Riftbound Frequently Asked Questions

Ruling: Damage marked on a unit does not reduce its might. A unit's might remains constant regardless of damage marked on it. Sequence: - Damage is marked on units when they take damage - When a unit has damage marked on it greater than or equal to its might, it dies - Units heal (damage is removed) during combat cleanup after combat damage is dealt, and at the end of turn Nuances: - A 7 might unit with 6 damage marked on it still deals 7 damage in combat - Effects that actually reduce might (like Stupefy, Smokescreen, and Thousand Tailed Watcher) exist as separate mechanics from damage

Ruling: A unit deals damage equal to its current might value. Damage marked on a unit does NOT reduce its might or the damage it deals. Only effects that explicitly reduce might (like Stupefy) will reduce the damage dealt. Nuances: - Damage and might are separate concepts - a unit with 5 might and 3 damage marked still has 5 might and deals 5 damage - To kill a unit, you must deal damage equal to or exceeding its might - Damage markers are removed at the end of combat and at the end of turn - Might reductions only persist if the effect specifies a duration (like "until end of turn")

Ruling: Yes, damage from Challenge persists on units until combat resolves on any battlefield or the turn ends. The damaged unit does not need to participate in that combat to be healed. Sequence: - Challenge deals damage equal to each unit's might to the other - Damage remains on both units - When any combat occurs on any battlefield, damage is removed from all units at the end of combat - Alternatively, damage is removed at end of turn Nuances: - Combat only occurs when battlefields are contested, not from abilities like Challenge - A unit can be healed by sending a different unit to contest a battlefield and trigger combat - If either unit involved in Challenge leaves the field before it resolves, no damage is applied because the might value is no longer available

Ruling: All units everywhere heal during combat cleanup steps, regardless of whether they participated in the actual battlefield combat. Once a combat showdown starts, all combat steps occur including the healing step. Sequence: - A combat showdown begins when moving to a battlefield controlled by opponent - During the showdown, Challenge can be used to make units deal damage to each other - Even if a unit dies from Challenge damage before actual combat occurs, the showdown continues through all combat steps - During combat cleanup, all units everywhere heal their damage Nuances: - Challenge does not have targeting restrictions about location - you can target units in different battlefields or in bases - Two units dealing damage to each other via Challenge is not itself "combat" - it's just damage - Combat specifically occurs during a showdown at a battlefield your opponent controls - Damage from Challenge persists until healed (at end of combat or end of turn) - If there aren't units from both players during the combat damage step, no combat damage occurs, but other combat steps (like healing) still happen

Ruling: Yes, damage from spells persists until a combat has resolved or the turn has ended, so damage dealt by Rocket is still present when combat damage is divided. Nuances: - This assumes no other combat ended in between the spell damage and the current combat

Ruling: Damage only heals in the combat cleanup step (after combat) and at the end of turn. If the showdown is not part of combat, no units will heal. Nuances: - All units heal during combat cleanup regardless of their location - Once combat begins, all steps of combat must be followed even if units are removed or no damage is dealt - There is no way to exit combat early once it has started - A showdown becomes a combat when a battlefield is contested and occupied by units controlled by different players

Ruling: All damage on all units in play heals after combat, regardless of how they were damaged (including spell damage).

Ruling: Yes, damage is healed on every unit at the end of combat, even those not involved in the combat. Nuances: - This applies to units damaged earlier in the turn (e.g., by Challenge) that remain at base while other units engage in combat - Healing occurs during the combat resolution/cleanup step for all marked units

Ruling: All marked damage is cleared from all units on the board during the showdown phase, regardless of whether they participated in the showdown or their location. Sequence: - Use an ability (like Challenge) to mark damage on a unit - Start showdown with a different unit - During showdown, all marked damage clears from all units (including the first unit that didn't participate) Nuances: - Location does not matter - units in BASE, COMBAT, or any other zone all get their marked damage cleared - This applies even if the damaged unit never entered combat

Ruling: No, damage does not reduce might. Damage and might are separate values. Nuances: - Units are killed when they have damage greater than or equal to their might (and the damage is non-zero) - A unit with 6 might that has taken 5 damage still has 6 might and cannot be targeted by effects that require 5 or less might

Ruling: Damage does not reduce might. The damage a unit deals in combat equals its might, regardless of how much damage is already on that unit. Sequence: - Firestorm deals 3 damage to units (not reducing their might) - Units enter combat with their full might values - Each unit deals damage equal to its might - Units die if total damage on them equals or exceeds their health Nuances: - Damage dealt by spells before combat remains on units but doesn't affect their combat damage output - In the specific scenario: 9 might and 6 might units (with +1 from battlefield) fight 8 might and 5 might units (7+1 and 4+1, each with 3 damage from Firestorm already on them), resulting in all units dying

Ruling: Damage does not reduce a unit's might/power - they are tracked separately. A 7 might unit with 3 damage still has 7 might in combat resolution. All damage is healed after a combat showdown and at the end of each turn. Sequence: - Damage dealt to a unit (from spells or combat) persists on that unit - Damage remains through combat resolution if dealt before combat - All damage is healed after a combat showdown ends - All damage is also healed at the end of each turn Nuances: - Damage persists on units even when they are not at a battlefield - Damage and might are separate values - damage does not reduce might for combat calculations

Ruling: No, damage does not change Might values. Damage and Might are two completely separate mechanics. Nuances: - Might is the combat statistic of a Unit used to determine contribution to Combat and when it is Killed by damaging effects - Damage is a marked value applied to Units that tracks how close a Unit is to being Killed - Units are Killed during a specific cleanup step when Damage equals or exceeds their Might - If damage reduced Might, the cleanup step rule would be redundant

Ruling: Damage remains on units after Snapvine's effect resolves. Units only heal at end of turn and end of combat (when multiple players are at 1 location). Snapvine's effect is not combat. Nuances: - If Snapvine takes damage from its own effect and then moves to a battlefield controlled by another player, that damage mark remains until actual combat occurs or end of turn

Ruling: Damage does not reduce Might. A unit with 6 Might that takes 5 damage will still hit for the full 6 Might. Nuances: - Damage stacks on units until healed through combat or end of turn - You can use reactions like Call to Glory to increase Might in response to non-combat damage from spells - During combat damage trades, you cannot take actions; buffs must be played during the Showdown window of opportunity before damage is dealt

Ruling: In general, deflect stacks. However, Spirit Refuge specifically is worded with "if they didn't already" which prevents it from stacking with itself. Nuances: - Spirit Refuge's specific wording prevents multiple copies from stacking - Other deflect sources without this restriction would normally stack

Ruling: Equipment attached to a unit that dies returns to your base, not to the trash. Nuances: - Equipment cannot exist on the battlefield by itself - This is supported by card text like Draven's Axes, which specifically states it dies when the unit dies (implying this is an exception to the normal rule) - A unit can have multiple equipment attached to it

Ruling: Yes, equipment transfers its effect text to the unit it's attached to. Therefore, Trinity Force attached to a unit with Skyfall of Areion would trigger on both conquer and hold. Nuances: - Svellsongur is a unique exception that doesn't follow this rule and needs an errata - The rules for equipment text transfer are documented in multiple sections (attach game action section and attachment additional rules section)

Ruling: Equipping gear does count as choosing/targeting, but Irelia's ability only reduces the cost of spells, not gear. Equipment is targeting but is not a spell, so Irelia does not reduce gear costs. Nuances: - Equipment uses the "choose a unit, attach this to it" mechanic which counts as targeting - This targeting interaction is relevant for other effects that care about choosing/targeting - The spell vs. gear distinction is critical for Irelia's cost reduction ability

Ruling: Equipping a gear does count as choosing a unit for effects that care about choosing units (like Irelia, Fervent). However, it does not count for effects that specifically look for spells (like Dreaming Tree). Nuances: - Dreaming Tree specifically only triggers from spells, so equipping gear will not trigger it - Effects like Irelia, Fervent that care about choosing units in general will trigger from equipping gear

Ruling: Yes, equipping a unit counts as choosing a unit. Nuances: - Effects that "attach this to" a unit are targeting that unit, which is what the game means by "choose" in Irelia's ability - This is analogous to other targeting effects like "move" or "kill" - they all involve choosing/targeting a unit

Ruling: Yes, equipping gear to Irelia counts as choosing her. In the context of Irelia, "choose" is equivalent to "target." Nuances: - This equivalence (choose = target) is specific to Irelia's mechanics

Ruling: Yes, equipping is an activated ability that uses the chain and can be reacted to. Nuances: - All activated abilities use the chain, regardless of whether they target or not - Some activated abilities that use the chain cannot be reacted to (e.g. Malzahar's ability)

Ruling: No, exhausting Viktor and playing his recruit does not count towards Legion. Nuances: - Legion requires playing another card this turn - Recruits generated by exhausting characters are not cards - Hiding also does not count as Legion

Ruling: No, exhausting a unit as an additional cost for Meditation does not trigger Dreaming Tree's ability to choose that unit. Nuances: - Targets are not part of the cost of an effect - Exhausting happens as an additional cost, which occurs before targeting

Ruling: Yes, flipping Foxfire from hidden counts as playing a spell for Ravenbloom Student to get +1.

Ruling: Floating mana from runes only empties at end of draw step and at end of turn, not after combat during special cleanups. Sequence: - Floating mana persists through combat - Floating mana empties at end of draw step - Floating mana empties at end of turn Nuances: - If you exhaust 6 runes to accelerate, recycle 2, play a unit, then exhaust 2 more (leaving 2 floating), when your units die in combat you ready the 6 exhausted runes while the 2 floating mana remains available until end of turn

Ruling: Focus automatically passes to your opponent after a whole chain resolves (except the initial when I attack/defend chain). You cannot play actions back-to-back; your opponent must either pass focus back or play their action first. Sequence: - Player plays an action/spell - The chain resolves completely - Focus automatically passes to opponent - Opponent must either pass focus back or play their action - After opponent's action resolves, focus automatically passes back Nuances: - Two manual, consecutive passes of focus are still required to move on to the next step of the showdown - The automatic focus pass after chain resolution is separate from the manual passing requirement

Ruling: Focus starts with the attacker in combat. There is a special exception for the initial chain of a combat showdown where focus doesn't pass after it resolves - the attacker retains focus and can play action speed spells. Sequence: - Attacker moves unit to battlefield - Attack triggers go on the stack first, then defender triggers - Attacker has priority and can pass - Opponent can cast reaction spells or pass - Triggers resolve - Attacker retains focus (exception to normal rules) and can start a new chain with action or reaction spells Nuances: - Focus is the ability to play action speed cards when the chain is empty - While building a chain, focus stays with one player; you pass priority to add reaction speed effects - After the chain resolves, focus normally passes to the other player (unless it's the initial combat chain) - Priority goes to the controller of the newest item on the chain after each resolution

Ruling: Gear enters ready unless the card states otherwise. Nuances: - Gear enters the base (not battlefield/board) - This applies to gear like seals and sun-disc

Ruling: Zhonya's Hourglass will protect the unit for the current turn by replacing its death with recall, but the unit retains the Temporary keyword and will die at the beginning of the next turn. Sequence: - Unit gains Temporary keyword - At beginning of turn, Temporary triggers causing the unit to die - Zhonya's Hourglass replacement effect triggers, replacing death with recall exhausted - Unit is recalled but still has Temporary keyword - At beginning of next turn, Temporary triggers again and unit dies Nuances: - Temporary is a triggered effect that triggers at the start of the beginning phase; all such triggers happen simultaneously and are added to the chain, so the trigger condition only happens once per turn - Zhonya's uses a replacement effect that changes "die" to "recall exhausted" but doesn't remove the Temporary keyword - Recalling a unit does not clear negative keywords - Effects like Sett's legend ability could save the unit every turn, but it would always retain Temporary

Ruling: No, gusting a token does not count as killing the unit. Sequence: - The unit returns to hand - The token ceases to exist - This happens off the board, so it is not counted as a kill

Ruling: No, hiding Fight or Flight does not allow it to avoid Defy. Defy can still counter hidden cards because a hidden spell is still played, and Defy is also a reaction. Nuances: - The commentator's suggestion was based on a misunderstanding of the game state (thinking the player had all 3 FoF in hand when one was already played) - The actual strategic consideration was about playing around multiple counterspells with energy management, not about avoiding Defy through hiding

Ruling: Hiding a card does not enable legion. Hiding is not the same as playing a card. Nuances: - Legion requires playing a card, not just hiding one

Ruling: Yes, cards that are hidden gain Reaction when face down. Nuances: - A card that gains Reaction from being hidden cannot react in the same turn it was hidden, only in future turns.

Ruling: Might reduction and other temporary status effects (buffs and debuffs) remain on the unit when saved by Sett Legend. Debuffs cannot be healed. Nuances: - Sett's ability recalls the unit from one board zone to another, so they remain the same Game Object affected by abilities they have been granted - Recall is not a move

Ruling: Only the Standard Move has an implicit exhaust cost. When card effects move units (like Charm or Ride the Wind), they only do what they say and do not exhaust the unit unless explicitly stated. Nuances: - "Standard Move" is a proper noun and is not equivalent to "generally moving" - All units have an implicit ability "exhaust: move me to or from your base" which is the Standard Move - If you aren't using that Standard Move ability to move a unit, you just do what the card ability says - Ride the Wind includes "and then Ready it" to provide additional benefit (e.g., moving an already-exhausted unit and then readying it, or readying a unit that was already ready to enable additional moves) - Card effects that move units work regardless of the unit's exhaust state

Ruling: No, moving a unit does not start a chain or use the chain at all. Nuances: - Moving to a location you already control does not create a showdown

Ruling: Yasuo's legend ability does not exhaust units. Spells and abilities that move units do not change their exhaust/ready position unless they specify. Nuances: - A ready unit moved to a battlefield can still use abilities like Ganking to move again in the same turn

Ruling: Moving a unit does not make it an invalid target if the targeting effect has no location restrictions. Target legality is checked again on resolution, which includes location-based restrictions. Nuances: - If an effect specifies a zone (like Void Seeker which targets the void), moving the unit to a different zone makes it invalid - If an effect has no zone restriction (like Singularity), moving the unit keeps it as a legal target as long as it remains on the board

Ruling: Yes, moving a unit into any battlefield that you don't control starts a Showdown, even if the battlefield is uncontrolled/open with no enemy units present. Nuances: - This allows opponents to play Action cards that specify "use only in your turn or in showdowns" (like Blast of Power) in response to the movement - This mechanic enables players to attempt to stop opponents from gaining points

Ruling: Moving a unit to a battlefield you already control does not cause a showdown. Sequence: - If you control a battlefield with a unit and move another unit there, no showdown occurs - If you leave a battlefield (making it unoccupied) and then move back in with a different unit, a showdown does occur Nuances: - The opponent does not get priority when you move a unit from base to a battlefield you control, unless the moving unit has a move trigger (like Merchant) - Shen can only be played to a battlefield you control, so it cannot be used to react to an opponent moving to their own controlled battlefield

Ruling: Moving a unit to a battlefield you already control does not start a showdown. You cannot re-conquer a battlefield you have already scored from this turn to trigger on-conquer effects. Sequence: - When you contest a battlefield and win the showdown, you gain control - If you have not scored on that battlefield this turn (either from holding or a conquer), the game state also adds conquered status on top of control, which gives you the +1 score - If you move back and win the showdown again, you only get control again but conquer does not happen because you already scored - Without the conquer status, on-conquer abilities do not trigger Nuances: - You can only score 1 point per battlefield per turn - Scoring is part of the requirement for conquer - The exception is when you are at 7 points and cannot score off that conquer, where you draw the card instead

Ruling: Moving a unit to a battlefield you own does not allow your opponent to react or start a chain. Movement by itself does not start a chain. However, if you move to a battlefield controlled by your opponent, that starts a showdown where they can react. Sequence: - If movement causes any abilities to trigger, it creates a chain allowing the opponent to react - However, your unit would already be at the battlefield before they can react to the triggered ability - During a showdown (when moving to opponent's battlefield), the opponent can react normally Nuances: - Moving to an empty battlefield you don't control starts a non-combat showdown - Playing or moving a unit to a battlefield you already control does not start a showdown - You cannot react to units being played, only to their "When You Play Me" triggered abilities - All "When" abilities are triggers that create or go on a chain, allowing reactions - Triggered abilities resolve even if the unit that triggered them is removed - Moving a unit from battlefield to base does not give opponent opportunity to react

Ruling: Yes, moving a unit to an empty battlefield causes a showdown if you don't control that battlefield. Sequence: - When you move a unit to a battlefield you don't control, that battlefield becomes contested - A showdown will be opened Nuances: - Control becomes contested when a unit is moved to a battlefield whose controller doesn't control the battlefield

Ruling: Moving to an unoccupied battlefield is not attacking and does not trigger attack-related effects. However, if an opponent later moves a unit to that battlefield during the Showdown (such as with a spell), you will be designated the attacker since you were the first player to make that battlefield contested. Nuances: - If you already have a unit at a battlefield and then Charm an opponent's unit to that battlefield, you will be defending and will get the Mask buff as a defender.

Ruling: Yes, moving to an open battlefield causes a showdown to open, which gives the opponent a window to gain focus and take actions. Nuances: - Players may shortcut through the showdown if the opponent has all runes exhausted or verbally agrees to pass focus - Shortcuts like immediately scoring the point are acceptable if the opponent doesn't interrupt or ask them not to do it

Ruling: Moving a unit to a battlefield you already control does not start a chain, and your opponent does not get priority to react. Sequence: - Moving does not use the chain - Since you aren't contesting the battlefield, no showdown starts - The opponent doesn't get priority at any time during this process Nuances: - Focus is only relevant during showdowns, not during the moving process - This applies specifically when moving to a battlefield you currently control (not contesting it)

Ruling: No, the standard ability of units to exhaust themselves to move does not count as choosing for Irelia's legend ability.

Ruling: No, moving to a battlefield you control does not start a showdown or give the opponent an opportunity to act/react.