Riftbound Frequently Asked Questions

Ruling: The unit must be 2 Might or less at the time Blood Money is played for it to be a legal target. You cannot play Blood Money on a 3 Might unit and then chain Stupefy. Sequence: - Play Stupefy first to reduce the unit's Might - After Stupefy resolves, play Blood Money on the now-legal target (2 Might or less) Nuances: - A card must have a legal target at the time it is played, not after other effects resolve

Ruling: Yes, you can play Call to Glory with no runes available for energy if you spend a buff. Additional costs and base costs are calculated together when determining cost and paid at the same moment. Sequence: - Calculate total cost (either 3 energy OR 1 buff) - Pay the chosen cost at the same moment Nuances: - You do not need to have 3 runes available if you are paying with the buff instead

Ruling: Yes, you can play Carnivorous Snapvine on your turn and respond to its trigger ability with En Garde and Discipline to boost it. Sequence: - Play Snapvine - Its trigger goes on the chain - Hold priority and cast En Garde - Hold priority and cast Discipline

Ruling: You can play Catalyst of Aeons at 12 runes and still get the draw effect. However, it is optimal to float energy/power from a rune first, then play Catalyst - you still get the draw and get your rune back. Sequence: - Float energy/power from a rune (going to 11 runes) - Play Catalyst of Aeons - Channel 1 rune back and draw a card Nuances: - Playing Catalyst at 12 runes works, but you miss out on the floating benefit since you cannot channel back above 12 runes

Ruling: Yes, you can play Cemetery Attendant even if you have no units in your trash. The unit itself will be played successfully, but his triggered ability simply won't be able to be put on the chain. Nuances: - You do not need a valid target for the triggered ability in order to play the unit - The triggered ability happens after the unit is played

Ruling: No, you cannot play Challenge in response to Get Excited because Challenge is an Action and cannot be played in response to other cards. Sequence: - As the player initiating the showdown, you have priority first - You could play Challenge at that point before your opponent acts - Once your opponent plays Get Excited, you cannot respond with Challenge

Ruling: You cannot play Challenge in reaction to Sky Splitter because Challenge is an action speed spell, not a reaction. You can only play reactions when the Chain is populated. Nuances: - Action speed spells cannot be played as reactions to other effects

Ruling: Yes, you can play Champion units in your deck even if they don't share the same champion tag as your Champion Legend, as long as they conform to normal domain identity rules. Nuances: - Your Chosen Champion (the one in the Champion Zone) must have the same champion tag as your Champion Legend - Champion units played normally in the deck are not subject to this same-champion-tag restriction - Currently there are no Champion units with multiple champion tags or other unusual tag configurations

Ruling: No, you cannot play Charm during a Showdown because it is neither an Action nor a Reaction. Nuances: - Only Actions and Reactions can be played during Showdowns - Charm is classified as a normal spell that is neither an Action nor a Reaction

Ruling: Yes, you can play Chinese legend cards and Chinese runes in an otherwise English deck. Nuances: - You must use all runes in the same language - you cannot mix Chinese and English runes together - The champion must remain in English per the rules - It is recommended to have a proxy of the legend available for opponents unfamiliar with the card

Ruling: No, you cannot play Cleave to save your unit in this situation for two reasons: (1) Actions cannot be played if a chain exists (Void Seeker creates a chain), and (2) even if you could play it, Cleave does nothing in an open showdown because Assault only applies during combat. Sequence: - Unit moves to open battlefield (triggers showdown) - Opponent plays Void Seeker (creates a chain) - No actions can be played while chain exists - Chain resolves Nuances: - There are two types of showdowns: open battlefield showdowns (unit enters empty battlefield it doesn't control) and combat showdowns (unit enters controlled battlefield it doesn't control) - Combat effects like Assault only apply during combat showdowns, not open battlefield showdowns - Actions can only be played during a showdown if the chain is empty and you have focus

Ruling: No, you cannot play Cruel Patron if you have no units to sacrifice. The additional cost must be paid. Nuances: - You can still choose to banish Cruel Patron even if you cannot afford to play it - If banished but unplayable due to the unpayable cost, it remains banished

Ruling: You cannot play Cruel Patron to a battlefield if paying the Patron's cost kills the only unit there. You lose control when paying the cost, which makes it an illegal play and causes you to take it back. Sequence: - You pay the Patron's cost - This kills the only unit on the battlefield - You lose control of the battlefield immediately - The play becomes illegal and must be taken back Nuances: - You lose control of a battlefield immediately unless you're in combat showdown

Ruling: No, you cannot play Cruel Patron to a battlefield where killing the required unit would cause you to lose control of that battlefield. Sequence: - First, you choose where to play Cruel Patron - Then, you pay costs (including killing a friendly unit) - You cannot pay costs that will result in illegal choices later in the process Nuances: - If you control multiple units at the chosen battlefield, you can kill one of them since you would still control the battlefield afterward - This restriction only applies when you have other legal choices available

Ruling: Yes, you can play Cull of the Weak even if no one controls any units, or if only one player has units. Nuances: - Cull of the Weak doesn't target or choose units, which is why it can be played regardless of the board state - This interaction is intentional design

Ruling: Yes, you can play Cull the Weak even if you have no units. Sequence: - Cull the Weak is played and finalized onto the chain without requiring a valid unit at that time - On resolution, both players choose units Nuances: - Cull the Weak does not target, so the choice happens on resolution rather than when finalizing the spell onto the chain - You don't need to have a valid unit to choose from when playing the spell

Ruling: Yes, you can play Cull the Weak even if you own no units. Your opponent must kill one of their units, but you do not have to kill any of your own units. Nuances: - Killing your own unit is not a cost or a target, so the card is legal to play without having units - The "do as much as you can" rule applies - you resolve as much of the effect as possible

Ruling: Yes to both questions. You can play Cull the Weak without controlling a friendly unit, and you can move Traveling Merchant with 0 cards in hand and still draw 1 card. Nuances: - For Traveling Merchant, being unable to fulfill the discard requirement (having 0 cards) does not prevent you from resolving the draw effect.

No, you cannot play Fight or Flight in response to Minotaur Reckoner being played. Minotaur Reckoner is a permanent with a passive ability, not a triggered ability. According to a rulle, permanents leave the chain immediately and enter the board, with passive abilities becoming active instantly. There is no reaction window when a permanent is played unless it has a play trigger. A rule says: only provides a reaction window for spells, not permanents. Since Minotaur Reckoner has no play trigger (only the continuous passive 'Units can't move to base'), its passive ability becomes active immediately with no opportunity to respond. You could only react if the permanent had a triggered ability that went on the chain after it entered the board, but that is not the case here.

Ruling: You cannot play Find Your Center with the reduced cost in this scenario. If the opponent doesn't start another showdown after scoring their 5th point, there is no opportunity to play it during their turn. Sequence: - You can play Find Your Center when the combat starts, but at that point the opponent is still at 4 points (not within 3 of victory) - Once they score and reach 5 points, if they don't start another showdown, you get no further priority during their turn Nuances: - The cost reduction requires the opponent to already be within 3 points of victory, so you need them at 5+ points before you can use the reduced cost - There is no priority window between them scoring the 5th point and the end of their turn unless they initiate another action

Ruling: Yes, you can play Flash in response to Traveling Merchant's move trigger. When Flash resolves and moves the Merchant again, there will be two move triggers on the chain. Sequence: - Opponent plays Charm, moving Traveling Merchant from your base to a battlefield - Charm resolves, Merchant moves and its move ability triggers - You can play Flash in response to this trigger - Flash resolves, moving Merchant again and creating a second move trigger - First move trigger resolves: draw 1 card - Second move trigger resolves: if you have no cards in hand, draw 1 card; otherwise discard your hand and draw 1 card Nuances: - At the point after Flash resolves but before triggers resolve, the Merchant is not yet an attacker and your opponent is not yet a defender - If the card drawn from the first trigger is a reaction, you should consider playing it before the second trigger resolves, as you would otherwise discard it

Ruling: Yes, you can play Flash targeting a unit already in your base. Flash is a legal play because it only requires targeting valid units, not choosing a move destination. The spell will resolve without effect if the unit is still at base. Sequence: - Flash can be finalized because its only targets are the units (up to 2), which are legal targets - The destination (base) is not a target you choose - it's programmatically determined by the card text - Upon resolution, if the unit is still at base, the move instruction does nothing (base-to-base is not a valid move) - The spell still counts as having targeted the unit for trigger purposes (e.g., Irelia) Nuances: - This differs from Ride the Wind or Charm, which require you to choose a battlefield as a target during finalization, making same-location moves illegal at that stage - The Azir FAQ ruling confirms you can target units in the same location when the destination is programmatically determined - The Tideturner errata (preventing targeting units at the same battlefield) would have been unnecessary if game rules already prevented same-location targeting - Playing Flash on a unit at base that then moves before resolution will cause Flash to move it back to base normally - You can cast Flash with zero targets since it says "up to" 2 units

Ruling: Yes, you can play Get Excited if it's your only card in hand. You declare a legal target during finalization, then during resolution you're unable to discard so you do as much as you can (which is nothing), causing the spell to whiff with no impact on the board. Sequence: - Play Get Excited from hand (e.g., via Darius's play 2 trigger) - Choose a legal target during finalization - During resolution, you cannot discard 1 card, so "its energy cost" is undefined - The spell whiffs (resolves with no effect) Nuances: - This works because Get Excited doesn't say "discard 1 card" as an additional cost - if it did, you couldn't play it - You can't target cards in private zones (like hand) - This can be useful with Darius's play 2 trigger to get the ready effect even though the spell whiffs

Ruling: Yes, this works. The discard cost for Get Excited happens at resolution of the spell, not at cast, so you can return Flame Chomper to hand with Gust before Get Excited resolves and then discard it to satisfy Get Excited's cost. Sequence: - Play Get Excited onto the chain - Play Gust, returning Flame Chomper to hand - When Get Excited resolves, discard Flame Chomper to satisfy its cost - Replay Flame Chomper to the battlefield Nuances: - During combat, control of the battlefield doesn't change, so you can replay Flame Chomper to the battlefield even if it would otherwise be empty after Gust resolves

Ruling: Yes, you can play Gust as a reaction to Jinx's Legend Ability. The Legend trigger goes on the chain at the beginning step, allowing you to react to it before it resolves. Sequence: - Jinx Legend's trigger goes on the chain at the beginning of your turn - You can react to it by playing Gust (as can your opponent) - During resolution, if you have 1 or less cards in hand, you draw a card Nuances: - The Legend Ability only draws if you have 1 or less cards in hand during resolution, not when it triggers

Ruling: Yes, you can play Gust in reaction to the Reaver's Row trigger before deciding whether to return Pouty Poro home. Sequence: - Reaver's Row triggers and you choose Pouty Poro as the target - The trigger goes on the Initial Chain like any other chain - Both players have opportunity to play Reactions (like Gust) - On resolution, you then choose whether or not to return Pouty Poro home Nuances: - You choose the target (Pouty Poro) when Reaver's Row triggers, but the decision to actually return it happens on resolution after all reactions

Ruling: Yes, you can play Gust in response to Vi's ability activation.

Ruling: No, you cannot target a 4 Might unit with Gust. The targeting requirement "a unit at a battlefield with 3 might or less" must be met when the card is played, before any reactions can be added to the chain. Sequence: - Stupefy must be played first to reduce the unit's Might to 3 or less - Then Gust can be played targeting the now-valid unit Nuances: - If Gust were worded "return a unit at a battlefield to its owner's hand if its Might is 3 or less," then you could target any unit and the Might would be checked on resolution - The "3 might or less" restriction in Gust is part of the targeting requirement, not just an instruction that resolves later

Ruling: No, this does not work. A unit must be a legal target at the time you play Gust. Damage does not reduce a unit's Might, so dealing damage would not make it a legal target anyway. Sequence: - If you want to use Gust on a high-Might unit, you must first play a card that reduces Might - Wait for that Might reduction to resolve - Then play Gust (the unit is now a legal target) - This can be done as a reaction since you can react again after the Might reduction resolves Nuances: - Dealing damage to a unit does not change its Might value - Targets must be legal at the time a card is played, not when effects resolve

Ruling: Yes, you can play Harnessed Dragon even if the opponent has no units. The ability will fail to finalize (enter the chain) if there is no valid target. Sequence: - Play Harnessed Dragon and it resolves fully - The "When you play me" trigger is evaluated - If no enemy unit exists, the ability fails to finalize and does not enter the chain - There will be no chain item to react to or resolve Nuances: - This is not a Silver Rule situation about fulfilling as much as you can during resolution - "When you play me" triggers are evaluated after the unit fully resolves - If killing a unit were required to play Harnessed Dragon, it would need to state "as an additional cost"

Ruling: You cannot play Hextech Ray if you cannot pay the Deflect cost. Since Deflect is an additional cost that must be paid when targeting, and you need to target before finalizing the cast, you cannot legally play the spell if you lack sufficient resources. Sequence: - Pay the base cost to cast the spell - Choose targets - Pay costs to target (including Deflect) - All associated costs must be paid before finalizing the play Nuances: - If a unit gains Deflect after you've already targeted it (e.g., through a chain buff), you do not need to pay the Deflect cost retroactively - Deflect costs are paid at targeting and do not work retroactively - If you attempt to make an illegal play at a tournament (targeting a Deflect unit without sufficient resources), it would likely be ruled a general error with a warning and rewind

Ruling: No, you cannot use the same exhaust to pay for both Meditate's card draw and Lee Sin Ascetic's self-buff ability. Nuances: - Both effects require exhausting as a cost - You cannot use the same resource (exhausting the unit) to pay two different costs simultaneously

Ruling: You cannot play a unit to a battlefield you do not control. As an attacker, you never control the contested battlefield, so you cannot play Nocturne to it mid-showdown. As a defender, the battlefield is contested but still under your control, so you can play units to it during the showdown. Sequence: - Attacker goes to a contested battlefield - Showdown occurs - If attacker plays Stacked Deck and finds Nocturne, they cannot play it to the contested battlefield (no control) - If defender plays Stacked Deck and finds Nocturne, they can play it to the contested battlefield (still have control despite it being contested) Nuances: - A battlefield can be both contested AND controlled by the defender simultaneously - Control, not contested status, determines whether you can play units to a battlefield

Ruling: Yes, you can play Nocturne off Strategist Teemo's effect. Nocturne works with both Look effects and Reveal effects. Nuances: - Nocturne does not have Hidden, so he does not add to damage from reveal effects - If Nocturne did have Hidden, he would not be counted for damage because he banishes himself - Nocturne's banishment can happen during effect resolutions (for example, he can be revealed by Blind Fury and be banished before the user has the chance to play him)

Ruling: Yes, you can play Nocturne to a battlefield during a showdown if you control that battlefield and began the showdown as the defender. Sequence: - You must control the battlefield when the showdown begins - You retain control of that battlefield for the entire duration of the showdown - You can play Nocturne there at any point during the showdown, even if the battlefield becomes empty Nuances: - Being the defender does not implicitly give you control of the battlefield - you must already control it - Control persists throughout the showdown even if all your units leave the battlefield (e.g., via Fight or Flight) - You could theoretically play Nocturne to an empty battlefield mid-showdown if you started as the defender with control

Ruling: Yes, you can play Nocturne when revealing from Ravenbloom Conservatory, and you can play him to the battlefield, assuming you control the Conservatory. Nuances: - This interaction works because "reveal" counts as "look at" due to an errata

Ruling: Yes, you can counter Salvage with Not So Fast if the opponent chooses to target your gear. Salvage targets on finalization, and the opponent must declare valid choices at that time. Sequence: - Opponent plays Salvage - On finalization, opponent must declare their choice (targeting a gear or choosing no target) - If they choose to target your gear, you can counter it with Not So Fast - If they choose not to target any gear, you cannot counter it Nuances: - Salvage uses "up to" language, making "no targets" a valid choice on finalization - The opponent must commit to their target choice when the ability finalizes, before you decide whether to counter

Ruling: You can play Pit Rookie even if there's no valid target, but its ability won't go on the chain. Nuances: - This is similar to other cards with targeting requirements - you can play the card itself, but the ability simply doesn't trigger if there are no valid targets

Ruling: You cannot play Possession in response to Yasuo's When I Attack trigger because When I Attack triggers create an Initial Chain at the start of combat, and you cannot play Actions to a chain. Sequence: - At the start of combat showdown, an Initial Chain is created with When I Attack triggers followed by When I Defend triggers - The Initial Chain resolves (last in first out, so Defend triggers resolve first) - After the Initial Chain resolves, the attacker gains Focus and can start a chain - Only Reactions can be played to the Initial Chain, not Actions like Possession Nuances: - If you charm an enemy unit to the battlefield, you become the defender and Green Yasuo's When I Attack would not trigger in that scenario, allowing you to play Possession during the showdown if your opponent passes focus - Focus is the permission to start a chain during a showdown, not priority for trigger resolution

Ruling: No, you cannot play Primal Strength on Carnivorous Snapvine after playing it because Primal Strength is Action speed, not Reaction speed. Only Reaction speed cards can be used in response to Snapvine's effect. Nuances: - Reaction speed cards like Discipline can be used with Snapvine's effect - Primal Strength is still useful for combat in other situations

Ruling: Yes, you can play Reaction spells in response to 'When I Attack' abilities that trigger during a showdown. Sequence: - Showdown is initiated and attacker gains Focus - 'When I Attack' and 'When I Defend' abilities trigger and go on the Chain - Players can respond with Reactions during this Chain - Once the Chain resolves, combat damage occurs (if applicable) Nuances: - The attacker gains Focus at the start of the Showdown, which occurs before the Initial Chain where 'When I Attack' triggers are placed - 'When I Attack' triggers are part of the showdown process, not a separate 'non-combat showdown' - A showdown at an open battlefield (without combat) still follows the same Focus and Chain rules, just without combat damage afterward

Ruling: During combat (when a battlefield is Contested), you maintain control of the battlefield even after all your units die to a spell, until both players pass focus without taking actions. This allows you to play Reactions like Shen or flip Hidden Units after your units die but before losing control. Outside of combat, you cannot do this - any Reaction would go on the chain before the killing spell resolves, causing the Reaction unit to also die. Sequence: - Opponent attacks your battlefield (making it Contested) - Opponent plays a spell to kill your units - Spell resolves and kills your units - Cleanup happens but battlefield remains Contested, so you maintain control - Focus passes back to you - You can now play Reactions (Shen, Hidden Units) at the battlefield you still control - Combat continues until both players pass Nuances: - This only works during combat when the battlefield is Contested - Outside combat, Reactions go on the chain before the killing spell resolves, so they would also be killed - You can play new Reactions onto the chain after some abilities resolve - there's a priority window after each chain link resolves - If a Deathknell ability triggers during combat, it creates a priority window where you could React and maintain control

Ruling: No, you cannot play Recruit the Vanguard in a battlefield you are attacking. The card specifies "in your base or in a BF you control," so you can only place recruits in locations you already control, not in a battlefield you're contesting. Nuances: - All recruits from Recruit the Vanguard must be placed in the same location (either all in your base or all in one battlefield you control); you cannot split them between multiple locations.

Ruling: No, you cannot play Recruit the Vanguard when you are the attacker because you do not control the battlefield as the attacker. Nuances: - If you are the defender and controlled the battlefield before your opponent attacked into you, you can play the spell during combat showdown when you have focus and spawn the tokens into that battlefield.

Ruling: No, you cannot play Rengar at an open battlefield you're contesting because you are not assigned as an attacker when contesting an open battlefield. Nuances: - Contesting an open battlefield does not count as "attacking" it for card effect purposes

Ruling: No, you cannot play Retreat without a valid target. If a card targets, it needs its targets to be played. Sequence: - You must have a valid friendly unit target to play Retreat - Once the spell is played and choices are finalized, you cannot change the target - If the target becomes illegal during resolution (e.g., killed or bounced), the spell whiffs and resolves to no effect Nuances: - The "Do As Much As You Can" (DAMAYC) rule only applies to extra instructions that don't reference information from the illegal target - For Retreat specifically, since the channeling effect references the target's owner, if the target becomes invalid the entire spell whiffs - Some cards look like they target but don't (e.g., Cull the Weak uses player choice at resolution, not targeting) - If a target becomes illegal after finalization, you cannot shift the target to another unit

Ruling: No, you cannot play Ride the Wind in response to Fox Fire. Action spells cannot be added to an existing chain - they can only start a chain. When an opponent casts a spell, they start a chain, and you can only respond with reaction spells, not action spells. Sequence: - Opponent casts Fox Fire, starting a chain - You may respond with a reaction spell (like Discipline) - Your reaction spell resolves first - Fox Fire resolves second - After the chain fully resolves, you get an opportunity to play action spells in the open game state Nuances: - Actions can only be played in open game states (when no chain exists) - You cannot play an action to counter an action, only a reaction can respond to spells in a chain - Reaction spells can also start chains, and can only be responded to with other reactions - Some spells trigger showdowns (those that move units into battlefields) while others do not (damage/stat modification spells)

Ruling: Yes, you can play Ride the Wind during your opponent's turn to move to an empty battlefield and gain a conquest point. Nuances: - This is not the only way to proactively take a conquest point on the opponent's turn - Other cards that can do this include Zenith Blade, Get Excited, Chomper, and Miss Fortune

Ruling: Yes, you can play Ride the Wind targeting a unit at Vilemaw's Lair with base as the destination. The unit will be readied but will stay at Vilemaw's Lair since the Lair prevents the movement. Sequence: - Target a unit at Vilemaw's Lair with Ride the Wind - Choose base as the move destination - When Ride the Wind resolves, do as much as you can: the unit is readied but does not move (prevented by Vilemaw's Lair) Nuances: - Base is still a valid destination for targeting purposes because Vilemaw's Lair doesn't make destinations invalid; it simply prevents the movement effect from occurring - The spell resolves legally even though the movement doesn't happen

Ruling: No, you cannot play Salvage when there are no gear in play. A gear must be targeted when playing Salvage, though you may choose not to kill it during resolution. Sequence: - When playing Salvage, you must target a gear in play - During resolution, you may choose whether or not to kill the targeted gear - Regardless of whether you kill the gear, you draw 1 card Nuances: - The "may" clause refers to the choice during resolution, not whether a target is required - Cards that instruct you to act upon something require a valid target, even if the action is optional