Combo · ENGINE

Two cards that each switch the other on — 'exactly one other unit you control here' is a condition a garrison of exactly two satisfies twice

2 cards · order · verified

Pieces

• Sacred Protector ×1 VEN-129 · payoff · order

  I don't deal combat damage unless I'm at a battlefield with exactly one other unit you control.

• Disciple of Shen ×1 VEN-117 · enabler · order

  [Hidden] (Hide now for 1 Power of any domain to react with later for 0 Energy.) I have [Shield 3] while I'm at a battlefield with exactly one other unit you control. (+3 Might while I'm a defender.)

Payoff

Deck

• Any Order legend: both cards are mono-Order (103.1.b.1) and neither is a Signature card, so 103.2.d.2 forces nothing.
• Neither card is banned or restricted in either format.
• The garrison has to be EXACTLY two. A third friendly body at that battlefield switches both cards off at once — this is a line that punishes reinforcement.

Prerequisites

• THE CONDITION IS SYMMETRIC, AND THAT IS THE WHOLE ENTRY. 'Exactly one other unit you control here' is true for the Protector when only the Disciple stands beside him, and true for the Disciple when only the Protector does. Each IS the other's one other unit, so two cards buy two switches. Every other companion in the pool satisfies the Protector's clause and gets nothing back.
• WHAT THE PAIR IS WORTH ON DEFENCE, WITH THE RULES BEHIND EACH NUMBER. 814.1.c makes Shield 'functionally short for "While I am a defender, I have +X [M]"', so the Disciple defends at 1 + 3 = 4 and the Protector at 6; 465.2.b sums the Defending units' Might, so the garrison assigns 10. Against them, 465.2.c.3 forces the attacker to put lethal damage on one body before moving to the next and 465.2.c.4 forbids more than the minimum, so clearing this pair costs 4 + 6 = 10 attacking Might — for 6 Energy and 1 Order Power, one of which is a 1-Might body.
• AND WHAT IT IS WORTH ON OFFENCE, WHICH IS WHERE THE PROTECTOR'S CLAUSE BITES. 'I don't deal combat damage' is not a Might reduction — 465.2.c still has the ATTACKER assign damage equal to their summed Might, and the Protector's 6 is simply not part of that sum while the clause is live. So attacking with the Protector plus two other bodies is attacking with two bodies; attacking with the Protector plus exactly the Disciple is 6 + 1 = 7. The pair is not a tax on the third body, it is a prohibition on it.
• [Hidden] IS WHY THE DISCIPLE COSTS NOTHING TO PLACE. 811.1.b hides the card face down at a battlefield you control for one rainbow Power and lets you play it later 'ignoring its base cost', so the second body of the pair arrives for 0 Energy at Reaction speed, at the exact moment the Protector needs a companion — including inside the opponent's combat, where 464.2.c.3.a gives it the Defender designation at the next Cleanup, before 465.2 resolves.
• THE SAME CONDITION IS PRINTED ON THREE MORE CARDS, AND ONLY ONE OF THEM SCORES (a fourth card prints a related but DIFFERENT one - see the end of this note). VEN-138 Shen, Leader of the Kinkou Order ('When I hold, if there is exactly one other unit you control here, you score 1 point'), VEN-042 Shen, Scourge of Shadows (draw 1, Calm), and VEN-027 Hand Hammer (Calm Equipment, +2 Might under the same clause). The Disciple is the correct SECOND BODY for every one of them for the same reason it is correct here — it is the only one that pays itself — and shen-duo-mutual-hold already walks the two Shens as the scoring version. NOT A FOURTH INSTANCE OF THE CLAUSE: VEN-119 Keeper of Law prints a discount "if you control a battlefield with exactly two units there" - a count of TOTAL units present, which says nothing about who controls the second one, against "exactly one other unit you control". grep -in "exactly one other unit" returns five rows (VEN-027, VEN-042, VEN-117, VEN-129, VEN-138) and the Keeper is not among them; corrected by the #181 cross-audit, 2026-09-07.
• THREE BODIES BREAK IT, AND SO DOES A TOKEN. 185.2.d ('Tokens have a type. They follow all rules for their type') makes a token unit count towards 'exactly one other unit', so a Recruit or a Sprite wandering onto the battlefield switches both cards off. Do not run this beside a token faucet.
• ONE ENERGY AT REACTION SPEED ANSWERS THE BODY THIS ENGINE STANDS ON (Disciple of Shen (M1 x1)). OGN-133 Flurry of Blades is Body, 1 Energy: "[Reaction] (Play any time, even before spells and abilities resolve.) Deal 1 to all units at battlefields." 143.2.a kills a unit whose marked damage equals or exceeds its Might and 142.4.b defines Lethal Damage as "a non-zero amount greater than or equal to that Unit's Might", so one damage is lethal to every body of Might 1 or less. RUNNING MORE COPIES IS NOT A DEFENCE: 370.1.a.2 makes events simultaneous when they "are all the result of the same Game Action", so the sweep kills every copy at once. And because it carries [Reaction], 813.1.c.1 lets it be played "during Closed States on any player's turn" - it never has to be cast a turn early the way the base-reaching removals do, and it can land in response to the very trigger this engine exists to fire. WHAT PROTECTS IT: this entry's cards are order, so the second domain is still free and CHOOSING IT DECIDES WHICH PROTECTION YOU GET - 103.1.b allows exactly one partner, so these are alternatives and not a list you can run together. only if the second domain is FURY: VEN-018 Rage Amplifier (gear, 'Your units have +1 Might' - the only UNCONDITIONAL board-wide one, +2 while Empowered) | already in this identity: OGN-243 Darius, Executioner ('Other friendly units have +1 Might HERE' - his battlefield only, and never himself); OGS-013 Garen, Commander (same clause as Darius, same limits) | only if the second domain is MIND: UNL-077 Soul Shepherd ('Your TOKEN units have +1 Might' - tokens only, nothing for a printed body); SFD-089 Rumble, Scrapper ('Your MECHS have +1 Might' - Mech tag only) | colourless, so legal whatever the second domain is: OGN-294 Trifarian War Camp (colourless battlefield, 'Units here have +1 Might') - but 485.5 makes a battlefield you bring a 1-in-3, and 103.4.c forbids two of the same name. A single-target pump is no use against a sweep that hits every body at once, which is why only permanent, board-wide sources are listed.

Steps

1. Hide Disciple of Shen face down at a battlefield you control for one rainbow Power (811.1.b).
2. Play Sacred Protector (4 Energy + 1 Order Power) to that battlefield.
3. Play the Disciple from face down for 0 Energy — at Reaction speed, so it can be done inside the opponent's attack.
4. The garrison is now exactly two. The Protector's clause is satisfied, so his 6 Might joins the combat sums (465.2.b, 465.2.c); the Disciple's clause is satisfied, so it has [Shield 3] and defends at 4.
5. Hold the pair at exactly two bodies. Reinforcing the battlefield with a third unit — or letting a token arrive there — switches both clauses off at once.

Per iteration

a 6 Might attacker that was dealing no damage, and a 4 Might defender that costs 2 Energy, for a garrison of exactly two

How it ends

engine only — a standing garrison, not a clock; nothing here scores, and the whole thing switches off the moment a third friendly body reaches the battlefield

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

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