Combo · ENGINE

355.11.b - a group target that stops fitting its restriction does NOT fizzle, so an eight-Might drag onto your own battlefield survives a pump and makes THEM the attacker on YOUR turn

4 cards · calm · verified

Pieces

• Tricksy Tentacles ×3 UNL-054 · engine · calm

  Move any number of enemy units with the same controller and a total Might of 8 or less to a single location.

• Yuumi, Magical Cat ×1 UNL-056 · payoff · calm

  When I attack or defend, give one of your other units here +3 Might and [Tank] this turn. (It must be assigned combat damage first.)

Payoff

Deck

• Both cards are mono-Calm, so 103.1.b.1 is satisfied by any legend carrying Calm. The census run against data/cards.json on 2026-09-09 gives sixteen names; among them Nine-Tailed Fox (OGN-255), Radiant Dawn (OGN-261), Blade Dancer (SFD-195), Green Father (UNL-195) and Eye of Twilight (VEN-147).
• Neither card is Signature (data/cards.json, signature=false on both) and neither appears in data/legality.json in either format - checked 2026-09-09.

Prerequisites

• 355.11.b WAS UNCITED AND IT IS THE ENTRY'S WHOLE POINT. The rule: 'If the group of targets no longer collectively fulfill the targeting restriction as the spell or ability resolves, that spell or ability's controller can choose a subset of the original targets that fulfills the targeting requirement for the spell or ability to affect.' Riot's worked example is Fox-Fire and a defensive pump, and it ends by naming what the subset may NOT include: 'They can't choose to affect units at the same battlefield that weren't initially chosen as targets. They can, however, choose to affect units that were initially chosen as targets that left the chosen battlefield before Fox-Fire resolved as long as those units are all located at the same battlefield.' So a [Reaction] +Might aimed at the total-Might-8 restriction costs you ONE dragged body, never the spell - which is the difference between a four-Energy plan and a four-Energy gamble.
• THE SET SHRINKS AND NEVER GROWS, SO THE PLAY IS TO OVER-TARGET AT FINALIZATION. 355.11.b lets the controller pick a subset of THE ORIGINAL TARGETS, and its example forbids the other direction outright: 'They can't choose to affect units at the same battlefield that weren't initially chosen as targets.' Targets are locked when the spell is finalized, so name every enemy body the total-Might-8 restriction will carry and let the opponent's answer decide which of them you keep.
• AND THE SPLIT THAT DECIDES WHETHER THAT IS ROBUSTNESS OR RUIN - WHICH IS WHY THIS LINE AND THE CATALOGUED ONE ON THE SAME SPELL ARE OPPOSITES. For a group target used as REMOVAL or as a DRAG, a shrunken subset is partial credit: fewer bodies come, but they still come, 450 still applies Contested and Yuumi's trigger still fires. For a group target used as an EVACUATION it is total failure, because 323.6 strips Control only from players 'without their Units occupying them' - one body left behind and the whole spell bought nothing. moonlight-affliction-tricksy-tentacles-evacuation and decree-of-discord-megatusk-evacuate-and-gank both sit on the failing side of that line and neither states it; this entry sits on the surviving side, and that is its reason to exist beside them.
• THE SPELL MAKES THE OPPONENT THE ATTACKER ON YOUR OWN TURN. 450: 'The Destination becomes Contested if it is an Uncontested Battlefield not controlled by the controller of the Unit or Units that moved.' 190.3.a.1 says the same for units 'moving to or being played to a battlefield'. 464.2.c.1: 'The Attacker is the player whose unit(s) applied the Contested status to the Battlefield.' The units that moved are theirs, so they are the Attacker at a battlefield you control, in your Main Phase, with Yuumi already standing there.
• AND YOUR TRIGGER RESOLVES FIRST. 464.2.e.1: 'The Attacking player, who has Focus, places Triggered Abilities on the Chain first, followed by all non-Defender players in Turn Order, followed by the Defending Player.' 340.1: 'The newest Finalized Chain Item resolves.' Placed last means resolved first, so the +3 Might and the [Tank] are on the board before anything the attacker placed.
• THE SIXTH ENEMY-MOVER, AND WHAT IT ADDS TO THE OTHER FIVE - WITH THE DOMAINS RE-MEASURED. Against data/cards.json on 2026-09-09 the family is UNL-050 Iascylla (calm, free and repeating), OGN-043 Charm (calm, E1 P1, one body), UNL-139 Bone Skewer (chaos, the only one that pulls the body out of their HAND), VEN-148 Shadow Dash (calm/order, also pumps your garrison) and OGN-067 Blitzcrank, Impassive (calm, a 5-Might [Tank] that carries itself in). Tricksy Tentacles is the only one that moves SEVERAL bodies in one action, and 355.11.b is what makes that plural robust; its price is the honest one, 4 Energy + 1 Calm Power and no body, so it buys the count and nothing else. Four of the six are mono-Calm, so this is a Calm family and a Calm legend covers every one of them.
• NO POINT IS SCORED AND THAT IS THE ENTRY'S SHORTFALL. 466.5 establishes Control only 'if they didn't already control this Battlefield' and you already do, so winning this combat is worth removal and a tempo swing, never a Conquer. The catalogued companion in the other direction is moonlight-affliction-tricksy-tentacles-evacuation, which uses the same spell to EMPTY the opponent's battlefield under 323.6; the two lines want opposite destinations and cannot both be taken with one casting.
• THE [TANK] IS A TOLL BOOTH, NOT A SHIELD. 815.1.c.2: 'If more than one unit with Tank is present with the same controller in Combat, damage may be assigned to any of them. Units without Tank are invalid assignments until all units with Tank have lethal damage assigned to them.' The dragged pack's summed Might is capped at 8 by the spell's own restriction, so a buffed body of Might 4 or more absorbs everything they have and the rest of your garrison is an illegal assignment.
• 449 IS WHY THE MOVE COSTS THEM NOTHING AND YOU NOTHING: 'Spells, Abilities, or other effects may cause a Move to occur', and 420.3.a puts the exhaust cost on the Standard Move alone - so exhausted enemy bodies move, and 144.4's base-to-battlefield restriction never applies.
• ONE ENERGY AT REACTION SPEED ANSWERS THE BODY THIS ENGINE STANDS ON (Yuumi, Magical Cat (M1 x1)). OGN-133 Flurry of Blades is Body, 1 Energy: "[Reaction] (Play any time, even before spells and abilities resolve.) Deal 1 to all units at battlefields." 143.2.a kills a unit whose marked damage equals or exceeds its Might and 142.4.b defines Lethal Damage as "a non-zero amount greater than or equal to that Unit's Might", so one damage is lethal to every body of Might 1 or less. RUNNING MORE COPIES IS NOT A DEFENCE: 370.1.a.2 makes events simultaneous when they "are all the result of the same Game Action", so the sweep kills every copy at once. And because it carries [Reaction], 813.1.c.1 lets it be played "during Closed States on any player's turn" - it never has to be cast a turn early the way the base-reaching removals do, and it can land in response to the very trigger this engine exists to fire. WHAT PROTECTS IT: this entry's cards are calm, so the second domain is still free and CHOOSING IT DECIDES WHICH PROTECTION YOU GET - 103.1.b allows exactly one partner, so these are alternatives and not a list you can run together. only if the second domain is FURY: VEN-018 Rage Amplifier (gear, 'Your units have +1 Might' - the only UNCONDITIONAL board-wide one, +2 while Empowered) | only if the second domain is ORDER: OGN-243 Darius, Executioner ('Other friendly units have +1 Might HERE' - his battlefield only, and never himself); OGS-013 Garen, Commander (same clause as Darius, same limits) | only if the second domain is MIND: UNL-077 Soul Shepherd ('Your TOKEN units have +1 Might' - tokens only, nothing for a printed body); SFD-089 Rumble, Scrapper ('Your MECHS have +1 Might' - Mech tag only) | colourless, so legal whatever the second domain is: OGN-294 Trifarian War Camp (colourless battlefield, 'Units here have +1 Might') - but 485.5 makes a battlefield you bring a 1-in-3, and 103.4.c forbids two of the same name. A single-target pump is no use against a sweep that hits every body at once, which is why only permanent, board-wide sources are listed.

Bodies no card supplies

464.2.e.1 places your trigger on the Chain last and 340.1 resolves it first: a friendly body there gets +3 Might and [Tank] before damage is assigned

Steps

1. Play Yuumi, Magical Cat to a battlefield you control (E3 + 1 Calm Power). She has to be there before the combat opens, because 464.2.c.3 hands out the Defender designation as the Combat opens.
2. In a later Main Phase, play Tricksy Tentacles (E4 + 1 Calm Power) and choose enemy units with one controller whose Might sums to 8 or less, with Yuumi's battlefield as the single destination.
3. If the opponent answers with a [Reaction] pump so the group no longer sums to 8 or less, do not concede the spell: 355.11.b lets you choose a legal SUBSET of the original targets to affect.
4. The move resolves. 450 and 190.3.a.1 apply Contested status to your battlefield, and 464.2.c.1 makes the opponent the Attacker.
5. 323.9 marks a Combat as Staged there in the next Cleanup, and it opens with no gap. Yuumi's 'When I attack or defend' fires on the Defender's designation.
6. 464.2.e.1 places your trigger on the Chain last and 340.1 resolves it first: a friendly body there gets +3 Might and [Tank] before damage is assigned.
7. 465.2.c assigns each side its summed Might. Theirs is capped at 8 by the spell's own restriction and 815.1.c.2 forces all of it into the [Tank] body first.

Per iteration

one combat opened on your terms with the opponent as Attacker; their garrison is emptied of up to 8 total Might and your buffed body absorbs all of it

How it ends

engine - one forced combat per Tricksy Tentacles, on your own turn, at a battlefield you already control: up to 8 total Might of enemy bodies dragged in for 4 Energy + 1 Calm Power, with +3 Might and [Tank] landing before the damage step. No point is scored, because 466.5 gives Control only to a player who did not already have it

Sources

Published elsewhere

• Riftbound Core Rules, Last Updated 2026-07-16 (data/Riftbound-Core-Rules-2026-07-16.txt) 2026-07-16

Walked here, in this project

• Hand walk 2026-09-09, issue #187 - uncited Core Rules sub-rules 300-499 2026-09-09 record

Walked against Core Rules 2026-07-16

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