Riftbound Frequently Asked Questions

Ruling: Tideturner only works with cards already on the battlefield, not cards in hand. When a unit with an Attack or Defend trigger enters combat mid-showdown via Tideturner, that trigger goes on the chain only if appropriate for their attacker/defender status. Sequence: - Attacker/defender designations are applied to players first - Units get assigned during the showdown process - When Tideturner resolves and swaps a unit in, that unit gets assigned defender during Tideturner's cleanup - If the swapped-in unit has an Attack or Defend trigger, it only triggers if their role (attacker/defender) matches the trigger condition Nuances: - In the Yasuo example, since Yasuo's controller is not the attacker, Yasuo's "on attack" trigger would not activate - Tideturner received errata so that when hidden, it can now target another battlefield (previously it couldn't)

Ruling: Yes, Tideturner's ability moves the targeted unit (Kayn), so if Kayn is moved by Tideturner and then moved again, his passive ability activates and he doesn't take damage. Nuances: - The word "move" is implied in Tideturner's text even though it only explicitly states "move me to its location and it to my original location" - the second "move" is understood to apply to the target as well.

Ruling: Yes, Traveling Merchant draws a card even if you have no cards in hand to discard. Nuances: - If the card said "discard 1 to draw 1" (with "to") or "Discard 1. If you do..." then you would NOT be able to draw with an empty hand - The current wording allows each part to resolve as much as possible independently

Ruling: Traveling Merchant triggers as a mandatory effect - you discard if you can, then draw even if you didn't discard. Super Mega Death Rocket requires you to discard TO retrieve it; if you don't discard, you don't get it back. Sequence: - When Traveling Merchant triggers, discard a card if you have one in hand - If your hand is empty, skip the discard - Then draw a card regardless of whether you discarded Nuances: - The key difference is "to" vs "then" - "to" creates a requirement, "then" creates a sequence where later steps happen even if earlier steps couldn't - Traveling Merchant is a triggered ability (not activated) that resolves as much as possible - Super Mega Death Rocket always triggers when its condition is met, but you choose whether to pay the discard cost to get the effect

Ruling: No, Traveling Merchant does not get +3 Might from Assault when his trigger fires. The showdown has not started yet, so he won't receive the Assault bonus until after his ability resolves. Sequence: - The Merchant moves to the battlefield - The Merchant's triggered ability goes on the chain, and the Battlefield becomes Contested - A Cleanup occurs - Combat cannot yet start because there is an effect on the chain; Combat remains marked as Pending until the chain is empty - After the chain resolves, combat begins and Assault applies Nuances: - The battlefield becomes Contested immediately when the Merchant moves, but this does not mean combat has started - Combat is marked as Pending and cannot start while effects are still on the chain

Ruling: Traveling Merchant triggers before the showdown begins, so the discard/draw effect resolves before the opponent has a chance to kill it with cards like Hextech Ray. Sequence: - Player attempts to conquer with Traveling Merchant - Merchant's move effect triggers and resolves (discard/draw) - Showdown begins - Opponent can now respond with cards like Hextech Ray

Ruling: Yes, Travelling Merchant's move trigger resolves before showdown/combat starts. Move triggers resolve first because showdown/combat won't start when there are things on the Chain. Sequence: - Travelling Merchant moves to the battlefield - His move trigger goes on the Chain - The trigger resolves (discard and draw) - Then showdown/combat begins Nuances: - If there are simultaneous showdowns pending at different battlefields, non-combat showdowns fire before combat showdowns - If both showdowns are at open battlefields, you choose which to resolve first - If Travelling Merchant is Gusted back to hand in response to his ability triggering, his ability still resolves because it doesn't have a "here" restriction - Going back to hand is not considered a "move" and wouldn't trigger move abilities again

Ruling: War Camp's +1 might buff is continuous and always applies while a unit is at War Camp. When effects like Stupefy reduce might, you apply all increases and decreases to the base might together - the War Camp buff doesn't "reapply" after other effects resolve. Sequence: - A unit at War Camp has its base might +1 from the War Camp buff - When Stupefy resolves, it snapshots the current calculation and applies its reduction - The final might is: base might + War Camp buff + any other modifiers - Example: A 1 might unit at War Camp becomes 2 might (1+1). After Stupefy (-1), it becomes 1 might (1+1-1) Nuances: - Negative might can occur mathematically but is treated as 0 for all purposes that check might - When calculating might changes, all increases are applied first, then all decreases - Units with 0 might stay alive unless damaged - "Treated as 0" means effects that check might see it as 0, but arithmetic still works from the negative value (e.g., a -1 might unit given +2 becomes 1 might, not 2)

Ruling: Trifarian War Camp does not count as a buff. A Buff is a specific game object - if something is called a buff, it's a Buff; if it's not called a buff, it's not a Buff. Nuances: - Trifarian War Camp increases the might of units but doesn't give them a Buff - Sett's Legend ability requires "a buffed unit" and requires a buff to be spent, so just being at the battlefield doesn't make the unit able to be saved

Ruling: Yes, Triferian War Camp's passive effect is always active, so a Unit entering the board at War Camp will enter at 5 Might and will not be destroyed by Relentless Storm. Sequence: - Unit enters the board at Triferian War Camp - War Camp's passive effect applies immediately, making the Unit 5 Might - Relentless Storm triggers and only destroys Units with 4 or less Might - The Unit survives at 5 Might

Ruling: Yes, you score twice from Trinity Force when both Trinity Force and Skyfall of Areion are attached to a unit on Reckoner's Arena, for 3 points total.

Ruling: No, Tryndamere does not gain extra points when moved onto an empty board with no enemy units. Nuances: - This is not a combat showdown, so Tryndamere is not an attacker - There is no combat occurring in this scenario

Ruling: Tryndamere scores 1 point. His ability only triggers "after an attack" which requires him to be attacking, not defending. Nuances: - Doing damage in Riftbound is never classified as attacking - The phrase "after an attack" is specific to when Tryndamere is the attacker, not when he defends during combat

Ruling: No, Tryndamere's ability does not activate when Holding because his ability triggers "when I attack" and you don't Hold after an attack (only when you attack). Nuances: - Even if Tryndamere is attacked and deals damage, this doesn't trigger his ability because it specifically requires him to attack - The Hold keyword only applies when the unit attacks, not when it is attacked

Ruling: Yes, Tryndamere's ability counts only combat damage. Nuances: - Spell damage can factor into the math by reducing a unit's remaining health, meaning Tryndamere would need to deal less combat damage to reach the threshold for triggering while conquering

Ruling: No. Udyr's effect is an activated ability with the template "cost: effect" where spending his buff is the cost. You must directly activate his effect and spend the buff on him as a cost to get one of his four effects. Nuances: - Effects that trigger whenever you spend a buff are phrased as "when you spend a buff" - Udyr does not have this wording - You cannot spend the same buff as the cost for multiple effects (e.g., spending Udyr's buff for both his effect and another card's effect like Monastery of Hirana) - Conquering a battlefield with a buffed Udyr does not automatically trigger his effect

Ruling: Unchecked Power deals 12 damage to EACH unit at battlefields simultaneously. Both friendly and enemy units take the full 12 damage. Nuances: - The phrase "deal 12 to ALL units" means 12 damage per unit, not 12 damage split among all units - If the card intended split damage, it would use language like "split 12 damage among units" or "deal 12 damage divided among units" - All units at all battlefields are affected, including your own units

Ruling: No, Unyielding Spirit does not block cards that give units minus might. Only damage is damage. Nuances: - Minus might effects are mechanically distinct from damage

Ruling: Unyielding Spirit does not affect Vi's might increase or cleave effects. These are normal combat damage, not spell damage or ability damage. Nuances: - Vi's damage remains normal combat damage regardless of how she gains her might - Cleave effects are also not affected by Unyielding Spirit - The distinction is between spell/ability damage versus combat damage modified by abilities

Ruling: No, Unyielding Spirit does not prevent Kill or Banish effects. It only prevents damage from spells and abilities. Nuances: - Effects like Snapvine that directly set stats or trigger deaths are not considered ability damage and are not prevented by Unyielding Spirit

Ruling: Yes, Unyielding Spirit prevents damage from Caitlyn, Patrolling and Yasuo, Remorseful because their abilities use "Deal damage" with no subject, meaning the ability itself is dealing the damage. Nuances: - Abilities that say "Deal damage" with no subject (the ability/spell deals damage) are prevented by Unyielding Spirit - Abilities that specify a subject like "I deal", "it deals", "they deal", or "we deal" mean the units are dealing the damage, not the ability, so Unyielding Spirit does not prevent them - Challenge and Carnivorous Snapvine use "we deal" and "they deal" respectively, so those are not prevented - Last Breath effects that say "It deals" are not prevented because the unit is dealing the damage

Ruling: No, Unyielding Spirit does not prevent damage from Challenge because Challenge doesn't deal damage by itself - the units deal the damage to each other.

Ruling: No, Challenge is not prevented by Unyielding Spirit. Nuances: - Challenge damage goes through despite Unyielding Spirit's protection

Ruling: Unyielding Spirit does not prevent Snapvine's damage because the units themselves are the source of the damage, not the ability. Nuances: - The key distinction is whether an ability says "deal damage" (ability is the source, blocked by Unyielding) versus "[unit] deals damage" or "they deal damage" (unit is the source, not blocked by Unyielding) - This same principle applies to Challenge and Last Breath, which also bypass Unyielding Spirit - Abilities like Yasuo and Caitlyn that say "deal damage" (without specifying the unit as the dealer) are blocked by Unyielding Spirit because the ability itself is the damage source

Ruling: Unyielding Spirit does not prevent damage from Challenge. Challenge does not deal spell or ability damage; the units themselves deal the damage to each other, so it bypasses effects that refer to spell or ability damage. Nuances: - The rule stating that spells, abilities, or other game effects deal damage and units mark that damage does not mean all damage is spell/ability damage - it only describes how damage is tracked - Unyielding Spirit specifically cares about the damage type (spell/ability damage), not just any damage marked on units

Ruling: No, Unyielding Spirit does not stop damage from Challenge or Carnivorous Snapvine. Nuances: - Unyielding Spirit does stop damage from Void Seeker, Stormbringer, and Yasuo, Remorseless - Unyielding Spirit does not stop damage from Challenge, Last Breath, or Carnivorous Snapvine

Ruling: No, Unyielding Spirit only stops damage from spells, not effects that directly kill a unit.

Ruling: Unyielding does not counter Challenge. Challenge's damage will not be prevented by Unyielding because the damage is dealt by units, not by the spell itself. Nuances: - Damage spells will fully resolve when Unyielding is in play; only the damage itself is prevented - Unyielding only prevents damage from spells, not damage from units

Ruling: No, Legion does not count tokens. Legion requires a main deck card, and tokens don't count as "cards" when mentioned in card text. Nuances: - In general, when card text mentions "cards," it always only means main deck cards, not tokens

Ruling: Vayne keeps the +3 might. Moving the defender away does not stop it from being a combat showdown. Nuances: - Reaver's Row moves the defender rather than recalling it, but this distinction does not affect the outcome

Ruling: No, Vex does not affect Repeat costs. Vex's ability increases the base cost of enemy spells, but Repeat is an optional additional cost that is separate from the base spell cost and is not affected by Vex. Sequence: - Vex is in play with its ability active - An opponent plays a spell with Repeat - Vex increases only the base cost of that spell - The Repeat cost remains unchanged and is paid separately Nuances: - Repeat is treated as an optional additional cost, not part of the base spell cost - When determining if Defy can counter a repeated spell, check if the base cost is within Defy's limits - A spell with Repeat is still treated as a single spell for targeting and resolution purposes

Ruling: Yes, Vex requires payment even when activating a spell from hidden during combat. Hidden only removes the base cost of the spell, but additional costs like those from Vex are added after. Sequence: - Hidden removes the base cost of the spell - Additional costs (such as from Vex) are added after - The opponent must pay these additional costs to activate the spell

Ruling: Vex cannot reduce a spell's Power cost below 0. Called Shot is free without repeat, but costs chaos rune with repeat. Nuances: - A 0 Power spell cannot become negative Power cost (you don't gain Power/unrecycle runes) - Called Shot's base cost is 0 Power, so it remains free when cast without repeat - When Called Shot is cast with repeat, it costs a chaos rune

Ruling: Defy only checks the printed cost of a card, not any modified cost. Any effect that refers to a card's cost checks the printed cost. Nuances: - Cost reduction effects like those that reduce Hextech Ray to 2 power do not affect whether Vex can Defy it - This principle applies to all effects that reference a card's cost

Ruling: Yes, Vex's ability applies to hidden cards. Hidden sets the cost to 0 first, then Vex's cost increase is applied afterward, resulting in a total cost of 1 energy + 1 power. Sequence: - Hidden sets the card's cost to 0 (ignoring base cost) - Cost increases are then applied - Vex's passive adds 1 energy + 1 power as a cost increase - Final cost is 1 energy + 1 power Nuances: - This only applies if combat has actually begun at the battlefield where Vex is present - If Vex just moved but combat hasn't started yet (e.g., with "When I move" triggers still resolving), the additional cost would not be active - Vex's effect is a cost increase, not an additional cost, which is why it applies after hidden's cost reduction

Ruling: The might boost only lasts until the end of the turn in which the cards were recycled. Once the player ends their turn, the effect is gone. Sequence: - Player recycles cards during their turn - Vi gains +X might (where X is the number of cards recycled) - Player ends their turn - The might boost is removed Nuances: - When recycling cards with Vi, you can choose which cards from trash to recycle - Cards are recycled to the bottom of the deck - If recycling multiple cards in the same instance, they must be placed randomly at the bottom of the deck - If recycling one card at a time, randomization is not required

Ruling: No, Victor's legend card does not count as playing a card for Legion (Vanguard Captain)'s effect. Nuances: - Tokens are explicitly not cards and do not trigger Legion

Ruling: Yes, playing a card from hidden is still playing a card, so Viktor Innovator triggers and lets you create a recruit token. Nuances: - Hiding a card (putting it facedown) is not playing a card - Playing a card from hidden (or from hand) counts as playing a card

Ruling: Viktor Innovator's ability does not trigger from runes. Only main deck cards count for Viktor's ability. Nuances: - Tokens from Viktor's legend form also do not count for his ability - Runes are not considered cards for Viktor's trigger purposes

Ruling: No, playing a token with Viktor Legend does not enable Legion. You need to play a main deck card to enable Legion. Nuances: - Tokens do not count as main deck cards for the purpose of enabling Legion

Ruling: No, generating a recruit token from Viktor Legend's ability does not count as playing a card for Legion's effect. Nuances: - Legion specifically requires main deck cards to be played before it - Activating an effect that generates a token is not the same as playing a card - Tokens in general do not count as playing a card

Ruling: No, Viktor does not trigger his ability if he dies during a battle with other units. He must be alive to see other units die for his ability to trigger.

Ruling: Viktor does not trigger when Retreat is played on him. Viktor only triggers when a spell is fully resolved and only if he is still on the board when that resolution happens. Since Retreat returns him to hand before the spell resolves, he is no longer on the board to trigger. Sequence: - Retreat is played targeting Viktor - Viktor is returned to hand - Retreat finishes resolving - Viktor does not trigger because he is not on the board when resolution completes Nuances: - A card is only considered "played" when it resolves, not when it is cast

Ruling: Viktor's ability does not trigger if he and another non-Recruit unit die at the same time from the same spell or game action. Sequence: - Viktor's ability only triggers when he is on the board immediately after another non-Recruit unit dies - If Viktor leaves the board at the same time as the other unit, he cannot evaluate his trigger condition - The ability is only active while Viktor is on the Board zone, not in Trash Nuances: - This applies to any simultaneous death effect, such as both units being killed in the same Cleanup due to damage from a card like Unchecked Power

Ruling: Viktor triggers once for each unit killed individually, not once per kill instance. Nuances: - This applies whether multiple units die from a single spell or from a single combat showdown - If 4 units are killed simultaneously, Viktor triggers 4 times

Ruling: Yes, Viktor's leader effect triggers when Sprite Mother's tokens die. The tokens are units that are not Recruits, so when they die, they trigger Viktor's effect. Nuances: - The tokens count as units for the purpose of Viktor's ability - The tokens are not Recruits, which is the requirement for Viktor's trigger

Ruling: Playing a recruit unit token counts as playing a unit and will trigger abilities like Gemcraaft Seer, but it is not considered playing a card. Nuances: - Token creation is playing a unit but not playing a card - Tokens enter tapped

Ruling: No, Viktor's ability does not trigger legion effects because tokens are not cards. Nuances: - Only main deck cards count as cards - The word "play" in Viktor's ability text does not change this rule

Ruling: Viktor, Innovator does not trigger when Retreat targets him because a card isn't considered "played" until it resolves, at which point Viktor is already in your hand and not on the battlefield to see the play event. Sequence: - Retreat is announced and placed on the chain targeting Viktor - Before Retreat resolves, Viktor is still on the battlefield but the card has not been "played" yet - Retreat resolves, returning Viktor to hand - The card is now considered "played" but Viktor is no longer on the battlefield to trigger Nuances: - When a trigger condition involves a card being played, it refers specifically to the card resolving, not just being put on the chain - This ruling applies even though reaction cards can be played "before spells and abilities resolve" - the distinction is that triggers checking for "when you play" only fire after resolution

Ruling: Vilemaw Lair prevents all forms of movement effects, including abilities like Zenith Blade, Flash, and Ride the Wind. Nuances: - Recall is not considered a move, so effects like Sett or Zhonyas can still recall units from the battlefield - The Syren's gear effect would not work with units in Vilemaw Lair battlefield since it involves movement