Combo · ENGINE

A 'when you conquer here' battlefield fires once a game unless a [Temporary] garrison hands it back - and this one leaves its own replacement body

4 cards · mind · verified

Pieces

• Emperor's Dais ×1 SFD-207 · battlefield

  When you conquer here, you may pay 1 Energy and return a unit you control here to its owner's hand to play a 2 Might Sand Soldier unit token here.

• Sprite Queen ×3 UNL-084 · engine · mind

  When you play me or at the start of your Beginning Phase, play a ready 3 Might Sprite unit token with [Temporary] to your base. (Kill them at the start of their controller's next Beginning Phase, before scoring.)

Payoff

Deck

• Sprite Queen is mono-Mind and the battlefield is Colorless, so 103.1.b.3 admits any legend with Mind in its pair.
• Neither card is banned or restricted in either format, and neither is a Signature card.
• The battlefield is not guaranteed: 485.4.a has each player provide three and 485.5 selects randomly, and 103.4.c forbids a second copy of the same name. State it in any list that depends on it. 190.1 also makes a battlefield you provide start UNCONTROLLED, and 190.6.d ignores every instruction of an uncontrolled battlefield's abilities that refers to 'you'.

Prerequisites

• A CONQUER TRIGGER FIRES ONCE A GAME UNLESS YOU GIVE THE BATTLEFIELD BACK, AND THAT IS THE FIRST THING TO PRICE. 469.1 defines a Conquer on a battlefield 'not yet Scored this turn', 470 caps Scoring at once per battlefield per turn, and 466.5 establishes Control only 'if they didn't already control this Battlefield' - so once you hold it, holding it again is a HOLD and never a Conquer. This project's fix is a [Temporary] garrison: 816.1.b kills it at 315.2.a before scoring, 319.6 then 323.6 strip Control in an Open State, and the battlefield is open to be conquered again. The precedents are sprite-queen-targon-peak-conquer-cycle and treasure-hoard-renata-conquer-gold, and this entry is the third.
• AND 816.1.c IS WHY THE SPRITE DOES NOT DIE ON THE TURN IT IS MADE. 'The Trigger Condition is the controller of the permanent's Beginning Phase starting' - so a [Temporary] body created BY a trigger that fires at that same instant enters AFTER the condition was checked and survives that turn. Sprite Queen makes one 'at the start of your Beginning Phase', printed READY, so it walks in the same Main Phase and dies at the NEXT Beginning Phase. That is a one-turn garrison on a schedule, which is exactly what the cycle needs.
• WHAT THE DAIS PAYS, AND WHY THE BOUNCE IS THE VALUABLE HALF. 'Return a unit you control here to its owner's hand to play a 2 :rb_might: Sand Soldier unit token here' - so a body with a play trigger goes back to hand to be replayed later, and the battlefield does not empty, because the Sand Soldier replaces it on the spot. Compare a bare bounce, which would hand the battlefield straight back under 323.6. The Energy is 1 and the whole clause is optional ('you MAY pay'), so the Conquer is never worse for having the Dais.
• THE SAND SOLDIER ENTERS EXHAUSTED AND THAT IS FINE HERE. 143.4 exhausts every unit as it enters, but the body's job is to OCCUPY - 323.6 only strips Control from a battlefield without your units on it, and neither 464.2.c.3 nor 465.2.b filters by state, so an exhausted body defends at its full 2 Might.
• THE ORDER TO RUN IT IN. Conquer the Dais with the Sprite (a 3 Might [Temporary] body walking in the turn it is made), take the trigger, bounce a unit with a play trigger you want back, and take the Sand Soldier. At your next Beginning Phase 816.1.b kills the Sprite before scoring, 323.6 strips your Control if the Sand Soldier is not there - so keep the Soldier if you want to HOLD, and let the battlefield go if you want to conquer it again next turn. The card gives you the choice, which is unusual for this family.
• WHAT IT IS NOT. The Conquer scores by 469.1 and 471.1; the Dais itself scores nothing, and its Sand Soldier is 2 Might, so this is a value trigger on a point you were taking anyway.

Steps

1. Play Sprite Queen (7 Energy + 1 Power). Her trigger makes a ready 3 Might [Temporary] Sprite at your base now and again at the start of every Beginning Phase.
2. 816.1.c checks the Trigger Condition as the Beginning Phase starts, so a Sprite made by that same trigger is not killed that turn.
3. Walk the Sprite to the Emperor's Dais and take it: 190.3.a.1 applies Contested, 466.5 establishes Control and 466.5.d makes it a Conquer.
4. Take the Dais trigger: pay 1 Energy, return a unit you control there to hand - a body whose play trigger you want again - and play a 2 Might Sand Soldier there in its place.
5. At your next Beginning Phase 816.1.b kills the Sprite before scoring. Keep the Sand Soldier there to HOLD, or move it off to let the battlefield go and conquer it again.
6. Repeat. 470 with 103.4.c means one Conquer of this battlefield per turn and no more.

Per iteration

one Conquer trigger per cycle - a unit bounced back to hand and a 2 Might Sand Soldier left in its place - for 1 Energy

How it ends

engine only - one Conquer of this battlefield per turn (470), one Sprite per Beginning Phase, and the Dais pays a body and a bounce rather than a point; nothing here scores beyond the Conquer itself

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-orphan-remainder.md, part 3) 2026-09-07 record

Walked against Core Rules 2026-07-16

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