Combo · ENGINE
727.1.b.3 - a chained Dependent Keyword needs BOTH conditions met, and one Empower payment buys two Empowered states
Pieces
- Noxian Emissary ×3
VEN-128 · engine · order
[Empower] 1 Energy + 1 Order Power (1 Energy + 1 Order Power: Empower me. Use only if not Empowered.) [Empowered][>][>>][Deathknell][>] Play two 1 Might Recruit unit tokens to your base. (When I die while Empowered, get the effect.)
- Matriarch of War ×1
VEN-153 · legend · body/order
When you empower something else, empower me. (I become Empowered if I'm not already.) Disempower me, 1 Power of any domain, Exhaust: Ready a unit.
Payoff
Deck
- VEN-153 Matriarch of War IS the legend, so Domain Identity is fixed at Body/Order (103.1.b) and VEN-128 Noxian Emissary, mono-Order, sits inside it. The Body/Order census is five names - The Boss (OGN-269), Might of Demacia - Starter (OGS-023), Grand Duelist (SFD-205), Keeper of the Hammer (UNL-203), Matriarch of War (VEN-153) - and only the last supplies the trigger this entry runs on, so the other four are legal shells that do not play the line.
- Neither card is Signature (checked against the signature flag in data/cards.json), so 103.2.d.2 narrows nothing. Checked against data/legality.json rather than typed: neither VEN-128 nor VEN-153 appears in it, and the file holds exactly one non-banned row in total - a Calm/Body starter legend restricted in 2v2 - which is outside this shell.
Prerequisites
- 727.1.b.3 IS THE PARAGRAPH THIS WHOLE FAMILY STANDS ON AND IT WAS CITED BY NOTHING: 'If an ability has multiple Dependent Keywords, all of them must have their Condition met in order for the ability to be active.' Riot's worked example is a unit reading '[Level 11][>>][Legion][>] When you conquer, gain 1 point', which needs 11 XP AND another card finalized that turn. The Emissary's ability is [Empowered][>][>>][Deathknell][>], so the two Recruits are paid only if it was Empowered BEFORE it died - and 727.1.b keeps the text on the card in the meantime: 'The Dependent Ability associated with the Dependent Keyword is Inactive on the card with the Dependent Keyword until the Condition is met, when it becomes Active', with 727.1.b.1 adding that it is present 'for the sake of reference or evaluation'.
- THE COUNTED SET, WITH ITS MEMBERS AND WITH THE CORRECTION IT NEEDED. A grep for the chain marker [>>] over data/corpus_flat.txt returns exactly THREE rows (measured 2026-09-07): VEN-078 Baccai Witherclaw and VEN-128 Noxian Emissary, both [Empowered][>][>>][Deathknell][>], and UNL-049 Honeyfruit, '[Level 6][>] [>>][Reaction][>] :rb_exhaust:: [Add] :rb_energy_1::rb_rune_rainbow:'. Only the first two chain two DEPENDENT keywords. 813.1 says 'Reaction is a Permissive keyword.', so Honeyfruit hangs a Permissive keyword off a Dependent one and 727.1.b.3's 'all of them' never engages; 727.1.c.3 is its paragraph instead - 'Activated Abilities that become Active from Dependent Keywords can be activated at their associated timing after that ability has been granted'. An earlier draft of this walk put the family at two cards.
- ONE EMPOWER PAYMENT, TWO EMPOWERED STATES. The Matriarch reads 'When you empower something else, empower me', so paying the Emissary's [Empower] - 1 Energy + 1 Order Power - also Empowers the legend at no extra cost. 441.1.b ('An Empowered Game Object can not be Empowered') is what caps each object at one, and the legend's own payoff opens with 'Disempower me', which clears her state and re-arms her for the next Empower the deck pays for. She is a renewable converter of Empower EVENTS, not a one-shot.
- HER CEILING IS ONE ACTIVATION A TURN, WHATEVER YOU EMPOWER. 'Disempower me, :rb_rune_rainbow:, :rb_exhaust:: Ready a unit.' 415.3.a - 'A player Readies all non-spell Game Objects they Control during the Awakening Phase on their turn' - refunds the exhaust once a turn and no amount of empowering buys a second activation in the same turn. The value of a renewable trigger source is a payoff EVERY TURN, never more payoffs per turn.
- THE DEATH HAS TO BE ARRANGED, AND THE BODIES LAND AT THE BASE. 808.1.c: a Deathknell 'is functionally short for "When I die, [Effect]."' The Recruits are played 'to your base', so 143.4 has them enter exhausted and they cannot Standard Move that turn - the walk-to-the-battlefield bottleneck, not a defect of this line. A deck that wants them mobile the same turn needs an enter-ready effect, and the pool's widest is Fury (OGN-011 Magma Wurm, SFD-004 Bushwhack), which 103.1.b keeps out of a Body/Order list.
- THE PRICE PER COPY, AND THE CEILING. 103.2.b allows three Emissaries and 441.1.b makes each one's Empower a single event, so the line tops out at three payments of 1 Energy + 1 Order Power, three Empowered states handed free to the legend (one at a time, each cleared by a Disempower and so three Readies spread over three different turns), and six Recruit tokens.
Steps
- Play Noxian Emissary for 2 Energy. 143.4 has it enter exhausted; the line needs nothing from its readiness.
- Pay its [Empower] - 1 Energy + 1 Order Power. 441.1 is the act of rendering it Empowered and 441.2 makes that a permanent state of the board.
- That same act triggers the Matriarch's 'When you empower something else, empower me', so the legend becomes Empowered for free.
- Spend the legend's state at your convenience: 'Disempower me, :rb_rune_rainbow:, :rb_exhaust:: Ready a unit.' She is now un-Empowered and will take the next Empower you pay for; 415.3.a hands the exhaust back at your Awakening.
- When the Emissary dies - to a block, to removal, or to a friendly sacrifice outlet - 727.1.b.3 asks for BOTH conditions: Empowered (step 2) and dying (808.1.c). Both met, the ability pays two 1-Might Recruit tokens to your base.
Per iteration
one Empowered state on the legend and one 'Ready a unit' per Empower paid, plus two Recruit tokens at your base per Emissary that dies while Empowered
How it ends
engine - per Emissary: 1 Energy + 1 Order Power buys an Empowered body, a free Empowered state on the legend, one Ready a turn, and two Recruits when the body dies; 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, issue #191 - uncited Core Rules sub-rules 500-899 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.
727.1, 727.1.a, 727.1.b, 727.1.b.1, 727.1.b.2, 727.1.b.3 and 727.1.c.3 were all uncited by data/combos.json and data/synergies.json before this entry. VEN-128 and VEN-153 each appear in one other entry and not together. The counted-set correction (three [>>] rows, not two, and the third belongs to a different paragraph) is recorded in the notable rather than left in the walk document alone. Card text verbatim from data/corpus_flat.txt. No unruled reading.
Walked against Core Rules 2026-07-16