Combo · ENGINE

Calm's answer suite is tiered by the opponent's cost, and only the top tier profits from what it stops

6 cards · calm · verified

Pieces

• Mystic Reversal ×3 OGN-080 · payoff · calm

  [Reaction] (Play any time, even before spells and abilities resolve.) Gain control of a spell. You may make new choices for it.

• Defy ×3 OGN-045 · engine · calm

  [Reaction] (Play any time, even before spells and abilities resolve.) Counter a spell that costs no more than 4 Energy and no more than 1 Power of any domain.

Payoff

Deck

• Both cards are mono-Calm, so 103.1.b.3 admits any legend with Calm in its pair.
• Neither card is banned or restricted in either format, and neither is a Signature card.
• Power held open on the opponent's turn: 3 for the Reversal, 1 for Defy. 415.3.a is why the runes have to have been left ready, and 164.2.b is why an already-exhausted one still pays Power.

Prerequisites

• WHY A SUITE AND NOT A CARD. The Calm answers each carry a different condition, and the entry exists to make the tiers explicit: OGN-045 Defy (E1 + 1 Power, only against a spell costing no more than 4 Energy and no more than 1 rainbow), VEN-039 Crumbling Sands (E1 + 1 Power, only if an opponent has already played another spell this turn), SFD-045 Not So Fast (E2 + 1 Power, only against something that chooses a friendly unit or gear), OGN-064 Wind Wall (E3 + 2 Power, unconditional) and OGN-080 Mystic Reversal (E4 + 3 Power, unconditional and it KEEPS the spell). A deck runs the cheap conditional ones and one uncapped one; running only the cheap ones loses to anything expensive, which is exactly the spell you most want to answer.
• 206 IS WHY DEFY'S WINDOW NEVER WIDENS, AND ITS WORKED EXAMPLE IS DEFY. A 'costs N or more / no more than N' check reads the PRINTED cost, so an opponent who discounts a big spell down to 4 Energy is still holding a spell Defy cannot touch, and your own spell tax never widens the window either. That is the same paragraph that splits the whole 'this turn' lens in this project, and Riot chose this card as the example.
• THE REVERSAL IS THEFT, NOT A COUNTER, AND THREE PARAGRAPHS SEPARATE THEM. 191.1 establishes the player who Plays a card as its controller and 191.2 makes them the Spell's Controller, with 191.2.a giving them the targets and 191.2.b the modes - which is what 'You may make new choices for it' is exercising. 056.2 is where it ends up: 'If a card would enter such a zone, it goes to its owner's corresponding zone instead' - the stolen spell resolves and then goes to THEIR trash, so it is a one-turn loan and never card advantage in the deck-building sense.
• AND COUNTERING REFUNDS NOTHING, WHICH IS WHERE THE CHEAP TIER EARNS ITS SLOT. 425.1.c: 'Countering does not refund any costs paid to play a card, activate an ability, or trigger an ability', with 425.1.c.1 'This includes additional costs'; 425.1.b makes a countered card 'not considered to have been played', so its play triggers fail too. Defy at 1 Energy answering a 4-Energy spell is the best rate in the domain and the reason the expensive answer is a one-of rather than the plan.
• BOTH ARE [REACTION] AND THAT IS WHERE THE POWER PROBLEM IS. 813.1.c.1: 'This can be played during Closed States on any player's turn.' But 415.3.a readies your runes only in YOUR Awakening Phase, so a rune exhausted for Energy on your turn is dead for all of theirs - except that 164.2.b's cost is the RECYCLE and not an exhaust, so an already-tapped rune still pays 1 Power of its domain. Three Power for the Reversal on their turn means three runes you did not recycle earlier.
• WHAT IT IS NOT. Nothing here scores; 469 defines Scoring as Conquer or Hold. And neither card stops an ABILITY - both say 'a spell'.

Steps

1. Leave Power open on the opponent's turn. 164.2.b pays it from runes already exhausted for Energy; 415.3.a is why they will not be ready again until your Awakening.
2. Against a spell costing no more than 4 Energy and no more than 1 rainbow, play Defy (1 Energy + 1 Power). 206 reads the PRINTED cost, so a discount does not bring a bigger spell into range.
3. Against anything larger, play Mystic Reversal (4 Energy + 3 Power) instead: 191.2 makes you the Spell's Controller and 191.2.a lets you re-choose its targets.
4. The stolen spell resolves for you and then goes to its OWNER's trash (056.2) - it is a loan, not a card.
5. Either way the opponent keeps nothing: 425.1.c refunds no costs and 425.1.b means a countered card was never played.

Per iteration

one spell answered per card, and the expensive answer turns the opponent's spell into yours for the turn

How it ends

engine only - three of each by 103.2.b, and Defy's window is fixed at the printed cost by 206; 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
• Card text verbatim from data/corpus_flat.txt (built from Riot's gallery content API) 2026-09-07

Walked here, in this project

• Hand walk 2026-09-07 (docs/phase0/walks/2026-09-07-uncatalogued-calm-mind-order.md, batch 4) 2026-09-07 record

Walked against Core Rules 2026-07-16

Match a deck list against the whole catalogue