Riftbound Frequently Asked Questions

Ruling: Yes, you can use Hidden Blade at reaction speed to kill Traveling Merchant when his move trigger goes on the stack, but only if the Hidden Blade was already hidden at that battlefield. However, killing him will not deny his discard/draw triggered ability. Sequence: - Traveling Merchant's triggered ability is added onto the chain - You can then react to it with Hidden Blade (if it was hidden at that battlefield) - Even if you kill Traveling Merchant, his triggered ability still resolves Nuances: - The showdown has not begun yet when the trigger happens, but Traveling Merchant is considered to be at the battlefield for targeting purposes - The triggered ability on the chain is not contingent on Traveling Merchant being alive, so it resolves even if he is killed or bounced

Ruling: Yes, you can react to VI's boosting ability after the cost is paid but before it resolves (for example, by bouncing VI back to hand with Gust). Each instance of the ability must be activated separately because it lacks the Reaction keyword. Sequence: - Player pays the cost (left of the colon) to activate the ability - The ability goes on the chain - Opponents can react before it resolves - After the ability resolves and leaves the chain, the game returns to a neutral open state - Only then can the ability be activated again Nuances: - The ability must be used one at a time; each boost can only occur after the previous one has left the chain and the game is in a neutral open state - This one-at-a-time restriction applies because the ability lacks the Reaction keyword - Even if a card had an Action keyword, it would still only be usable one at a time (Action just means it's useable in showdown, which VI's ability is not)

Ruling: Viktor's activated ability goes on the chain and can be reacted to. Once the ability resolves, the Recruit token it creates will finalize and immediately resolve without a window to react to the token itself. Sequence: - Viktor's activated ability is placed on the chain - Players can react to the activated ability - When the ability resolves, it instructs you to play a Recruit token - The Recruit token finalizes and immediately resolves (no reaction window for the token) Nuances: - Effects that instruct you to play units or tokens do linger on the chain and can be reacted to, but the units/tokens themselves resolve immediately when finalized - This is the same interaction as Aurora triggers - you can react to the trigger, but not to the unit card being played - Rule 333.1.c applies to "[Abilities that Add resources], [Units], and [Gear]" - meaning units and gear themselves resolve immediately, not abilities that create them

Ruling: Yes, you can react to Viktor's legend ability. Viktor's ability is an activated ability that adds an item to the chain, which can be reacted to. However, you cannot react to the token unit being played when the ability resolves. Sequence: - Viktor's activated ability is placed on the chain - Players gain priority and can react with reaction speed effects - The ability resolves and plays the token unit - The token unit cannot be reacted to (it immediately resolves) Nuances: - You can react to most activated abilities (indicated by "cost: effect" format) and triggered abilities - You cannot react to abilities that add resources - You cannot react to permanents (units and gear) being played - they immediately resolve - Passive abilities and replacement effects don't use the chain and cannot be reacted to - You gain priority whenever an item is added to the chain or when an item resolves (if items remain on the chain)

Ruling: Yes, you can react to Zaunite Bouncer's "When You Play Me" trigger. It will go on or create a chain after Bouncer enters play. Sequence: - Zaunite Bouncer enters play - The "When You Play Me" trigger goes on the chain (or creates a new chain) - Players can react to this trigger

Ruling: No, you cannot react to Zhonya's being revealed. Zhonya's is a permanent and resolves as soon as it is finalized to the chain, providing no window to react to it being played. Sequence: - Player uses Hidden Blade from hand as an action - Opponent reacts by revealing hidden Zhonya's - Zhonya's resolves immediately as a permanent - No opportunity exists to react with another Hidden Blade before Zhonya's protects the unit

Ruling: Yes, you can react to a Battlefield ability on the chain, but only with a reaction (not a normal action), because the chain is not empty. Sequence: - Your spell goes on the stack/chain - Dreaming Tree's Battlefield ability triggers and goes on the chain after the spell - You can respond with a reaction - The chain resolves in reverse order (Dreaming Tree resolves before your spell) Nuances: - You cannot play normal actions when the chain is not empty, only reactions

Ruling: Yes, you can react to Deathknell triggers with hidden cards before the Clear Contested status step. Deathknell finalizes during combat cleanup and pauses the procedure until the entire chain closes. Sequence: - Deathknell triggers finalize during combat cleanup - The game pauses and allows the chain to be built - Players can respond with hidden cards and other effects - The entire Deathknell chain must fully resolve - Once the chain closes, the game proceeds to Clear Contested status Nuances: - Tokens created by Deathknell effects (like Machine Evangel) are created when the Deathknell resolves and go on the same chain - The state becomes open again only after the chain fully closes - Combat cleanup has substeps within a step, similar to how other steps pause for chains

Ruling: Yes, you can react to the Sprite token dying by playing the Blastcone Fae from the facedown zone. The Fae will resolve before the token dies, allowing you to get the hold point. Sequence: - At the start of your beginning phase, the Temporary keyword triggers and goes onto the chain - You can react to this trigger by playing Blastcone Fae from the facedown zone - Blastcone Fae resolves first - Then the Sprite token dies Nuances: - It is the Temporary effect (not the unit dying itself) that goes on the chain and creates the reaction window - A unit dying does not automatically go on the chain; it's the Temporary keyword trigger that allows the reaction

Ruling: Yes, you can react to a Sprite token dying from Temporary. The Temporary keyword is a triggered ability that goes on the chain during the Beginning Phase, so it can be reacted to. Sequence: - Temporary triggers during the Beginning Phase - The triggered ability goes on the chain - Players can react to it before it resolves Nuances: - This allows plays like hiding Teemo at a battlefield conquered by Sprite, then revealing it in response to Temporary triggering the next turn - You cannot hide a card and reveal it in the same turn

Ruling: Yes, you can react to a Temporary unit's death trigger by playing another Temporary unit, and the newly played unit will survive because it enters after the beginning phase trigger check has already occurred. Sequence: - At the start of beginning phase, the game checks for beginning phase triggers (including Temporary) - The first Temporary unit's death is placed on the chain as a trigger - You can react to this trigger by playing another Temporary unit (like Sprite Call) - Due to FILO (First In, Last Out), the new unit resolves before the original death trigger - The new Temporary unit enters the battlefield after the beginning phase trigger window has passed - The new unit survives because it missed the beginning phase trigger check Nuances: - The beginning phase trigger window only happens once per phase; units that enter afterward don't trigger until the next beginning phase - This interaction is commonly used by Teemo players - You can also use this to gain hold points by playing Hide Call and flipping it in response to the Temporary trigger

Ruling: No, you cannot react to abilities with the "Add" tag/wording because they finalize immediately. Nuances: - Basic rune abilities have the Reaction timing, but the "Add" tag causes them to finalize immediately, preventing reactions from opponents.

Ruling: You cannot react to a permanent being played. However, you can react to any triggered abilities that the permanent causes when it enters play. Sequence: - When a permanent is played, it does not create a chain - If the permanent triggers an ability, that triggered ability is added to the chain (or starts a new chain if none exists) - Reactions can be played in response to abilities on the chain, resolving before those abilities Nuances: - Reactions resolve before abilities already in the chain - The distinction is between reacting to the permanent itself (not allowed) versus reacting to triggered abilities caused by the permanent (allowed)

Ruling: No, you cannot react to a hidden card being placed. Hiding a card does not create a chain and is not considered playing the card. You can react to a hidden card when it is flipped over/revealed, as that counts as a spell. Nuances: - Hiding a card is similar to moving a unit or drawing for turn - these are base speed actions that don't create chains - The hidden card is only considered "played" when it is revealed - You can only react to cards if they are spells or if the card triggers an ability - Units technically go on the chain but resolve immediately, so you can't react to them either - You cannot react to moving a unit unless it has a "when I move" trigger which would go on the chain

Ruling: You cannot react to a card being hidden, but you can normally react to a card played from hidden. A hidden card being played is treated like any other card being played. Nuances: - For spells played from hidden, you can react to the spell itself - For units or other card types played from hidden, you can only react to their play effects (not to the card entering play itself)

Ruling: No, playing a unit does not grant priority, so you cannot react to a unit being played to a battlefield. Nuances: - If your opponent scores a hold point and moves a new unit to the same battlefield while maintaining control the entire time, you cannot react - If your opponent loses control of the battlefield and then moves back in, it triggers a showdown (even though it can't result in a conquer), which does allow for reactions since control is potentially changing - You cannot conquer a battlefield you scored that turn, regardless of what happens between those states

Ruling: You cannot react to a unit being played. However, you can react to a "When you play" ability because the unit has already been played and the ability goes on the chain. For Vanguard Captain, if you bounce her with Gust before her ability resolves, the ability will fail because it cannot find "here" (the unit is gone). For Shen, you cannot stop him from entering play because he leaves the chain immediately and enters the battlefield with shield already active, making him an invalid target for Gust. Sequence: - Vanguard Captain is played to a battlefield - Her "When you play" ability goes on the chain - You can respond with Gust to bounce her - When her ability tries to resolve, it cannot find "here" and fails to spawn tokens For Shen: - Shen is played as a reaction - He immediately leaves the chain and enters the battlefield - Shield becomes active immediately ("while defending" not "when") - The chain continues and you get another priority window, but Shen is already in play with shield Nuances: - You never react to the unit being played itself, only to triggered abilities that go on the chain - "Here" effects require the source unit to still be at the location where the ability was triggered - Shen resolves immediately but the chain continues, giving another priority window after - Keywords with "while" (like shield) activate immediately without going on the chain, unlike "when" triggers

Ruling: You cannot react to units being played. Permanents do not give priority windows to respond to. Nuances: - Units with triggered effects (like Draw 1 or Deal damage) do create a reaction window when their trigger goes on the chain, but the unit is already played at that point - There is no way to block a unit from being played into a battlefield; you can only remove it afterwards - Even if you could react to a trigger and remove the controlling unit, the new unit would already be at the battlefield

Ruling: Yes, you can react to automatic abilities once the opponent gives you priority and the ability enters the chain. Sequence: - The trigger condition occurs (e.g., Yasuo moves for the third time) - The automatic ability enters the chain - The opponent gives you priority - You can use reactions before the ability resolves Nuances: - You cannot counter or avoid the ability itself once it's in the chain, only react to it - For Yasuo specifically, even if you react and remove him from the field, the ability still resolves because it was already triggered

Ruling: Yes, once any ability is on the chain, players get a chance to react to it, regardless of whether the ability has action/reaction keywords. The speed of the ability that started the chain does not affect what reactions are possible. Sequence: - When you play Solari Chief, he starts a chain with himself as a permanent - Permanents (units/gear) auto-resolve on the chain with no reaction window - Once Solari Chief resolves and is in play, his "When you play me" triggered ability goes onto the chain (choices are made at this point) - The player who played Solari Chief has priority first, then if they pass, the opponent can play reactions on top - Once both players pass, the top item on the chain resolves - Priority passes again and the process continues until the chain is empty Nuances: - Add abilities and permanents themselves do not give reaction windows - Only cards with the "Spell" type are spells, so abilities like Solari Chief's cannot be countered by cards like Defy or Windwall that specifically counter spells - The unit lands on the board immediately, but both players can react to its triggered ability before it resolves

Ruling: You can react to each part of a chain as it resolves. After each item on the chain resolves, players get priority again and can play new cards before the next item resolves. Sequence: - Both players pass priority - Top item of chain resolves - Active player is determined - Players get priority again and can add new cards to the chain - Repeat until chain is empty Nuances: - Effects like Gust look at current values (e.g., current Might), not printed values, so they see modifications from previously resolved chain items

Ruling: Yes, end of turn abilities are normal triggered abilities that create a chain and allow reactions. Sequence: - End of turn ability triggers - Ability goes on the chain - Players can react to the ability on the chain

Ruling: You can react before the Temporary Sprite disappears. Temporary is a triggered ability that uses the stack, allowing you to respond to it by flipping Teemo before the Sprite is removed. Nuances: - Reactions can be used on your own turn, not just on the opponent's turn - The Temporary trigger goes on the stack during your turn's ABCD steps, creating a window to respond

Ruling: Yes, playing a spell like Cull the Weak creates a chain that you can cast a reaction to. All types of cards, triggered abilities, and activated abilities create chains. Nuances: - Permanents (gears and units) resolve immediately with 0 reactions upon being finalized onto the chain - opponents cannot react before the permanent itself resolves - "When I'm played" abilities of permanents can be reacted to, but not the permanent itself - ADD abilities (tapping/recycling runes, legend abilities, seals, etc.) also create chains but cannot be reacted to

Ruling: No, there is no reaction window when playing a unit with no on-play effect. Sequence: - The unit resolves as soon as it finalizes - It does not linger on the chain - It has no trigger to go on the chain

Ruling: Yes, you can react to both triggered and activated abilities because they create chains upon trigger/activation. Passive abilities do not create chains and cannot be reacted to. Sequence: - Triggered abilities (like Annie and Jinx's legend abilities) create a chain when they trigger - Activated abilities (like Ballista gear's tap ability) create a chain when activated - Once on the chain, other players can react to these abilities Nuances: - Not all abilities exhaust the card when used - only if the activation cost includes the exhaust symbol or the card is templated to exhaust - Annie and Jinx's triggered abilities do not exhaust them - Ballista's activated ability has exhaust as the cost to put the ability on the chain - Passive abilities and replacement effects do not open a chain

Ruling: Playing a unit opens a chain, but it resolves immediately and nobody gains priority, so you cannot react to units being played. Nuances: - This rule applies even though playing a card creates a chain - Units are considered played only after they've finished resolving and are on the battlefield - Triggers that check for "played" events happen after the card has resolved and is on the battlefield - A unit with a "Play" ability will see itself being played because it's already on the battlefield when the trigger checks

Ruling: You cannot react to units or gears being played directly. Reactions can only be played in response to abilities that trigger and stay on the chain. However, when a unit moves to an empty battlefield, it starts a Showdown where all players can play reactions and action spells (if they have focus). Sequence: - When a unit is played directly to a battlefield the player controls, no reaction window exists - When a unit with a "when played" ability (like Vanguard Captain's legion or Faithful Manufacturer's token spawn) is played, you can react to those triggered abilities - When a unit moves to an empty battlefield, a Showdown starts - During the Showdown, all players are relevant and can play reactions or action spells - Scoring/conquering happens during cleanup of the Showdown - If the unit is removed before cleanup, no scoring occurs Nuances: - You cannot Gust a Soaring Scout as it's played directly from hand to a battlefield you don't control (no ability triggers) - You can react to triggered abilities like Cithria Cloudfield's ability before she gets buffed - Both reactions and action spells (when you have focus) can be played during a Showdown to prevent conquering

Ruling: No, you cannot play cards during the combat damage step in response to damage assignment. Nuances: - There are no triggers to react to during this period - Players cannot play actions during the combat damage step

Ruling: Yes, you can react to your own "When you play me" trigger. En Garde will give Carnivorous Snapvine +2 might total (+1 base, +1 additional) because Snapvine is the only unit at your base. Sequence: - Play Carnivorous Snapvine - Its "When you play me" trigger starts a chain - As active player, you get priority and can play En Garde as a Reaction - En Garde resolves, giving Snapvine +2 might (since it's the only unit at your base) - Snapvine's damage ability resolves with 8 might total - Snapvine and Anivia trade evenly at 8 might each Nuances: - En Garde checks if the unit is the only one "there" which doesn't specifically mean battlefield, so it applies when Snapvine is alone at your base

Ruling: Yes, you can react to your own Jinx trigger. As the controller of the trigger, you have the first priority to play reactions to the chain. Nuances: - Jinx's ability triggers every turn at the start of your beginning phase, regardless of your hand size - The "if you have one or fewer cards in hand" is part of the effect, not the trigger condition - Opponents can also react to the trigger - The trigger condition is "at the start of your beginning phase" - everything after the comma is the effect

Ruling: You cannot react when a gear or unit is played unless it has a trigger effect (like an ETB). Both units and gears without immediate abilities go on the stack but resolve straight away before allowing a reaction. Sequence: - When casting Units/Gears without abilities that happen immediately, a chain gets created - The chain immediately resolves, leaving no window for reactions - The permanent leaves the Chain and becomes a Game Object Nuances: - You CAN react if the gear or unit has an ETB (enters-the-battlefield) or other trigger effect

Ruling: Yes, you can react with Zhonya's Hourglass to save a unit at any battlefield, not just the one where it's hidden. Sequence: - Zhonya's is played from hidden directly to base (gear cannot be played to battlefields) - Its effect does not target, so it is not restricted to the battlefield where it was hidden - The effect applies wherever appropriate Nuances: - The restriction on playing cards from hidden only applies to targeting - cards gain "here" as a targeting restriction when played from hidden - Effects that don't target (like Zhonya's) receive no restriction and apply wherever appropriate - Gear is always played to base, never to a battlefield, even when played from hidden - Only units have the "must be played to the battlefield they were played from" restriction

Ruling: If Zhonya is hidden when both players pass during showdown, it stays hidden until cleanup finishes. You cannot react to combat damage being assigned - once both players pass, no one can play anything until cleanup finishes. Sequence: - Both players pass during showdown - Combat damage is assigned (no reactions possible) - Cleanup occurs - Hidden cards remain hidden throughout this process Nuances: - This means with multiple defending units, you don't get to choose which unit to save unless multiple targets are dying - You can flip Zhonya earlier in the showdown chain before passing, but this reveals it and may affect your opponent's targeting decision

Ruling: You can react to Blitzcrank's hold trigger with a hidden card. However, once Blitzcrank leaves the battlefield, you will lose control of the hidden card and any hidden cards there will go to the trash. Sequence: - Blitzcrank is recalled during the beginning step - Blitzcrank's hold trigger goes on the stack - You can react with your hidden card at this point - Once Blitzcrank leaves the battlefield, hidden cards go to the trash Nuances: - The hidden card can be used to react before Blitzcrank fully leaves the battlefield - Loss of control occurs after Blitzcrank leaves, causing hidden cards to go to trash

Ruling: You can react to triggered abilities from permanents. Rule 538 only applies when the actual card itself is played onto the chain, not when triggered abilities from permanents are added to the chain. Sequence: - When triggered abilities are added to the chain, players receive priority and can respond with reactions - After each card/ability resolves in a chain, players get another opportunity to add reactions (starting with the owner of the next item on the chain) - This continues until both players pass, then the next item in the chain resolves - The process repeats until the entire chain is resolved Nuances: - Triggered abilities are treated differently from cards played directly onto the chain - Players can let parts of the chain resolve and then react again while the chain still has unresolved items - Once all players pass on an empty chain (after everything resolves), nothing more can be added to that chain

Ruling: You can react to Dazzling Aurora with reactions when it triggers, but not when it is played. Nuances: - It is a triggered ability, so reactions can be used in response to the trigger - You cannot react to the gear being played itself, only to its triggered ability

Ruling: You can react to triggered abilities. Nuances: - This applies even if you have hidden cards or reactions available

Ruling: Yes, Annie can ready any runes on the board, including opponents' runes. You can ready up to two runes total, split however you want across any players. Nuances: - The ability targets up to two runes (not necessarily exactly two) - In 2v2, you can split the targets between yourself, your teammate, and/or opponents in any combination

Ruling: Yes, you can recycle any rune, whether it is exhausted or not. Nuances: - You can pool energy, recycle a rune, pay a seal with the power from recycling, then pay something else with the energy you pooled

Ruling: Yes, you can recycle exhausted runes. The recycle cost can be paid regardless of whether the rune is readied or exhausted. Nuances: - All runes have both an exhaust ability (add 1 energy) and a recycle ability (add domain-specific resource) - The recycle cost is independent of the rune's current state

Ruling: Yes, you can recycle exhausted runes to pay for a card's Power cost. Sequence: - Exhaust one rune of any color to pay the energy cost - Exhaust another rune that matches the required color - Recycle that same exhausted colored rune to pay for the Power cost Nuances: - A card's color is defined by the small symbol in the bottom right of the card, not by visual design elements like banners

Ruling: You can recycle runes in either state (active or exhausted). Nuances: - Exhausted runes can always be recycled - You generally shouldn't recycle a ready rune without first exhausting it

Ruling: Yes, you can recycle runes at reaction speed to float power because the rune itself has the ability to be recycled, which creates the limited action. Sequence: - Opponent plays an action (e.g., Divine Judgement) - In response, you can recycle runes to float power - You retain both the floated energy and power in your rune pool Nuances: - A card must specifically instruct you to recycle it; you cannot recycle cards at will without an ability that allows it - The rune's own ability is what makes recycling it a limited action that can be performed at reaction speed - This interaction can be used to trigger abilities that care about recycling runes (like Sivir's legend ability), though such abilities may have their own restrictions like requiring exhaust

Ruling: You can both exhaust and recycle runes during Bullet Time's resolution to pay for its power cost. You do not need to float the power beforehand. Sequence: - Bullet Time begins resolving - During resolution, exhaust runes for floating energy - Use that floating energy for power as part of the resolution - Continue resolving Bullet Time's effect Nuances: - This can be done during resolution itself, not requiring the ability to use a reaction - The power cost is paid during resolution, not before the spell resolves

Ruling: You can recycle runes to float power/energy, but you must either have Priority or be in the middle of paying a cost for a card. You cannot float resources at arbitrary times without one of these conditions. Sequence: - Wait for a trigger (like Tasty's Deathknell) to go on the chain - In response to that trigger, use a Reaction to recycle runes and float the resources - The floated resources remain in your pool (it doesn't empty during or after combat) - After the trigger resolves, you can use those floated resources Nuances: - Your resource pool empties at the end of every turn and after you perform your turn-draw, but NOT during or after combat - Make sure to communicate clearly with your opponent when floating resources

Ruling: Yes, you can recycle tokens. The token attempts to move to the deck but ceases to exist after entering that zone, just like when tokens move to any other non-board zone. The recycle action is still considered to have occurred even though the token disappears. Sequence: - The token is targeted by the recycle effect - The token moves from its current zone toward the deck - The token enters the deck zone - The token ceases to exist after entering that zone - The recycle is considered to have successfully occurred Nuances: - The comprehensive rules currently define recycling as applying only to "cards" and tokens are explicitly "not cards," creating a rules gap that will need clarification in future updates - The ruling is based on design intent confirmed by developers, with the understanding that recycle rules will be updated to say "card or game object" - This works the same way as tokens being "killed" - the action occurs even though the token poofs out of existence

Ruling: No, you cannot refuse Zaun Warren's conquer effect. Zaun Warren does not incur a cost when being finalized to the chain, so the new rule does not apply to it. Nuances: - The new rule only applies to triggered abilities that incur a cost when being finalized (put on the chain), not costs paid during resolution - Currently, the only triggered abilities that incur costs on finalization are ones that target enemy units with deflect - "Cost" is a specific technical term in Riftbound, not casual usage - Costs incurred on finalization use templating like "you may [action] as an additional cost" - Costs paid on resolution use templating like "[cost] to [effect]" or "pay [cost] to [effect]" - Only costs incurred on finalization can be refused, causing the trigger to fail to finalize - Zaun Warren's discard effect happens during resolution, not finalization, so it cannot be refused

Ruling: Yes, you can choose to apply Soraka's replacement effect first to save the unit, which prevents Zhonya's from applying since there is no longer a death event to replace. Sequence: - When a unit would die, both Soraka and Zhonya's replacement effects are available - You choose which replacement effect to apply first - If you choose Soraka first, she saves the unit - Zhonya's cannot apply because the death event has already been replaced Nuances: - Replacement effects don't trigger or use the chain - they don't resolve and can't fizzle - When multiple units die: select which unit a single effect applies to - When multiple effects apply to one unit: select which effect applies - If Soraka herself takes lethal damage simultaneously with other units (like in a boardwipe), she cannot save them even with Zhonya's, as she wouldn't be in a valid location. This interaction awaits further clarification in updated rules.

Ruling: Yes, you can target the same unit twice with Bloodrush, and the effect only lasts until end of turn. Nuances: - The Assault keyword stacks when Bloodrush is used multiple times on the same unit - Bloodrush can also be used on multiple different targets