Combo · ENGINE

822.1.d - Rengar is Riot's own example of [Ambush] as a VERB, and it widens the destination without widening the speed

2 cards · body + order · verified

Pieces

• 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).

• Poppy, Defender of the Meek ×1 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.)

Payoff

Deck

• Rengar is mono-Body and Poppy mono-Order, so 103.1.b.1 needs a Body/Order legend and the census gives 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).
• Neither card is Signature (checked against data/cards.json), so 103.2.d.2 narrows nothing, and neither appears in data/legality.json in any format.

Prerequisites

• 822.1.d WAS CITED BY NOTHING AND ITS WORKED EXAMPLE IS THIS CARD BY NAME: 'Ambush can also appear as a verb on a card. In such a case, the verb is taken to mean "play with the permissions of the Ambush keyword."' Riot then writes it out - 'Rengar, Trophy Hunter reads in part "I can [Ambush] to a battlefield where there are enemy units, even if you don't have units there." This ability expands the normal permissions of the Ambush keyword to include battlefields where there are enemy units.'
• THE VERB WIDENS THE DESTINATION AND NOT THE SPEED, AND THAT IS THE READING THE CATALOGUE WAS MISSING. 822.1.b is TWO clauses joined by 'and': '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.' Rengar's own text lifts the first at a battlefield where you control nothing; the SECOND carries its own condition, which is unmet there. So his signature play is a Main Phase play, not a Reaction. UNL-166 Stalking Wolf loses the Reaction half for exactly the same reason, which this project had explained from card text alone.
• THE COUNTED SET, WITH ITS MEMBERS. Measured 2026-09-07 over data/corpus_flat.txt: fourteen cards print [Ambush] and exactly TWO use it as a verb - UNL-120 Rengar, Trophy Hunter and UNL-166 Stalking Wolf. 822.1.d's SECOND worked example, a card reading 'Opponents can only [Ambush] at any time they could play cards with [Action]', has no counterpart in the pool, so the restricting half of the rule is dead letter today. 822.2 adds that 'Multiple instances of Ambush are redundant.'
• HE ATTACKS WITHOUT MOVING, WHICH IS WHAT THE WIDENED DESTINATION BUYS. 190.3.a.1 applies Contested status to units 'moving to or being played to' a battlefield, and 464.2.c.1 makes the Attacker 'the player whose unit(s) applied the Contested status', so Rengar is the Attacker with no Standard Move: 144.2's exhaust is the Move's price alone and never comes up, and 143.4's entering exhausted costs nothing, since neither 464.2.c.3 nor 465.2.b filters by state. 323.9 then stages the Combat at the next Cleanup and 323.13 opens it. He is the pool's third card that attacks without moving, beside SFD-093 Dauntless Vanguard and OGN-161 Deadbloom Predator - and the only one that reaches a battlefield where you control nothing.
• WHAT POPPY ADDS, AND WHY SHE CAN ONLY COME SECOND. Once Rengar is standing there, 822.1.b's ordinary condition is satisfied - you control units at that battlefield - so every [Ambush] body in the deck can now arrive at [Reaction] speed inside the combat he opened (813.1.c.1), and 464.2.c.3.a hands it the Attacker designation at the following Cleanup. Poppy is the one to send: 815.1.b is short for 'I must be assigned lethal damage before any other unit with the same controller as me that does not have [Tank] during the Combat Damage step', and 815.1.c.2 makes Rengar an INVALID assignment until she has lethal. Her Might 5 is the toll and his Might 6 is what survives to hold the ground.
• WHAT IT COSTS AND WHAT DOES NOT IMPROVE IT. Rengar is 5 Energy + 1 Power, Poppy 6 Energy + 1 Power or 3 Energy + 1 Power if you spend 3 XP - and 730.2 makes that a real reduction of your XP, so any [Level N] rung you were standing on goes Inactive (824.1.d). 815.2: 'Multiple instances of Tank are redundant', so a second Tank grant on Poppy buys nothing, and 815.1.c.2 means a SECOND Tank body would only widen the set the defender may choose from.
• THE POINT IS NOT AUTOMATIC. 466.5 establishes Control only for a player who did not already control the battlefield, and 466.3.a needs you to be the only player with units remaining after the damage step; 465.2.c assigns each side its summed Might. Eleven attacking Might against their garrison is what has to be enough - the line manufactures the attack, not the win.

Steps

1. In your Main Phase, play Rengar, Trophy Hunter (5 Energy + 1 Body Power) directly to a battlefield the opponent occupies and you do not control. 822.1.d makes the verb 'play with the permissions of the Ambush keyword', and his own sentence widens those permissions to that battlefield.
2. Note the speed: 822.1.b's Reaction clause is conditioned on 'a battlefield where you control Units', which is false there, so this play is Main Phase only.
3. 190.3.a.1 applies Contested status because he was PLAYED to the battlefield; 464.2.c.1 makes you the Attacker with no move, so no exhaust is paid and 143.4 costs nothing.
4. 323.9 stages the Combat at the next Cleanup and 323.13 opens it.
5. Inside the Showdown, play Poppy with ordinary [Ambush] at [Reaction] speed (813.1.c.1) - legal now, because Rengar is a unit you control there. 464.2.c.3.a gives her the Attacker designation at the following Cleanup, so she is in this damage step.
6. 465.2.c assigns the defender's summed Might; 815.1.c.2 forbids assigning any of it to Rengar until Poppy has taken lethal five.

Per iteration

one combat manufactured at a battlefield you do not control, for two cards and no Standard Move

How it ends

engine - an attack opened at a battlefield where you had no presence, with a Tank absorbing the first five damage; the Conquer follows only if the garrison dies (466.3.a, 466.5), and nothing here scores by itself

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

Walked against Core Rules 2026-07-16

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