Combo · ENGINE

Royal Guard lands as exactly two bodies, which is exactly what Keeper of Law's discount reads — E5 + 1 Power becomes E3 and nothing

6 cards · order · verified

Pieces

• Keeper of Law ×3 VEN-119 · payoff · order

  I cost 2 Energy + 1 Order Power less if you control a battlefield with exactly two units there.

• Royal Guard ×3 SFD-157 · enabler · order

  When you play me, play a 2 Might Sand Soldier unit token here.

Payoff

Deck

• Both cards are mono-Order, so 103.1.b.3 admits any legend with Order in its pair: SFD-201/SFD-249 Chem-Baroness, UNL-199/UNL-235 Deceiver, SFD-197/SFD-247 Emperor of the Sands, VEN-147/VEN-193 Eye of Twilight, SFD-205/SFD-251 Grand Duelist, UNL-195/UNL-233 Green Father, OGN-253/OGN-302 Hand of Noxus, VEN-155/VEN-197 Heart of the Tempest, OGN-265/OGN-308 Herald of the Arcane, UNL-203/UNL-237 Keeper of the Hammer, OGS-021 Lady of Luminosity, VEN-153/VEN-196 Matriarch of War, OGS-023 Might of Demacia - Starter, UNL-187/UNL-229 Piltover Enforcer, OGN-261/OGN-306 Radiant Dawn, OGN-269/OGN-310 The Boss, SFD-187/SFD-243 Void Burrower.

Run play

• The Guard's pair has to walk out of base, and one answer is not enough to stop the Keeper's discount

Prerequisites

• 'EXACTLY TWO' IS A CEILING AS WELL AS A FLOOR, WHICH IS WHY THE PAIR MATTERS MORE THAN THE COUNT. A third body at that battlefield switches the discount off, so the condition is not satisfied by playing more units — it is satisfied by playing a card that arrives as a self-contained pair. Royal Guard is the only mono-Order card that does that in one play. CORRECTED 2026-10-18 (#396, from the run play docs/plays/2026-10-18-the-guards-pair-has-to-walk-out-of-base-and-one-answer-is-not-enough-to-stop-the-keepers-discount.md): both halves of this notable are wrong. A third body does switch the discount off, but playing more units does satisfy the condition: one unit played or moved to a battlefield where you have exactly one makes two, and a unit moving to or being played to a battlefield you already control opens no showdown (190.3.a.1: "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."). That is how the play repairs a pair after a single answer, and two 2-drops at your battlefield reach the Royal Guard line's T3 without the Guard (the play's walk). And Royal Guard is not the only mono-Order pair. Swept: every mono-Order unit whose text makes a unit token, 15 cards; the ones that leave exactly two bodies are SFD-157 Royal Guard, OGN-211 Faithful Manufactor (Order, E3, M2: "When you play me, play a 1 :rb_might: Recruit unit token here."), a pair one rune cheaper, and OGN-222 Noxian Drummer (Order, E3, M3: "When I move to a battlefield, play a 1 :rb_might: Recruit unit token here. (It is also at the battlefield.)"), which makes the pair at the battlefield itself, where the condition is read. Of the other twelve, OGN-218 Vanguard Captain (with [Legion]), SFD-179 Corina Veraza and UNL-160 Ultrasoft Poro make three or more bodies; OGN-239 Machine Evangel, OGN-246 Viktor, Leader, UNL-153 Carrion Dredger and VEN-128 Noxian Emissary make their tokens on a death, into base; SFD-152 Eminent Benefactor, SFD-155 Honest Broker and SFD-174 Trove Golem make gear tokens; SFD-171 Renata Glasc, Industrialist and SFD-177 Azir, Sovereign make none.
• IT BELONGS TO A FAMILY THE CALM/MIND WALK HAS ALREADY MAPPED: the 'exactly one other unit you control here' cards, of which VEN-117 Disciple of Shen is the only member that PAYS ITSELF for satisfying the condition and is therefore the correct second body for the rest. Keeper of Law is the 'exactly two units' sibling and is read the same way — count the bodies you are obliged to keep there, not the ones you would like to add. Cross-referenced rather than re-derived.
• THE COUNT IS OF UNITS, NOT CARDS, so the Sand Soldier counts: 185.1 with 185.2.b ('Token units have a Might') is the pair for a token unit BEING a unit when something counts bodies, as distinct from 350.2 with 185.2.a for a token being played. The two pairs are different paragraphs and are easy to conflate.
• AND THE DISCOUNT IS READ WHEN THE COST IS DETERMINED, so the pair has to be standing at the moment you play the Keeper — not when he resolves and not afterwards. Losing the Sand Soldier to a sweeper between turns simply puts the price back to E5 + 1 Order Power. CORRECTED 2026-10-18 (#396, from the run play docs/plays/2026-10-18-the-guards-pair-has-to-walk-out-of-base-and-one-answer-is-not-enough-to-stop-the-keepers-discount.md): correct, and one consequence the entry did not draw: at that moment the Keeper is on the chain (354: "1. Move the card from its current zone to the Chain."), not at the battlefield, and his location is chosen (355.2) before the cost is determined (356: "3. Determine Total Cost."). So he can be played to the very battlefield whose pair pays for him. A second Keeper then reads three bodies there and pays full price; a Keeper played to base leaves the pair at two for the next one.
• SIX BODIES AND THREE DISCOUNTS IS THE WHOLE CEILING: 103.2.b caps each card at three, and each Royal Guard sustains the condition at one battlefield only. A Duel has two battlefields (485.4), so two pairs is the most the board can hold. CORRECTED 2026-10-18 (#396, from the run play docs/plays/2026-10-18-the-guards-pair-has-to-walk-out-of-base-and-one-answer-is-not-enough-to-stop-the-keepers-discount.md): the ceiling of three discounts is right (103.2.b), but it does not need three pairs, or two. One pair serves every Keeper played to base (see step 5), so a single surviving Royal Guard pair pays for all three. What limits the line in practice is drawing the Keepers: two of the three by T3 going first, seven cards seen out of a 39-card deck (116: "Players each draw 4.", then one draw a turn), is 7.74% (hypergeometric, at least 2 of 3 copies in 7 of 39).
• IT DOES NOT SCORE. What it buys is one Order Power and two Energy per Keeper, on a 5-Might body — the points still come from a Hold or a Conquer.
• NO ANSWER WAS NAMED - ADDED 2026-10-18 (#396, from the run play docs/plays/2026-10-18-the-guards-pair-has-to-walk-out-of-base-and-one-answer-is-not-enough-to-stop-the-keepers-discount.md). Because the pair is made in base (see step 1), two answers remove both bodies there on their own turn: OGN-029 Falling Star (Fury, E2 + 2 Fury Power: "Deal 3 to a unit. Deal 3 to a unit."), with no location clause, kills the 2-Might Guard and the 2-Might Sand Soldier, and UNL-132 Angler Beast (Chaos, E5 + 1 Chaos Power: "When you play me, return all units with 2 :rb_might: or less to their owners' hands.") returns both. A one-body answer such as OGN-169 Gust (Chaos, E1: "[Reaction] (Play any time, even before spells and abilities resolve.) Return a unit at a battlefield with 3 :rb_might: or less to its owner's hand.") costs one body, not the discount: one more unit played or moved there restores exactly two (see the first notable).

Steps

1. Play Royal Guard (E4) to a battlefield you control that has no other units of yours on it. Its play trigger puts a 2-Might Sand Soldier unit token at the same battlefield (359.3.f.2). CORRECTED 2026-10-18 (#396, from the run play docs/plays/2026-10-18-the-guards-pair-has-to-walk-out-of-base-and-one-answer-is-not-enough-to-stop-the-keepers-discount.md): that battlefield cannot exist in an Open State, which is when a unit without [Action] is played (308.1.a: "Only cards and abilities with the Action or Reaction keywords can be played or activated in a Showdown State."). You keep control only while you have units there (190.4.a: "If a player controls Units at a Battlefield, outside of Combat, they maintain Control of that Battlefield for as long as they have Units at that Battlefield.") and lose it with none (190.4.c: "If a player has no Units at a Battlefield and the turn is in an Open state, they lose Control of that Battlefield in the following cleanup unless there is a Combat or Showdown ongoing there."), so a Guard played to a battlefield you control (355.2.a: "By default, Valid locations include the controller’s Base or a Battlefield the controller controls.") makes at least three bodies there. The pair is made in base, where "here" puts the token (359.3.f.2: "Information referenced in an instruction in this way will be checked on execution of the instruction."), and has to walk: both bodies as one move (144.3: "Players may perform multiple Units' standard move simultaneously. This is treated as one game action performed on multiple Units."; 144.3.a: "When a Move like this is declared by a player, the units' Destination must be the same.") into an empty battlefield, through the non-combat showdown that opens (316.8.b.1: "Showdowns that occur as a result of a player moving to an empty Battlefield are a stand-alone Phase and do not create a Combat."), or one of them into a battlefield where you have exactly one, which opens none (190.3.a.1). Units enter exhausted (143.4: "Units enter the Board exhausted."), so the walk is the next turn at the earliest.
2. That battlefield now has exactly two units you control — the Guard and the token — and 185.1 / 185.2.b make the token one of them. CORRECTED 2026-10-18 (#396, from the run play docs/plays/2026-10-18-the-guards-pair-has-to-walk-out-of-base-and-one-answer-is-not-enough-to-stop-the-keepers-discount.md): the Keeper reads "a battlefield with exactly two units there", every player's units, not only yours. Outside a combat or a showdown a battlefield you control holds only your units (an enemy unit arriving contests it, 190.3.a.1), and the Keeper cannot be played in a Showdown State (308.1.a), so on the boards this entry describes the difference never shows.
3. In the same or a later Main Phase, play Keeper of Law. The condition is read while the cost is determined (356), so he costs E3 and no Power instead of E5 + 1 Order Power.
4. Do not reinforce that battlefield while a Keeper is still in hand: a third body makes the count three and the discount is gone.
5. Repeat at the other battlefield of the Duel with the second Royal Guard, and again with the third pair if the first has been broken. CORRECTED 2026-10-18 (#396, from the run play docs/plays/2026-10-18-the-guards-pair-has-to-walk-out-of-base-and-one-answer-is-not-enough-to-stop-the-keepers-discount.md): a second pair is not needed for a second discount. One pair serves every Keeper played to base, since a Keeper played to base adds no body at the battlefield (see the fourth notable); a second Royal Guard is needed only to rebuild a pair that was broken.

Per iteration

2 Energy and a whole Order Power off each Keeper of Law, for a card that was already two bodies

How it ends

engine only — three discounts at most (103.2.b), each needing a surviving pair at a battlefield; nothing here scores

Sources

Published elsewhere

• Riftbound Core Rules, Last Updated 2026-07-16 (data/Riftbound-Core-Rules-2026-07-16.txt) 2026-07-16

Walked here, in this project

• Hand walk 2026-09-07 (docs/phase0/walks/2026-09-07-uncatalogued-order.md), issue #180 2026-09-07 record
• Run play 2026-10-18, issue #393 2026-10-18 record

Walked against Core Rules 2026-07-16

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