Short answer first, then the reasoning — that is how rules questions deserve to be answered, because you usually need this ruling in the mid...
Short answer first, then the reasoning — that is how rules questions deserve to be answered, because you usually need this ruling in the middle of a game.
The answer
In a combat phase with a first-strike or double-strike creature involved, there are two combat damage steps instead of one. In the first step, only creatures with first strike or double strike assign and deal damage. Then players receive priority — after damage has already happened — before the second step, in which creatures without first strike that survived, plus double-strike creatures again, deal their damage. The practical consequences are the ones that win games: a first-strike creature that deals lethal damage to its blocker kills it before the blocker can deal damage back, and the priority window between steps lets you cast an instant with full knowledge of who survived. A creature that gains first strike after the first step has passed, however, does not go back in time — it simply deals damage in the regular step like everyone else.
The cards involved, on their real text
Thalia, Heretic Cathar (mana cost {2}{W}; Legendary Creature — Human Soldier; 3/2; rarity: rare; most recent printing listed by Scryfall: Innistrad Remastered): First strike
Creatures and nonbasic lands your opponents control enter tapped.
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If this topic is on your bench, keep going with Precon Upgrade Guide: Ulalek, Fused Atrocity — What to Cut, What to Add, by Role — it covers the neighbouring decisions from a different angle, and the two pieces together give you a fuller picture than either one alone.
Keep reading
Keep reading: Precon Upgrade Guide: Ulalek, Fused Atrocity — What to Cut, What to Add, by Role and Isshin, Two Heavens as One Commander Guide: How the Deck Actually Wins.
Why this keeps coming up
Most rules confusion is really wording confusion: two game words that sound similar — destroy and exile, damage and life loss, target and choose — mean different things, and the difference is deliberate. When a ruling surprises you, read the exact words on the cards involved, in the order a judge would. Nine times out of ten, the text already contains the answer, which is why MTGBrew's guides quote oracle text instead of paraphrasing it from memory.
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