Combo · ENGINE
Svellsongur doubles an Empowered ability — Steel Paws at 14 Might
Pieces
- Steel Paws ×1
VEN-043 · payoff · calm
[Deflect] (Opponents must pay 1 Power of any domain to choose me with a spell or ability.) [Empower] 7 Energy (7 Energy: Empower me. Use only if not Empowered.) [Empowered][>] I have +7 Might.
- Svellsongur ×1
SFD-059 · engine · calm
[Equip] 1 Energy + 1 Calm Power (1 Energy + 1 Calm Power: Attach this to a unit you control.) As this is attached to a unit, copy that unit's text to this Equipment's effect text for as long as this is attached to it.
Payoff
Deck
- Mono-Calm: any Calm legend.
Prerequisites
- THE ARITHMETIC, AND THE SOURCE'S NUMBER IS EXACT. Base 0 Might. Empowered (827.2) switches on '[Empowered][>] I have +7 Might' (828.1.b.1). One Svellsongur gives 2^1 = 2 instances of that text - the composition settled on 2026-09-06 by the #45 walk from 477.2.c, 476.1, 479.1 and 480.3, and not re-derived here. 0 + 7 + 7 = 14 Might. With two Svellsongur it is 2^2 = 4 instances, so 28.
- R27 DOES NOT APPLY HERE, and saying so is the point. R27 is that Might is not a copyable TRAIT (477.1.b.1.a). Nothing here copies the Might trait: Svellsongur copies rules text, and the rules text happens to grant Might. Copy effects and text-appending effects are different layers and behave differently.
- PRICE, WITH THE EQUIP COST AND THE POWER COUNTED: 1 (Steel Paws) + 7 (Empower) + 3 (Svellsongur) + 1 (its Equip) = 12 Energy, plus 1 Calm Power to play the Svellsongur and 1 Calm Power for the Equip = 12 Energy + 2 Calm Power.
- THE ENTRY DOES NOT STAND ON THE DEFLECT. Svellsongur copies [Deflect] too, and whether a second, GRANTED Deflect Value sums with the printed one is exactly the question 809.2 leaves open - the one that got UNL-041 Allay cut from tianna-wildclaw-point-lock. It does not matter here: the tax is 1 rainbow under either reading.
- Steel Paws cannot be Empowered twice. Svellsongur also copies '[Empower] 7 Energy', and 827.3 makes multiple Empower instances separate activated abilities - but 827.1.c.1 is 'Use only if not Empowered', so the second one is dead.
Steps
- Play Steel Paws (1 Energy).
- Pay the Empower cost of 7 Energy: it becomes Empowered (827.2) and gains 'I have +7 Might' — 7 Might.
- Play Svellsongur (3 Energy + 1 Calm Power) and attach it (1 Energy + 1 Calm Power). Its Effect Text is now a copy of Steel Paws' text, and 434.1.c appends it back: a second '[Empowered][>] I have +7 Might'.
- 14 Might on a [Deflect] body, well past the Mighty line of 5 (709), for 12 Energy + 2 Calm Power.
How it ends
engine only — a 14 Might Deflect body; it feeds Mighty payoffs such as Fiora, Worthy, and scores nothing by itself
Sources
Published elsewhere
- YouTube - Zelonius, "The MOST BROKEN Card Combos in Riftbound Vendetta!" - seen at a table, and the figure checks out 2026-08-01
- Riftbound Core Rules, Last Updated 2026-07-16 (data/Riftbound-Core-Rules-2026-07-16.txt) 2026-07-16
- Internet mining lens — issue #46 (GitHub) 2026-09-06
Walked here, in this project
- Hand walk 2026-09-06 — Svellsongur composes, 2^v instances 2026-09-06 record
- 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-issue46-mining-walk.md), issue #46 section 3. First entry in the catalogue where Svellsongur's composition is applied to an [Empowered] dependent ability rather than to a trigger, and the community's published figure of 14 Might is exactly what 2^1 instances of '+7 Might' give. The note that R27 does not bite here is deliberate: the next reader will reach for 'Might is not copyable' and be wrong, because that rule is about the Might trait and this is rules text that grants Might. The 809.2 Deflect question is named and explicitly not leaned on. Card text verbatim from data/corpus_flat.txt. Depends on no unruled reading.
Walked against Core Rules 2026-07-16