cryptspawn tormentor dying for real

[KanarVC]

Okay, so five minutes ago I was in a battle, when the opposite player attacked my cryptspawn tormenter with his knight of unaxio (never activated his ability) attached with a strenght of conviction just before (so a 5/5 hitting my 3/4), and healed at the beginning of the turn with a healing touch (He went from 1 to 5 health). Even though I had two harbinger of the lost in my graveyard the cryptspawn guy went directly in there, as is they did not exist (do note that it worked several time before in the same game).
I guess it is about the +2 attack given by the strenght of conviction not being taken as combat damage, and being applied after the actual ally's damages, but I could be wrong, as it is only the most logic solution I have seen. If you want I have some other explanations, but I think that this one should be the one.

[Dvsklown]

Combat damage kills the tormentor without triggering its ability, must be ability damage

[tman507]

Yes, like Dvsklown says, dying via combat damage will not set off Tormentor's return to hand effect, as its wording read "When Cryptspawn Tormentor is killed other than by combat damage...etc". Hitting it with a Fireball or a Mind Control for example would work though, must be through an ability or ability damage.

Another situation to watch out for where Tormentor won't return to hand despite having enough Undeads in your grave is if your hand already contains 7 cards. Because your hand can never contain more than 7 cards, a Tormentor dying via ability in this situation would also just go straight to the grave.