Combo · ENGINE

Vi, Peacekeeper — ambushing into a live combat, the stun lands after the opponent commits

1 card · order · verified

Pieces

• Vi, Peacekeeper ×1 UNL-176 · payoff · order

  [Ambush] (You may play me as a [Reaction] to a battlefield where you have units.) When I attack, [Stun] an enemy unit here. (It doesn't deal combat damage this turn.)

Payoff

Deck

• Legend's Domain Identity includes Order (103.1.b.3); mono-Order runs it.
• Cheap bodies of your own already at the enemy battlefield, and a real garrison there to fight (461).

Prerequisites

• [Ambush] IS DOING THE WORK, NOT [Hidden]. 813.3.a: 'Playing Units with Reaction still has the inherent restrictions of playing Units without Reaction. It can only be played to the controlling player's base or a battlefield they control.' Reaction alone therefore cannot put a unit on a battlefield you do NOT control; 822.1.b adds that permission, and 355.2.b makes such a location Valid. A [Hidden] unit could never do this.
• WHY THE TRIGGER STILL FIRES AFTER THE COMBAT STARTED. 319.6 makes a Cleanup outstanding 'After any number of Game Objects enter or leave the Board', so one falls due the moment Vi arrives; 464.2.c.3.a then gives her the Attacker designation 'during the Cleanup phase following the action that caused it to become present'; 383.4.e fires Attack Triggers on gaining that designation; and 465.2 does not resolve combat damage until 'the Showdown closes'. The stun lands after the opponent has spent their window and before any damage.
• WHAT THE STUN ACTUALLY BUYS. 423.1.b: 'A Stunned Unit does not contribute its might to damage in the combat damage step.' It buys the enemy's OUTPUT. It does not make the unit cheaper to kill — 423.1.c: 'A Stunned Unit must still have damage applied to it equal to, or greater than, its full might value to be killed.' And 423.1.a.2 drops the status at step 3d of the end-of-turn cleanup, so it lasts one turn.
• 822.3 IS THE REFUTATION TO PLAY AROUND: 'If there are no units at the location chosen before Finalization completes for any reason, then it is no longer a valid location by Ambush's reasoning and cannot be played there.' Sweep your cheap bodies in response and Vi has nowhere to go.
• 383.4.e.2.a caps her at one condition check per combat, so a second stun needs a second combat.
• This is tempo, not points: +5 attacking Might arriving late and −(the stunned unit's Might) on defence, decided after the opponent has committed. Nothing here scores.

Bodies no card supplies

Open a combat yourself at the enemy battlefield with cheap bodies — 461 needs units of two opposing players there

Steps

1. Open a combat yourself at the enemy battlefield with cheap bodies — 461 needs units of two opposing players there.
2. The showdown runs: 347.1 lets both players play legally timed cards, and the opponent commits their tricks first.
3. Play Vi with [Ambush] to that battlefield (822.1.b gives both the location and the [Reaction] timing).
4. 319.6 makes a Cleanup outstanding as she enters the Board; 320 freezes the chain while it runs.
5. 464.2.c.3.a gives Vi the Attacker designation during that Cleanup; 383.4.e puts 'When I attack, [Stun] an enemy unit here' on the chain.
6. The showdown closes and 465.2 resolves damage with current Might: Vi's 5 is in, and the stunned unit's Might is out (423.1.b).

Per iteration

+5 attacking Might and one enemy unit's Might removed from the defence, both decided after the opponent's window closed

How it ends

engine only — one attack trigger per combat (383.4.e.2.a) and the stun expires at the end-of-turn cleanup (423.1.a.2); it wins combats, it does not score

Sources

Published elsewhere

• Hunt lens [Hidden]/[Ambush] — issue #40 (GitHub) 2026-09-05
• 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 2026-09-05 2026-09-05 record

Walked against Core Rules 2026-07-16

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