Combo · ENGINE

Double reads CURRENT Might, so a doubler played inside the opened combat is worth the whole [Assault] value more than the same card played in the Main Phase

4 cards · body + fury · verified

Pieces

• Garen, Rugged ×1 OGS-007 · enabler · body

  [Assault 2], [Shield 2] (+2 Might while I'm an attacker or defender.)

• Cleave ×1 OGN-004 · engine · fury

  [Action] (Play on your turn or in showdowns.) Give a unit [Assault 3] this turn. (+3 Might while it's an attacker.)

• Dominus ×1 VEN-142 · payoff · fury/body

  [Action] (Play on your turn or in showdowns.) This turn, double a unit's Might and give it "2 Power of any domain: Ready me."

• Tryndamere, Barbarian ×1 OGN-034 · payoff · fury

  When I conquer after an attack, if you assigned 5 or more excess damage to enemy units, you score 1 point.

Payoff

Deck

• VEN-142 Dominus is a Signature card tagged Renekton, so 103.2.d.2 forces the legend to a Renekton legend. Measured over data/cards.json there is exactly ONE name and two base codes: VEN-141 / VEN-190 Butcher of the Sands (Fury/Body). This is a one-legend field, not a domain field.
• That legend's domains are Fury and Body, and every card here is inside them: Garen is mono-Body, Cleave and Tryndamere are mono-Fury, Dominus is Fury/Body. 103.1.b.2 is satisfied.
• None of the four is banned or restricted in either format. 103.2.d.1 leaves room, since Dominus is one of the at most three Signature cards, and 103.2.d.2 is satisfied because it carries the Renekton tag the legend prints.

Prerequisites

• THE FINDING IS AN ORDERING ONE AND IT HAS A PRICE TAG. 432.1: 'Doubling is the act of increasing a numeric attribute by an amount equal to that attribute's current value.' CURRENT, not printed - so a doubler played before the Attacker designation reads a smaller number than the same card played after it, and the difference is exactly the [Assault] value. 807.1.c makes [Assault] functionally short for 'While I am an attacker, I have +X [M]' and 807.1.d.1 keeps it in effect for as long as the unit holds the designation.
• THE TWO NUMBERS, SIDE BY SIDE. Garen is printed Might 5 and Cleave takes him to Assault 5 (807.2 sums the granted [Assault 3] with his printed [Assault 2]; Riot's own example there is Petty Officer + Cleave = Assault 4). Dominus played in the MAIN PHASE reads Might 5, gives +5, and Garen attacks at 5 + 5 + 5 = 15. Dominus played INSIDE the opened combat reads 5 + 5 = 10, gives +10, and Garen attacks at 20. Same two cards, five more Might, for nothing but the order they are played in.
• AND THE INCREASE OUTLIVES THE DESIGNATION. 432.1.a: 'This creates an effect that modulates that attribute by that specific amount for the duration specified by the Game Effect that instructed the player to perform this action.' Dominus says 'This turn', so when the combat ends and 807.1.d.1 drops the Assault, the +10 stays and Garen is Might 15 for the rest of the turn. Riot's worked example at 432.1.a says the same thing from the [Shield] side: 'After combat, Shield no longer applies, but the +5 Might from Last Stand does, so the unit's Might is 8.'
• GAREN'S [SHIELD 2] IS WORTH NOTHING ON THIS LINE, AND THAT IS THE POINT. 814.1.c makes [Shield] short for 'While I am a defender, I have +X [M]'. The rules' example doubles a DEFENDER and so reads the Shield; this line doubles an ATTACKER and reads the Assault instead. The two halves of Garen's text are mutually exclusive by designation, and Cleave is in uses[] because [Assault] is the half you can buy.
• THE EXCESS DAMAGE, WITH THE QUANTITIES DECLARED. Summed attacking Might is Garen 20 plus Tryndamere 8 = 28 (465.2.c: 'each player assigns an amount of damage equal to their summed Might'). 465.2.c.4 caps assignment at the minimum needed to kill, so against a garrison of summed Might M exactly M is assigned and 28 - M is excess (R28 = A: excess damage is attacking Might that never got assigned). Against a Might 8 defender that is 20 excess against Tryndamere's threshold of 5 - the line is not close, which is why the honest content here is the ORDERING delta and not the total. CORRECTED 2026-10-26 (#472, the follow-up PR #471 listed for #464): against a Might 8 defender there is no point at all. The point needs Tryndamere alive at the Conquer, and the defender decides: 383.4.c.2.a: 'The Conquer Abilities of Units are put on the Chain as Pending Items after the Unit(s) these effects correspond to are present at a Battlefield when a player gains control of it and gains 1 Victory Point from Conquering.' 365.1: 'Passive Abilities of Permanents are typically only active while on the Board.' The defender picks the deaths: 465.2.c: 'Starting with the Attacker, each player assigns an amount of damage equal to their summed Might among the other's Units.' With 465.2.c.3: 'Units must have lethal damage assigned to them in full before damage is assigned to a different Unit. Example: If a player has 5 damage to distribute among four 3 Might units, they may not choose to assign 2 damage to one of the units and 1 damage to each of the remaining 3. They must assign at least 3 damage to one, and the remaining 2 to another.' Tryndamere is Might 8, so a garrison of 8 or more kills him whatever Garen's Might is, and the defender picks him. Against a garrison of summed Might G with no damage marked and nothing else changing Might in the combat, the defender choosing the deaths that cost most, counting the Conquer and the point: G 1 to 7, 2; 8 to 27, 1 (Tryndamere dies and Garen conquers alone); 28 or more, 0 (both sides die, or the garrison survives, and 466.5: 'If no Showdown or Combat is staged at this location, the player with Units remaining here Establishes Control if they didn’t already control this Battlefield.'). And at every G of 1 to 7 the excess already clears 5 with Garen bare at 5 + 2 ([Assault 2]) = 7: 15 - 7 = 8. So neither Cleave nor Dominus buys the point against any garrison; the Might they add buys the Conquer against a bigger one (up to 27 instead of 14) and the Might 15 body after the combat. The ordering delta is real Might and no point. Re-derived on 2026-10-26 from the rules above.
• THE WINDOW IS AN [ACTION] ONE AND IT IS AFTER THE DESIGNATION. Both Cleave and Dominus are [Action] (806.1.b), and 464.2.f.1 / 464.2.g put a window inside a combat that has already OPENED, while 464.2.c.3 designates the attackers before it. Cleave may be played in the Main Phase (155) with no loss, since [Assault] is read at the designation either way; Dominus MUST wait for the window or it costs you the Assault value.
• THE RIDER IS REAL BUT SMALL. Dominus also grants Garen 'two rainbow: Ready me', an activated ready with no cap per turn - the fact dominus-xerath-henge-removal is built on. Here it walks Garen home or to a second battlefield carrying his +10; it adds no point, because 470 caps Scoring at one per battlefield per turn.

Steps

1. Run VEN-141 (or VEN-190) Butcher of the Sands as your legend - forced by Dominus's Renekton tag under 103.2.d.2 - and play OGS-007 Garen, Rugged (6 Energy + 1 Power) and OGN-034 Tryndamere, Barbarian (7 Energy + 2 Power). 143.4 has them enter exhausted, so they attack from the following turn.
2. In your Main Phase, play OGN-004 Cleave (1 Energy) giving Garen [Assault 3]. 807.2 sums it with his printed [Assault 2]: Assault 5 for the turn.
3. Standard-move Garen and Tryndamere to the enemy battlefield (144.3 makes the two moves one action to a shared destination). Contested applies (190.3.a.1), the Combat stages (323.9) and opens (323.13), and 464.2.c.3 designates them Attackers. Garen's current Might is now 5 + 5 = 10.
4. Inside the opened Combat Showdown, play VEN-142 Dominus (4 Energy) on Garen (806.1.b, 464.2.f.1). 432.1 reads his CURRENT Might of 10 and gives +10: Garen attacks at 20.
5. The damage step assigns the defending garrison its minimum lethal out of your 28 summed Might (465.2.c, 465.2.c.4); everything above that is excess assigned to enemy units.
6. You win the combat and Conquer (466.5, 466.5.d). Tryndamere's trigger checks 'if you assigned 5 or more excess damage' and you score 1 point (194.1.c; R2 = A makes that a point Gain by ability, not a 469 Score). CORRECTED 2026-10-26 (#472, the follow-up PR #471 listed for #464): the point only against a garrison of 1 to 7 summed Might. From 8 the defender kills Tryndamere and the Conquer is the Score alone; from 28 it is 0 (the excess notable).
7. After the combat 807.1.d.1 drops the Assault, but 432.1.a keeps the +10 for the rest of the turn: Garen stands at Might 15, and Dominus's granted 'two rainbow: Ready me' can walk him somewhere else with it.

Per iteration

five more attacking Might for playing the same doubler inside the combat instead of before it, and a Might 15 body for the rest of the turn

How it ends

one point per Conquer; 470 caps Scoring at one per battlefield per turn and 485.4 puts two on a Duel table, so this is an engine and not a burst - three Dominus (103.2.b) is three such turns

Sources

Published elsewhere

• Riftbound Core Rules, Last Updated 2026-07-16 (data/Riftbound-Core-Rules-2026-07-16.txt), 432.1 2026-07-16
• Riftbound Core Rules, Last Updated 2026-07-16 (data/Riftbound-Core-Rules-2026-07-16.txt), 432.1.a worked example 2026-07-16
• Riftbound Core Rules, Last Updated 2026-07-16 (data/Riftbound-Core-Rules-2026-07-16.txt), 807.1.c 2026-07-16

Walked here, in this project

• Hand walk 2026-09-07 2026-09-07 record

Walked against Core Rules 2026-07-16

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