Combo · ENGINE

359.3.e.14.b: a plain second sentence executes even when the first instruction's action was REPLACED - so save your own unit from your own Hidden Blade and still draw 2

6 cards · order · verified

Pieces

• Hidden Blade ×3 OGN-213 · engine · order

  [Hidden] (Hide now for 1 Power of any domain to react with later for 0 Energy.) [Action] (Play on your turn or in showdowns.) Kill a unit at a battlefield. Its controller draws 2.

• Tactical Retreat ×3 UNL-175 · enabler · order

  [Reaction] (Play any time, even before spells and abilities resolve.) Choose a friendly unit. The next time it would die this turn, heal it, exhaust it, and recall it instead. (Send it to base. This isn't a move.)

Payoff

Deck

• Both spells 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 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.
• Hidden Blade says 'a unit at a battlefield', so the body you aim at must be standing at one - not at your base.

Run play

• the Blade draws what it costs, unless the save is a body that stays

Prerequisites

• THE RULE, AND RIOT WORKS IT ON THIS CARD THREE TIMES. 359.3.e.14 defines linked instructions - 'Hidden Blade reads "Kill a unit at a battlefield. Its controller draws 2." The "its" in the second instruction references the unit in the first, so the two instructions of the spell are linked.' Then 359.3.e.14.b: 'If the Game Action performed in an earlier linked instruction is replaced, this will not affect the later linked instruction, unless the later linked instruction directly references the Game Action being performed', with 'The later linked instruction doesn't reference an action directly, so it will execute even if the kill action of the earlier linked action is replaced by some other event.' 359.3.e.13 through .e.14.c are cited by no entry and no synergy rule in this project.
• SO THE LINE IS: AIM IT AT YOUR OWN SAVED BODY. Tactical Retreat replaces the death with heal-exhaust-recall; the kill action is replaced, not ignored; and 'Its controller draws 2' - you - executes anyway. Two Energy for two cards and a unit you keep. The [Hidden] mode makes it cheaper still: 811.1.b plays a hidden card 'ignoring its base cost', so from the turn after the hide, Hidden Blade is 0 Energy and the whole line costs the 2 Energy of Tactical Retreat.
• AND 359.3.e.14.a IS THE TRAP THAT KILLS THE OBVIOUS VARIANT. 'In order for a later linked instruction to execute, its earlier linked instruction must have executed. If the earlier linked instruction is ignored for any reason, the later linked instruction will also be ignored', with Riot's own case: 'If the chosen unit changes zones or moves to base in reaction to Hidden Blade, the spell will mistarget and the first instruction will be ignored ... the unit's controller will not draw 2.' A bounce, a recall or a move in response gives you NOTHING. The save must REPLACE the death while the unit stays a legal target - which is what Tactical Retreat does and what a Recall-in-response does not.
• THE PAIR RIOT CONTRASTS IS THE READING TO CARRY. Its second example at 359.3.e.14.b is Deathgrip: 'Kill a friendly unit. If you do, give +[M] equal to its Might to another friendly unit this turn.' - 'If the friendly unit in question is not killed by Deathgrip because its death is replaced with another event, the later linked instruction will not execute because "if you do" directly references the game action.' So 'X. Then Y.' survives a replacement and 'X. If you do, Y.' does not. That is a general split across the whole pool, decided by three words.
• IT ALSO WORKS ON THE OPPONENT'S HIDDEN BLADE, AND THAT IS WORTH KNOWING BEFORE YOU SAVE. If they aim it at your unit and you replace the death, 'Its controller draws 2' still resolves - and the controller is YOU. Saving into their Hidden Blade is a two-card profit; bouncing out of it is zero, because 359.3.e.14.a ignores the whole spell.
• THE COST IS THE POSITION. 455 sends the saved body to the BASE without a Move, so any 'While I'm at a battlefield' text switches off, 458.1 leaves its other statuses alone, and 315.1.b readies it only at your next Awakening. If it was the last body at a battlefield you controlled, 323.6 strips that battlefield at the next Cleanup. Two cards for a turn of tempo.
• AND THE SAVE IS A ONE-SHOT PER CARD. Tactical Retreat says 'The next time it would die this turn', so one replacement per copy; three copies (103.2.b) are three uses. Zhonya's Hourglass and Guardian Angel are the Calm alternatives if the deck can afford a second domain.
• A DELAYED WOULD-DIE SHIELD IS ENDED BY A BOUNCE, NOT ONLY BY REMOVAL, AND NO SHIELD ENTRY SAID SO (upgrade 2026-09-12, #187 batch 9). 390.5 defines a Delayed LINKED Ability as one that references the generating ability or the Game Objects it affects *"instead of a window of time"* - which is what a *"Choose a friendly unit. The next time it would die this turn"* shield is, against a *"the next spell you play this turn"* delay, which IS a window of time and falls under 391 instead. **390.5.a then has teeth: *"If that Ability affects a Game Object, the Delayed Linked Ability`s window will be as long as that Game Object is in an appropriate zone."*** So returning the shielded body to hand CLOSES the window - and 359.3.e.4 makes the body that comes back a different object, so replaying it does not restore the shield. The cheapest answer in the pool is `OGN-169 Gust` at one Energy; see `windsinger-gust-bounce-as-a-counterspell`, which reaches the same paragraph from the opposite side. Note which half applies before citing 390.5 at all: this project nearly published it against Ravenborn Tome and Raging Firebrand, whose delays are windows of time and therefore 391.

Bodies no card supplies

Have a friendly unit standing at a battlefield - Hidden Blade's clause is 'a unit at a battlefield'

Steps

1. Hide OGN-213 Hidden Blade face down at a battlefield you control for one rainbow (811.1.b). From the following turn it is playable for 0 Energy.
2. Have a friendly unit standing at a battlefield - Hidden Blade's clause is 'a unit at a battlefield'.
3. Play UNL-175 Tactical Retreat (2 Energy, [Reaction]) choosing that unit: the next time it would die this turn, it is healed, exhausted and recalled instead.
4. Play Hidden Blade, targeting your own saved unit. Its first instruction attempts to kill it.
5. Tactical Retreat REPLACES the death - the unit is a legal target throughout, so 359.3.e.14.a's mistarget case never arises and the first instruction executed.
6. 359.3.e.14.b: the second instruction, 'Its controller draws 2', does not reference the kill action, so it executes. You draw 2.
7. The unit is at your base, exhausted (455, 458.1); 315.1.b readies it at your next Awakening. If it was your last body at that battlefield, 323.6 strips it at the next Cleanup.
8. Never substitute a bounce or a recall for the save: 359.3.e.14.a ignores the whole spell if the unit stops being a legal target, and you draw nothing.

Per iteration

two cards for 2 Energy and a turn of one unit's tempo, with the unit kept

How it ends

engine only - nothing here scores. Three copies of each (103.2.b), one replacement per Tactical Retreat, and one facedown per battlefield with two battlefields on a Duel table (811.1.b, 485.4)

Sources

Published elsewhere

• Riftbound Core Rules, Last Updated 2026-07-16 (data/Riftbound-Core-Rules-2026-07-16.txt), 359.3.e.14.b 2026-07-16
• Riftbound Core Rules, Last Updated 2026-07-16 (data/Riftbound-Core-Rules-2026-07-16.txt), 359.3.e.14.b worked examples 2026-07-16
• Riftbound Core Rules, Last Updated 2026-07-16 (data/Riftbound-Core-Rules-2026-07-16.txt), 359.3.e.14.a 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