Combo · ENGINE

The one save that leaves the body where it stands — 437.4 prevents the damage, so Tianna's point lock never blinks

4 cards · calm + body · verified

Pieces

• Counter Strike ×3 SFD-194 · enabler · calm/body

  [Reaction] (Play any time, even before spells and abilities resolve.) Choose a unit. The next time that unit would be dealt damage this turn, prevent it. Draw 1.

• Tianna Crownguard ×1 SFD-060 · payoff · calm

  [Deflect] (Opponents must pay 1 Power of any domain to choose me with a spell or ability.) While I'm at a battlefield, opponents can't gain points.

Payoff

Deck

• COUNTER STRIKE IS A SIGNATURE CARD (tagged Jax), so 103.2.d.2 makes this a ONE-LEGEND line: the only Jax legend in the pool is SFD-193 / SFD-245 Grandmaster at Arms (Calm/Body), and Tianna Crownguard is mono-Calm, so 103.1.b.3 holds. Three copies also spend the whole Signature budget, since 103.2.d.1 caps a deck at three Signature cards in total.

Prerequisites

• THE CONTRAST IS THE ENTRY, AND IT IS A TRAP THIS CATALOGUE ALREADY RECORDS. A heal / exhaust / recall replacement (the Guardian Angel family) saves a body by RECALLING it, and 455 defines a Recall as relocation 'from anywhere to its Base' — so it switches off every 'While I'm at a battlefield' clause on what it saves, and 456.3 means no movement lock can stop that. Tianna Crownguard saved that way stops locking points for a full turn, and comes back exhausted besides.
• 437.4 IS THE OTHER MECHANISM ENTIRELY: 'Damage dealt to a Unit that has that all of that damage Prevented is not considered to have been dealt to it at all.' Nothing is relocated, nothing is exhausted, no kill event is generated — the body simply stays where it is with its static running. For a unit whose whole value is a location-dependent clause, that is the only correct save in the pool.
• AND IT WORKS INSIDE THE DAMAGE STEP. 437.5: 'Damage can still be assigned to Units in combat that are affected by Prevent', and 437.5.a lets the attacker assign up to lethal counting the Prevent Value — so the assignment is made and then eaten. Combined with [Reaction] (813.1.c.1, 'during Closed States on any player's turn'), the save is bought after the attack is declared, not on a guess.
• IT IS ONE INSTANCE, NOT A SHIELD. 'The next time that unit would be dealt damage this turn' — one instance, this turn only. Against a second source in the same combat it does nothing, and 103.2.b caps the copies at three.
• 103.2.d IS PART OF THE COST. Counter Strike carries the Jax champion tag, so 103.2.d.2 forces SFD-193 / SFD-245 Grandmaster at Arms as the legend and 103.2.d.1 spends all three Signature slots on it. The legend is not wasted — its free reattach ability is live in the same Calm/Body shell — but no other Signature card can share the deck.
• [DEFLECT] AND PREVENT COVER DIFFERENT ATTACKS. 809.1.c taxes an opponent's spell or ability for CHOOSING her, and 465.2.c assigns combat damage without choosing — so her printed [Deflect] answers removal and Counter Strike answers the damage step. Neither substitutes for the other.
• THE LOCK ITSELF IS NOT A SCORE AND IS NOT A WIN. 194.1 lists three separate ways to gain a point, and Tianna's clause blanks all of them while she stands at a battlefield; what the deck still needs is its own route to eight.
• AND THE CANTRIP IS WHY IT MAKES THE DECK. A save you never get to use is a dead card; 'Draw 1' means the worst case is a 2-Energy, 1-Power cycler held up for a Showdown.
• A DELAYED WOULD-DIE SHIELD IS ENDED BY A BOUNCE, NOT ONLY BY REMOVAL, AND NO SHIELD ENTRY SAID SO (upgrade 2026-09-12, #187 batch 9). 390.5 defines a Delayed LINKED Ability as one that references the generating ability or the Game Objects it affects *"instead of a window of time"* - which is what a *"Choose a friendly unit. The next time it would die this turn"* shield is, against a *"the next spell you play this turn"* delay, which IS a window of time and falls under 391 instead. **390.5.a then has teeth: *"If that Ability affects a Game Object, the Delayed Linked Ability`s window will be as long as that Game Object is in an appropriate zone."*** So returning the shielded body to hand CLOSES the window - and 359.3.e.4 makes the body that comes back a different object, so replaying it does not restore the shield. The cheapest answer in the pool is `OGN-169 Gust` at one Energy; see `windsinger-gust-bounce-as-a-counterspell`, which reaches the same paragraph from the opposite side. Note which half applies before citing 390.5 at all: this project nearly published it against Ravenborn Tome and Raging Firebrand, whose delays are windows of time and therefore 391.
• A LOCK ON POINTS IS NOT A LOCK ON TRIGGERS, AND THIS ENTRY DOES NOT SAY WHICH ONE IT SELLS (upgrade 2026-09-12, #187 batch 33). **383.4.c.2.c**: *"If the act of gaining one point from Conquering is negated or replaced in any way, the Conquer Effect will still trigger"*, with 383.4.d.2.c the identical sentence for Holding. `SFD-060 Tianna Crownguard` negates *the gaining of one point* — which is the exact word those paragraphs are written for — so **the opponent still CONQUERS and every Conquer Effect they control still fires**: they take the battlefield under 348.2.a or 466.5, and they still fire `UNL-187 Piltover Enforcer`s ready, `SFD-187 Void Burrower`s dig, and `UNL-195 Green Father`s Brush replacement. The same holds for a Hold under 383.4.d.2.c. Both paragraphs were cited only inside conquer ARITHMETIC before this, never in the denial lens where they actually bite.
• 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. Get Tianna Crownguard to a battlefield you control. From that moment 'While I'm at a battlefield, opponents can't gain points' is live.
2. Hold Counter Strike. It is [Reaction], so 813.1.c.1 lets it be played in any Closed State on any player's turn.
3. The opponent attacks or aims removal at her. If it is a spell or ability, her printed [Deflect] already taxes them one rainbow Power for choosing her (809.1.c).
4. In the damage step, 465.2.c has the attacker assign damage equal to their summed Might; 437.5.a lets them assign up to lethal on her counting the Prevent, so the assignment happens.
5. Play Counter Strike, choosing Tianna. The next instance of damage to her this turn is prevented, and 437.4 makes it 'not considered to have been dealt to it at all' — no kill, no marked damage, and crucially no relocation.
6. She is still at the battlefield when the Cleanup resolves, so the point lock never lapsed; and the spell drew you a card on the way through.

How it ends

engine only — one instance of damage prevented per copy, three a game (103.2.b), each replacing itself with a card; the value is that the point lock never lapses, and nothing here scores

Sources

Published elsewhere

• Riftbound Core Rules, Last Updated 2026-07-16 (data/Riftbound-Core-Rules-2026-07-16.txt) 2026-07-16
• Riftbound Core Rules, Last Updated 2026-07-16 (data/Riftbound-Core-Rules-2026-07-16.txt) 2026-07-16
• 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-rules-second-pass.md), issue #170 2026-09-07 record

Walked against Core Rules 2026-07-16

Match a deck list against the whole catalogue