Combo · ENGINE

Butcher of the Sands converts Power to Energy, and 164.2.b means the Power comes out of runes you already spent

4 cards · fury + body · verified

Pieces

• Butcher of the Sands ×1 VEN-141 · legend · fury/body

  [Reaction][>] 2 Power of any domain, Exhaust: [Add] 2 Energy. Spend this Energy only to play units or activated abilities of units.

• Volibear, Imposing ×3 OGN-158 · payoff · body

  [Shield 3] (+3 Might while I'm a defender.) [Tank] (I must be assigned combat damage first.) When an opponent moves to a battlefield other than mine, draw 1. (Bases are not battlefield.)

Payoff

Deck

• Butcher of the Sands IS the legend, VEN-141 or VEN-190 (Fury/Body), so this is a one-legend line by construction. Volibear, Imposing is mono-Body, so 103.1.b.3 is satisfied and the Fury half is free for the rest of the deck.

Prerequisites

• THE COST IS PAID OUT OF RUNES THAT HAVE ALREADY PAID ONCE, WHICH IS THE WHOLE ENTRY. A Basic Rune has exactly two abilities (164.2): 164.2.a is '[E]: [Reaction] — Add [1]', whose cost is an EXHAUST, and 164.2.b is 'Recycle this: [Reaction] — Add [C]', whose cost is RECYCLING and which carries no exhaust at all. So a rune you already tapped for Energy this turn can still be recycled for a Power. Tap twelve runes for twelve Energy, then recycle two of the spent ones for two Power, then feed the Butcher: fourteen Energy-equivalent out of twelve runes.
• AND THE TWO RUNES COME BACK. 161.2.b sends a recycled rune to the Rune Deck rather than the trash, and 315.3.b channels two from the Rune Deck every Channel Phase — so recycling exactly two a turn is a steady state, not a drain. 430.3 ('channel as many as possible') is the only thing that eventually bites, and 161.2.a caps the board at twelve runes anyway. CORRECTED 2026-10-24 (#456): not at the next Channel Phase. 416.1 puts a recycled rune on the bottom of the Rune Deck (416.1.b) and 430.1 channels from the top, so 315.3.b's two a turn are the runes above it, which the board gets whether or not anything was recycled. With only those two a turn (161.2.a, 315.3.b, 485.7), a rune recycled on any of T1 to T6 is back on T7 going first; going second the first one recycled by T5 is back on T6 and the second on T7; each two more recycled push it a turn later, and a card that channels more (430.2) brings it back sooner. Only once the Rune Deck is empty (all twelve out, T6 at the earliest from either seat) does the next Channel Phase give a recycled rune back; before that a recycle is a rune short on every turn until the deck runs dry, and two recycled every turn hold the board flat at two going first. So recycling exactly two a turn is a steady state in the count and a drain against the unspent curve until the Rune Deck is empty: the board stays where it is and never grows while the loop runs. After the deck is empty it is the steady state this caveat describes. The conversion itself (Power to Energy, out of runes already spent) is unaffected; status unchanged.
• BY THE PROJECT'S OWN MEASURED RATE THE EXCHANGE IS THE WRONG DIRECTION — a Power inside a loop is worth roughly nine Energy — so this legend is NOT a ramp to be priced against that rate. What it sells is the TIMING and the source: 2 Energy created out of runes that had no second use, at [Reaction] speed (813.1.b gives it all of Action's permissions too).
• THE RESTRICTION IS REAL: 'only to play units or activated abilities of units'. It buys no spells and no gear. And 167 empties the Rune Pool at the start of each Main Phase and the end of each turn, so the two Energy must be added and spent inside the same window.
• OFF-TURN IT IS NARROWER THAN IT LOOKS. 145.2 confines a unit's Activated Ability to its controller's Main Phase in an Open State unless the ability carries [Action] or [Reaction], and playing a unit on the opponent's turn needs [Reaction], [Ambush] or [Hidden]. The reliable use is your own Main Phase; the off-turn use exists only for the parts of the deck that carry those keywords.
• ONE ACTIVATION A TURN, AND NO MULTIPLIER REACHES IT: the cost includes the legend's own exhaust, 315.1.b returns it at your Awakening, and 107.4.b keeps the Legend Zone out of every 'here' clause.

Steps

1. Deck-build under a Butcher of the Sands legend (VEN-141 or VEN-190).
2. Main Phase: tap your runes for Energy as usual (164.2.a, one exhaust each) and spend it.
3. Still in the Main Phase, recycle two of those now-exhausted runes for Power (164.2.b, whose cost is the recycle and not an exhaust; 164.2.b.1 makes each Power the Domain of the rune recycled, and 135.2.e.5.b is not needed because the Butcher's cost is rainbow).
4. Exhaust the legend and pay the two Power: [Add] 2 Energy. 429.2 resolves an Add ability as soon as it is finalized and 429.2.a keeps priority from passing, so it cannot be answered.
5. Spend that Energy on a unit or a unit's activated ability — with Volibear, Imposing at E12 + 2 Power, the two Energy is a sixth of his cost and the difference between reaching him a turn earlier or not.
6. 161.2.b has put the two runes in the Rune Deck and 315.3.b channels two back at your next Channel Phase, so the loop is steady. 315.1.b readies the legend at the same Awakening. CORRECTED 2026-10-24 (#456): not at the next Channel Phase. A recycled rune goes to the bottom of the Rune Deck (416.1, 416.1.b) and 430.1 channels from the top, so it is back on T7 at the earliest going first and T6 at the earliest going second with only the Channel Phase's two a turn (161.2.a, 315.3.b, 485.7); each two more recycled push it a turn later, a card that channels more (430.2) brings it back sooner, and the next Channel Phase gives it back only once the Rune Deck is empty. So the loop holds the board where it is: steady, but it never grows while it runs, and it falls two more runes behind the unspent curve each turn until that curve reaches twelve.

Per iteration

+2 Energy per turn, drawn out of two runes that had already been spent for Energy, at the price of two runes cycling through the Rune Deck

How it ends

engine only — 2 Energy a turn for units, forever; it scores nothing, it cannot buy spells or gear, and 430.3 plus 161.2.a bound how long the two-runes-a-turn cycle can be sustained

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 (docs/phase0/walks/2026-09-07-uncatalogued-cards.md), issue #171 2026-09-07 record

Walked against Core Rules 2026-07-16

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