Combo · ENGINE

809.2 sums GRANTED Deflect and 809.1.b.3 makes a bare one worth 1, so two stacked grants tax every choice two rainbow

4 cards · calm + body · verified

Pieces

• Allay, Eager Admirer ×1 UNL-041 · engine · calm

  [Deflect] (Opponents must pay 1 Power of any domain to choose me with a spell or ability.) While I'm at a battlefield, your other units here have [Deflect].

• Petricite Monument ×3 SFD-104 · engine · body

  [Temporary] (Kill this at the start of its controller's Beginning Phase, before scoring.) Friendly units have [Deflect]. (Opponents must pay 1 Power of any domain to choose them with a spell or ability.)

Payoff

Deck

• Allay is mono-Calm and the Monument mono-Body, so 103.1.b.1 needs a Calm/Body legend and the census gives four names: Blind Monk (OGN-257), Wuju Bladesman - Starter (OGS-019), Grandmaster at Arms (SFD-193), Wuju Master (UNL-191).
• LEGALITY, READ OUT OF data/legality.json AND NOT TYPED: the file holds exactly one non-banned row, and it is in this list - OGS-019 Wuju Bladesman - Starter is RESTRICTED in 2v2 (since 2026-07-24) and carries no restriction in constructed. The other three Calm/Body names carry nothing in either format, and neither UNL-041 nor SFD-104 appears in the file at all. Neither is Signature, so 103.2.d.2 narrows nothing.

Prerequisites

• THE THREE PARAGRAPHS THAT PRICE IT. 809.1.b: 'It is formatted as "Deflect [X]".' 809.1.b.2: 'The X is referred to as the Deflect Value.' 809.1.b.3: 'If X is omitted, it is presumed to be 1.' Both grants here print a bare [Deflect], so each is worth exactly 1, and 809.2 adds them: 'If a Game Object has Deflect, or has been granted Deflect, and is granted Deflect by an additional source, the Deflect Value of all granted Deflect keywords is summed.' Two grants, Deflect 2 on every friendly body at Allay's battlefield - and Allay herself is at 3, since her printed keyword joins the sum.
• THE TAX IS PER CHOICE AND IN ANY DOMAIN. 809.1.c: 'It is functionally short for "Spells and abilities an opponent controls that target [me/this] cost an amount of Power equal to [Deflect Value] more to play as an additional cost for each time they choose [me/this]."' So one spell choosing two of your bodies pays FOUR rainbow, not two. 809.1.c.1: 'The Power used to pay this cost may always be of any Domain', which is what stops an off-domain opponent from simply ignoring it, and 809.1.d makes it 'a Mandatory Additional Cost on Spells and Abilities that choose the Game Object that has this ability'.
• THE PRINTED OPT-OUT, WITH THE WHOLE GRANTER SET NAMED. Measured 2026-09-07 over data/corpus_flat.txt, exactly FOUR cards grant [Deflect] to units other than themselves by a static: OGN-063 Spirit's Refuge, SFD-071 Breakneck Mech ('Your Mechs'), SFD-104 Petricite Monument and UNL-041 Allay, Eager Admirer. Two more give it by a different mechanism - SFD-102 Hexdrinker grants it to its carrier through attached [Effect] text, and UNL-044 Flurry of Feathers mints Bird tokens that carry it by rule (187.7). And ONE of the four prints a clause opting out of 809.2's summing: Spirit's Refuge says 'Friendly buffed units have [Deflect] if they didn't already', so it can be a first source and never a second. Pick the other two.
• THE MONUMENT'S [Temporary] IS A FEATURE, NOT A COST. 816.1.b kills it 'at the start of this permanent's controller's Beginning Phase, before scoring' - your own 315.2.a - so it taxes the whole of the OPPONENT'S turn, which is when their removal is aimed at your garrison, and it is already gone before 315.2.b.2 asks what you hold. It never costs you a body at the Scoring Step, and 143.4 does not touch it because gear does not enter exhausted. Three copies (103.2.b) is three such turns.
• WHAT IT DOES NOT STOP, WITH THE MEMBERS NAMED. 809.1.c charges for CHOOSING, so 355.10.d ('programmatically selected based on its characteristics rather than chosen'), 355.10.e and 355.10.f all pay nothing - every sweeper and every 'each player kills a unit they control' walks through for free. And exactly two cards in the pool ignore Deflect outright (swept 2026-09-07): VEN-061 Decree of Insight, 'Ignore [Deflect] while paying this spell's cost', which is its own cost only, and VEN-158 Heisho, Shell of the World, 'Players ignore [Deflect] while paying for spells and abilities choosing something here', which is symmetric.
• IT IS A TAX AND NOT A PROHIBITION, AND THAT DISTINCTION IS THE WHOLE CEILING. 054.1 makes SFD-105 Ruin Runner's 'I can't be chosen by enemy spells and abilities' absolute; Deflect is priced, and an opponent with the Power simply pays. What it buys is a tempo tax on a turn they were going to spend all their mana anyway. 809.3 is the other half of the keyword and is worth knowing exists: 'Deflect, and whether or not a Game Object has Deflect, is a characteristic of the permanent and may be checked or referenced by other Game Effects.'

Steps

1. Get Allay, Eager Admirer to a battlefield (3 Energy). Her static reads 'While I'm at a battlefield, your other units here have [Deflect]' - a bare grant, Deflect Value 1 by 809.1.b.3.
2. On the turn you want protection, play Petricite Monument for 2 Energy. Gear does not enter exhausted, and its static is board-wide: 'Friendly units have [Deflect].'
3. 809.2 sums the granted values on every body standing with Allay: 1 + 1 = Deflect 2. Allay's own printed [Deflect] joins the sum on her, so she reads 3.
4. 809.1.c then charges the opponent that much Power PER CHOICE, in any Domain (809.1.c.1), as a Mandatory Additional Cost (809.1.d) - a two-target removal spell aimed into that garrison pays four rainbow on top of its own cost.
5. The Monument dies at the start of your next Beginning Phase (816.1.b), before 315.2.b.2 scores, so it is never a body you lose at the Scoring Step - it is exactly one opponent turn of tax per copy.

Per iteration

Deflect 2 on the garrison (3 on Allay) for one opponent turn, for 2 Energy

How it ends

engine - every friendly unit at Allay's battlefield costs an opponent two rainbow per choice for the whole of their turn, three turns per set of Monuments; nothing here scores

Sources

Published elsewhere

• Riftbound Core Rules, Last Updated 2026-07-16 (data/Riftbound-Core-Rules-2026-07-16.txt) 2026-07-16

Walked here, in this project

• Hand walk 2026-09-07, issue #191 - uncited Core Rules sub-rules 500-899 2026-09-07 record

Walked against Core Rules 2026-07-16

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