[BigBobdd]

Thanks, so if I got you correctly, even if I kill the creature with an instant before it's usable in combat, any "enter the battlefield" abilities go into effect before the creature is placed in the graveyard?

Re: the trample, how do you mean the attacker decides how the damage is dealt? If the blocking creatures are enough to absorb the damage, there's no damage to decide, it just goes to the blocking creatures, right?