Combo · ENGINE

"Starting with the next player" means you choose LAST on a symmetric bounce, and 355.10.e means nobody pays [Deflect]

2 cards · chaos · verified

Pieces

• Whirlwind ×1 OGN-187 · engine · chaos

  Starting with the next player, each player may return a unit to its owner's hand.

• Cemetery Attendant ×1 OGN-165 · payoff · chaos

  When you play me, return a unit from your trash to your hand.

Payoff

Deck

• Mono-Chaos, so any of the sixteen legend names carrying Chaos holds it (103.1.b.1): Loose Cannon (OGN-251), Unforgiven (OGN-259), Swift Scout (OGN-263), Bounty Hunter (OGN-267), Dark Child - Starter (OGS-017), Glorious Executioner (SFD-185), Blade Dancer (SFD-195), Prodigal Explorer (SFD-199), Battle Mistress (SFD-203), Bloodharbor Ripper (UNL-185), Gloomist (UNL-193), Scorn of the Moon (UNL-197), Voidreaver (UNL-201), Master of Shadows (VEN-143), Soul's Reflection (VEN-151), Heart of the Tempest (VEN-155).
• A unit already in your trash for the Attendant's ETB to fetch — combat losses supply this without a card. CORRECTED 2026-10-23 (#428, from the run play docs/plays/2026-10-23-whirlwind-reaches-any-unit-so-the-opponent-picks-first-on-your-board-and-the-attendant-is-what-they-pick.md): and it has to be there when the Attendant is played ("When you play me, return a unit from your trash to your hand."), or the trigger does nothing. The combat losses are the opponent's to give: in the walk there was one on T3 only because the opponent attacked, and none on T4.

Run play

• Whirlwind reaches any unit, so the opponent picks first on your board, and the Attendant is what they pick

Prerequisites

• THE TURN-ORDER CLAUSE IS THE CARD. 'Starting with the next player, each player may return a unit' — in a Duel that is the opponent first and you second, so you decide after seeing what they did, and the word 'may' lets you decline. A symmetric effect where you move last is not symmetric.
• AND NOBODY PAYS FOR IT. 355.10.e: 'It is part of a set of objects chosen in whole or in part by other players. e.g., "Each player kills a unit they control" does not target.' Each player chooses their own body, so 809.1.c's [Deflect] tax never charges and `SFD-105 Ruin Runner`'s absolute 'can't be chosen by enemy spells and abilities' never engages — but by the same token you cannot pick THEIR body, which is the price. CORRECTED 2026-10-23 (#428, from the run play docs/plays/2026-10-23-whirlwind-reaches-any-unit-so-the-opponent-picks-first-on-your-board-and-the-attendant-is-what-they-pick.md): the part after "never charges" is wrong. Whirlwind says "a unit", with no "they control" or "friendly", unlike 355.10.e's own example, and "to its owner's hand" only has work to do if the unit can be someone else's. 141.1.a.3, under 141.1.a "While on the Board:": "Units can be chosen, affected, or manipulated by spells, affects, or game actions that specify Units." It attaches no controller. 355.9.a.1 ("“Unit,” “gear,” and “rune” refer to objects on the Board unless specified otherwise.") sits in the targeting block and Whirlwind does not target, so it fixes the zone only. So each player may return ANY unit on the board to its owner's hand: the opponent, choosing first, may return yours, and you may return theirs. Nothing is still targeted, so [Deflect] still never charges, and you may return an enemy [Deflect] unit for nothing. Two published plays already read the card this way (docs/plays/2026-10-18-two-mighty-bodies-buy-a-ready-jaull-fish-on-t4-and-the-three-body-runes-it-recycles-are-the-part-no-discount-touches.md, docs/plays/2026-10-18-the-captains-draw-is-never-a-card-behind-his-buff-and-a-two-drop-played-first-is-what-turns-the-initiate-on.md). UNRULED, and reported for filing: whether your Whirlwind may return an opponent's SFD-105 Ruin Runner (Body unit, E6, M5, "I can't be chosen by enemy spells and abilities."). 757: "Some Game Effects declare that a Game Object can’t be chosen by a certain set of spells and abilities. Those effects designate the Game Object as Untargetable." 758: "Untargetable Game Objects are not legal targets for the indicated spells and abilities." 355.9.b's example ties the phrase to a target too. That reads the restriction as targeting-only, so Whirlwind, which does not target, would reach it; but no paragraph says whether a player's non-targeting choice made for an enemy spell counts as "chosen by" that spell, so it is not settled here. CORRECTED 2026-10-23 (#431, filed as R34 on #11: https://github.com/GermanAbuArab/RiftCombo/issues/11#issuecomment-6377846653): the open question is not what "chosen by" means. 757, 758 and 355.9.b settle that it restricts targets only, and 355.7 makes "choose" the targeting word: "When a card Chooses one or more specific Game Objects to affect, it is Targeted unless indicated otherwise by the rules in this section." The question is whether Whirlwind targets at all, and two paragraphs disagree. 355.10.e (above) says a set chosen by other players is not a target. 355.12 reads "If a spell specifies that a player may perform a Game Action on some number of Game Objects, then all choices are considered targeted and chosen independently of the decision to perform the Game Action." Whirlwind's "each player may" meets both. This entry is written under R34 reading A (355.10.e governs). Under reading B every choice is a target: no Whirlwind its opponent controls may return Ruin Runner, not even with the Runner's own controller making the pick, and this notable's [Deflect] headline is reopened. Under both readings, the opponent may return a Ruin Runner with its own controller's Whirlwind, because that spell is not an enemy spell for it. Unruled until R34 is voted.
• A BOUNCE TO HAND IS NOT A RECALL, AND THAT IS WHAT MAKES IT AN EVACUATION. 455: 'A Recall is when a Permanent is relocated from anywhere to its Base without it being a Move.' The hand is neither, so the body leaves the board entirely and 323.6 strips Control of any battlefield it was the last unit at — your own included, which is the second half of choosing last: you can decline when your garrison is load-bearing.
• RE-BUYING THE ATTENDANT IS THE POINT OF PAIRING THEM. Its ETB returns a unit from your trash to your HAND, so it is card advantage rather than a cost cheat — the body still has to be paid for. What the loop gives is a repeatable recursion outlet at 3 Energy + 1 Power a cycle, which is a fair rate for a Chaos deck that loses bodies in combat. CORRECTED 2026-10-23 (#428, from the run play docs/plays/2026-10-23-whirlwind-reaches-any-unit-so-the-opponent-picks-first-on-your-board-and-the-attendant-is-what-they-pick.md): a cycle is Whirlwind and the Attendant replayed, each E3 + 1 Chaos Power (Whirlwind a Chaos spell at E3 P1; the Attendant a Chaos unit at E3 P1 M3): six Energy and two Power, and each Power is a rune recycled for good (164.2.b: "Recycle this: [Reaction] — Add [C]."), so two runes gone for one card back. CORRECTED 2026-10-24 (#452): not for good. 416.1.b: 'Runes are Recycled to the Rune Deck.' 430.1 channels it again when the deck reaches it, so a recycled rune is off the board on every turn until the Rune Deck runs dry, which once a rune is recycled is T7 at the earliest going first and T6 at the earliest going second with only the Channel Phase's two a turn (161.2.a, 315.3.b, 485.7); each two more runes recycled push it a turn later, and a card that channels more (430.2) brings it back sooner. The run play ends after their T4, so the two runes are gone for every turn it covers.
• AND IT NEVER LOSES A CARD. The Attendant returns to hand, not to the trash, so the exchange is card-neutral before the fetch and card-positive after it. Contrast `SFD-132 Beast Below`, whose bounce is not optional and hits your own body whether you want it or not. CORRECTED 2026-10-23 (#428, from the run play docs/plays/2026-10-23-whirlwind-reaches-any-unit-so-the-opponent-picks-first-on-your-board-and-the-attendant-is-what-they-pick.md): off by one. Whirlwind is a card. Counting hand and board: Whirlwind spent, the Attendant from the board to your hand, then the fetched unit into your hand, so a cycle is one card down before the fetch and even after it.
• IT IS NOT AN [ACTION] OR A [REACTION], so 155 keeps Whirlwind in your own Main Phase in an Open State. You cannot use the choose-last ordering as a combat trick.
• NO ANSWER WAS NAMED - ADDED 2026-10-23 (#428, from the run play docs/plays/2026-10-23-whirlwind-reaches-any-unit-so-the-opponent-picks-first-on-your-board-and-the-attendant-is-what-they-pick.md). These are from the walked Calm/Order Leona census, not every deck's answers. OGN-045 Defy (Calm spell, E1 P1, "[Reaction] (Play any time, even before spells and abilities resolve.) Counter a spell that costs no more than :rb_energy_4: and no more than :rb_rune_rainbow:.") counters Whirlwind for one ready rune and one Calm Power. The fetch is an ability, and in that census nothing counters it; it can be stopped only before it happens, by emptying your trash, as OGN-212 Forge of the Future (Order gear, E2, "When you play this, play a 1 :rb_might: Recruit unit token at your base. Kill this: Recycle up to 4 cards from trashes.") does. And a token returned by Whirlwind ceases to exist (186.1: "If a token is put into any Non-Board Zone besides the chain, it ceases to exist immediately after moving to its new zone."), so the card is a permanent removal on a token, the one thing the opponent's first pick cannot protect.

Steps

1. Play Cemetery Attendant (3 Energy + 1 Chaos Power): its ETB returns a unit from your trash to your hand.
2. On a later turn, play Whirlwind (3 Energy + 1 Chaos Power) in your Main Phase.
3. The opponent chooses first — they may return one of their units to hand, or decline. CORRECTED 2026-10-23 (#428, from the run play docs/plays/2026-10-23-whirlwind-reaches-any-unit-so-the-opponent-picks-first-on-your-board-and-the-attendant-is-what-they-pick.md): they may return ANY unit to its owner's hand, yours included (the AND NOBODY PAYS FOR IT notable), or decline. In the walk their best first pick was your Attendant, because your trash was empty and its replay costs a recycled rune for an empty fetch.
4. You choose second, knowing their answer: return the Attendant if the trash is worth raiding, or decline if your garrison is holding a battlefield (323.6). CORRECTED 2026-10-23 (#428, from the run play docs/plays/2026-10-23-whirlwind-reaches-any-unit-so-the-opponent-picks-first-on-your-board-and-the-attendant-is-what-they-pick.md): declining does not protect your garrison, because the opponent may already have returned it; and your pick may be one of their units.
5. Replay the Attendant for another fetch.

Per iteration

one card recovered from the trash, and the information of seeing the opponent's choice before making yours

How it ends

engine — one unit out of your trash per Whirlwind + Attendant cycle, three Whirlwinds a game (103.2.b), with the opponent forced to move first every time; nothing here scores CORRECTED 2026-10-23 (#428, from the run play docs/plays/2026-10-23-whirlwind-reaches-any-unit-so-the-opponent-picks-first-on-your-board-and-the-attendant-is-what-they-pick.md): moving first is a pick on your board, not a forced disadvantage: the opponent may return your Attendant, your garrison or any other unit of yours. Walked against the Leona deck the line ended 3 to 3 after their T4, the same as without Whirlwind.

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 2026-09-07, issue #173 — the uncatalogued Fury / Chaos cards 2026-09-07 record
• Run play 2026-10-23, issue #416 2026-10-23 record

Walked against Core Rules 2026-07-16

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