Combo · ENGINE
Virtuoso — four banished big spells channel four runes and draw
Pieces
- Virtuoso ×1
UNL-181 · legend · fury/mind
When you play a spell, if you spent 4 Energy or more, you may banish it. Then, if there are four spells banished with me, put each in its trash, channel 4 runes, and draw 1.
Payoff
Deck
- Legend is Virtuoso (UNL-181, Fury/Mind).
Prerequisites
- Only spells on which you actually spent 4+ Energy count (cost reductions can drop a 4-cost spell below the line). Channelled runes enter ready (430.2.a) and are usable the same turn; the fourth spell's own banish is what completes the set.
- R26 ruled B (2026-09-04): the trigger waits until the spell has resolved and banishes it from the trash, which is how the community plays it. The literal Chain read points the other way — playing completes at Finalize (337.1), the trigger goes on the Chain at once (383.3.c) and 340.1 resolves newest-first, so Virtuoso would banish an unresolved spell and counter himself — but the Core Rules example at 359.3.e.10 describes a "When you play a spell" ability firing "as the spell resolves". A rewording from Riot that puts the trigger above the spell reopens R26.
- NOTHING CAN FEED THE FOUR FROM OUTSIDE, AND THE PARAGRAPHS THAT SAY SO WERE NOT CITED (upgrade 2026-09-12, #187 batch 19). Swept: 27 non-[Flow] cards banish something, plus fourteen [Flow] spells that banish themselves under 829.1.b - and **not one can contribute**, because 411.6 requires the banish to be ATTRIBUTED to that Game Object`s own ability and 397 confines a component Linked Ability to Game Objects affected by the abilities it is linked with (394.1, 395 and 396 complete the set). Reaching for a second banisher is the obvious first move with this legend and it does not work. **The contrast is two words wide**: *"banished with me"* is 411.6 and as narrow as a check gets, while `VEN-143 Master of Shadows`` *"When you banish a card you own"* is 411.4 - responsibility rather than attribution - and is fed by all 41 sources including every Flow replay.
- 411.5.a DEFINES THE WORD 411.6 TURNS ON, AND RIDES WITH IT (self-audit upgrade 2026-09-12, #187 batch 20). 411.6`s first condition is that the action be ATTRIBUTED to the Game Object`s spell or ability, and **411.5.a is what that means: *"Spells and abilities have attribution for game actions, while players have responsibility."*** Without it a reader cannot tell 411.6`s first condition from its third, which is the responsibility one - and the pair is the whole reason that paragraph has three conditions rather than one.
- 419.4.a IS THE PARAGRAPH, NOT THE EXAMPLE. R26 was ruled B on the strength of the worked example at 359.3.e.10, and 419.4 opens "Some Abilities trigger when cards are played or otherwise check whether cards have been played" with 419.4.a stating it normatively: "Any such triggered abilities trigger when the act of playing the card has been completed by the resolution of the card." So the conclusion is unchanged and its footing is not an example any more - only a rewording of 419.4.a could reopen R26, not a rewording of 359.3.e.10. Companion: 419.4.a.1 keeps the trigger off a countered card, while 419.4.b lets a non-triggered check (Legion, "cards played this turn") count it - a trigger needs RESOLUTION, a non-triggered check needs only FINALIZATION.
Steps
- Play a spell spending 4+ Energy; banish it with Virtuoso. Repeat for three more.
- On the fourth: all four go to the trash, channel 4 runes (ready) and draw 1 — about +4 Energy and a card, then the count restarts.
How it ends
engine only — four spells of 4+ Energy convert into 4 ready runes and a card, but the runes are permanent ramp against a 12-rune ceiling (161.2.a): the lifetime output is at most the runes you had not already channelled, plus one card per 16+ Energy of spells
Sources
Published elsewhere
Walked here, in this project
- Hunt v2 lens L3, entry L3-16 2026-09-03 record
- REFUTE pass 2, 2026-09-03 2026-09-03 record
- Hand walk 2026-09-04 2026-09-04 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.
Legend-only engine, no second card required; listed so a Fury/Mind big-spell deck sees the payoff and its ceiling. The four spells return to the trash, so anything that recycles or replays from trash (Fizz, Heedless Resurrection lines) can loop them, but nothing in Fury/Mind refunds the Energy. Card text verified against the corpus. REFUTE 2 (2026-09-03): WOUNDED — the payoff is permanent ramp toward 12, not +4 Energy per cycle, and the legend works as written now that R26 is ruled B (2026-09-04). HAND-WALKED 2026-09-04 (docs/phase0/walks/2026-09-04-virtuoso-and-two-attach.md). Stands on R26 = B, ruled the same day. Confirmed besides: 430.2.a channels runes READY by default, so the four are usable that turn (430.2 shows a card wanting otherwise has to say 'exhausted'); 161.2.a caps the Rune Deck at exactly 12, which is why the payoff is permanent ramp and not +4 Energy per cycle; and the fourth spell's own banish completes the set inside one resolution.
Walked against Core Rules 2026-07-16