Combo · ENGINE

The other lever on excess damage: shrink the garrison instead of growing Tryndamere, and one card turns a 1-point miss into a 6-point margin

2 cards · fury + mind · verified

Pieces

• Tryndamere, Barbarian ×1 OGN-034 · payoff · fury

  When I conquer after an attack, if you assigned 5 or more excess damage to enemy units, you score 1 point.

• Thousand-Tailed Watcher ×1 OGN-116 · enabler · mind

  [Accelerate] (You may pay 1 Energy + 1 Mind Power as an additional cost to have me enter ready.) When you play me, give enemy units -3 Might this turn, to a minimum of 1 Might.

Payoff

Deck

• Fury + Mind. Computed from cards.json, that is exactly three legend names and six base codes: OGN-247 / OGN-299 Daughter of the Void (Kai'Sa), SFD-181 / SFD-240 Mechanized Menace (Rumble), UNL-181 / UNL-226 Virtuoso (Jhin). Neither card is Signature, so no single legend is forced (103.2.d.2).
• An enemy battlefield with a garrison. Tryndamere's trigger says 'when I conquer after an attack', so a bloodless walk-in never pays.

Prerequisites

• THE FAMILY HAD ONLY EVER PULLED ONE LEVER. Excess damage under R28 = A (ruled on issue #11) is attacking Might that never got assigned, and 465.2.c.4 is why any exists: 'Units cannot have more damage assigned to them than the minimum required to constitute lethal damage unless no further units remain to have damage assigned to them.' Every catalogued excess-damage entry raises the ATTACKER — `tryndamere-call-to-glory-trapping-grounds` with buffs, `tryndamere-hextech-gauntlets-enforcer` with a Might Bonus, `trapping-grounds-excess-damage` with [Assault]. The mirror lever, lowering the DEFENDER, was in no entry, and it is strictly cheaper: a buff is +1 (703), while one Watcher takes every enemy body down by up to 3.
• THE ARITHMETIC, WITH THE QUANTITIES DECLARED. Tryndamere is M8. Against a garrison of M4 and M3 he assigns 4 and 3 — the minima 465.2.c.4 allows — leaving 1 excess, and the threshold is 5, so he MISSES by four. Play Thousand-Tailed Watcher first: 477.3.b snapshots the floored reduction at application ('If an effect gives a unit "-4 Might to a min of 1 this turn" choosing a unit with 2 Might, then the effect will generate -1 Might this turn'), so both bodies sit at 1. He now assigns 1 and 1, and 8 - 2 = 6 excess, which clears 5 and scores the point. One card, a four-point swing in the margin.
• THE FLOOR IS WHY THE BILL NEVER REACHES ZERO, AND IT IS ALSO WHY THE WATCHER IS BEST AGAINST MEDIUM BODIES. 143.2.a kills on 'nonzero damage marked on it equalling or exceeding its Might', so a 1-Might body still costs exactly 1. The Watcher takes a M4 to 1 (saving 3) and a M2 to 1 (saving 1) and a M1 to 1 (saving nothing). Against a wide garrison of 3s and 4s it is worth 3 per body; against a single big body it is worth 3 flat.
• THE DEFENDER PAYS THE SAME PRICE TWICE. 465.2.c — 'Starting with the Attacker, each player assigns an amount of damage equal to their summed Might among the other's Units' — reads CURRENT Might, so the shrunken garrison also swings back for 2 instead of 7. Tryndamere at M8 walks out of the combat with 2 damage marked, and 466.1.a.1's 'Insert 3c. Heal all Units' erases even that.
• WHY THE ORDER IS FIXED. The Watcher's reduction is a play trigger and lasts 'this turn', so it must be played in the Main Phase BEFORE Tryndamere's move applies Contested; 465.2's assignment is where it is read. [Accelerate] (805.1.a) is optional here — 1 Energy and a Mind rune to have him enter ready — and buys nothing for this line, since the Watcher does not have to move or fight; skip it unless you want a second attacker.
• THE CHEAPER VERSION IS THE SAME ARITHMETIC, SO IT IS A NOTE AND NOT AN ENTRY. SFD-066 Frigid Touch (Mind, E2, [Reaction], [Repeat] 2 Energy, 'Give a unit -2 Might this turn') is unfloored, and 820.1.b gives 'exactly one extra execution', so 4 Energy takes ONE body down by 4 with no floor at all — 143.2.b then treats a negative Might as 0 while 143.2.b.1 insists 'it is not 0'. It buys the same excess for less money against one body, and nothing against a wide garrison. It is also [Reaction], so it can be played inside the Combat's Closed State, provided it lands before 465.2 assigns.
• WHAT REFUTES IT. (a) Tryndamere must WIN the combat to conquer: at M8 against a shrunken garrison he does, but a defender who is not shrunk and sums above 8 kills him. (b) 'When I conquer after an attack' is the trigger condition, so 383.2.a.1 measures it at the conquer — a Showdown conquer (the Stare Down family) pays nothing here. (c) 470 caps him at one Score per battlefield per turn and 485.4 at two battlefields, so this is at most 2 points a turn and the Watcher is one card per turn.

Steps

1. Earlier turns: play Tryndamere, Barbarian (E7 + 2 Fury Power). 143.4 makes him enter exhausted; 315.1.b readies him in your Awakening.
2. This turn, Main Phase: play Thousand-Tailed Watcher (E7 + 1 Mind Power). Its play trigger gives every enemy unit -3 Might this turn, floored at 1 (477.3.b snapshots each reduction at application).
3. Standard-Move Tryndamere into the enemy battlefield (144.4.a, 144.2 / 420.3.a). Contested applies (190.3.a.1, 450).
4. The next Cleanup stages a Combat (323.9) and 323.13 opens it; 464.2.c.1 makes you the Attacker.
5. 465.2.c: assign Tryndamere's 8 Might. 465.2.c.3 puts lethal on one body in full before the next, and 465.2.c.4 forbids assigning more than the minimum — 1 per shrunken body. The rest, 6, is excess (R28 = A).
6. The garrison dies, you are the only player with units there, 466.3.a gives you the combat and 466.5 / 466.5.d establish Control and Conquer. Tryndamere's trigger checks 5 or more excess, finds 6, and 194.1.c gains you a point on top of the Conquer's own.

Per iteration

two points on one attack — the Conquer's and Tryndamere's — for one card played, against a garrison that would otherwise have paid one

How it ends

engine only — 470 and 485.4 cap it at two Conquers a turn, and the Watcher is one card spent per turn; eight points is four attacks at best

Sources

Published elsewhere

• Riftbound Core Rules, Last Updated 2026-07-16 (data/Riftbound-Core-Rules-2026-07-16.txt) 2026-07-16
• Rules readings R28 = A, ruled 2026-09-04 (GitHub issue #11) 2026-09-04

Walked here, in this project

• Synergy rule tryndamere-excess-damage-might-reduction (data/synergies.json) 2026-09-06
• Hand walk 2026-09-07 (docs/phase0/walks/2026-09-07-rules-second-pass.md), issue #170 2026-09-07 record

Walked against Core Rules 2026-07-16

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