Combo · ENGINE
Poppy converts 3 XP into 3 Energy, Enthralling Protector's [Hunt] mints it every Score — and 824.1.d is the bill nobody counts
Pieces
- Poppy, Defender of the Meek ×3
UNL-178 · payoff · order
You may spend 3 XP as an additional cost to play me. If you do, I cost 3 Energy less. [Ambush] (You may play me as a [Reaction] to a battlefield where you have units.) [Tank] (I must be assigned combat damage first.)
- Enthralling Protector ×3
UNL-162 · engine · order
[Hunt] (When I conquer or hold, gain 1 XP.) Spend 2 XP: [Buff] me. (Give me a +1 Might buff if I don't have one.)
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
Prerequisites
- THE RATE, AND THE FACT THAT IT IS A RATE AT ALL. An XP faucet is never an engine on its own — the project has measured the sinks as a bounded step function and none of them scores — so what makes this worth an entry is that Poppy publishes an exchange: three Scores' worth of [Hunt] becomes three Energy, once, per Poppy. Three copies is nine XP and nine Energy across a game.
- 824.1.d IS THE BILL NOBODY COUNTS, AND IT IS AN ANTI-SYNERGY WORTH STATING IN THE LIST. 'The Dependent Ability will be Inactive as soon as the controlling player has less than [N] XP.' So paying Poppy's 3 XP switches OFF every [Level N] clause you were sitting above — UNL-151 Bandle Soldier's [Level 3] ('I enter ready') is exactly on the line, and a deck that runs both is turning its own bodies off to discount another. The two should not share a list.
- SHE ARRIVES AT REACTION SPEED AND AS A [TANK], WHICH IS WHAT THE THREE ENERGY IS ACTUALLY FOR. 822.1.b's [Ambush] is 'a battlefield where you have units', and 319.6 + 323.2.a give a body entering mid-combat the Defender designation before 465.2 resolves — so a discounted Poppy is a 5-Might Tank flashed into an attack for E3 + 1 Order Power, and 815.1.c.2 then makes every other body you control there an invalid damage assignment until she has taken five.
- THE FAUCET AND THE SINK COMPETE FOR THE SAME COUNTER. Enthralling Protector's own 'Spend 2 XP: [Buff] me' is the other sink on the same card; 702.3 caps that at one buff, so after the first use the XP is better spent on Poppy.
- [HUNT] IS PRINTED THREE WAYS — [Hunt], [Hunt 2], [Hunt 3] — so a sweep of the family has to open with the bare bracket-prefix. Enthralling Protector carries the plain one, which is 1 XP per Score.
- IT DOES NOT SCORE. The XP buys Energy and a body; the points still come from a Hold or a Conquer, and 470 caps those at one per battlefield per turn.
Steps
- Play Enthralling Protector (E2) and garrison a battlefield with it. 823.1.b makes its [Hunt] fire on a Hold as well as a Conquer, so it mints 1 XP at each of your Beginning Phases (315.2.b.2) while you hold there.
- Bank three XP. Do not spend them on the Protector's own 'Spend 2 XP: [Buff] me' unless the buff is needed — 702.3 caps that at one anyway.
- When an opponent attacks a battlefield where you have units, play Poppy as a [Reaction] under 822.1.b's [Ambush], choosing to pay the additional 3 XP at step 2 of playing (356.2.b.1).
- 730.2 reduces your marked XP by three and she costs E3 + 1 Order Power instead of E6 + 1.
- 319.6's Cleanup and 323.2.a give her the Defender designation before 465.2 resolves; 815.1.c.2 then makes every other unit you control there an invalid damage assignment until she has taken five (143.2.a).
- Check 824.1.d before spending: if the deck runs any [Level N] clause, dropping below N switches it off for as long as you stay there.
Per iteration
3 Energy off a 5-Might [Tank] played at Reaction speed, for three Scores' worth of [Hunt]
How it ends
engine only — 1 XP per Score from the faucet and three Poppies to spend it on (103.2.b); nothing here scores and the XP has no other use that pays
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
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 #180 — the first entry to use UNL-178. Card text verbatim from data/corpus_flat.txt. The entry is written against this project's standing verdict that an XP faucet is never an engine on its own: what is catalogued here is the published RATE and the anti-synergy, not a claim that XP is a resource engine. Trap check: 824.1.d is cited as a cost of the line and the specific card it turns off (UNL-151 Bandle Soldier, [Level 3]) is named so the two are never listed together; 822.1.b, 319.6 and 323.2.a are cited so the Reaction-speed arrival is a rule; 702.3 is cited so the Protector's own sink is priced once; the three printed forms of [Hunt] are named so a future sweep does not miss two thirds of the family.
Walked against Core Rules 2026-07-16