Combo · ENGINE

428.5.c: a unit that dies in the CLEANUP was killed by the spell that damaged it - which is the only reason a damage spell ever triggers "when you kill a unit with a spell"

6 cards · fury · verified

Pieces

• Immortal Phoenix ×3 OGN-037 · payoff · fury

  [Assault 2] (+2 Might while I'm an attacker.) When you kill a unit with a spell, you may pay 1 Energy + 1 Fury Power to play me from your trash.

• Falling Star ×3 OGN-029 · engine · fury

  Deal 3 to a unit. Deal 3 to a unit.

Payoff

Deck

• Both cards are mono-Fury, so 103.1.b.3 admits them under any legend with Fury among its two domains - measured over data/cards.json those include OGN-247 / OGN-299 Daughter of the Void (fury/mind), OGN-249 / OGN-300 Relentless Storm (fury/body), OGN-251 / OGN-301 Loose Cannon (fury/chaos), OGN-253 / OGN-302 Hand of Noxus (fury/order), SFD-181 / SFD-240 Mechanized Menace (fury/mind), UNL-181 / UNL-226 Virtuoso (fury/mind), UNL-185 / UNL-228 Bloodharbor Ripper (fury/chaos), VEN-139 / VEN-189 Rogue Assassin (calm/fury) and VEN-143 / VEN-191 Master of Shadows (fury/chaos).
• 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.
• Immortal Phoenix has to be in your trash for the clause to apply - 366.1 makes a passive of a card outside the board self-describe its context, and his says 'from your trash'.

Prerequisites

• THE RULE, AND WITHOUT IT THE CARD DOES NOTHING. 143.2.a kills by marked damage in a cleanup, so a damage spell never performs a Kill instruction and would never satisfy 'when you kill a unit with a spell'. 428.5.c is what closes that gap: 'When one or more Units is killed due to a Cleanup, that kill action is attributed to the spell or ability that resolved immediately prior to that Cleanup that dealt damage to the Unit or Units', and 428.5.c.1 adds 'The player responsible for the deal action is responsible for the kill action.' 428.5 and its sub-rules are cited by no entry and no synergy rule in this project.
• AND 428.5.c.2 IS THE HALF THAT SWITCHES THE CARD OFF: 'If the Cleanup that caused the units to be killed was the Combat Cleanup, the sources of the Combat Damage are attributed the kill action, and their controller is responsible for the kill action.' Combat kills are attributed to the UNITS, not to any spell - so a body dying to your attackers never returns the Phoenix. He is a spell-damage payoff and nothing else, and the entry prices him that way.
• 428.5.d IS WHERE RIOT NAMES HIM, AND IT COMPOSES WITH THE REFLEXIVE-TRIGGER FINDING. 'Abilities originating from Game Objects that are attributed Kill Actions are attributed in addition to the Game Object that created them', with the example running a spell that reads 'Do this twice: Deal 3 to a unit' beside Immortal Phoenix: 'both the spell and its ability are considered sources of the damage, and so both the spell and its ability receive attribution for killing the unit. This means that the spell's controller killed a unit with a spell, so Immortal Phoenix's ability will trigger.' So a Reflexive Trigger (387.1) splitting a spell into separate chain items does NOT cost you the 'with a spell' attribution - the spell keeps it.
• FALLING STAR IS TWO DEAL ACTIONS, NOT ONE SPLIT. 'Deal 3 to a unit. Deal 3 to a unit.' - two instructions, each choosing its own target, so it can put lethal on two different bodies. Both die at the same Cleanup and both kills are attributed to the same spell (428.5.c), and 'When you kill a unit with a spell' carries no 'the Nth time' wording, so 383.1.b's collapse does not apply: two kills are two triggers, ordered by 383.3.d.
• THE PRICE IS PER RETURN AND IT IS CHEAP. Each trigger is 'you may pay :rb_energy_1::rb_rune_fury:' - 383.3.b makes a cost written right after 'you may' the trigger's BASE COST, paid at finalization (383.3.b.1, 204.3.a), so the Energy and the Fury Power must be banked when the trigger goes on the Chain, not found later. Two triggers off one Falling Star means two Phoenixes back for 2 Energy and 2 Fury Power, on top of the spell's own 2 Energy + 2 Power.
• AND HE COMES BACK AS A REAL BODY. He is played, not recycled, so he enters exhausted at your base or a battlefield you control (143.4, 355.2.a) carrying [Assault 2]. 108.6.c is not in play - nothing here banishes - so the same copy can die and return as often as a spell kills something.
• THE FLOOR IS THE OTHER HALF OF 428.5.c. Because the attribution follows the SPELL and not the caster's intent, any damage spell in the deck feeds him - Consuming Curse, Bellows Breath, Singularity - and the entry names Falling Star only because two Deal actions on one card is the cheapest way to buy two triggers.

Steps

1. Get OGN-037 Immortal Phoenix into your trash - played and killed, discarded, or milled. 366.1 makes his 'play me from your trash' clause active exactly there.
2. Bank 2 Energy and 2 Fury Power beyond the spell's cost: 383.3.b makes the 'you may pay' a base cost paid at FINALIZATION, so it cannot be found after the trigger is on the Chain.
3. Play OGN-029 Falling Star (2 Energy + 2 Power). Its two 'Deal 3' instructions each choose a target; put lethal on two enemy bodies.
4. Nothing dies yet - 143.2.a kills in a cleanup. At that Cleanup both units die and 428.5.c attributes both kills to Falling Star, with 428.5.c.1 making you responsible.
5. 'When you kill a unit with a spell' triggers twice; the wording carries no 'the Nth time', so 383.1.b does not collapse them and 383.3.d lets you order them.
6. Pay 1 Energy + 1 Fury Power per trigger to finalize, and play Immortal Phoenix from your trash - twice if you have two copies there.
7. Do not expect this off combat: 428.5.c.2 attributes a Combat Cleanup's kills to the units that dealt the damage, so no spell is involved and the Phoenix stays down.

Per iteration

two enemy bodies dead and up to two Phoenixes back from the trash, for 2 Energy + 2 Power plus 1 Energy + 1 Fury Power per return

How it ends

engine only - nothing here scores. Three Falling Star and three Phoenix (103.2.b); the returns are capped by how many copies are in the trash and by the banked Fury Power, and combat kills never feed it (428.5.c.2)

Sources

Published elsewhere

• Riftbound Core Rules, Last Updated 2026-07-16 (data/Riftbound-Core-Rules-2026-07-16.txt), 428.5.c 2026-07-16
• Riftbound Core Rules, Last Updated 2026-07-16 (data/Riftbound-Core-Rules-2026-07-16.txt), 428.5.c.2 2026-07-16
• Riftbound Core Rules, Last Updated 2026-07-16 (data/Riftbound-Core-Rules-2026-07-16.txt), 428.5.d worked example 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