Combo · ENGINE

345: the ATTACKER gains Focus as the Showdown begins, so the [Action] removal that empties the garrison resolves before the defender may answer

6 cards · order · verified

Pieces

• Drag Under ×3 SFD-164 · payoff · order

  [Action] (Play on your turn or in showdowns.) I cost 2 Energy less to play from anywhere other than your hand. Kill a unit at a battlefield.

• Noxian Drummer ×3 OGN-222 · engine · order

  When I move to a battlefield, play a 1 Might Recruit unit token here. (It is also at the battlefield.)

Payoff

Deck

• Both cards are mono-Order, so 103.1.b.3 admits them under any legend with Order among its two domains - measured over data/cards.json those include OGN-253 / OGN-302 Hand of Noxus (fury/order), OGN-261 / OGN-306 Radiant Dawn (calm/order), OGN-265 / OGN-308 Herald of the Arcane (mind/order), OGN-269 / OGN-310 The Boss (body/order), SFD-197 / SFD-247 Emperor of the Sands (calm/order), SFD-201 / SFD-249 Chem-Baroness (mind/order), SFD-205 / SFD-251 Grand Duelist (body/order), UNL-203 / UNL-237 Keeper of the Hammer (body/order) and VEN-153 / VEN-196 Matriarch of War (body/order).
• Neither card 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.
• The line needs a garrison small enough that Drag Under empties it - one defender, or two with a second copy.

Prerequisites

• THE UNCITED PARAGRAPH IS 345, AND IT SETTLES WHO ACTS FIRST. 'As a Showdown begins, the player who applied Contested status to the Battlefield gains Focus.' 464.2.c.1 makes that same player the Attacker, so in every combat showdown in this catalogue the ATTACKER holds the first window and the defender's answer comes second. 341, 342 and 345 are cited by no entry and no synergy rule in this project, although several entries price an exchange inside a combat.
• AND 343.1.a IS WHY THE KEYWORD EXISTS AT ALL. 'Cards of all Categories, by default, cannot be played during a Showdown State', with 343.1.b saying the same for card abilities. 159.2.a.1 then grants [Action] the Showdown window and 159.2.b.1 gives [Reaction] 'all cases and rules of Action' - which is the cleanest citation in the file for a permission this project usually sources to 806.1.b and 813.1.b.
• FOCUS PASSES ONLY WHEN YOU ACTUALLY PLAY SOMETHING. 347.1.b: 'When that Chain closes, Focus passes to the next Player in Turn Order', and 347.2.b passes it if you decline; 347.2.a ends the Showdown once 'all Players have passed once in sequence'. But 346.1 carves out the chain that opened from a triggered ability or an Add ability - 'Focus will not pass in this way' - so the combat's own attack triggers resolving does NOT cost the attacker the first window, and neither does topping up with an Add ability.
• WHAT THAT BUYS IS THE #118 CHAIN, ONE WINDOW EARLIER. 465.1 gates the damage tasks on both Attacking and Defending units being present, so emptying the defender's side inside the opened Combat wins it with no damage step at all; 466.3.a resolves it and 466.5 / 466.5.d establish Control and make it a Conquer (469.1.b). Drag Under is an [Action] kill with no location clause beyond 'at a battlefield', and the attacker plays it first.
• THE DEFENDER IS NOT HELPLESS AND THE ENTRY SAYS SO. 355.2.a lets them play to a battlefield they control, so a [Reaction] body - OGN-241 Shen, Kinkou is the pool's clearest, and his own parenthetical says 'including to a battlefield you control' - refills the garrison after your removal resolves. What 345 buys is the ORDER: you commit first with full information and they must have the answer in hand, rather than the reverse.
• THE DRUMMER IS IN uses[] BECAUSE THE BATTLEFIELD HAS TO BE HELD. 'When I move to a battlefield, play a 1 :rb_might: Recruit unit token here' - so the attack arrives as two bodies, and 323.6 ('Players lose control of any controlled Battlefields without their Units occupying them') cannot take the battlefield back if the Drummer later leaves or dies. A lone attacker Conquers and then hands it over at the next Cleanup.
• DRAG UNDER'S OWN DISCOUNT IS REAL BUT NOT ON THIS LINE. 'I cost :rb_energy_2: less to play from anywhere other than your hand' is a passive that 366.2.a keeps live 'in any zone from which the card with the ability can be played' - so it is 3 Energy out of the trash or Banishment and 5 from hand, which is what this line pays. And 206 keeps every cost GATE reading the printed 5, so the discount never squeezes it under one.

Steps

1. Play OGN-222 Noxian Drummer (3 Energy); 143.4 has him enter exhausted, so he moves from the following turn.
2. Standard-move him to the enemy battlefield. His trigger plays a 1 Might Recruit token there, so you arrive with two bodies. Contested applies (190.3.a.1), the Combat is staged (323.9) and opens (323.13), and 464.2.c.3 designates the attackers.
3. 345 gives Focus to the player who applied Contested - you. 343.1.a would otherwise forbid playing anything here; 159.2.a.1 is what [Action] grants.
4. Play SFD-164 Drag Under (5 Energy + 1 Power) and kill the last defender. If the combat's own attack triggers went on the Chain first, 346.1 means resolving them did not cost you this window.
5. With no Defending units present, 465.1's damage tasks never run; 466.3.a resolves the combat, and 466.5 / 466.5.d establish your Control and make it a Conquer (469.1.b). You score, subject to 470's one Score per battlefield per turn.
6. The Drummer and the Recruit occupy the battlefield afterwards, so 323.6 cannot strip it back at the next Cleanup.
7. Expect a [Reaction] refill - OGN-241 Shen, Kinkou lands a Might 5 [Tank] after the attackers are declared. Focus order does not stop that; it only means you moved first.

Per iteration

one bloodless Conquer per turn, with the removal committed in the first window of the Showdown rather than in answer to theirs

How it ends

engine only in itself - 470 caps Scoring at one per battlefield per turn and 485.4 puts two on a Duel table, so this is at most two points a turn and three Drag Under (103.2.b) is three such removals

Sources

Published elsewhere

• Riftbound Core Rules, Last Updated 2026-07-16 (data/Riftbound-Core-Rules-2026-07-16.txt), 345 2026-07-16
• Riftbound Core Rules, Last Updated 2026-07-16 (data/Riftbound-Core-Rules-2026-07-16.txt), 343.1.a 2026-07-16
• Riftbound Core Rules, Last Updated 2026-07-16 (data/Riftbound-Core-Rules-2026-07-16.txt), 346.1 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