Combo · BURST · 8 points

One Swain wearing three swords — nine points on a Conquer, and the condition cannot be answered

6 cards · mind + calm · verified

Pieces

• Swain, Visionary ×1 VEN-065 · payoff · mind

  [Vision] (When you play me, look at the top card of your Main Deck. You may recycle it.) When I conquer, if you've played a non-token unit, a non-token gear, and a spell this turn, you score 1 point.

• Svellsongur ×3 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.

• Steel Paws ×1 VEN-043 · enabler · 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.

• Bellows Breath ×1 SFD-080 · enabler · mind

  [Action] (Play on your turn or in showdowns.) [Repeat] 1 Energy + 1 Mind Power (You may pay the additional cost to repeat this spell's effect.) Deal 1 to up to three units at the same location.

Payoff

Deck

• Legend domains cover Calm and Mind. Measured over data/cards.json on 2026-09-12, the pool prints FOUR Calm/Mind legend names: Nine-Tailed Fox (OGN-255 / OGN-303), Fire Below the Mountain (SFD-189 / SFD-244), Bashful Bloom (UNL-189 / UNL-230), Curator of the Sands (VEN-145 / VEN-192).
• None of VEN-065, SFD-059, VEN-043 or SFD-080 is a Signature card (checked on the signature field in data/cards.json, all four false), so 103.2.d.2 forces no legend and all four names are open. 103.2.b allows the three Svellsongur.

Prerequisites

• NINE POINTS IN ONE SCORING EVENT, AND THE ARITHMETIC IS THE SAME ONE THE CATALOGUE ALREADY SETTLED. Three Svellsongur on one carrier compose 2^3 = EIGHT instances of its text, not 1+3 = four: 434.1.c gives the Top-Most Card 'all Effect Text of all cards Attached to it appended to its Rules Text', 477.2.c appends that text in Layer 2, 479.1 establishes no dependency between two copies that each alter the other ('If both effects are altered by the application of the other, no Dependency can be established'), 480.3 falls back to attach order, and 476.1 applies each effect 'only a single time across all sequences'. On the Conquer, 383.4.c.2.a places the conquer abilities 'after the Unit(s) these effects correspond to are present at a Battlefield when a player gains control of it and gains 1 Victory Point from Conquering' - so the Conquer's own Score is banked first and the eight Gains follow: 1 + 8 = NINE. 470 ('A player may only Score, from either method, once per Battlefield per turn') is spent on the single Score and cannot touch the Gains, because 469 defines Scoring as Conquer or Hold only and Swain's printed 'you score 1 point' is a 194.1.c point Gain by ability (R2 = A). The eighth and ninth points are Gains, so 471.1.a.1 applies - 'Notably, points Gained from sources that are not Conquer are not beholden to these restrictions' - and the Final Point clause is never consulted.
• 'I' IN THE COPIED TEXT IS SWAIN, WHICH IS WHY ONE BODY CARRIES THE WHOLE BURST. 136.2.d: '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' - and its two worked examples are Guardian Angel ('kill Guardian Angel instead. Heal me, exhaust me, and recall me' - the gear is named, the carrier is 'me') and Brutalizer. With 053.1 ('Units and legends say "I," "me," etc.') and 053.2 ('Gear and spells say "this."'), Swain's copied 'When I conquer' reads on SWAIN every time. So all eight instances fire off one body walking into one battlefield, and the line needs no second Swain.
• THE TRIGGER CONDITION IS HISTORICAL, SO IT CANNOT BE ANSWERED - AND THAT IS THE OPPOSITE OF THE IVERN FAMILY. Swain reads 'When I conquer, if you've played a non-token unit, a non-token gear, and a spell this turn' - the conditional sits IMMEDIATELY AFTER the trigger, which is exactly 383.2.a.1's Sona, Harmonious shape: 'Any additional conditional statement immediately after the Condition must be true in order for the Condition to be fulfilled. Such a conditional statement is part of the Trigger Condition and not the Effect', and Riot's Sona example ends 'If she is removed in reaction to the triggered ability, it will still resolve.' Two consequences. First, the condition asks what you PLAYED this turn, which is a fact about the past: killing Steel Paws, countering Bellows Breath after it resolves or blowing up the third Svellsongur changes nothing, and 419.4.b even counts a COUNTERED card as played for a non-triggered check. Second, it is checked when the trigger is PLACED, so there is no window in which to falsify it. Contrast ivern-ride-the-wind-double-conquer, whose four-tag clause follows the effect verb and is therefore the rule's Loose Cannon shape, checked on resolution and answerable by killing one Might-2 body.
• THE ANSWER IS THE GEAR, AND UNLIKE A HOLD LINE THIS ONE CAN BE ANSWERED IN ITS OWN WINDOW. 718.5.b - 'Attached cards still can be chosen or targeted by game effects while Attached' - keeps all three Svellsongur legal targets the whole time they sit there, even though 718.2 makes their printed Rules Text Inactive and 721.2 their [Equip] unusable. Stripping ONE takes the line from 8 instances to 4 and the total from 9 to 5; stripping two leaves 3. Swept over text+effect of every deckable base in data/cards.json, the pool prints 16 gear-kill printings across 15 names and every one of the six domains prints at least one, of which the unconditional enemy-facing answers are OGN-022 Thermo Beam, SFD-005 Detonate, VEN-003 Brittle Steel, OGN-224 Salvage, SFD-032 Disarming Rake and SFD-077 Rocket Barrage. OGN-022 Thermo Beam (Fury, E5 + 2 Fury Power, '[Action] Kill all gear') answers all three with one card. AND THE TIMING IS WORSE HERE THAN FOR THE HOLD BURSTS: a Hold pays at 315.2.b.2 inside your own Beginning Phase, where 312.2.a gives the opponent priority only 'When the turn is in a Neutral Open State during their Main Phase' - their own - so no gear kill reaches it. A Conquer is a MAIN PHASE event, and 806.1.c.1 makes [Action] short for 'This can be played during showdowns on any player's turn', so Thermo Beam and Salvage reach the very Showdown this line's move opens. That is the price of a payoff that works on a board you do not already control, and attaching in the same Main Phase as the move keeps the exposure to one turn rather than a full opponent turn.
• WHY CALM/MIND, AND WHAT IT IS NOT A DUPLICATE OF. Measured at 763 entries, calm/mind could run 18 finishers, SEVEN of which span both domains - and six of those seven are Hold-gated, leaving exactly one that survives a stalled board. This is the second. The mechanism has two catalogued siblings and this is neither: swain-brambleback-conquer-burst is FURY/mind and reaches ten by running THREE Swains under two Red Brambleback, so it pays with bodies where this pays with gear - three removal targets that 465.2.c can assign damage to, against one body wearing three gears that 718.5.b can shoot; and nasus-svellsongur-conquer-burst is mono-CALM, the same Svellsongur multiplication on VEN-046 Nasus, Ascended, at E28 + 7 Calm Power for nine. This one is E20 and 8 Power for the same nine, and it is the only member of the family a Calm/Mind legend can run. Neither dominates the others: they are one mechanism in three identities.
• THE FINISHING TURN IS SIX ENERGY. Deploy Swain and two Svellsongur over earlier turns and attach those two; 143.4 exhausts units on entry, so Swain has to arrive a turn early anyway, and gear is unaffected by that rule and enters ready. On the finishing turn you play the third Svellsongur (E3 + 1 Calm - and this is the play that satisfies the gear clause), pay its [Equip] (E1 + 1 Calm), play Steel Paws (E1), cast Bellows Breath (E1 + 1 Mind), and Standard-Move Swain in (144.2, his own exhaust). Six Energy, two Calm Power and one Mind Power on the turn that wins; E20 and 8 Power counted from scratch.

Steps

1. Over earlier turns, play Swain, Visionary (E6 + 1 Mind Power) and two Svellsongur (E3 + 1 Calm Power each), attaching both to Swain for E1 + 1 Calm Power apiece. 143.4 has Swain enter exhausted, so he cannot move the turn he arrives; 315.1.b readies him at your next Awakening.
2. On the finishing turn, in your Main Phase, play the THIRD Svellsongur (E3 + 1 Calm Power) and attach it (E1 + 1 Calm Power). Playing it is what satisfies Swain's 'non-token gear' clause - 818.1 makes [Equip] an Activated Ability, so attaching one of the first two would not.
3. Play Steel Paws (E1) for the 'non-token unit' clause and cast Bellows Breath (E1 + 1 Mind Power) for the 'spell' clause, choosing zero targets if the board is empty (355.13). All three thirds of the Trigger Condition are now historical facts about this turn.
4. Standard-Move Swain from your base to the battlefield (144.2, paying his exhaust). 450 applies Contested status to the destination.
5. At the Cleanup the battlefield resolves into a Conquer: against a garrison, 323.9 stages a Combat, you win it under 466.3.a, 466.5 establishes Control and 466.5.d makes it a Conquer; against an open battlefield, 344.2 opens a Showdown and 348.2.a / 348.2.a.1 do the same with no damage assigned. CORRECTED 2026-10-26 (#472, the follow-up PR #471 listed for #464): the open-battlefield half is unaffected. Against a garrison every instance rides one Might 6 body: 383.4.c.2.a: 'The Conquer Abilities of Units are put on the Chain as Pending Items after the Unit(s) these effects correspond to are present at a Battlefield when a player gains control of it and gains 1 Victory Point from Conquering.' 365.1: 'Passive Abilities of Permanents are typically only active while on the Board.' The defender picks the deaths: 465.2.c: 'Starting with the Attacker, each player assigns an amount of damage equal to their summed Might among the other's Units.' With 465.2.c.3: 'Units must have lethal damage assigned to them in full before damage is assigned to a different Unit. Example: If a player has 5 damage to distribute among four 3 Might units, they may not choose to assign 2 damage to one of the units and 1 damage to each of the remaining 3. They must assign at least 3 damage to one, and the remaining 2 to another.' A dead carrier takes its gear with it, because a detached gear appends nothing to it: 719.5: 'When a Top-Most Card changes zones from a board zone to a non-board zone, all Attached cards Detach from it, remaining in their current zones.' 718.3: 'While in this state, Abilities in the card’s Effect Text are appended to the Rules Text of the Top-Most Card.' (718.3 is a rule of an Attached card). Swain attacks alone at 6 (Svellsongur's Might Bonus is +0), and Steel Paws stays at the base. Against a garrison of summed Might G with no damage marked and nothing else changing Might in the combat, the defender choosing the deaths that cost most, the line scores: an empty battlefield, since nobody fights (316.8.b.1: 'Showdowns that occur as a result of a player moving to an empty Battlefield are a stand-alone Phase and do not create a Combat.'), 9; G 1 to 5, 9; 6 or more, 0 (Swain dies; at exactly 6 the garrison dies with him and nobody remains, and above 6 the garrison survives, 466.5: 'If no Showdown or Combat is staged at this location, the player with Units remaining here Establishes Control if they didn’t already control this Battlefield.'). Re-derived on 2026-10-26 from the rules above. THE DECLARED QUANTITIES STILL REACH 8, so the class stays BURST: nine against an empty battlefield or a garrison of 1 to 5 summed Might.
6. The Conquer gains its own point (469.1, 471.1). Then 383.4.c.2.a places Swain's conquer ability - all EIGHT instances of it - and each checks the same historical condition and scores. ONE PLUS EIGHT IS NINE, in a single scoring event. CORRECTED 2026-10-26 (#472, the follow-up PR #471 listed for #464): only if Swain survived the combat, which is a garrison of 1 to 5 summed Might, or an open battlefield (step 5).

How it ends

nine points in one scoring event on a battlefield you do not already control - one Conquer Score and eight ability Gains that 470 does not cap - for E20 and 8 Power counted whole, of which only 6 Energy, 2 Calm Power and 1 Mind Power is paid on the finishing turn CORRECTED 2026-10-26 (#472, the follow-up PR #471 listed for #464): on an open battlefield or against a garrison of 1 to 5 summed Might; 0 from 6 (step 5).

Sources

Walked here, in this project

• Hand walk 2026-09-12, issue #200 (docs/phase0/walks/2026-09-12-synthesised-lines.md section 23) 2026-09-12 record

Walked against Core Rules 2026-07-16

Match a deck list against the whole catalogue