Combo · ENGINE

Irresistible Faefolk and Imposing Challenger — move the enemy, take the battlefield

2 cards · body · verified

Pieces

• Irresistible Faefolk ×1 UNL-112 · engine · body

  When I move to a battlefield, you may move an enemy unit to that battlefield.

• Imposing Challenger ×1 UNL-105 · engine · body

  When I move, you may move an enemy unit here with less Might than me to a different battlefield.

Payoff

Deck

• Legend domains cover Body. Both are mono-Body, so any legend with Body runs them.
• Neither has [Accelerate], so 143.4 costs each of them a turn before it can pay for its own Standard Move (144.2, 315.1.b).

Prerequisites

• THE OPPONENT APPLIES CONTESTED, AND THEREFORE ATTACKS ON YOUR TURN. 190.3.a keys Contested on 'a Unit controlled by a Player who does not currently Control that Battlefield'; 190.3.a.1 says 'that Unit's controller does not already control that battlefield'; 450 says 'not controlled by the controller of the Unit or Units that moved'. All three follow the unit, not whoever caused the move. So 464.2.c.1 ('The Attacker is the player whose unit(s) applied the Contested status') makes the opponent the Attacker at a battlefield you chose, with the garrison you built, and 323.13 lets you, the Turn Player, choose when it opens. SFD-128 Overzealous Fan is a 'When I defend' trigger (383.4.f) and this is how you fire it on your own turn.
• THE CHALLENGER CONQUERS WITHOUT A COMBAT EVER OPENING, AND 323.10 IS THE RULE THAT ALLOWS IT — the walk's addition, uncited in issue #58. 'If Units of two opposing players are no longer present at a Battlefield that has a Combat Staged BEFORE IT HAS OPENED, the Combat will cease being Staged.' Sequence: his Standard Move completes, 453 and 319.3 make a Cleanup outstanding, but the trigger is a Pending Chain item so the state is Neutral Closed (310.2) and 323.13 ('If the current state is a NEUTRAL OPEN State … Combat begins there') does not fire. The trigger then resolves and pushes the garrison out. At the next Cleanup 323.6 strips their Control (a Combat is STAGED there, not ongoing), 323.10 un-stages the Combat, 323.11 leaves Contested standing because your units are still there, 323.8.a keeps the Showdown staged, 323.12 opens it, and 348.2.a / 348.2.a.1 give you Control and a Conquer with no damage.
• THE SAME WINDOW IS CLOSED TO A PLAIN SPELL, which is why this entry and charm-evacuate-conquer are different lines and not versions of one another: after a move by a unit with no trigger, the very next Cleanup opens the Combat at 323.13, and 155 bars a spell without [Action] or [Reaction] from a Showdown.
• 'A DIFFERENT BATTLEFIELD' IS DETERMINISTIC IN A DUEL: 485.4 fixes 'Battlefield Count: 2', so there is exactly one legal destination. 485.4.a, with 485.5 (Duel) and 487.5 (Skirmish) selecting randomly and 486.5 (Match) selecting, is why you cannot plan on which of your three battlefields is in play; 103.4.c and Tournament Rules 402.1 forbid bringing two of the same name.
• THE DRAWBACK IS SYMMETRIC AND IT IS PART OF THE ENTRY. The pushed unit lands at the other battlefield and 190.3.a.1 makes THEM apply Contested there. If you hold it with a garrison, you get a combat on your terms and 466.1.a.2 sends the survivor home; if it is empty or uncontrolled, they open a Showdown and Conquer it. And the Faefolk hands the opponent the Attacker designation, so THEIR 'When I attack' triggers fire and your defenders take damage (465.2 resolves it 'using their current Might'). Neither card is played without the Might arithmetic done first.
• DRAGGING THEIR LAST BODY OFF A BATTLEFIELD TAKES THE BATTLEFIELD FROM THEM, AND LEAVES IT 'OPEN' IN BOTH SENSES OF THE WORD. CORRECTED 2026-09-06 (issue #146): this notable used to define open by the Yone errata alone, i.e. as uncontrolled. 170.11.c is the definition — 'Battlefields can be "open." This means they are unoccupied and uncontrolled' — and the Faefolk drag satisfies both halves: 323.6 ('Players lose control of any controlled Battlefields without their Units occupying them if the turn is in an Open State and there is no Showdown or Combat ongoing there') takes their Control, 170.11.b, and nothing of yours is standing there, so 170.11.a's 'they have a Unit present' does not apply. A second ready body of yours walks in and Conquers it in the same Main Phase. The Spiritforged errata to Yone, Blademaster ('an open battlefield' → 'a battlefield that was uncontrolled') is consistent with 170.11.c rather than a substitute for it: an uncontrolled battlefield with units still on it is not open.
• THE ARITHMETIC WITH THE QUANTITIES DECLARED. One enemy unit per trigger, one trigger per move, one move per readying (144.2 + 415.3.a). Faefolk: 2 Energy, one drag per turn. Challenger: 5 Energy, one push per turn, filtered at 'less Might than me' = 4 or less. 810.1.c.3 is why neither of them ever moves twice.
• THE CHALLENGER'S GATE IS BUYABLE, AND THE PUMP MUST BE PRE-PAID (issue #97, walked 2026-09-06). UNL-105 is M5 and his gate is 'an enemy unit here with less Might than me', i.e. 4 or less. SFD-052 Heart of Dark Ice (Calm gear, E3 P1, 'exhaust: Give a unit +3 Might this turn') takes him to 8 and the gate to 7, which is most of the pool. THE TIMING IS FORCED AND THIS IS THE REASON THE ISSUE ASSERTS WITHOUT ONE: his ability is a Triggered Ability that fires when he moves, its enemy unit is a Choice with a targeting restriction (355.7, 355.9.b), and 355.8 requires valid choices 'in order to put a spell or ability on the chain' - the trigger is placed the instant the move completes, so the +3 must already be on him. It cannot be paid in response either: Heart of Dark Ice carries neither [Action] nor [Reaction], and 806.1.c.2 / 813.1.c.2 are the keywords that would have let an Activated Ability be used in a Showdown or a Closed State. Main Phase, before the Standard Move. Domain: Challenger is Body, the gear is Calm, so a Calm/Body legend - OGN-257 Blind Monk, SFD-193 Grandmaster at Arms, UNL-191 Wuju Master. OGS-019 Wuju Bladesman - Starter is the fourth and is left out on purpose: it carries [BANNED 2v2:restricted]. Nothing about this entry's class, quantities or steps changes.
• UNL-141 EVELYNN, ENTRANCING IS THE CHAOS ALTERNATIVE TO THE FAEFOLK, AND SHE ARRIVES WITHOUT A STANDARD MOVE (issue #119 finding 6, walked 2026-09-06). Her printed text: "[Hidden] [Backline] ... When you play me from face down on your turn, you may move an enemy unit at a different location to my battlefield." 811.1.d.2 confines a hidden play effect's targets to the battlefield the card was hidden at "unless the ability explicitly restricts targeting in a way that makes this impossible" — "at a DIFFERENT location" is exactly that, the same shape as the rule's own Tideturner example, so the enemy unit is chosen freely. 811.1.b hides her "at a battlefield you control" for one rainbow Power and, beginning the next turn, plays her "ignoring its base cost"; 811.1.d.1 forces her onto that same battlefield. SHE therefore never applies Contested — 190.3.a.1 keys on "that Unit's controller" and you already control it — while the dragged enemy does, and 464.2.c.1 makes the opponent the Attacker on YOUR turn exactly as UNL-112 does. Three differences from the Faefolk. She needs no Standard Move, so 144.2's exhaust and the 143.4 / 315.1.b turn of delay before that move are both skipped (the hide still costs a turn, and the drag only works "on your turn"). 826.3 gives her "I must be assigned lethal damage after any other unit with the same controller as me that does not have [Backline]", so a cheaper body eats the combat she forces. And she is mono-Chaos against this pair's mono-Body, so 103.1.b.1 makes her a different deck, not a swap. She is NOT added to uses: this entry's declared line is the Body pair, and uses is what the matcher and planDeck price.
• THE FOUR 'Play me to an open battlefield' PRINTINGS REACH THE FAEFOLK HALF OF THIS ENTRY AND NOT THE CHALLENGER HALF, AND 170.11.c IS WHY (issue #146, walked 2026-09-06). 355.2.a limits play locations to 'the controller's Base or a Battlefield the controller controls' and 355.2.b lets a Game Effect grant more; four printings do — OGN-176 Sneaky Deckhand (E3 M2), OGN-193 Miss Fortune, Buccaneer (E4 P1 M4), OGN-174 Sai Scout (E6 M5) and VEN-115 Ocean Drake (E8 P2 M7) — all mono-Chaos, none banned, none signature: true — gated on the battlefield being open. FAEFOLK HALF, YES: the drag takes the enemy's last body off a battlefield THEY controlled, 323.6 strips their Control (170.11.b) and nothing of yours is there (170.11.a), so instead of 'a second ready body of yours walks in' you play one of the four straight into it. 190.3.a.1 covers it in terms — 'Units moving to or being played to a battlefield apply Contested status if that battlefield is not already Contested and that Unit's controller does not already control that battlefield' — so Contested lands and the Showdown route (323.8 / 323.9 / 323.12 / 348.2.a / 348.2.a.1) is unchanged; 450 is written about 'the Unit or Units that moved' and is not the citation for this half. CHALLENGER HALF, NO: he Standard-Moves in FIRST and pushes the garrison out afterwards, so he is standing there and 170.11.a makes the battlefield occupied — it is uncontrolled but not open, and the permission never applies. Issue #146 proposes the four for the evacuate-conquer family without making that split. DOMAIN: UNL-112 and UNL-105 are mono-Body and the four are mono-Chaos, so 103.1.b.1 asks for a Body/Chaos legend — OGN-267 Bounty Hunter or UNL-201 Voidreaver. The trade is Energy for tempo: the Standard Move costs 0 Energy and one exhaust off a deployed body (144.2 / 420.3.a), the play costs the walker's full printed Energy and needs no board presence and no readying (143.4's exhaust costs nothing, since 323.9 stages no Combat on this route). Not added to uses: uses is what the matcher and planDeck price.
• THE THIRD LEG OF THE EVACUATION FAMILY, ADDED BESIDE 323.6 AND 323.10 (#204, from #187 batch 18). This entry already cites 323.6 for Control being stripped and 323.10 for a staged Combat un-staging. The Contested STATUS itself is a third thing and 190.3.b.1 is the paragraph for it, cited by nothing in 766 entries: 'If a player who applied Contested status to a Battlefield controls no Units there and there is no ongoing Showdown or Combat at that Battlefield, then Contested status is removed in the following Cleanup.' With 323.11, which removes Contested from the battlefield's side, the pair states it from both directions. The boundary worth carrying beside it is 190.3.d - 'At this time Game Effects cannot reference this status' - so Contested is real, it decides whether a Combat or a Non-Combat Showdown occurs, and no card in the pool can see it.
• ONE ENERGY AT REACTION SPEED ANSWERS THE BODY THIS ENGINE STANDS ON (Irresistible Faefolk (M1 x1)). OGN-133 Flurry of Blades is Body, 1 Energy: "[Reaction] (Play any time, even before spells and abilities resolve.) Deal 1 to all units at battlefields." 143.2.a kills a unit whose marked damage equals or exceeds its Might and 142.4.b defines Lethal Damage as "a non-zero amount greater than or equal to that Unit's Might", so one damage is lethal to every body of Might 1 or less. RUNNING MORE COPIES IS NOT A DEFENCE: 370.1.a.2 makes events simultaneous when they "are all the result of the same Game Action", so the sweep kills every copy at once. And because it carries [Reaction], 813.1.c.1 lets it be played "during Closed States on any player's turn" - it never has to be cast a turn early the way the base-reaching removals do, and it can land in response to the very trigger this engine exists to fire. WHAT PROTECTS IT: this entry's cards are body, so the second domain is still free and CHOOSING IT DECIDES WHICH PROTECTION YOU GET - 103.1.b allows exactly one partner, so these are alternatives and not a list you can run together. only if the second domain is FURY: VEN-018 Rage Amplifier (gear, 'Your units have +1 Might' - the only UNCONDITIONAL board-wide one, +2 while Empowered) | only if the second domain is ORDER: OGN-243 Darius, Executioner ('Other friendly units have +1 Might HERE' - his battlefield only, and never himself); OGS-013 Garen, Commander (same clause as Darius, same limits) | only if the second domain is MIND: UNL-077 Soul Shepherd ('Your TOKEN units have +1 Might' - tokens only, nothing for a printed body); SFD-089 Rumble, Scrapper ('Your MECHS have +1 Might' - Mech tag only) | colourless, so legal whatever the second domain is: OGN-294 Trifarian War Camp (colourless battlefield, 'Units here have +1 Might') - but 485.5 makes a battlefield you bring a 1-in-3, and 103.4.c forbids two of the same name. A single-target pump is no use against a sweep that hits every body at once, which is why only permanent, board-wide sources are listed.

Steps

1. Land the Faefolk (2 Energy) or the Challenger (5 Energy); 143.4 makes it enter exhausted and 315.1.b readies it in your next Awakening.
2. CHALLENGER LINE: Standard-Move him into a battlefield the opponent controls whose garrison is one unit of 4 Might or less (144.4.a, cost 144.2). 450 applies Contested.
3. The Cleanup stages a Showdown and a Combat there, but the state is Neutral Closed with his trigger pending (310.2), so 323.13 does not open it.
4. The trigger resolves: the enemy unit is pushed to the only other battlefield (485.4).
5. Next Cleanup: 323.6 strips their Control, 323.10 un-stages the Combat, 323.12 opens the Showdown; 348.2.a and 348.2.a.1 give you Control and a Conquer with no damage.
6. FAEFOLK LINE: Standard-Move him onto a battlefield you control and garrison; the trigger drags an enemy unit there. 190.3.a.1 makes THEM apply Contested and 464.2.c.1 makes them the Attacker on your turn — and if that body was the last one at a battlefield they controlled, 323.6 hands you that battlefield too.

Per iteration

one enemy body relocated per turn: either a Conquer with no combat at all, or a fight the opponent is forced to open on your board

How it ends

engine only — a point per Conquer, bounded by 470 and by one move per readying

Sources

Published elsewhere

• Riftbound Core Rules, Last Updated 2026-07-16 (data/Riftbound-Core-Rules-2026-07-16.txt) 2026-07-16
• Movement lens — issue #58 (GitHub) 2026-09-06
• Lente de buff y Might — issue #97 (GitHub) 2026-09-06
• Combo hunt: uncatalogued Chaos units — issue #146 (GitHub) 2026-09-06

Walked here, in this project

• Hand walk 2026-09-06 2026-09-06 record
• Hand walk 2026-09-06 2026-09-06 record
• Hand walk 2026-09-06 2026-09-06 record

Walked against Core Rules 2026-07-16

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