Combo · ENGINE

[Backline] is the self-protecting mirror of [Tank], and 465.2.c.6 prints the whole order - Caitlyn pings every turn from behind a wall she is assigned damage after

4 cards · calm · verified

Pieces

• Caitlyn, Patrolling ×3 OGN-068 · payoff · calm

  I must be assigned combat damage last. Exhaust: Deal damage equal to my Might to a unit at a battlefield. Use this ability only while I'm at a battlefield.

• Taric, Protector ×1 OGN-074 · enabler · calm

  [Shield] (+1 Might while I'm a defender.) [Tank] (I must be assigned combat damage first.) Other friendly units here have [Shield].

Payoff

Deck

• Both cards are mono-Calm, so 103.1.b.3 admits them under any legend with Calm among its two domains - measured over data/cards.json those include OGN-261 / OGN-306 Radiant Dawn (calm/order), SFD-197 / SFD-247 Emperor of the Sands (calm/order), UNL-195 / UNL-233 Green Father (calm/order), VEN-147 / VEN-193 Eye of Twilight (calm/order) and VEN-139 / VEN-189 Rogue Assassin (calm/fury).
• 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.
• 103.2.b allows three Caitlyn; each is a separate exhaust, so three of her are three pings a turn.

Prerequisites

• THE ORDER IS PRINTED IN THE RULES AND NO ENTRY HAD CITED IT. 465.2.c.6 - 'A player must obey all requirements and restrictions on damage assignment if able' - carries the full worked example: 'A player is assigning damage to the following units: a unit with Tank ("I must be assigned combat damage first."); a unit with Backline ("I must be assigned combat damage last."); and another unit without any abilities. That player must assign combat damage first to the unit with Tank, then to the unit with no abilities, then to the unit with Backline.' The catalogue cites 465.2.c.2 through .c.5 and stops; .c.6 through .c.10 are cited by nothing.
• SO [BACKLINE] PROTECTS ITSELF WHERE [TANK] PROTECTS EVERYONE ELSE. 815.1.c.2 makes non-Tank bodies invalid assignments until every Tank has lethal - a toll booth paid on behalf of the rest of the garrison. Backline is the exact mirror: the body carrying it is the LAST thing that can legally be assigned damage, so it survives any attack that does not have enough summed Might to clear the whole garrison first. That is what makes a repeatable exhaust ability worth putting on a Backline body.
• AND CAITLYN PRINTS IT WITH NO BRACKETS. Her text is 'I must be assigned combat damage last.' in prose, where UNL-043, UNL-090, UNL-141 and UNL-145 all print '[Backline]'. A sweep written as grep '\[Backline\]' returns four cards and misses the fifth - which is this project's standing rule about opening a keyword lens with grep -i and the bare word, met again. The Core Rules name her twice by name, at 465.2.c.8 and 465.2.c.9.
• DO NOT GIVE HER [TANK]. 465.2.c.8: 'If a Unit has one or more Abilities or effects applying to it that demand it be assigned damage in a specific way that is exclusionary, then the assigning player chooses only one of those abilities to apply when assigning damage', and its worked example is Caitlyn, Patrolling given Tank by name - 'they may choose to assign damage to Caitlyn first, fulfilling the Tank requirement, or last, fulfilling the Backline requirement.' The choice belongs to the ATTACKER. So OGN-057 Block ('Give a unit [Shield 3] and [Tank] this turn') and SFD-033 Doran's Shield are traps on her specifically: they hand the opponent the option to kill her first. Put the Tank on Taric and the Shield on her.
• THE PING IS A FILTER ON BIG BODIES AND REAL REMOVAL ON SMALL ONES. 143.2.a kills by damage marked at or above Might, and 143.3.b.1 heals all damage 'At the end of each player's turn', so Caitlyn's 3 (4 while defending under Taric, though 465.2.c does not read Might for her ping - 'equal to my Might' is read at execution, 359.3.f.2, and she is not a defender in your Main Phase) kills any body of Might 3 or less outright and merely marks anything bigger. Three copies are 9 damage a turn to one target or three separate kills.
• 381 IS THE WINDOW. Her ability carries no [Action] and no [Reaction], so 'All Activated Abilities can only be activated on the Controlling Player's Turn and during an Open State' confines the ping to your own Main Phase - she cannot answer the opponent's play. 315.1.b readies her every Awakening, so it is one ping per copy per turn forever, and her own clause 'Use this ability only while I'm at a battlefield' keeps her out of the base.
• TARIC'S SHIELD REACHES HER AND HIS TANK DOES NOT. His third sentence is 'Other friendly units here have [Shield]' - a grant, so 814.2 sums it with anything else granting Shield, and 814.1.c makes it +1 Might while she is a defender. His [Tank] is printed on HIM and is not granted, so 465.2.c.8's exclusion never arises on Caitlyn.

Steps

1. Play OGN-074 Taric, Protector (4 Energy + 1 Power) and OGN-068 Caitlyn, Patrolling (3 Energy + 1 Power) to the same battlefield. 143.4 has both enter exhausted.
2. From your next turn, 315.1.b readies them at Awaken. In your Main Phase exhaust Caitlyn: deal damage equal to her Might (3) to a unit at a battlefield. 143.2.a kills anything of Might 3 or less; 143.3.b.1 clears the mark at the end of the turn, so a bigger body must be finished the same turn.
3. When the opponent attacks that battlefield, 465.2.c.6 forces their assignment order: Taric first, because [Tank] demands it (815.1.b, 815.1.c.2); then any plain friendly bodies; then Caitlyn, last, because her printed sentence demands it.
4. Taric defends at 5 (M4 + his own [Shield]); Caitlyn defends at 4 (M3 + the [Shield] he grants her, 814.1.c). An attack that cannot pay for the whole garrison never legally reaches her.
5. Your Awaken readies her again and the ping repeats. Three copies (103.2.b) are three pings a turn.
6. Never play OGN-057 Block or attach SFD-033 Doran's Shield to Caitlyn: 465.2.c.8 would hand the attacker the choice of killing her first, and its worked example is this card by name.

Per iteration

3 damage a turn per copy from a body the opponent is forbidden to assign damage to until everything else of yours is dead

How it ends

engine only - one ping per copy per turn (381 confines it to your Main Phase, 315.1.b refills it), and nothing here scores; 143.3.b.1 clears unspent damage every turn, so the ping is a kill on Might 3 or less and a filter above that

Sources

Published elsewhere

• Riftbound Core Rules, Last Updated 2026-07-16 (data/Riftbound-Core-Rules-2026-07-16.txt), 465.2.c.6 worked example 2026-07-16
• Riftbound Core Rules, Last Updated 2026-07-16 (data/Riftbound-Core-Rules-2026-07-16.txt), 465.2.c.8 2026-07-16
• Riftbound Core Rules, Last Updated 2026-07-16 (data/Riftbound-Core-Rules-2026-07-16.txt), 381 2026-07-16

Walked here, in this project

• Hand walk 2026-09-07 2026-09-07 record

Walked against Core Rules 2026-07-16

Match a deck list against the whole catalogue