Combo · ENGINE

[Ambush] is how a Mighty unit gets played on the opponent's turn — Relentless Storm channels on both halves of the round trip

3 cards · fury + body · verified

Pieces

• Relentless Storm ×1 OGN-249 · legend · fury/body

  When you play a [Mighty] unit, you may exhaust me to channel 1 rune exhausted. (A unit is Mighty while it has 5+ Might.)

• Rengar, Trophy Hunter ×1 UNL-120 · engine · body

  [Ambush] (You may play me as a [Reaction] to a battlefield where you have units.) I can [Ambush] to a battlefield where there are enemy units (even if you don't have units there).

• Lord Broadmane ×1 UNL-012 · engine · fury

  [Ambush] (You may play me as a [Reaction] to a battlefield where you have units.) When you play me, give your other units here [Assault] this turn. (+1 Might while they're attackers.)

Payoff

Deck

• The legend IS OGN-249 Relentless Storm (Fury/Body), so Lord Broadmane (mono-Fury) and Rengar, Trophy Hunter (mono-Body) are both in identity by 103.1.b.3. Neither is a Signature card.
• None of the three is banned or restricted in either format.
• Lord Broadmane's [Ambush] needs a battlefield where you already control units; Rengar's own text lifts that requirement and lets him [Ambush] to a battlefield with enemy units instead, which is what makes him the reliable off-turn play.

Prerequisites

• 822.1.b IS THE WHOLE MECHANISM. '[Ambush] … is functionally short for "I may be played to a battlefield where you control Units" and "I have [Reaction] as long as I'm being played to a battlefield where you control Units."' So an [Ambush] body played to such a battlefield is a REACTION — playable on the opponent's turn (813.1.c.1) — and if it is printed at Might 5 or more it is a [Mighty] unit the moment it is played.
• AND THAT DOUBLES THE STORM. The Storm's cost is its own exhaust, and 415.3.a readies it only 'during the Awakening Phase on their turn'. So a Mighty unit played on the OPPONENT's turn spends an exhaust that is refunded before your own turn, and a Mighty unit played on your turn channels a second rune. Two runes per round trip. Every catalogued Relentless Storm line (relentless-storm-grimwyrm-mighty-ramp, sky-splitter-volibear-free-removal) plays its Mighty body on the owner's own turn and takes one.
• NO CROSSING IS INVOLVED, SO 709 NEVER COMES UP. The Storm reads 'When you play a [Mighty] unit', not 'becomes Mighty' — the Grand Duelist's clause. A body printed at 5 or more satisfies it on every play, needs no pump, and is unaffected by 702.3, by buffs and by the 'already Mighty' example at 709. That is the exact difference between rows 45 and 46 of the matrix, and it is why the two legends want opposite decks.
• ONE PER PLAYER TURN, WHATEVER YOU PLAY. The exhaust caps it: playing three Mighty units in one turn still channels one rune. So a second Mighty body in the same turn is worth nothing to the Storm, and the honest way to raise the rate is to move a play to the other player's turn — which is exactly what [Ambush] sells.
• ARITHMETIC WITH THE QUANTITIES DECLARED. Opponent's turn: Rengar, Trophy Hunter for 5 Energy + 1 Body Power as a Reaction to a battlefield with enemy units — a Might 6 body arriving mid-combat, and one channelled rune. Your Awaken readies the Storm. Your turn: Lord Broadmane for 5 Energy + 1 Fury Power, a Might 5 body plus [Assault] for your other units there, and a second channelled rune. Two runes for two bodies you were going to play anyway.
• THE BODIES ENTER EXHAUSTED AND MID-COMBAT. 143.4 ('Units enter the Board exhausted') — combat does not read exhaustion (464.2.c.3 and 465.2.b do not filter by state), so an ambushed body fights at full Might; but 464.2.c.3.a gives it the Attacker or Defender designation only 'during the Cleanup phase following the action that caused it to become present', so it joins the damage step of the combat it landed in, and cannot move that turn.
• THE RUNE ARRIVES EXHAUSTED. The card says 'channel 1 rune exhausted', overriding 430.2.a's default; 164.2.b has no exhaust, so it still pays Power at once, and it taps for Energy after your next Awaken. 430.3 is the ceiling.

Steps

1. Run OGN-249 Relentless Storm as your legend.
2. On the opponent's turn, [Ambush] Rengar, Trophy Hunter (5 Energy + 1 Body Power) to a battlefield with enemy units — 822.1.b gives him [Reaction] and his own text lifts the friendly-garrison requirement.
3. He is a Might 6 body, so he is [Mighty] as he is played; the Storm's trigger fires. Exhaust the Storm and channel 1 rune exhausted.
4. At your Awakening Phase the Storm readies (315.1.b, 415.3.a).
5. On your own turn, play Lord Broadmane (5 Energy + 1 Fury Power) — Might 5, so [Mighty] on the play — and channel a second rune.
6. Repeat every round trip you have a Mighty body to deploy; the cap is one channel per player turn, never per body.

Per iteration

two runes channelled per round trip instead of one, on bodies you were deploying anyway

How it ends

engine only — one channel per player turn by the Storm's own exhaust, and 430.3 empties the Rune Deck in the end; 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 2026-09-07 record

Walked against Core Rules 2026-07-16

Match a deck list against the whole catalogue