Combo · ENGINE
The only repeatable per-turn movement XP faucet in mono-Body that needs no battlefield (UNL-127 Mister Root is the pool’s other movement faucet, in Chaos, and pays 2) - Nilah is paid for moving, and [Ganking] is what she moves with
Pieces
- Nilah, Joyful Ascetic ×3
UNL-115 · engine · body
[Accelerate] (You may pay 1 Energy + 1 Body Power as an additional cost to have me enter ready.) [Ganking] (I can move from battlefield to battlefield.) When I move, gain 1 XP.
- Targonian Visionary ×3
UNL-098 · payoff · body
[Level 11][>] I have +4 Might. (While you have 11+ XP, get the effect.)
Payoff
Deck
- All cards are mono-Body, so 103.1.b.3 admits any legend with Body in its pair: SFD-203/SFD-250 Battle Mistress, OGN-257/OGN-304 Blind Monk, OGN-267/OGN-309 Bounty Hunter, VEN-141/VEN-190 Butcher of the Sands, VEN-149/VEN-194 Defender of Tomorrow, SFD-205/SFD-251 Grand Duelist, SFD-193/SFD-245 Grandmaster at Arms, UNL-203/UNL-237 Keeper of the Hammer, VEN-153/VEN-196 Matriarch of War, OGS-023 Might of Demacia - Starter, UNL-183/UNL-227 Pridestalker, SFD-183/SFD-241 Purifier, OGN-249/OGN-300 Relentless Storm, OGN-269/OGN-310 The Boss, UNL-201/UNL-236 Voidreaver, OGS-019 Wuju Bladesman - Starter, UNL-191/UNL-231 Wuju Master.
- Neither card is banned or restricted in either format, and neither is a Signature card.
- A deck that never SPENDS XP: 824.1.d switches the [Level 11] off the instant the counter drops below eleven.
Prerequisites
- EVERY OTHER XP FAUCET IN THE POOL IS PAID BY A BATTLEFIELD. [Hunt] is 823.1.c.1 - 'When I Conquer or Hold, my controller gains X XP' - so it needs a battlefield you hold, and UNL-095 Grim Resolve needs a combat won outright under 466.3.a. Nilah is paid for MOVING: her XP arrives in your own Main Phase, on a board where you hold nothing and win nothing, which is exactly the position a [Level] deck is in while it is still climbing.
- AND [GANKING] IS WHAT KEEPS HER MOVING. 144.4 confines the Standard Move to base and battlefield without it; 144.4.c.1: 'Units with Ganking may use their Standard Move to Move from Battlefield to Battlefield.' 810.1.c.3 is the limit and it caps the faucet exactly: 'It does not give additional abilities or activations of Movement, only new options for the Standard Move' - so Nilah is ONE XP a turn, not more, however many destinations exist. 415.3.a readies her each Awakening, which is what makes it every turn.
- [ACCELERATE] STARTS THE CLOCK A TURN EARLY. 805.1.a: 'Accelerate is functionally short for "As you play me, you may pay [1][C] as an additional cost. If [you do], I enter ready"', with 805.1.a.1 letting the Power be her own domain. 143.4 otherwise makes units enter exhausted and 144.2 makes that exhaust the Standard Move's cost - so 1 Energy + 1 Body Power buys the first XP on the turn she is played.
- THE LADDER, PRICED HONESTLY. Three Nilahs are 3 XP a turn, so eleven is four turns of a full board; one Nilah alone is eleven turns and is not a plan. The domain's other faucets shorten it - UNL-095 Grim Resolve 2 per combat won, UNL-092 Demacian Diplomat 1 on play, UNL-094 Gemhand Hunter 1 per Hold - and this entry is the one that keeps paying when none of those conditions is available.
- WHAT ELEVEN XP BUYS HERE, AND WHAT IT COSTS. Targonian Visionary is a 6 Energy 6 Might body that becomes a 10 - the biggest printed body the domain can field for that price - and 824.1.d makes it a STATE, not a purchase: every copy drawn later is a 10 as well, for as long as the counter holds. 730.2 is the whole risk: any spend at all takes it back to 6.
- THE THIRD SHAPE OF XP CLAUSE, AND IT IS NOT ON THIS CARD. wily-newtfish-gemhand-hunter-xp-turn (batch 1) reads 'gained XP this turn' and is indifferent to spending; concentrate-grim-resolve-level-ladder (batch 2) and this entry read thresholds and are not. Nilah's faucet feeds all three, which is why she is the engine slot rather than the payoff.
- WHAT IT IS NOT. Nothing here scores. Nilah's move can take a battlefield, but that is 466.5's Conquer and not either card's text; 469 defines Scoring as Conquer or Hold and neither card touches either.
Steps
- Play Nilah, Joyful Ascetic (3 Energy + 1 Power) and pay [Accelerate]'s 1 Energy + 1 Body Power so she enters ready (805.1.a, overriding 143.4).
- Move her the same turn, paying 144.2's exhaust: 'When I move, gain 1 XP.' The faucet is running on turn one.
- Every turn afterwards, 415.3.a readies her at your Awakening and 144.4.c.1 lets her Standard Move go battlefield to battlefield - one XP per turn per Nilah, and 810.1.c.3 is why it is not more.
- Add the second and third copies (103.2.b) for 3 XP a turn.
- At eleven, every Targonian Visionary you control or later draw is a 10 Might body (824.1.d keeps the Dependent Ability Active while the counter holds).
- Never spend the XP: 730.2 reduces the counter and the rung goes dark immediately.
Per iteration
1 XP per Nilah per turn, paid by her own Standard Move and needing no battlefield and no combat
How it ends
engine only - one XP per Nilah per turn (810.1.c.3 caps it at one move), three of each card by 103.2.b, and the [Level 11] payoff evaporates the moment anything spends the counter; 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-body.md, batch 3) 2026-09-07 record
How this entry was audited
REFUTE = a refutation pass, with its date and verdict · WOUNDED = the pass found a flaw and the entry was rewritten · BUDGETED = the pass checked the recycle-and-draw ledger · lens = the hunt that proposed it.
HAND-WALKED 2026-09-07 (issue #186, batch 3). The first entry to use UNL-115 Nilah, Joyful Ascetic or UNL-098 Targonian Visionary. Card text verbatim from data/corpus_flat.txt. Citations opened and quoted: 103.1.b.3, 103.2.b, 143.4, 144.2, 144.4, 144.4.c.1, 415.3.a, 466.5, 469, 730.2, 805.1.a, 805.1.a.1, 810.1.c.3, 823.1.c.1, 824.1.d. Nilah's corpus row is longer than a truncated read suggests - 'When I move, gain 1 XP' is the third clause after [Accelerate] and [Ganking], and it is what makes her an engine rather than a body; read the whole row. Completes the XP set for this walk: a per-turn-gain payoff (batch 1), two threshold payoffs (batch 2 and here), and the one faucet that needs neither a battlefield nor a won combat. Ban check: neither card is banned or restricted; neither is a Signature card. No unruled reading.
Walked against Core Rules 2026-07-16