Combo · ENGINE

Maduli's move costs a Power and no exhaust, so 'I can't be readied' costs him nothing — and The List opens his gate by shrinking the garrison

2 cards · chaos · verified

Pieces

• Maduli the Gatekeeper ×1 UNL-144 · payoff · chaos

  I can't be readied. 1 Chaos Power: Move me to an occupied enemy battlefield if my Might is greater than the total Might of enemy units there.

• The List ×1 UNL-138 · engine · chaos

  As you play this, name a tag. (For example, Miss Fortune, Demacia, and Poro are tags.) Exhaust: Give a unit with the named tag -2 Might this turn.

Payoff

Deck

• Any legend with Chaos among its two domains (103.1.b.3) — 16 names: Loose Cannon (OGN-251), Unforgiven (OGN-259), Swift Scout (OGN-263), Bounty Hunter (OGN-267), Dark Child - Starter (OGS-017), Glorious Executioner (SFD-185), Blade Dancer (SFD-195), Prodigal Explorer (SFD-199), Battle Mistress (SFD-203), Bloodharbor Ripper (UNL-185), Gloomist (UNL-193), Scorn of the Moon (UNL-197), Voidreaver (UNL-201), Master of Shadows (VEN-143), Soul's Reflection (VEN-151), Heart of the Tempest (VEN-155).
• 1 Chaos Power per move, and the named tag chosen when The List is played — one tag per copy, fixed for the game.

Prerequisites

• THE DRAWBACK IS FREE, AND THAT IS THE FINDING. 'I can't be readied' looks crippling: 143.4 has him enter exhausted and nothing can ever stand him up, so his Standard Move — whose cost is his own exhaust (144.2, 420.3.a) — is gone for good. But his printed ability's cost is ONE CHAOS POWER and no exhaust, so it is unaffected; and combat does not read exhaustion at all (464.2.c.3 designates by presence, 465.2.b sums Might, neither filters by state, #61). A permanently exhausted 6-Might body that moves by ability is a fully functional attacker.
• AND HE ARRIVES AS THE ATTACKER, REPEATEDLY. The ability is an effect move, so 190.3.a.1 applies Contested and 464.2.c.1 makes you the Attacker; 810.1.c.3 confirms [Ganking] was never needed, since it only widens the Standard Move. There is no once-per-turn clause on the ability, so he moves as often as you can pay — 381 confines that to your own Main Phase in an Open State.
• THE GATE IS A TOTAL, WHICH IS WHY A -2 IS WORTH MORE THAN A +2. 'if my Might is greater than the total Might of enemy units there' — a garrison of three 3-Might bodies is 9 and shuts a 6-Might Maduli out. The List takes one of them to 1, which is -2 off the total; 477.3.e.2.a applies increases first and decreases LAST, so the reduction always wins the race against a pump, and 143.2.b keeps a floorless reduction honest ('If a unit's Might is ever less than 0, it is treated as 0 when referenced by spells and abilities' — it reads as 0 but is not 0).
• WINNING THE GATE IS WINNING THE COMBAT. The same inequality that lets him in — his Might above their summed Might — is what 465.2.b and 465.2.c read at the damage step, so a legal move is by construction a combat he wins outright unless they reinforce in response.
• THE LIST'S TAG IS NAMED ONCE AND FOR THE GAME. 'As you play this, name a tag' is chosen during the play steps, so a copy that named Poro is dead against a Mech board. Three copies (103.2.b) is three tags; the -2 is once per turn per copy (the exhaust, readied by 415.3.a), and it lasts only 'this turn', which is fine because Maduli's gate is checked as the ability resolves.
• 381 also means neither half reaches the opponent's turn: The List carries no [Action] or [Reaction], and neither does Maduli's move. This is a Main Phase engine, and the opponent gets a full turn to rebuild the garrison in front of him.

Steps

1. Play The List (1 Energy), naming a tag the opponent's deck is built on.
2. Play Maduli the Gatekeeper (7 Energy + 1 Chaos Power). He enters exhausted (143.4) and can never be readied — which costs him nothing.
3. In your Main Phase, exhaust The List: give an enemy unit with the named tag -2 Might this turn (477.3.e.2.a applies the decrease last).
4. Check the gate: Maduli's 6 against the enemy garrison's new summed Might.
5. Pay 1 Chaos Power and move him to that battlefield. 190.3.a.1 applies Contested; 464.2.c.1 makes you the Attacker.
6. The combat resolves on the same inequality the gate tested (465.2.b, 465.2.c), so he wins it unless they reinforce.

Per iteration

-1 Chaos Power, one enemy garrison entered by a 6-Might attacker whose Might exceeds their total

How it ends

engine — one gated attack per Chaos Power, every Main Phase, with The List shaving 2 off the garrison once a turn; nothing here scores by itself

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, issue #173 — the uncatalogued Fury / Body / Chaos cards 2026-09-07 record

Walked against Core Rules 2026-07-16

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