Combo · ENGINE

Stare Down evacuates the whole garrison and never chooses it — so [Deflect] does not tax the Conquer

4 cards · body · verified

Pieces

• Stare Down ×3 UNL-107 · engine · body

  Choose a friendly unit and a battlefield. Move all enemy units at that battlefield with less Might than the chosen unit to their base. Gain 1 XP.

• Renekton, Brute ×1 VEN-092 · enabler · body

  1 Energy: Give me +1 Might this turn. When my Might becomes 10 or more, empower me. (I become Empowered if I'm not already.) [Empowered][>] I have [Deflect] and [Ganking]. (Opponents must pay 1 Power of any domain to choose me with a spell or ability. I can move from battlefield to battlefield.)

Payoff

Deck

• Both cards are mono-Body, so ANY legend with Body runs the line (103.1.b.1). This is the cheapest domain requirement in the lens and the issue does not state it.
• One ready friendly unit at your base to walk in afterwards. Its Standard Move is the only other cost (144.4.a, 144.2 / 420.3.a).

Prerequisites

• THE YARDSTICK DOES NOT MOVE, WHICH IS WHY THE PACKAGE IS 5 ENERGY AND NOT 8. Issue #97 prices this at 8 Energy because it walks Renekton to 10 to buy [Ganking] so that he is the body that enters. He does not have to be. 'Choose a friendly unit and a battlefield' is two independent choices with no clause tying one to the other, so Renekton can stand at your base, exhausted, and still set the threshold. The body that enters is any ready friendly unit, base to battlefield by 144.4.a with its own exhaust as the whole cost (144.2 / 420.3.a). 810.1.c.3 is why [Ganking] adds nothing here: 'It does not give additional abilities or activations of Movement, only new options for the Standard Move.'
• THE VICTIMS ARE NOT TARGETS, SO [Deflect] NEVER TAXES THIS — the walk's own addition, and the sharpest thing in the lens. 355.10.d: a game object is not a target when 'It is programmatically selected based on its characteristics rather than chosen by the spell or ability's controller', with the worked example "'Kill all units at a battlefield' targets a battlefield, but does not target any units." 'All enemy units at that battlefield with less Might than the chosen unit' is exactly that shape. Deflect keys on choosing (809.1.c 'that TARGET [me/this]', 809.1.d 'that choose the Game Object'), so a garrison of [Deflect] bodies is evacuated for free. renekton-public-execution-gate is the opposite case and pays the tax — that is why they are two entries, not two versions of one.
• THE ORDER IS MANDATORY, NOT PREFERRED, exactly as in charm-evacuate-conquer. Stare Down carries neither [Action] nor [Reaction], so 155 ('A spell can be played during an Open State outside of Showdowns on its controller's turn') confines it to the Main Phase: evacuate first, enter second. Enter first and the very next Cleanup stages the Combat at 323.9 and opens it at 323.13 with no gap, and 155 then bars the spell outright.
• THE CONQUER, RULE BY RULE. Stare Down MOVES the garrison home — 455 defines a Recall as relocation 'without it being a Move', so this is not one and 323.6 reads the departure: 'Players lose control of any controlled Battlefields without their Units occupying them if the turn is in an Open State and there is no Showdown or Combat ongoing there.' The battlefield is now uncontrolled and unoccupied, which is both halves of 170.11.c ('Battlefields can be "open." This means they are unoccupied and uncontrolled'). Your unit walks in (144.4.a) and applies Contested (450, 190.3.a.1). The next Cleanup stages a Showdown (323.8) and NO Combat, because 323.9 requires 'Units present controlled by opposing players'. 323.12 opens it, 348.2.a establishes Control and 348.2.a.1 says outright 'This results in a Conquer'. 471.1 gives the point.
• THE ARITHMETIC WITH THE QUANTITIES DECLARED. Against a garrison of M6 and M5, Renekton needs 7: three activations, 3 Energy. Stare Down is 2 Energy. TOTAL 5 ENERGY AND ZERO POWER, plus a Standard Move you already had, and the whole garrison goes home. Against a garrison whose largest body is M9, 6 Energy of pump takes him to 10 and the Empower comes free (441.2). Gain 1 XP is real and free; nothing in this entry spends XP.
• WHAT REFUTES IT, KEPT IN FULL. (a) 477.3.e.2.a applies decreases last, so an Eclipse on Renekton shrinks the set — and here it shrinks it at EXECUTION, since 355.10.d means the set is computed then and not at finalization. (b) 347.1 lets the opponent play cards in the open Showdown: a body returned there makes the battlefield Contested by two players again. (c) Stare Down moves to their base, it does not banish — the same bodies are back next turn. This buys a point, not a board.

Steps

1. Main Phase, Neutral Open State. Pay 1 Energy per point of Might on Renekton at your base until his Might exceeds the largest body in the enemy garrison. Exhausted is fine.
2. Play Stare Down for 2 Energy, choosing Renekton and the enemy battlefield. The enemy units are selected by criteria, not chosen (355.10.d), so no [Deflect] cost is added.
3. It resolves: every enemy body under Renekton's Might moves to their base, and you gain 1 XP.
4. The Cleanup strips their Control of that battlefield (323.6); it is now open in the sense of 170.11.c.
5. Standard-Move a ready friendly unit from your base into it (144.4.a; the cost is its own exhaust, 144.2 / 420.3.a). 450 and 190.3.a.1 apply Contested.
6. The next Cleanup stages a Showdown (323.8) and no Combat (323.9), and 323.12 opens it. Everyone passes, 348.2.a establishes Control and 348.2.a.1 makes it a Conquer: 1 point by 471.1.

Per iteration

the whole enemy garrison under a threshold you buy at 1 Energy a point sent home, then one Conquer, with no damage dealt or taken and no [Deflect] paid

How it ends

engine only — one point per casting, bounded by three copies (103.2.b) and by 470's one Score per battlefield per turn

Sources

Published elsewhere

• Riftbound Core Rules, Last Updated 2026-07-16 (data/Riftbound-Core-Rules-2026-07-16.txt) 2026-07-16
• Lente de buff y Might — issue #97 (GitHub) 2026-09-06

Walked here, in this project

• Hand walk 2026-09-06 2026-09-06 record

Walked against Core Rules 2026-07-16

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