Combo · ENGINE

477.3.e.1 puts both increases first, so Last Stand doubles a Might that has already been pumped — and Zhonya's Hourglass is the card the rules themselves use to answer the drawback

3 cards · calm · verified

Pieces

• Whiteflame Protector ×1 OGN-082 · payoff · calm

  When you play me, give a unit +8 Might this turn.

• Last Stand ×1 OGN-069 · engine · calm

  [Action] (Play on your turn or in showdowns.) Double a friendly unit's Might this turn. Give it [Temporary]. (Kill it at the start of its controller's Beginning Phase, before scoring.)

• Zhonya's Hourglass ×1 OGN-077 · enabler · calm

  [Hidden] (Hide now for 1 Power of any domain to react with later for 0 Energy.) If a friendly unit would die, kill this instead. Heal that unit, exhaust it, and recall it. (Send it to base. This isn't a move.)

Payoff

Deck

• Any Calm legend: all three cards are mono-Calm (103.1.b.1) and none is a Signature card, so 103.2.d.2 forces nothing.
• None of the three is banned or restricted in either format.
• Last Stand is [Action] and Zhonya's Hourglass is a replacement that needs no priority, but the Whiteflame Protector is a plain unit play — 155 keeps it in an Open State on your own turn, so the whole sequence starts in your Main Phase.

Prerequisites

• THE ARITHMETIC, AND THE LAYER RULE THAT PRODUCES IT. 477.3.e.1.a: 'Positive values, or increases, to Might are applied first', and 480.3 orders effects inside a layer by timestamp. Whiteflame Protector enters at Might 8 and its own play trigger gives it +8 this turn: 16. Last Stand then 'instructs its controller to increase the unit's Might by its current amount' (477.3.c's own wording), and the current amount is 16, so the unit ends at 32 for the turn. Playing Last Stand FIRST would double 8 to 16 and then add 8 for 24 — the order is worth eight Might and it is free to get right.
• 477.3.c IS ALSO THE WARNING. Its worked example is Last Stand answered by Eclipse: 'the unit is -2 [M]. Last Stand instructs its controller to increase the unit's Might by its current amount, -2 … This is not possible, so the unit's Might is increased by 0 instead.' Last Stand is [Action], so it can be held for the Showdown — but any Mind deck holding UNL-063 Eclipse (Reaction, −4 with no floor) can blank it entirely in response. The safe line is to cast it when the opponent's Reaction window is already spent.
• WHAT 32 MIGHT ACTUALLY BUYS, HONESTLY. 465.2.c.4 forbids assigning a unit more damage than the minimum needed to kill it, so the excess is wasted on offence and R28 = A makes it excess damage that only a Fury payoff could cash — and this line is mono-Calm. The real product is SURVIVAL: a 32 Might body needs 32 damage to die (143.2.a, 710), which no board in the pool assigns. It is an unkillable attacker for one turn.
• THE DRAWBACK IS A SCHEDULED DEATH, AND THE ANSWER IS THE RULES' OWN EXAMPLE. 816.1.b: [Temporary] is 'functionally short for "At the start of this permanent's controller's Beginning Phase, before scoring, kill this"'. 808.1.d.1's worked example is a would-die replacement performed by a Zhonya's Hourglass, and the Hourglass's own text is the same shape: 'If a friendly unit would die, kill this instead. Heal that unit, exhaust it, and recall it.' So the Protector survives the Beginning Phase; the Hourglass does not.
• THE SAVE COSTS THREE THINGS, AND THE ENTRY PRICES ALL THREE. (1) The Hourglass dies, so it is one save per copy — three by 103.2.b. (2) 455: 'A Recall is when a Permanent is relocated from anywhere to its Base without it being a Move', so the saved body goes to your BASE and any 'while I'm at a battlefield' text on it switches off; if it was your only garrison there, 323.6 hands the battlefield back at the next Cleanup, before 315.2.b.2 Holds. (3) It comes back EXHAUSTED, and 315.1.b has already run, so it cannot act until your next Awaken.
• AND THE [Temporary] IS NOT REMOVED. Last Stand grants the keyword with no duration clause — only the doubling is 'this turn' — so the Protector carries [Temporary] for the rest of the game and needs a fresh save at the start of every one of your Beginning Phases. Three Hourglasses buy three turns. Treat Last Stand as renting a body, not buying one.
• THE GENERAL TRAP THE HOURGLASS CARRIES INTO ANY DECK. 808.1.d.1: 'If the Permanent with the effect is not sent to the Trash … the triggered ability will be removed from the chain.' So the Hourglass ERASES the Deathknell of whatever it saves. It is the wrong shield for a body whose value is its death.

Steps

1. Play Zhonya's Hourglass — 2 Energy, or hide it for one rainbow Power and play it later for 0 (811.1.b).
2. In your Main Phase, play Whiteflame Protector (8 Energy + 2 Calm Power) and aim its play trigger at ITSELF: +8 Might this turn, so it stands at 16.
3. Play Last Stand (3 Energy + 1 Calm Power) on the Protector. 477.3.c doubles its CURRENT Might, 16, so it is 32 this turn, and it gains [Temporary].
4. Attack. 32 Might needs 32 damage to kill (143.2.a), which no board assigns, so it survives its own combat.
5. At the start of your next Beginning Phase, 816.1.b tries to kill it. Zhonya's Hourglass replaces the death: the Hourglass is killed instead, the Protector is healed, exhausted and recalled to your base (455).
6. The Protector still carries [Temporary], so it needs another Hourglass next turn; three copies (103.2.b) buy three turns.

Per iteration

a 32 Might body for one turn, and one Hourglass per further turn it survives

How it ends

engine only — one blown-out combat per Last Stand (three copies), and one extra turn of life per Zhonya's Hourglass (three copies); mono-Calm converts none of the Might into points

Sources

Published elsewhere

• Riftbound Core Rules, Last Updated 2026-07-16 (data/Riftbound-Core-Rules-2026-07-16.txt) 2026-07-16
• Rules readings R1-R33 — issue #11 (GitHub), R28 = A 2026-09-04

Walked here, in this project

• Hand walk 2026-09-07 2026-09-07 record

Walked against Core Rules 2026-07-16

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