Combo · ENGINE

373.2: a Replacement Effect is applied ONCE per sequence, to any number of qualifying events - so stacking Guardian Angel on Soraka is a choice of which half of the board to save

6 cards · order + calm · verified

Pieces

• Soraka, Wanderer ×3 SFD-173 · payoff · order

  I must be assigned combat damage last. If another unit you control here would die, if it has less Might than me, instead heal it, exhaust it, and recall it. (Send it to base. This isn't a move.)

• Guardian Angel ×3 SFD-051 · enabler · calm

  [Equip] 1 Calm Power (1 Calm Power: Attach this to a unit you control.)

  If I would die, kill Guardian Angel instead. Heal me, exhaust me, and recall me.

Payoff

Deck

• Soraka is mono-Order and Guardian Angel is mono-Calm, so the identity is Calm/Order and 103.1.b.2 needs a legend covering both. Measured over data/cards.json those are OGN-261 / OGN-306 Radiant Dawn, SFD-197 / SFD-247 Emperor of the Sands, UNL-195 / UNL-233 Green Father and VEN-147 / VEN-193 Eye of Twilight.
• Neither is a Signature card (checked against data/cards.json), so 103.2.d.2 imposes no legend, and neither is banned or restricted in either format.
• Guardian Angel's Might Bonus is +1, which raises Soraka to 5 and therefore raises her save threshold from 'less than 4' to 'less than 5' (137.3, 477.3.d) - a real upside the ordering question is separate from.

Prerequisites

• THE RULE, AND RIOT WORKS THIS EXACT PAIR. 373.2: 'When applying Replacement Effects to events that occur simultaneously, each Replacement Effect may only be applied in one sequence, to any number of events that are qualified to be replaced.' So Soraka's save is not once per body and not once per game - it is ONCE PER SEQUENCE, covering every qualifying event in that one application. 373 through 375 are cited by no entry and no synergy rule in this project.
• AND STACKING A SECOND REPLACEMENT ON HER TURNS THAT INTO A FORK. Riot's example at 373.2, with Soraka dying beside two Recruits at her battlefield and two at your base while carrying a Guardian Angel: 'If Soraka's Replacement Effect is applied first, it saves the Recruits at the same battlefield as her but not the Recruits in base. If the Replacement Effect appended by Guardian Angel then saves Soraka, she cannot apply her Replacement Effect to the Recruits in base as her Replacement Effect has already been applied to an event simultaneous with it dying. If the Replacement Effect appended by Guardian Angel is applied first, it saves Soraka and recalls her - then when Soraka's Replacement Effect is applied, it can only save the Recruits in base.' Two orders, two different halves of the board saved, and 373 gives the choice to their common controller.
• SO THE ORDER IS A REAL DECISION AND IT IS YOURS. 373: 'each event is treated separately and individually for the purposes of Replacement Effects, and Replacement Effects with the same controller are applied in the order of their controller's choosing.' Guardian-Angel-first keeps Soraka (and her +1 threshold) and saves the BASE; Soraka-first saves the GARRISON and lets her die. Count the bodies in each place before choosing - that is the whole play, and it is invisible if you only read 370.4.
• WHY GUARDIAN-ANGEL-FIRST IS USUALLY RIGHT ANYWAY. Soraka recalled is Soraka alive for the next wipe, and 103.2.b only gives you three; the garrison she would have saved is recalled to base by 455 regardless of which order you choose, so the position is lost either way (323.6 strips the battlefield at the next Cleanup). What differs is which set of bodies survives and whether the replacement engine survives with them.
• 136.2.d IS WHY GUARDIAN ANGEL SAVES THE CARRIER AND NOT ITSELF: 'Effect Text may refer to "this" or to the name of the Attached game object that appended the Effect Text. Doing so refers to the Attached game object and not the Top-Most Card.' Its text says 'kill Guardian Angel instead. Heal me' - the Angel by name is what dies, and 'me' is Soraka. That is also why it is a genuine second replacement on her rather than a duplicate of her own.
• 373.1.a ORDERS THE SAVES AGAINST THE DEATHS: 'When executing Replacement Effects, the Game Actions that comprise their instructions are performed before any simultaneous unmodified events.' The healing, exhausting and recalling happen before the unsaved bodies finish dying - which matters for anything watching a death, since the saved bodies never generate one at all.
• AND 373.1 SETTLES THE CROSS-TABLE CASE: 'If multiple applied Replacement Effects with different controllers would execute simultaneously, they execute in turn order.' Your choice is only over your own; an opponent's save resolves against yours by turn order, not by choice.

Steps

1. Play SFD-173 Soraka, Wanderer (4 Energy + 1 Power) and attach SFD-051 Guardian Angel (2 Energy, [Equip] one Calm rune) to her. Her Might is now 5 (137.3, 477.3.d), so her save covers friendly units there under 5 rather than under 4.
2. The opponent wipes the board. Soraka, the garrison at her battlefield and any bodies at your base die simultaneously.
3. 373 gives you the order, because both replacements are yours. Count the qualifying bodies at her battlefield against those at your base.
4. Guardian-Angel-first: it kills the Angel instead, and heals, exhausts and recalls SORAKA. Her own replacement then applies once (373.2) and can only reach the bodies at your base.
5. Soraka-first: her replacement applies once and saves the qualifying bodies at her battlefield; the Angel then saves her, but her effect is spent and the base bodies die.
6. Either way 373.1.a performs the saves before the unsaved bodies finish dying, and 455 puts every saved body at your base, exhausted, with 315.1.b readying them at your next Awakening.
7. Three copies of each (103.2.b): the Angel is consumed on each use, and Soraka survives only on the Angel-first line.

Per iteration

one wipe answered on one of two halves of the board, with the choice of which half, and Soraka kept on the line that takes the base

How it ends

engine only - nothing here scores. Each Guardian Angel is consumed when it fires, three copies of each card (103.2.b), and the battlefield is lost under 323.6 whichever order you pick

Sources

Published elsewhere

• Riftbound Core Rules, Last Updated 2026-07-16 (data/Riftbound-Core-Rules-2026-07-16.txt), 373.2 2026-07-16
• Riftbound Core Rules, Last Updated 2026-07-16 (data/Riftbound-Core-Rules-2026-07-16.txt), 373.2 worked example 2026-07-16
• Riftbound Core Rules, Last Updated 2026-07-16 (data/Riftbound-Core-Rules-2026-07-16.txt), 373.1.a 2026-07-16

Walked here, in this project

• Hand walk 2026-09-07 2026-09-07 record

Walked against Core Rules 2026-07-16

Match a deck list against the whole catalogue