Combo · ENGINE

The only XP clause in the pool that reads a TURN instead of a threshold - so spending never switches it off

6 cards · body · verified

Pieces

• Wily Newtfish ×3 UNL-108 · payoff · body

  If you've gained XP this turn, I have +1 Might and [Ganking]. (I can move from battlefield to battlefield.)

• Gemhand Hunter ×3 UNL-094 · engine · body

  [Hunt] (When I conquer or hold, gain 1 XP.) [Level 6][>] I have +1 Might. (While you have 6+ XP, get the effect.)

Payoff

Deck

• All cards are mono-Body, so 103.1.b.3 admits any legend with Body in its pair: SFD-203/SFD-250 Battle Mistress, OGN-257/OGN-304 Blind Monk, OGN-267/OGN-309 Bounty Hunter, VEN-141/VEN-190 Butcher of the Sands, VEN-149/VEN-194 Defender of Tomorrow, SFD-205/SFD-251 Grand Duelist, SFD-193/SFD-245 Grandmaster at Arms, UNL-203/UNL-237 Keeper of the Hammer, VEN-153/VEN-196 Matriarch of War, OGS-023 Might of Demacia - Starter, UNL-183/UNL-227 Pridestalker, SFD-183/SFD-241 Purifier, OGN-249/OGN-300 Relentless Storm, OGN-269/OGN-310 The Boss, UNL-201/UNL-236 Voidreaver, OGS-019 Wuju Bladesman - Starter, UNL-191/UNL-231 Wuju Master.
• Neither card is banned or restricted in either format, and neither is a Signature card.
• A battlefield you hold, because [Hunt] pays on a Conquer or a Hold and on nothing else.

Prerequisites

• THE SWEEP THAT IS THE ENTRY. `grep -in "gained.*XP" data/corpus_flat.txt | grep -i "this turn"` over the whole pool returns exactly ONE row, UNL-108. Every other XP payoff in the game is a [Level N] Dependent Ability, and 824.1.d governs those: 'The Dependent Ability will be Inactive as soon as the controlling player has less than [N] XP.' With 730.2 ('To Spend XP, reduce the value of XP marked on the Player spending it'), that makes the whole [Level N] family anti-synergic with every XP sink. The Newtfish is not in that family: it reads whether XP was GAINED this turn, so spending it afterwards changes nothing and one XP is as good as twenty.
• THE SAME CARD CARRIES BOTH CLAUSES, WHICH IS WHY THE PARTNER IS ALSO THE EXHIBIT. UNL-094 Gemhand Hunter's [Hunt] is a gain and its [Level 6] '+1 Might' is a threshold. Run it in a list that spends XP and the [Hunt] half keeps paying the Newtfish every turn while the [Level 6] half goes dark - one card, two behaviours, and 824.1.d is the only paragraph that separates them.
• THE TIMING IS FREE, AND IT IS THE PHASE ORDER THAT MAKES IT SO. 823.1.c.1: 'Hunt is functionally short for "When I Conquer or Hold, my controller gains X XP"'. 315.2.b.2 Holds every battlefield you control during the Beginning Phase, and 315.2 precedes 316, the Main Phase. So on any turn you hold a battlefield the XP is already gained BEFORE your Main Phase starts, and the Newtfish carries +1 Might and [Ganking] for the whole of it, every turn, for no additional cost.
• WHAT [GANKING] IS ACTUALLY WORTH. 144.4.c.1: 'Units with Ganking may use their Standard Move to Move from Battlefield to Battlefield.' 810.1.c.3 is the limit: 'It does not give additional abilities or activations of Movement, only new options for the Standard Move.' So it is not an extra move - it is the ONE move going somewhere the base-and-back walk of 144.4 cannot reach, which is what lets a garrison redeploy between two battlefields in a Duel without going home and losing a turn.
• THE DELIBERATE MIRROR. bandle-soldier-enthralling-protector-xp-floor (issue #180) is the opposite entry: it needs the counter BANKED at 3 and any spend switches it off. This one needs a single gain per turn and does not care what happens to the counter afterwards. A list that wants both an XP sink and an XP payoff runs the Newtfish; a list that never spends can run either. The two entries name each other on purpose.
• THE ARITHMETIC. 2 Energy for the Hunter, 4 Energy for the Newtfish, no Power on either, three of each by 103.2.b. From the first turn you hold, every Newtfish on the board is a 5 Might body with [Ganking] for the whole Main Phase.
• WHAT IT IS NOT. Nothing here scores. [Hunt] is PAID BY a Hold, it does not cause one, and 469 defines Scoring as Conquer or Hold only.

Steps

1. Play Gemhand Hunter (2 Energy) and walk it to a battlefield you can hold.
2. At your Beginning Phase, 315.2.b.2 Holds every battlefield you control and [Hunt] gains 1 XP (823.1.c.1). The gain happens before 316, your Main Phase.
3. Play or already have Wily Newtfish (4 Energy). Its condition - 'If you've gained XP this turn' - is satisfied for the rest of the turn.
4. It is a 5 Might body with [Ganking], so its Standard Move may go battlefield to battlefield (144.4.c.1) instead of through the base.
5. Spend the XP on anything you like: 730.2 reduces the counter and the Newtfish's clause never reads it. Repeat every turn you hold a battlefield.

Per iteration

+1 Might and [Ganking] on every Newtfish, every turn you hold a battlefield, for no cost beyond the bodies

How it ends

engine only - a per-turn Might and movement bonus that costs nothing after deployment, three of each card by 103.2.b; nothing here scores

Sources

Published elsewhere

• Riftbound Core Rules, Last Updated 2026-07-16 (data/Riftbound-Core-Rules-2026-07-16.txt) 2026-07-16
• Card text verbatim from data/corpus_flat.txt (built from Riot's gallery content API) 2026-09-07

Walked here, in this project

• Hand walk 2026-09-07 (docs/phase0/walks/2026-09-07-uncatalogued-body.md, batch 1) 2026-09-07 record

Walked against Core Rules 2026-07-16

Match a deck list against the whole catalogue