Combo · ENGINE
Shen, Leader of the Kinkou Order × Blue Sentinel — the one Sentinel line a second Sentinel breaks
Pieces
- Shen, Leader of the Kinkou Order ×1
VEN-138 · payoff · order
[Shield] (+1 Might while I'm a defender.) When I hold, if there is exactly one other unit you control here, you score 1 point.
- Blue Sentinel ×1
UNL-087 · engine · mind
[Shield 2] (+2 Might while I'm a defender.) Your hold effects for holding here trigger an additional time. When I hold, [Add] 1 Power of any domain at the start of your next Main Phase. (Abilities that add resources can't be reacted to.)
Payoff
Deck
- Legend domains must cover Mind and Order — OGN-265 Herald of the Arcane, OGS-021 Lady of Luminosity, SFD-201 Chem-Baroness, UNL-199 Deceiver.
Prerequisites
- THE SECOND SENTINEL IS A DOWNGRADE, AND THIS IS THE ONLY LINE IN THE CATALOGUE WHERE THAT IS TRUE. Shen's 'if there is exactly one other unit you control here' sits immediately after the trigger condition, so 383.2.a.1 makes it part of the Trigger Condition — 'Any additional conditional statement immediately after the Condition must be true in order for the Condition to be fulfilled.' With two Sentinels there are three of your units at the battlefield, Shen sees two others, and the trigger never reaches the Chain at all: the line goes from 3 points a turn to 1. Every other Blue Sentinel entry (ahri-blue-sentinel-hold, ivern-sentinel-hold, blue-sentinel-trinity-force-hold, nasus-ascended-sentinel-arena-hold) scales with K; this one is pinned at K = 1 and at exactly two bodies on the battlefield.
- Three points a turn from a single battlefield: 1 from the Score itself (469.2 → 471.1, capped at one per battlefield per turn by 470) plus 2 from Shen, whose hold effect fires 1 + K = 2 times under R1 = A with stacking. R2 = A keeps the two ability points outside 470 — card-text 'score 1 point' is a Gain under 194.1.c, not a 469 Score.
- The Sentinel pays a third of its own cost every turn. Its own 'When I hold, [Add] rainbow at the start of your next Main Phase' is one of your hold effects too, so it fires twice: 2 rainbow Power. That Power survives 167, and the reason is the Main Phase's own task order — 316.3 empties every Rune Pool FIRST and 316.4 is where 'at the start of Main Phase game effects take place'. The catalogue has been treating that Power as real since world-atlas-sentinel-gold without ever citing why; 316.2 / 316.3 / 316.4 is why.
- Both bodies defend: Shen is 7 Might with [Shield] (8 defending) and the Sentinel 4 with [Shield 2] (6). Losing either ends the line — the Sentinel takes the multiplier away, and killing the Sentinel also breaks Shen's 'exactly one other unit' the other way, leaving Shen alone and silent.
- In a Duel 315.2.b.2 Holds every battlefield you control, and 485.4 puts two on the table, so a second Shen + Sentinel pair on the other battlefield doubles the rate to 6 points a turn. That is 24 Energy and 6 Power of investment, and it still reaches 8 across two Beginning Phases rather than one — the class stays ENGINE, never BURST.
- Do not try to add a third body for value: any friendly unit that walks to that battlefield switches Shen off. Nothing may be played there either, since 355.2.a makes a battlefield you control a default play location and the token or unit would land in the count.
- WHICH "other units" the condition counts: 185.1 + 185.2.b ("Token units have a Might") make a Recruit or a Sprite one of the other units you control here, so the line cannot share a battlefield with any token producer. Attached gear is SAFE: 818.1 makes Equip an Activated Ability and an attached card is not a unit, so Shen or the Sentinel may wear Equipment freely (#159, 2026-09-06).
- Time Warp (OGN-122, Mind, legal in Mind/Order) was walked and does NOT close this to 8: one Additional Turn is 3 + 3 = 6. It reaches 8 only at 4 + 4, i.e. holding the SECOND Duel battlefield through both Beginning Phases (485.4, 315.2.b.2) (#159, 2026-09-06).
Steps
- Get Shen, Leader of the Kinkou Order (6 Energy + 2 Order Power) and exactly one Blue Sentinel (4 Energy + 1 Mind Power) onto the same battlefield and establish Control of it.
- Keep the garrison at exactly those two units. Survive to your Beginning Phase.
- Scoring Step (315.2.b.2): you Hold. That is 1 point (471.1), capped by 470 at one per battlefield.
- Shen's hold effect fires 1 + K = 2 times (R1 = A). Its condition was checked at the Hold and found exactly one other friendly unit here — the Sentinel — so both instances resolve: 2 more points, outside 470 by R2 = A. Three points this turn.
- The Sentinel's own hold effect also fires twice: 2 rainbow Power arrives at 316.4, after 316.3 has emptied the pool.
- Repeat every turn the garrison survives.
Per iteration
+3 points and +2 rainbow Power per turn, per battlefield held
How it ends
engine — 3 points a turn from one battlefield; it reaches the Victory Score across turns, never in one event
Sources
Walked here, in this project
- Walk of the unwalked partners of the 66 proven synergy rules, rule blue-sentinel-hold 2026-09-06 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.
AUTHORED 2026-09-06 from issue #160. VEN-138 is an uncatalogued partner of blue-sentinel-hold (45 partners, 9 entries carrying UNL-087). Card text verbatim from data/corpus_flat.txt; 383.2.a.1, 469.2, 470, 471.1, 194.1.c, 167, 316.2-316.4 and 315.2.b.2 opened in the Core Rules file. It stands on R1 = A with stacking and R2 = A, both ruled 2026-09-03; no new reading. The formula was checked against its own declared quantities before authoring — 1 + 1 x (1 + 1) = 3, and the class is ENGINE because that never reaches 8 in one scoring event. Trap check: a Hold needs no Attacker designation (807.1.d / 383.4.e / 461); no [Temporary]; no [Repeat]; no recall; no token; nothing recycled; the Sentinel's [Shield 2] is a Might bonus while defending, not a would-die replacement, so 808.1.d.1 does not bite.
Walked against Core Rules 2026-07-16