Combo · ENGINE
Shuriken Flip's second clause is Akali's own trigger — an effect move pays no exhaust and needs no [Ganking]
Pieces
- Shuriken Flip ×1
VEN-140 · engine · fury/calm
Deal 2 to up to one enemy unit at a battlefield, then move a friendly unit. [Flow] 3 Energy + 1 Power of any domain (You may play this from your trash for its Flow cost. Then banish it.)
- Akali, Deadly Weapon ×1
VEN-021 · payoff · fury
[Empower] 2 Energy + 1 Fury Power (2 Energy + 1 Fury Power: Empower me. Use only if not Empowered.) When I move, you may deal 1 to a unit at a battlefield I moved to or from. If I'm [Empowered], deal 2 instead. [Empowered][>] I have +1 Might.
Payoff
Deck
- ONE LEGEND: Shuriken Flip is a Signature card tagged Akali, and 103.2.d.2 forces the pool's one Akali legend — Rogue Assassin (VEN-139), Fury/Calm, itself one of the three domain pairs printed under a single legend name. Akali, Deadly Weapon is mono-Fury and sits inside that identity by 103.1.b.1.
- 103.2.d.1 caps the deck at three Signature cards, and three Shuriken Flips spend all of it.
- Akali already on the board; the Flip is the mover, not the deployer.
Prerequisites
- THE SPELL'S SECOND CLAUSE EXISTS TO FIRE THE UNIT'S TRIGGER. 449: 'Spells, Abilities, or other effects may cause a Move to occur', and 420.2.b makes the Standard Move merely one thing that 'may ALSO cause Movement' — so the Flip's 'then move a friendly unit' is a Move for every purpose, including Akali's 'When I move'. One card is therefore 2 damage from the spell plus 1 more from her, or 2 more while she is [Empowered]: FOUR damage for 1 Energy + 1 Power.
- AN EFFECT MOVE COSTS NO EXHAUST AND IGNORES THE STANDARD MOVE'S GEOGRAPHY. 420.3.a puts the exhaust cost on the Standard Move alone (144.2), and 144.4's base-to-battlefield restriction is written for the Standard Move as well — so the Flip moves an already-exhausted Akali, and moves her battlefield to battlefield with no [Ganking]. This is the cheapest instance in the pool of the project's standing 'a move BY EFFECT is a different thing from the Standard Move' fact.
- THE PING READS EITHER END OF THE MOVE. Her clause is 'a unit at a battlefield I moved to or from', so the 2 from the spell and the 1-or-2 from her can land at two DIFFERENT battlefields — this is a split removal spell, not a single 4-point shot, unless you aim both at one body.
- THE EMPOWER IS BOUGHT ONCE AND KEPT. 441.1.b ('An Empowered Game Object can not be Empowered') and 441.2 make Empowered a permanent board state, so E2 + 1 Fury Power doubles her ping for the rest of the game and adds +1 Might on top. It is not a per-use cost.
- [FLOW] IS SIX PLAYS A GAME, NOT AN ENGINE. 829.1.b: 'You may play this from your trash for its flow cost. Then banish it.' Three copies (103.2.b) plus one Flow replay each is six, and 108.6.c means nothing brings a banished copy back. Priced honestly, the Flow replay is 3 Energy + 1 rainbow for the same four damage.
- HER PING SAYS 'A UNIT', NOT 'AN ENEMY UNIT'. It can be pointed at one of your own — which matters only as a warning that it is not automatic, and as the one way to trip a friendly damage-triggered effect on purpose.
Steps
- Play Akali, Deadly Weapon (3 Energy) and walk her to a battlefield.
- On a later turn, pay her [Empower] (2 Energy + 1 Fury Power). 441.2 makes the state permanent, so her ping is 2 from here on and she is Might 4.
- Play Shuriken Flip (1 Energy + 1 Fury or Calm Power): deal 2 to an enemy unit at a battlefield.
- Its second clause moves Akali — 449, no exhaust (420.3.a), any battlefield including one she could not reach with a Standard Move.
- Her trigger fires on that Move: 2 more to a unit at either the battlefield she left or the one she reached.
- Later, replay the Flip from the trash for its [Flow] cost (3 Energy + 1 rainbow); 829.1.b banishes it afterwards.
Per iteration
4 damage and one free effect move for 1 Energy + 1 Power, once Akali is Empowered
How it ends
engine — 4 damage split across up to two battlefields per Shuriken Flip, six Flips a game (three copies plus one [Flow] replay each), plus free repositioning of an exhausted body every time; 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, issue #173 — the uncatalogued Fury / Chaos cards and the orphan Signature spells 2026-09-07 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.
VEN-140 Shuriken Flip and VEN-021 Akali, Deadly Weapon were both in ZERO entries. Card text verbatim from data/corpus_flat.txt; 103.1.b.1, 103.2.b, 103.2.d.1, 103.2.d.2, 108.6.c, 144.2, 144.4, 420.2.b, 420.3.a, 441.1.b, 441.2, 449, 449.1, 829.1.b opened in the Core Rules file. The forced legend was computed from cards.json (championTagOf(VEN-140) = Akali; the pool prints exactly one Akali legend, VEN-139 Rogue Assassin), not typed. No unruled reading.
Walked against Core Rules 2026-07-16