Combo · ENGINE
Tianna locks scoring, Guardian Angel keeps her alive — and the save is what turns the lock off
Pieces
- Tianna Crownguard ×1
SFD-060 · payoff · calm
[Deflect] (Opponents must pay 1 Power of any domain to choose me with a spell or ability.) While I'm at a battlefield, opponents can't gain points.
- Guardian Angel ×1
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.
- Ornn, Forge God ×1
SFD-085 · enabler · mind
[Deflect 2] (Opponents must pay 2 Power of any domain to choose me with a spell or ability.) [Weaponmaster] (When you play me, you may [Equip] one of your Equipment to me for 1 Power of any domain less, even if it's already attached.) I have +1 Might for each friendly gear.
Payoff
Deck
- Legend domains are Calm and Mind: SFD-189 Fire Below the Mountain (Ornn), whose exhaust adds a rainbow 'only to play gear or use gear abilities' - which pays the Guardian Angel's [Equip] and part of its play cost.
Prerequisites
- THE SAVE BREAKS THE LOCK, AND NO SOURCE SAYS SO. Guardian Angel's replacement ends in 'recall me', and 455 defines a Recall as relocating a permanent 'from anywhere to its Base'. Tianna's clause is 'While I'm at a battlefield', so the moment the shield fires she is at her base and opponents can score again. She also comes back exhausted, so she cannot walk back the same turn: 315.1.b readies her next Awaken and 144.1.a lets her move then. The shield buys her life and costs a full turn of the lock.
- 808.1.d.1 DOES NOT BITE HERE, and it is worth saying why since it killed a line on soraka-fiora-loop-shield: a heal/exhaust/recall replacement erases the Deathknell of what it saves, because the permanent never reaches the Trash. Tianna has no Deathknell, so nothing is lost. Ornn has none either.
- IT IS A LOCK, NOT A CLOCK. 'Opponents can't gain points' stops them; it scores you nothing. The deck still has to win on its own, which is why the honest class is ENGINE.
- The bill, counted: Tianna 7 Energy + 2 Power, Ornn 6 Energy, Guardian Angel 2 Energy plus its [Equip] of 1 Calm Power - 15 Energy and 3 Power across at least two turns. The source says 13 Energy; our own count of the printed costs is 15, and the gap is worth knowing before anyone treats this as a turn-five plan.
- Different cards from tianna-wildclaw-point-lock, which holds the same lock up with UNL-057 Alpha Wildclaw's unchoosability and two Galio. This one holds it up with a death replacement and a [Deflect 2] body. Neither replaces the other; the Wildclaw version never leaves the battlefield, and this one survives what the Wildclaw version cannot.
- A LOCK ON POINTS IS NOT A LOCK ON TRIGGERS, AND THIS ENTRY DOES NOT SAY WHICH ONE IT SELLS (upgrade 2026-09-12, #187 batch 33). **383.4.c.2.c**: *"If the act of gaining one point from Conquering is negated or replaced in any way, the Conquer Effect will still trigger"*, with 383.4.d.2.c the identical sentence for Holding. `SFD-060 Tianna Crownguard` negates *the gaining of one point* — which is the exact word those paragraphs are written for — so **the opponent still CONQUERS and every Conquer Effect they control still fires**: they take the battlefield under 348.2.a or 466.5, and they still fire `UNL-187 Piltover Enforcer`s ready, `SFD-187 Void Burrower`s dig, and `UNL-195 Green Father`s Brush replacement. The same holds for a Hold under 383.4.d.2.c. Both paragraphs were cited only inside conquer ARITHMETIC before this, never in the denial lens where they actually bite.
Steps
- Play Ornn to the battlefield you intend to lock; his [Weaponmaster] equips one of your Equipment to him for a rainbow less on the way in.
- Play Guardian Angel and [Equip] it to Tianna for 1 Calm Power - the legend's exhaust pays that rainbow, since it is a gear ability.
- Walk Tianna to the same battlefield. From the moment she is AT it, 'opponents can't gain points'.
- Ornn's Might rises by 1 for each friendly gear, and the legend keeps making rainbow for more gear, so the garrison outgrows what has to fight through it.
- If Tianna would die, Guardian Angel dies instead: she is healed, exhausted and recalled to base (455). The lock is off until she walks back next turn - ready her in the Awaken (315.1.b), then Standard Move (144.1.a, 144.4.a).
Per iteration
opponents gain no points at all while Tianna is at a battlefield; one death answered per Guardian Angel, at the cost of one turn of the lock
How it ends
engine only - it denies the opponent's clock, it does not advance yours
Sources
Published elsewhere
- YouTube — Poro Party TCG, "The STRANGEST Ornn Deck You've Ever Seen | Riftbound Vendetta" 2026-08-20
- 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-legends-without-entries.md), issue #62 section 2.4. SFD-189 Fire Below the Mountain had no entry. THE FINDING THE WALK ADDS IS THAT THE SHIELD AND THE LOCK FIGHT EACH OTHER. #62 checked the right trap - 808.1.d.1, the heal/exhaust/recall family erasing a Deathknell - and correctly concluded it does not bite, because Tianna has no Deathknell. It missed the bigger one: the same replacement RECALLS her (455, 'relocated from anywhere to its Base'), and her lock is worded 'While I'm at a battlefield'. So the card that keeps her alive is also the card that switches her off for a turn. That is not a refutation - answering removal at the price of one turn is still worth the slot - but an entry that did not say it would be selling a lock it cannot keep. Card text verbatim from data/corpus_flat.txt. Trap check: no attack designation needed; no [Repeat]; no [Temporary]; no token; no rune recycled for Power; 143.4 delays the lock by the turn Tianna enters exhausted. Depends on no unruled reading.
Walked against Core Rules 2026-07-16