Combo · ENGINE
The Matron reanimates the Vanguard Captain, whose [Legion] pays two more Recruits on the way back
Pieces
- Spectral Matron ×1
OGN-226 · engine · order
When you play me, you may play a unit costing no more than 3 Energy and no more than 1 Power of any domain from your trash, ignoring its cost.
- Vanguard Captain ×1
OGN-218 · payoff · order
[Legion] — When you play me, play two 1 Might Recruit unit tokens here. (Get the effect if you've played another card this turn.)
Payoff
Deck
- Both cards are Order, so any legend with Order works; the source builds it under a Viktor legend.
Prerequisites
- THE CAPTAIN FITS THE MATRON'S TWO BARS EXACTLY: 'no more than 3 Energy and no more than 1 rainbow Power' against E3 P1. One point more on either axis and he is not a legal choice.
- [Legion] IS ALREADY PAID BY THE MATRON HERSELF. '(Get the effect if you've played another card this turn.)' - playing the Matron is that other card, and the Captain is played by her trigger afterwards, so the condition is fulfilled without spending anything extra. That is the part that makes it a combo instead of two cards.
- FOUR BODIES FOR 4 ENERGY AND 2 POWER: the Matron, the Captain, and two Recruits. The Captain's cost is waived entirely - the Matron says 'ignoring its cost', not 'ignoring its Energy cost'.
- THE RECRUITS ARRIVE 'HERE', which 359.3.f.2 reads at execution - so they appear wherever the Captain is played to, and the Matron plays him from the trash rather than specifying a location, so 355.2.a applies: your base, or a battlefield you control.
- IT NEEDS THE CAPTAIN DEAD FIRST, which is what the source means by 'if it's dead' - a 3 Might body that has already traded is the natural setup, and the Captain's own [Legion] Recruits are what usually makes that trade happen.
- All four bodies enter exhausted (143.4).
Steps
- Vanguard Captain in the trash - he has usually already been played once and died.
- Play Spectral Matron (4 Energy + 2 Power). That is a card played this turn.
- Her trigger: choose the Captain in your trash (E3, P1 - inside both bars) and play him ignoring his cost.
- His [Legion] condition is met, because the Matron was another card played this turn: play two 1 Might Recruit tokens where he landed.
- Four bodies on the board for one card's worth of Energy.
Per iteration
+4 bodies for 4 Energy and 2 Power, of which two are free tokens
How it ends
one reanimation per Spectral Matron; three copies, three firings
Sources
Published elsewhere
- YouTube — Riftlab, "Learn VIKTOR in Riftbound | Full Deck Guide & Combos" 2025-10-07
- Riftbound Core Rules, Last Updated 2026-07-16 (data/Riftbound-Core-Rules-2026-07-16.txt) 2026-07-16
- Minería por leyenda — issue #62 (GitHub) 2026-09-06
Walked here, in this project
- Hand walk 2026-09-06 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.
HAND-WALKED 2026-09-06 (docs/phase0/walks/2026-09-06-issue62-section3.md), issue #62 section 3. Both OGN-226 Spectral Matron and OGN-218 Vanguard Captain appeared in NO entry before this. The two things the walk checked and the source does not state are the exact fit against both of the Matron's bars, and that [Legion] is self-satisfying here because the Matron herself is the 'another card played this turn' - without that the reanimated Captain would be a bare 3 Might body. Card text verbatim from data/corpus_flat.txt. Trap check: no attack designation; no [Repeat]; no [Temporary]; no token is recycled (185); no recall; 359.3.f.2 governs the 'here' the Recruits arrive at. Depends on no unruled reading.
Walked against Core Rules 2026-07-16