or be blocked by other creatures with Shadow) e.g. Soltari Priest.
• Landwalk (Is completely unblockable if defending player controls a land with this property.) e.g. Rushwood Dryad.
• Protection (Cannot be blocked by creatures with this quality) e.g. Paladin en-Vec.
• Specific 'Cannot be blocked by' clauses. e.g. Sacred Knight, Vindictive Mob.

Some abilities act as pseudo-evasion abilities, not affecting how creatures block but instead affecting how combat damage can be assigned.

• Trample (Allows excess combat damage to be dealt to the defending player) e.g. Force of Nature.
• Specific damage reassignment. e.g. Nomads en-Kor, Thorn Elemental.

From the Comprehensive Rules 500.3a An evasion ability is an ability an attacking creature has that restricts what can block it. Evasion abilities are static abilities that modify the declare blockers step of the combat phase. If a creature gains or loses an evasion ability after a legal block has been declared, it doesn’t affect that block. Evasion abilities are cumulative. Example: A creature with flying and shadow can’t be blocked by a creature with flying but without shadow.