Combo · ALT WIN

Heimerdinger × Ultrasoft Poro — four Birds a turn onto The Grand Plaza

3 cards · mind + order · verified

Pieces

• Heimerdinger, Inventor ×1 OGN-111 · engine · mind

  I have all Exhaust abilities of all friendly legends, units, and gear.

• Ultrasoft Poro ×1 UNL-160 · engine · order

  Exhaust: Play two 1 Energy Might Bird unit tokens with [Deflect]. Use this ability only while I'm at a battlefield. (Opponents must pay 1 Power of any domain to choose a [Deflect] unit with a spell or ability.)

• The Grand Plaza ×1 OGN-293 · payoff

  When you hold here, if you have 7+ units here, you win the game.

Payoff

Deck

• Legend domains must cover Mind (Heimerdinger) and Order (Ultrasoft Poro) — OGN-265 Herald of the Arcane, OGS-021 Lady of Luminosity, SFD-201 Chem-Baroness, UNL-199 Deceiver. The Plaza is colourless.

Prerequisites

• THE BIRDS NEED NO WALK, which is what separates this from every Recruit line in the catalogue. Ultrasoft Poro's ability names no destination, so 355.2.a applies — 'By default, Valid locations include the controller's Base or a Battlefield the controller controls' — and you simply put both Birds on the Plaza. #48's token bottleneck (born at the base, walk to the battlefield) never arises, and so neither does SFD-171 Renata Glasc, Industrialist: the Birds enter exhausted (143.4) and it does not matter, because nothing asks them to pay 144.2.
• R30 = B is satisfied rather than dodged. Ruled 2026-09-06: a copied [exhaust] ability carries its 'Use this ability only while I'm at a battlefield' clause, because 377.2.b makes that sentence a condition of the Activated Ability, and 053.1 re-reads 'I' on whoever now has it. Heimerdinger therefore has to stand at a battlefield — and here he stands on the Plaza, which is where he wants to be anyway.
• Two activations a turn, not four: Heimerdinger's own text grants him the ability once however many Poros are on the board, and 476.1 applies an effect only once across all sequences. The entry declares one Poro and counts two activations (Poro's own + Heimerdinger's copy) = 4 Birds a turn. A second Poro adds its own activation (6 Birds), which is margin, not speed — the turn count is the same.
• [Deflect] is the removal tax: 809.1.c makes an opponent pay 1 rainbow Power to choose a Bird with a spell or ability, and 809.1.c.1 lets that Power be any domain. Eight 1-Might Birds cost eight extra Power to pick off one at a time; a combat sweep still has to get through Heimerdinger and the 5-Might Poro first. CORRECTED 2026-10-27 (#503): it does not. None of the eight has [Tank] or [Backline], so the attacker assigns damage to the cheapest units (465.2.c.3, 465.2.c.7), and the Hold needs only seven of the eight: two 1-Might Birds die to 2 damage and leave six. [Deflect] is not paid on combat damage (809.1.c taxes choosing with a spell or ability). CORRECTED 2026-10-27 (#503): that prices a full clear by spell; the Hold needs seven of the eight, so a spell answer picks two Birds (2 extra Power, 809.1.c), and a combat answer pays no Deflect tax at all.
• The count is measured AT THE HOLD. 383.2.a.1 makes 'if you have 7+ units here' part of the Trigger Condition rather than the Effect, so nothing can be added at that instant; the eight units have to survive the opponent's whole turn. 185.2.b ('Token units have a Might') is why the Birds count as units at all.
• The Grand Plaza must be the battlefield in play: each player provides three and only 1 is used (485.4.a), randomly in Duel (485.5) and Skirmish (487.5), chosen in Match (486.5), and 103.4.c plus Tournament Rules 402.1 forbid bringing three copies to force it. In a Duel only two battlefields are on the table (485.4).
• Nothing here is [Temporary], so 816.1.b never touches the Birds — unlike leblanc-bashful-bloom-trevor-plaza, which needs UNL-090 LeBlanc on the board purely to switch that kill off. This line pays 8 Energy and 1 Mind Power for two cards; that one pays 13 Energy for three.
• 1 ENERGY ANSWERS THE GARRISON THIS LINE NEEDS, AND THE BODIES ARE TOKENS SO NO uses[] ROW SHOWS IT. 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.". This line's garrison is Recruit and Bird tokens, whose Might is fixed by rule 187 (Recruit 1, Bird 1) rather than by any card in uses[] - which is why no ingredient row warns you. 143.2.a kills on marked damage at or above Might, so it kills every body at or below Might 1 SIMULTANEOUSLY however many there are: the binding constraint is MIGHT PER BODY, not the number of bodies, so going wider answers nothing. THE IDENTITY DOES HOLD AN ANSWER: OGS-013 Garen, Commander +1, SFD-089 Rumble, Scrapper +1 (Mech bodies only), UNL-077 Soul Shepherd +1 (token bodies only) - a permanent, garrison-wide +Might is the only thing that lifts every body at once, since a single-target pump is useless against a sweep that hits all of them. (A battlefield-based protection is NOT available here, because this line already requires a battlefield: 485.4.a gives each player three and "Only 1 will be used, chosen during setup", and 103.4.c forbids duplicate names, so two of your own battlefields never share a board.) WHEN THE ANSWER LANDS, AND IT IS NOT INSIDE THE HOLD. A Hold resolves at 315.2.b.2, which Holds "all Battlefields they Control", inside YOUR Beginning Phase - and 312.2.a gives a player priority only "When the turn is in a Neutral Open State during their Main Phase", i.e. their own. So the opponent cannot answer in the Hold window itself; they answer on THEIR turn, which is the turn immediately before it. The cost of that is yours, not theirs: your own Main Phase comes AFTER your Beginning Phase (315 then 316), so there is no window in which to rebuild the garrison. Holding up a [Reaction] on their turn is the only response this line has.
• A BLOODLESS CONQUER IS NOT A FAIT ACCOMPLI, AND 46 OF THE 47 ENTRIES CITING 344.2 DID NOT SAY SO (added 2026-09-12, #187 batch 25). **316.8.b.1.a**: during a Non-Combat Showdown *"units controlled by a different player may become present at the Battlefield where the Showdown is"*, which converts it to a COMBAT Showdown in the following cleanup - so the opponent can turn your uncontested walk-in into a fight. 316.8.c is the permission (a Showdown is a Window of Opportunity for [Action] and [Reaction] cards). **The answer set is THREE CARDS, swept on the ACTOR rather than on the destination**: `OGN-173 Ride the Wind` (Chaos, E2+1), `OGN-262 Zenith Blade` (Calm/Order, E3+2) and `SFD-184 Relentless Pursuit` (Fury/Body, E2+1) - twelve printings move a friendly unit, and nine of them send it to base or need a body already there. They span three identities, so **no identity is safe**; and `OGN-262 Zenith Blade` is the worst to walk into, because it STUNS your body on the way in, and 423.1.b removes a stunned unit`s contribution to the damage step while 423.1.c keeps its full Might as the price to kill it - one 3-Energy card takes the unit and the battlefield. **[Ambush] is not a fourth answer**: 822.1.b needs a battlefield where the player already has units, and the defining feature of that board is that they have none there. **THE REMEDY IS A COUNTERSPELL, AND A FIRST VERSION OF THIS NOTABLE SAID SOMETHING FALSE THAT IS WITHDRAWN HERE (corrected within the hour, 2026-09-12).** It said that because all three answers are [Action] and 358.4 admits an Action card only as the card that CLOSES the state, the attacker - who holds Focus by 345 and priority by 335.1 - could shut them out by playing any cheap Action card first. Every step is true and the conclusion is false, because **a Showdown is a LOOP, not a single window**: 346 - *"When the last item on the chain resolves and the turn returns to an Open State during a Showdown, Focus passes, and the next Player gains both Focus and Priority"* - with 347.1.b and 347.2.a. Closing the state buys a lock-out lasting exactly that CHAIN; when it resolves the Showdown reopens, Focus passes TO THE DEFENDER, and they play their answer into an open Showdown after all. **The real sequence**: walk in, take Focus, **PASS** (acting first gains nothing); they play the answer, which closes the state as it is played; **you COUNTER it**, since 358.4`s other half now admits only [Reaction] and all eleven of the pool`s counters are Reaction, and 425.1.c refunds them nothing; all players then pass in sequence, 347.2.a ends the Showdown, and 348.2.a with 348.2.a.1 give you Control and the Conquer. The cheap counter is `OGN-045 Defy` (Calm, E1 + 1 Power, *"counter a spell that costs no more than 4 Energy and no more than one rainbow"*), which covers all three answers; `OGN-064 Wind Wall` is the unconditional one. **So the protection narrows to pairs containing CALM** - it is not the one-Energy insurance any deck can buy.
• OPPONENT BOARD AND KILL PRICE - ADDED 2026-10-27 (#503). THE BOARD IT WINS ON: nothing of theirs ready in their base on the turn between your T3 and your T4 that can reach the Plaza and deal 2 damage (units at their own battlefield cannot reach the Plaza, 144.4.a, 144.4.b, unless they have Ganking, 144.4.c.1; units played that turn enter exhausted, 143.4, unless [Accelerate]), and no cheap Reaction spell that removes two bodies; the Hold counts the eight when it happens (383.2.a.1). None of the eight has [Tank] or [Backline], so the attacker orders the assignment (465.2.c.7) and the Poro and Heimerdinger are not in the way. With eight units the attacker has to kill N - 6 = 2, and the cheapest two are two 1-Might Birds (187.7): 2 damage, not the 14 of a full clear (Poro 5, Heimerdinger 3, six Birds 6). [Deflect] taxes only a spell or ability that chooses a Bird (809.1.c); combat damage chooses nothing, so it adds no price.

Steps

1. Control The Grand Plaza (a battlefield you bring starts uncontrolled, 190.1: walk in, 190.3.a.1 makes it Contested, 344.2 opens the Showdown, 348.2.a gives Control and 348.2.a.1 makes it a Conquer worth 1 point).
2. T1 Main: play Ultrasoft Poro (5 Energy) to the Plaza. He enters exhausted (143.4) and cannot activate this turn.
3. T2 Awaken (315.1.b) readies him. T2 Beginning: you Hold the Plaza — 1 unit here, the Plaza's condition is false, no win. T2 Main: play Heimerdinger, Inventor (3 Energy + 1 Mind Power) to the Plaza and activate the Poro: two Birds. Four units here.
4. T3 Awaken readies everything. T3 Beginning: Hold with 4 units — still false. T3 Main: activate the Poro (two Birds) and Heimerdinger, who has the same ability (two Birds). Eight units at the Plaza.
5. Survive the opponent's turn with seven of the eight still standing.
6. T4 Beginning: 315.2.b.2 Holds the Plaza, the Trigger Condition finds 7+ units here (383.2.a.1) and rule 195 wins the game.

How it ends

win the game on the fourth Hold, for 8 Energy + 1 Mind Power and two cards

Sources

Walked here, in this project

• Walk of the unwalked partners of the 66 proven synergy rules, rule heimerdinger-inventor-exhaust-copy 2026-09-06 record

Walked against Core Rules 2026-07-16

Match a deck list against the whole catalogue