Combo · ENGINE
Emperor of the Sands × Aphelios, Exalted — rune value on every attach
Pieces
- Emperor of the Sands ×1
SFD-247 · engine · calm/order
Sand Soldiers you play have [Weaponmaster]. (When they're played, you may [Equip] one of your Equipment to them for 1 Power of any domain less.) 1 Energy, Exhaust: Play a 2 Might Sand Soldier unit token to your base. Use only if you've played an Equipment this turn.
- Aphelios, Exalted ×1
SFD-049 · engine · calm
When you attach an Equipment to me, choose one that hasn't been chosen this turn — • Ready 2 runes. • Channel 1 rune exhausted. • Buff a friendly unit.
- Eye of the Herald ×1
SFD-153 · enabler · order
[Equip] 1 Order Power (1 Order Power: Attach this to a unit you control.)
When I move, play a 1 Might Recruit unit token here.
Payoff
Deck
- Legend is Emperor of the Sands (SFD-247, Calm/Order).
Prerequisites
- Hard cap: 'that hasn't been chosen this turn' allows at most three triggers per turn — 2 readied runes + 1 channeled + 1 buff. Not a loop; the Rune Deck is 12 (161.2.a).
- WHAT KILLS IT, AND IT IS NOT NAMED ANYWHERE ELSE IN THIS ENTRY. 718.5.b: "Attached cards still can be chosen or targeted by game effects while Attached." The whole cycle is ONE Equipment being moved between carriers, so the Eye of the Herald is a single point of failure that is targetable on every turn of it - 718.2 and 721.2 make its printed text Inactive while attached and neither protects the card. Kill it and there is nothing left to re-attach, which ends the three-modes-a-turn cap the notable above describes at zero. Measured over every printing: FIFTEEN names kill a gear, they cover ALL SIX domains and NONE is colourless, so no opponent identity lacks one - the cheapest are OGN-179 Acceptable Losses (Chaos, E1, [Action]) and SFD-005 Detonate (Fury, E1 + 1 Power) - and ZERO of the fifteen carry [Reaction], so none reaches the Beginning-Phase Hold window (312.2.a with 813.1.c.1) - the answer has to be cast a turn early, which is also the turn in which to defend it. In its own Calm/Order colours the answer is OGN-224 Salvage (Order, E2 + 1 Power, [Action]) or SFD-032 Disarming Rake (Calm, E3 + 1 Power).
Steps
- Attach an Equipment to Aphelios: pick Ready 2 runes.
- Play a Sand Soldier with the legend; Weaponmaster moves the Equipment onto it for a rune less.
- Re-attach to Aphelios: pick Channel 1. Third attach: Buff.
How it ends
engine only, capped at three modes per turn
Sources
Walked here, in this project
- Hunt v2 lens L6, entry C8 2026-09-03 record
- REFUTE pass 2026-09-03 2026-09-03 record
- Hand walk 2026-09-04 2026-09-04 record
How this entry was audited
REFUTE = a refutation pass, with its date and verdict · WOUNDED = the pass found a flaw and the entry was rewritten · BUDGETED = the pass checked the recycle-and-draw ledger · lens = the hunt that proposed it.
Calm/Order had no entry. Listed at the lens's own cap; the refute spec (§27) is what limits it. REFUTE 2026-09-03: WOUNDED — per turn roughly −1 Energy, −2 Order Power recycled, +2 runes readied, +1 channelled: about even. The legend's exhaust makes one Sand Soldier per turn, so the third mode needs a second Equipment played from hand. HAND-WALKED 2026-09-04 (docs/phase0/walks/2026-09-04-virtuoso-and-two-attach.md). 434.1.g/h is the rule the line turns on: attaching a card to its current Top-Most Card does nothing, so the Equipment has to hop onto the Sand Soldier and back for a second Aphelios trigger, and Weaponmaster's 1 rainbow less makes that hop free. The three-mode cap plus the legend's exhaust (one Sand Soldier a turn) is what forces a second Equipment from hand for the third mode. Depends on no unruled reading.
Walked against Core Rules 2026-07-16