Combo · ENGINE
142.4.b: lethal is measured against CURRENT Might and re-checked, so a -Might turns damage already marked into a kill - and Riot's worked example is Frigid Touch
Pieces
- Bellows Breath ×3
SFD-080 · engine · mind
[Action] (Play on your turn or in showdowns.) [Repeat] 1 Energy + 1 Mind Power (You may pay the additional cost to repeat this spell's effect.) Deal 1 to up to three units at the same location.
- Frigid Touch ×3
SFD-066 · payoff · mind
[Reaction] (Play any time, even before spells and abilities resolve.) [Repeat] 2 Energy (You may pay the additional cost to repeat this spell's effect.) Give a unit -2 Might this turn.
Payoff
Deck
- Both spells are mono-Mind, so 103.1.b.3 admits them under any legend with Mind among its two domains - measured over data/cards.json, 31 legend base codes qualify, among them OGN-247 / OGN-299 Daughter of the Void (fury/mind), OGN-255 / OGN-303 Nine-Tailed Fox (calm/mind), OGN-263 / OGN-307 Swift Scout (mind/chaos), OGN-265 / OGN-308 Herald of the Arcane (mind/order), SFD-201 / SFD-249 Chem-Baroness (mind/order), UNL-181 / UNL-226 Virtuoso (fury/mind) and VEN-149 / VEN-194 Defender of Tomorrow (mind/body).
- Neither is a Signature card (checked against data/cards.json), so 103.2.d.2 imposes no legend, and neither is banned or restricted in either format.
- Both halves must land in the SAME turn: 143.3.b.1 heals all damage 'At the end of each player's turn' and 317.2.c expires the -Might at the same Cleanup.
Prerequisites
- THE RULE, AND RIOT'S WORKED EXAMPLE IS ONE OF THESE TWO CARDS. 142.4.a: 'Lethal Damage is the amount of marked Damage that will cause a unit to die in a cleanup.' 142.4.b: 'Lethal Damage for a Unit is a non-zero amount greater than or equal to that Unit's Might', with the example 'A unit has 5 [M] and 3 damage marked on it. Frigid Touch is played targeting that unit. When it resolves, the unit's Might becomes 3, and it will have lethal damage marked on it.' So lethal is measured against CURRENT Might and re-checked continuously - the damage does not have to be enough when it is dealt. 142.1 through 142.4 are cited by no entry and no synergy rule in this project.
- WHICH INVERTS HOW REMOVAL IS PRICED. The usual question is 'how much damage do I need for that body' - here the answer is 'how far do I have to shrink it', and shrinking is cheaper. A Might 6 body needs 6 damage; it needs 2 damage and -4 Might, which is 2 Energy + 1 Power + 1 Mind Power for the marks and 4 Energy for the shrink. This is the complement of the standing finding that a kill keyed on the word 'damaged' reads a MARKER and not a threshold: here the marker is turned lethal instead of being read.
- FRIGID TOUCH IS UNFLOORED, WHICH IS THE WHOLE REASON IT IS THE PAYOFF. 477.3.b caps a floored REDUCTION rather than the result, so a '-3, to a minimum of 1' clause can never take a body below 1 and can never make 1 marked damage lethal on a Might 6 unit. Frigid Touch prints no floor. Of the Might reductions in the pool the nine from Origins carry a floor and the ones from SFD, UNL and VEN do not - check the printed clause before substituting a reducer here.
- [REPEAT] IS EXACTLY ONE EXTRA EXECUTION, AND IT MAY RE-TARGET. 820.1.b gives one extra execution and 820.1.c.3 lets each Repeat cost be paid only once, while 820.2.a says 'Choices made for the additional execution do not have to be the same as the choices made for the initial execution.' So Bellows Breath repeated is 2 marks on each of three bodies OR 1 mark on six, and Frigid Touch repeated is -4 on one body or -2 on two. Neither is an engine; both are one extra execution.
- AND 142.4.b's SECOND EXAMPLE IS THE 0-MIGHT WALL RULE, STATED AT ITS SOURCE: 'A unit has 0 [M]. In order to have lethal damage marked on it, it must have at least 1 damage marked on it.' That is why this project prices a wall of 0-Might Reflections in DAMAGE and not in Might - and it is also why Bellows Breath, which deals exactly 1, clears such a wall three bodies at a time for 1 Energy.
- THE WINDOW IS ONE TURN AND BOTH HALVES END AT THE SAME CLEANUP. 143.3.b.1 heals all damage at the end of each player's turn and 317.2.c expires every 'this turn' effect in the same step, so nothing carries. And 466.1.a.1 - 'Insert "3c. Heal all Units."' - wipes marked damage at a Combat Cleanup too, which is why this is a Main-Phase line and not a combat trick.
- BOTH ARE INSTANT ENOUGH TO BE HELD. Bellows Breath is [Action] (806.1.b, so it reaches a Showdown) and Frigid Touch is [Reaction] (813.1.c.1, any Closed State on any player's turn), so the shrink can be bought after the opponent has committed - the same reason #170 preferred Frigid Touch to a play-trigger reducer.
Steps
- In your Main Phase play SFD-080 Bellows Breath (1 Energy + 1 Power) and pay its [Repeat] (1 Energy + 1 Mind Power): deal 1 to up to three enemy units at one location, twice, for 2 marked damage on each.
- 142.3 marks that damage on the units; nothing dies yet, because 142.4.b measures lethal against their current Might.
- Play SFD-066 Frigid Touch (2 Energy) on the body you want dead and pay its [Repeat] (2 Energy): -2 twice, i.e. -4 Might this turn, with no floor.
- A Might 6 body is now Might 2 with 2 damage marked. 142.4.b: 'Lethal Damage for a Unit is a non-zero amount greater than or equal to that Unit's Might' - the mark is lethal now, and 142.4.a kills it in the cleanup.
- Alternatively spend the Repeat on a second target (820.2.a) and kill two Might 4 bodies instead of one Might 6.
- Do not split the two halves across turns: 143.3.b.1 heals the marks at the end of the turn and 317.2.c expires the -Might in the same Cleanup.
- Three copies of each (103.2.b).
Per iteration
a Might 6 body killed for 2 damage instead of 6, by moving the threshold instead of the damage
How it ends
engine only - nothing here scores. Both halves expire at the end-of-turn Cleanup (143.3.b.1, 317.2.c), [Repeat] is exactly one extra execution (820.1.b), and three copies of each spell (103.2.b) bound it
Sources
Published elsewhere
- Riftbound Core Rules, Last Updated 2026-07-16 (data/Riftbound-Core-Rules-2026-07-16.txt), 142.4.b worked example 2026-07-16
- Riftbound Core Rules, Last Updated 2026-07-16 (data/Riftbound-Core-Rules-2026-07-16.txt), 142.4.b 2026-07-16
- Riftbound Core Rules, Last Updated 2026-07-16 (data/Riftbound-Core-Rules-2026-07-16.txt), 820.2.a 2026-07-16
Walked here, in this project
- Hand walk 2026-09-07 2026-09-07 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.
HAND-WALKED 2026-09-07 (issue #187, uncited-rules-blocks slice: 142 Damage, found by a sub-rule probe for uncited sub-rules carrying a worked Example). 142.1, 142.2, 142.3, 142.3.a, 142.3.b, 142.4, 142.4.a, 142.4.b and 142.4.c are cited by no entry and no synergy rule in this project, and 142.4.b's own worked example names SFD-066 Frigid Touch. Card text verbatim from data/corpus_flat.txt. Citations opened: 103.1.b.3, 103.2.b, 103.2.d.2, 142.3, 142.4.a, 142.4.b, 143.3.b.1, 317.2.c, 466.1.a.1, 477.3.b, 806.1.b, 813.1.c.1, 820.1.b, 820.1.c.3, 820.2.a. And 142.4.c is the paragraph for UNL-118 Elder Dragon's 'Any amount of your damage is enough to kill enemy units', with 142.3.a / 142.3.b scoping 'your damage' to damage YOU marked - which means a mutual-damage exchange, where 417.6.b.4 makes the opponent responsible for what their own unit dealt, does NOT feed it. Distinct from foxfire-unfloored-reduction-sweep and sivir-ambitious-frigid-touch-excess (both use the reduction for a sweep or for excess damage, neither for marked damage) and from the three Bellows Breath entries. Trap check: both halves must land in one turn and the entry says so; a floored reducer cannot substitute (477.3.b); [Repeat] is one extra execution, not an engine; no unruled reading.
Walked against Core Rules 2026-07-16