Combo · ENGINE

The only free repeatable stun in the pool, and Eclipse Herald's ready half is dead on the very turn it fires

4 cards · chaos + calm · verified

Pieces

• Vex, Apathetic ×1 UNL-150 · engine · chaos

  [Deflect] (Opponents must pay 1 Power of any domain to choose me with a spell or ability.) When an opponent plays a unit while I'm at a battlefield, [Stun] it. They can't move it this turn. (It doesn't deal combat damage this turn.)

• Eclipse Herald ×1 OGN-059 · payoff · calm

  When you stun an enemy unit, ready me and give me +1 Might this turn.

• Vex, Mocking ×1 UNL-055 · payoff · calm

  [Shield] (+1 Might while I'm a defender.) [Tank] (I must be assigned combat damage first.) When you [Stun] an enemy unit at a battlefield, you may move me to that battlefield.

• Gloomist ×1 UNL-193 · legend · calm/chaos

  When you or an ally hold, you may exhaust me to draw 1.

Payoff

Deck

• Gloomist is Calm/Chaos: Vex, Apathetic is Chaos, Vex, Mocking and Eclipse Herald are Calm. 103.1.b breaks on any other legend pairing here.
• Vex, Apathetic must be AT A BATTLEFIELD, not at your base - the location clause is on her, and it is the whole trigger.

Prerequisites

• IT IS THE ONLY FREE REPEATABLE STUN, AND THE CHECK WAS THE WHOLE TABLE. Reading all 22 stun producers of issue #61: the spells are one-shot; UNL-133 Blast Cone and UNL-194 Shadow carry an exhaust in the cost; VEN-135 Kennen costs [2] and has two windows; OGN-051, OGN-225, UNL-052 and VEN-120 are 'when you play me' triggers; OGN-200, OGN-238, UNL-176 and UNL-196 are attack triggers. UNL-150 alone has no cost, no cap and no attack requirement. And its location clause is on VEX - 'When an opponent plays a unit while I'm at a battlefield' - not on the unit played, so one Vex taxes every unit the opponent plays anywhere.
• ECLIPSE HERALD'S 'READY ME' IS DEAD ON THE TURN IT FIRES, AND ONLY THE MIGHT IS LIVE. Vex's trigger fires on the OPPONENT'S turn. A ready buys nothing there: the Standard Move needs Priority, which 312.2.a gives only 'when the turn is in a Neutral Open State during their Main Phase'; 144.1.c forbids the action 'during a Showdown or Combat' in any case; and 415.3.a readies him in your own Awakening Phase regardless. What IS live is '+1 [M] this turn', and it is live on exactly the turn that matters, because 465.2.b sums Defending Might in the damage step of the attack he is standing in. N units played means he defends at 7+N. It does not carry to the next turn. This narrows issue #61's R2 rather than contradicting it.
• VEX, MOCKING'S MOVE IS OPPONENT-DEPENDENT, AND TAKING IT CAN COST YOU. Her trigger needs 'an enemy unit at a battlefield', and 355.2.a makes the default play destination 'the controller's Base or a Battlefield the controller controls' - a unit played to their base gives her nothing. And if it was played to a battlefield THEY control and you take the move, 190.3.a applies Contested keyed on your unit's controller, so 464.2.c.1 makes YOU the Attacker on THEIR turn, and 814.1.d switches [Shield] off, since its '+1 while I'm a defender' needs the Defender designation. Take the move onto your own battlefields; decline it onto theirs.
• [TANK] AND [DEFLECT] ARE NOT PROTECTION AND ARE NOT COUNTED AS SUCH. [Tank] ('I must be assigned combat damage first') only reorders 465.2.c's assignment; [Deflect] makes the opponent pay a rune to CHOOSE Vex, which does not touch combat damage at all. Neither is claimed as a payoff here.
• ARITHMETIC WITH THE QUANTITIES DECLARED. Vex, Apathetic costs 4 Energy and by 143.4 her trigger starts the turn after she lands. From then, per unit the opponent plays: one stun, 0 Energy, 0 cards, no cap. Three units played on their turn gives Eclipse Herald +3 Might for that turn and three bodies that deal no combat damage (423.1.b), one of which also cannot walk ('They can't move it this turn'). Gloomist converts your Holds into cards at one per turn, since her ability costs her own exhaust (414.1.b, 415.3.a).
• THE "OR AN ALLY" HALF OF UNL-193 IS 2V2 ONLY (issue #118, walked 2026-09-06). Gloomist reads "When you or an ally hold, you may exhaust me to draw 1", and this entry uses only the "you hold" half. An ally exists only in 489, 2v2 (Magma Chamber): 489.1 four players, 489.5.c.1 alternating teams, 489.3 "Victory Score: 11" against 194.3's default 8, 489.8.d "Points are shared by a team". 489.8.c says outright "Control is not shared", and 469.2 defines Hold as maintaining Control of a battlefield "during their Beginning Phase", so the ally's Hold is theirs, fired on their turn by 315.2.b.2. IT DOES NOT DOUBLE THE TRIGGER, WHICH IS THE CORRECTION TO ISSUE #118's FINDING E. The cost is "you may EXHAUST me", and 315.1.b readies your legend only in YOUR Awakening — nothing readies it in between — so across a full team round-trip you get exactly ONE activation whether it comes from your own Hold or your ally's. What the clause actually buys is a CHOICE of window (decline your own Hold in your Beginning Phase and take the ally's later in the round) and an insurance policy for the turn you control no battlefield at all and therefore never Hold. 2v2 also brings 489.8.b and 469.1.a, which disqualify from your team's scoring any battlefield your teammate controlled during your Beginning Phase. In the Duel (485) this entry is written for, the clause is dead text. Nothing about this entry's class, quantities or steps changes.

Steps

1. Play Vex, Apathetic (4 Energy) and get her to a battlefield; 143.4 makes her enter exhausted, so the trigger is live from the following turn.
2. Play Eclipse Herald (7 Energy + 1 Power) at that same battlefield - his +1 Might only helps where he is standing when the damage step runs.
3. On the opponent's turn, every unit they play triggers Vex: stun it, and they cannot move it this turn.
4. Each of those stuns readies Eclipse Herald and gives him +1 Might this turn. The ready is dead now (312.2.a, 144.1.c, 415.3.a); the Might is what you keep for this turn's combat.
5. If the stunned unit landed at a battlefield you control, take Vex, Mocking's move to it; if it landed at one they control, decline - 190.3.a with 464.2.c.1 would make you the Attacker on their turn.
6. In the damage step the stunned bodies contribute nothing (423.1.b) and Eclipse Herald defends at 7 plus the number of stuns (465.2.b).
7. At step 3d of cleanup the stuns clear (423.1.a.2) and the Might expires. Next turn the tax runs again for nothing.

Per iteration

one free stun per unit the opponent plays, worth +1 Might on Eclipse Herald for that turn and one enemy body that neither fights nor walks - 0 Energy and 0 cards per stun

How it ends

engine only - the ceiling is how many units the opponent chooses to play, 423.1.a.1 stops a body being stunned twice, 423.1.a.2 clears the state at cleanup 3d, and nothing in the line gains a point

Sources

Published elsewhere

• Riftbound Core Rules, Last Updated 2026-07-16 (data/Riftbound-Core-Rules-2026-07-16.txt) 2026-07-16
• Lente de stun y exhaust enemigo - issue #61 (GitHub) 2026-09-06

Walked here, in this project

• Hand walk 2026-09-06 2026-09-06 record

Walked against Core Rules 2026-07-16

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