Combo · ENGINE

Challenge damage is UNIT damage, so it walks past a [Tank] wall and past a spell-damage fog alike

6 cards · body · verified

Pieces

• Carnivorous Snapvine ×3 OGN-149 · payoff · body

  When you play me, choose an enemy unit at a battlefield. We deal damage equal to our Mights to each other.

• Rampage ×3 VEN-083 · engine · body

  As you play this, you may pay 1 Body Power as an additional cost. Choose a friendly unit and an enemy unit. If you paid the additional cost, give the friendly unit +2 Might this turn. They deal damage equal to their Mights to each other.

Payoff

Deck

• All cards are mono-Body, so 103.1.b.3 admits any legend with Body in its pair: SFD-203/SFD-250 Battle Mistress, OGN-257/OGN-304 Blind Monk, OGN-267/OGN-309 Bounty Hunter, VEN-141/VEN-190 Butcher of the Sands, VEN-149/VEN-194 Defender of Tomorrow, SFD-205/SFD-251 Grand Duelist, SFD-193/SFD-245 Grandmaster at Arms, UNL-203/UNL-237 Keeper of the Hammer, VEN-153/VEN-196 Matriarch of War, OGS-023 Might of Demacia - Starter, UNL-183/UNL-227 Pridestalker, SFD-183/SFD-241 Purifier, OGN-249/OGN-300 Relentless Storm, OGN-269/OGN-310 The Boss, UNL-201/UNL-236 Voidreaver, OGS-019 Wuju Bladesman - Starter, UNL-191/UNL-231 Wuju Master.
• Neither card is banned or restricted in either format, and neither is a Signature card.
• An enemy unit AT A BATTLEFIELD for the Snapvine (its clause says so); Rampage names no location and reaches the base. CORRECTED 2026-10-18 (#400, from the run play docs/plays/2026-10-18-galio-alone-deals-no-combat-damage-so-the-snapvine-beats-him-by-killing-his-partners-and-never-by-choosing-him.md): the clause locates the enemy, not the Snapvine. A unit is played to your base or a battlefield you control (355.2.a: "By default, Valid locations include the controller’s Base or a Battlefield the controller controls."), and from base the play effect still chooses an enemy at any battlefield. Base is where to play it whenever the target is at the opponent's battlefield and the Snapvine is to attack there afterwards: from a battlefield a Standard Move goes only to base (144.4.b: "Units may move from a Battlefield to their Base."), and the Snapvine has no [Ganking] (144.4.c).

Run play

• Galio alone deals no combat damage, so the Snapvine beats him by killing his partners and never by choosing him

Prerequisites

• 417.6.b.3 IS THE WHOLE ENTRY, AND ITS WORKED EXAMPLE IS THIS EXACT WORDING. 'When a spell or ability specifies a Unit as the source of the Damage for the Deal action, it is not in addition to the spell or ability that instructed it. Example: Challenge is a spell that reads "Choose a friendly unit and an enemy unit. They deal damage equal to their Mights to each other." The damage that Challenge causes to be dealt is dealt by the chosen units, not by Challenge.' Two consequences follow and neither is obvious from the card.
• FIRST: IT WALKS PAST A [TANK] WALL. 815.1.b is scoped by its own words - 'I must be assigned lethal damage before any other unit with the same controller as me that does not have [Tank] during the Combat Damage step' - and 815.1.c.2 the same. This damage is not assigned in a combat damage step at all, so a Tank orders nothing and the Snapvine picks whichever body it wants. That is the direct answer to galio-back-to-back-divining-shells-toll (issue #180), which builds a toll no attacker can afford: the toll only exists in the damage step, and this family never enters it. CORRECTED 2026-10-18 (#400, from the run play docs/plays/2026-10-18-galio-alone-deals-no-combat-damage-so-the-snapvine-beats-him-by-killing-his-partners-and-never-by-choosing-him.md): it is an answer to that entry, but not by choosing Galio. UNL-171 Galio, Indefatigable (Order, E3 + 1 Order Power, M6: "[Deflect] (Opponents must pay :rb_rune_rainbow: to choose me with a spell or ability.) [Tank] (I must be assigned combat damage first.) I don't deal combat damage.") deals his damage in this exchange, because it is not combat damage: 417.6.c, "Damage Dealt as a result of being assigned during Combat has the Units as its source.", and 417.6.b.3 makes the exchange's damage dealt by the chosen units. So the Snapvine choosing Galio is 6 against 6 and both die (143.2.a: "If a Unit ever has nonzero damage marked on it equalling or exceeding its Might, it is Killed."). Choosing him also costs a Power more. The Snapvine's text is a play effect (383.4.a: "Play Effects are Triggered Abilities whose Condition includes the Permanent that has the Play Effect being played to the board."), which goes on the chain like an activated ability (383.3: "When a Condition is met, a Triggered Ability behaves like an Activated Ability and is placed on the Chain."), so [Deflect] taxes it (809.1.c: "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]."), and Rampage choosing Galio pays it too. The answer is to kill his partners outside the combat and then attack Galio alone, when he deals no combat damage at all. OGN-206 Back to Back's +2 makes him an 8, and a Snapvine pumped by a paid Rampage is an 8 that still kills him.
• SECOND: IT WALKS PAST A SPELL-DAMAGE FOG. A blanket 'prevent all spell and ability damage this turn' does not touch it, because the damage is dealt by the units and not by the spell - and 437.4 makes prevention total only for the damage it actually covers. ADDED 2026-10-18 (#400, from the run play docs/plays/2026-10-18-galio-alone-deals-no-combat-damage-so-the-snapvine-beats-him-by-killing-his-partners-and-never-by-choosing-him.md): the fog, named. Swept: every card whose text says "prevent", four in the pool. Exactly one is a blanket spell-and-ability fog, OGN-145 Unyielding Spirit (Body, E1 + 1 Body Power: "Prevent all spell and ability damage this turn."). VEN-025 Esteemed Hierophant (Calm, E5, M5) is a narrower one on itself ("While you control 7 or more runes, prevent all damage that enemy spells and abilities would deal to me."). The exchange walks past both. The other two name a unit instead of a source and DO stop the exchange's damage to that unit, Counter Strike all of it and Ki Barrier up to 7, which covers the play effect's 6 but lets 1 through from a paid Rampage's 8: VEN-126 Ki Barrier (Order, E2 + 1 Order Power: "Choose a unit. Prevent the next 7 damage that would be dealt to it this turn.") and SFD-194 Counter Strike (Calm/Body, E2 + 1 Power: "Choose a unit. The next time that unit would be dealt damage this turn, prevent it. Draw 1.").
• 417.6.b.4, CITED HERE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THIS CATALOGUE, SPLITS THE RESPONSIBILITY. 'The controller of the source of a Deal action is responsible for that Deal action unless the player performing the Deal action is otherwise specified. Example: If a player plays Challenge targeting a friendly unit and an enemy unit, the controller of the enemy unit is responsible for the damage dealt by their unit. Any effects that trigger "when you deal damage" that that player controls will trigger.' So half of this exchange fires the OPPONENT's 'when you deal damage' triggers. It is a cost of the family, and it is printed nowhere on the cards.
• AND THE MINIMUM-LETHAL CAP DOES NOT APPLY, WHICH CUTS BOTH WAYS. 465.2.c.4 ('Units cannot have more damage assigned to them than the minimum required to constitute lethal damage') is a combat-assignment rule. Here an 8 Might body dealing 8 to a 3 Might body simply wastes 5 - and because 417.6.c scopes excess damage to combat, no excess-damage payoff in the pool reads any of it. This family is removal, never a feeder.
• THE ARITHMETIC WITH THE QUANTITIES DECLARED. Snapvine is 5 Energy + 2 Power for a 6 Might body: on landing it kills any enemy of 6 Might or less and survives anything under 6 (143.2.a needs marked damage at or above Might to kill). Rampage is 3 Energy plus one optional Body rune; paid, it makes an existing 6 Might Snapvine an 8 for the exchange, so it kills an 8 and survives a 7. Unpaid it is 3 Energy for a bare trade. 143.3.b.1 heals marked damage only 'at the end of each player's turn', so damage from a first Rampage is still on the body for a second one in the same turn.
• THE FAMILY, NAMED. Seven cards in the pool print 'deal damage equal to their Mights to each other': OGN-128 Challenge (Body, E2 P1, [Action]), OGN-149 Carnivorous Snapvine, OGN-258 Dragon's Rage (Calm/Body, and it MOVES the enemy unit first), OGS-008 Gentlemen's Duel (Body, E6 P1, [Action], +3 first), SFD-114 Marching Orders (Body, E3, [Action], with [Repeat] 3 Energy), UNL-110 Clash of Giants (Body, E6 P2) and VEN-083 Rampage. UNL-110 is the odd one out and worth knowing: it says 'Choose two units' with no friendly-or-enemy restriction, so it can point two of the OPPONENT's bodies at each other.
• THE ONE CARD IN THE DOMAIN THAT BLANKS IT. VEN-084 Ambessa, The Wolf, while [Empowered], 'can't be dealt damage unless I'm in combat' - and 054.1 makes a card that forbids beat one that permits. A Challenge cast outside a combat cannot touch her; one cast inside a combat she is part of can. She is mono-Body too, so this is a mirror match note, not a domain accident.
• NO CALM OR ORDER ANSWER WAS NAMED - ADDED 2026-10-18 (#400, from the run play docs/plays/2026-10-18-galio-alone-deals-no-combat-damage-so-the-snapvine-beats-him-by-killing-his-partners-and-never-by-choosing-him.md). The only answer named above is VEN-084 Ambessa, The Wolf, in Body. SFD-045 Not So Fast (Calm, E2 + 1 Calm Power: "Counter an enemy spell or ability that chooses a friendly unit or gear.") counters the Snapvine's play effect and Rampage alike (425.1.a: "A card or ability that is Countered does nothing and is cleared from the chain."). OGN-058 Discipline (Calm, E2: "Give a unit +2 :rb_might: this turn. Draw 1.") or SFD-034 Feral Strength (Calm, E2) on the Rampage's target makes a paid Rampage against a 6 a mutual kill, 8 against 8 (143.2.a). Against the attack on a lone Galio, an [Ambush] or [Reaction] body played beside him in the combat keeps the battlefield. Cheapest of all, a card hidden at that battlefield on the turn before stops the attack for the one rune paid to hide it (811.1.b ends "Beginning on the next turn, this gains [Reaction] and you may play this, ignoring its base cost."), such as OGN-057 Block (Calm: "Give a unit [Shield 3] and [Tank] this turn. (+3 :rb_might: while it's a defender. It must be assigned combat damage first.)"), UNL-042 Back Off (Calm: "[Stun] a unit. (It doesn't deal combat damage this turn.) If you played this from your hand, draw 1."), OGN-220 Facebreaker (Order: "Stun a friendly unit and an enemy unit at the same battlefield. (They don't deal combat damage this turn.)"), OGN-213 Hidden Blade (Order: "Kill a unit at a battlefield. Its controller draws 2.") or the unit VEN-117 Disciple of Shen (Order, M1: "I have [Shield 3] while I'm at a battlefield with exactly one other unit you control. (+3 :rb_might: while I'm a defender.)"), a 4 beside Galio. VEN-135 Kennen, Keeper of Balance (Order) is hidden the same way, but its stun costs 2 Energy more ("When you play me or I attack, you may pay :rb_energy_2: to [Stun] a unit.").
• WHAT IT IS NOT. Nothing here scores; 469 defines Scoring as Conquer or Hold.
• 437.2 IS WHY 437.4 WORKS, AND IT SITS ONE PARAGRAPH AWAY IN THE SAME BLOCK: "When damage is Prevented, it is replaced with an event where it deals that much damage reduced by the Prevent Value tracked on the Unit specifically." Prevent does not undo damage after the fact - it REPLACES the damage event with a smaller one, and at zero there is nothing left to mark, which is the mechanism behind 437.4's "not considered to have been dealt to it at all." 369.2 puts it beyond argument by naming it: "Some Game Actions are themselves Replacement Effects. Example: Burning Out is a replacement effect. Example: Preventing Damage is a replacement effect." So a Prevent and a heal/exhaust/recall would-die shield are BOTH Replacement Effects and differ in WHICH EVENT they replace - the damage event against the death event - which is the precise reason this line generates no kill event.

Steps

1. Play Carnivorous Snapvine (5 Energy + 2 Power) and choose an enemy unit at a battlefield. Both deal damage equal to their Mights to each other: the Snapvine's 6 kills anything up to 6 Might and it survives anything under 6.
2. 417.6.b.3 makes that unit damage rather than spell damage, so a [Tank] in the enemy garrison orders nothing (815.1.b is scoped to the combat damage step) and a spell-and-ability fog does not stop it.
3. Later, or the same turn, cast Rampage (3 Energy) and pay the extra Body rune: the Snapvine is +2 for the turn and the exchange is at 8.
4. Expect the opponent's 'when you deal damage' triggers to fire for their half of the exchange - 417.6.b.4 makes them responsible for it.
5. 143.3.b.1 heals marked damage at the end of each player's turn, so a second Rampage in the SAME turn finishes anything the first one left alive. CORRECTED 2026-10-18 (#400, from the run play docs/plays/2026-10-18-galio-alone-deals-no-combat-damage-so-the-snapvine-beats-him-by-killing-his-partners-and-never-by-choosing-him.md): the friendly body keeps its damage too (143.3.b.1: "At the end of each player's turn."). After one paid Rampage against a 6, the Snapvine is an 8 with 6 marked; a second paid Rampage makes it a 10 with 6 marked, and any enemy of Might 4 or more kills it in the exchange. And when the Snapvine is the friendly unit both times, an enemy that was dealt the full 8 and survived has Might 9 or more, so it dealt the 8-Might Snapvine at least 9, which already killed it (143.2.a). An enemy left alive by prevention (VEN-126 Ki Barrier) or by VEN-084 Ambessa, The Wolf's Empowered clause took less than 8, and there the Snapvine can still be standing for the second exchange, with the damage above still on it. ADDED the same day, same play: a pumped Snapvine carrying 6 or 7 damage survives the end of the turn because the Expiration Step heals before the +2 expires, 317.2.b: "Insert “3c. Heal all Units.”", then 317.2.c: "Insert “3d. All ‘this turn’ effects expire simultaneously.”"

Per iteration

one enemy unit of up to 6 Might removed per Snapvine, and up to 8 per Rampage on a Snapvine already in play

How it ends

engine only - three Snapvines and three Rampages by 103.2.b, and the exchange is mutual so each use costs the friendly body real damage; nothing here scores and 417.6.c keeps every point of it out of the excess-damage family

Sources

Published elsewhere

• Riftbound Core Rules, Last Updated 2026-07-16 (data/Riftbound-Core-Rules-2026-07-16.txt) 2026-07-16
• Card text verbatim from data/corpus_flat.txt (built from Riot's gallery content API) 2026-09-07

Walked here, in this project

• Hand walk 2026-09-07 (docs/phase0/walks/2026-09-07-uncatalogued-body.md, batch 1) 2026-09-07 record
• Run play 2026-10-18, issue #397 2026-10-18 record

Walked against Core Rules 2026-07-16

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