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the faucet is also the landing pad, so the second Protector is the protection

Issue #256 (a slice of #200), 2026-10-05. Constructed, Duel (485). Rules version 2026-07-16. Card text verbatim from data/corpus_flat.txt; rules pasted from data/Riftbound-Core-Rules-2026-07-16.txt. Read the unopposed clock for the baseline this is measured against.

Subject: poppy-hunt-xp-discount, the mono-Order ENGINE in which UNL-162 Enthralling Protector's [Hunt] banks XP on every Score and UNL-178 Poppy, Defender of the Meek turns three of it into three Energy off a 5-Might [Tank] played at Reaction speed. The entry prices the exchange rate correctly. Walked as a game, the card that mints the XP is also the only thing that lets Poppy arrive at Reaction speed at all, so the opponent's cheapest answer is not to Poppy but to the Protector, before they attack — and a second Protector is worth more as a second landing pad than as a second faucet.

Why this line. scripts/sequence-pick.mjs --unplayed, re-run on 2026-10-05 at 2374ce6, reads 771 entries, 262 with forced-ordering language, 102 in the queue and 85 of them with no play. The pick is by global rank, skipping entries that already have a play: this entry is rank 13 (two hits on before), first in the list. The other entry of this slice is rank 14, played in both executions are chosen when you cast it.

1. Needs

Legendany legend with Order in its pair (103.1.b)
The faucetUNL-162 Enthralling Protector (Order, E2, M2), standing at a battlefield you control
The payoffUNL-178 Poppy, Defender of the Meek (Order, E6 + 1 Power, M5), in hand
Banked3 XP before the opponent attacks, and E3 + 1 Order Power left ready on their turn

The card text the play turns on:

2. Where Poppy is allowed to land

[Ambush] is two permissions bundled together — 822.1.b: "It is functionally short for "I may be played to a battlefield where you control Units" and “I have [Reaction] as long as I’m being played to a battlefield where you control Units.”" Off the opponent's turn she is a Reaction card only where you already have a body. And the body has to still be there when she finishes being played — 822.3: "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".

In this two-card line the only body that can be there is the Protector. So the same card is the XP faucet and the landing pad, and losing it before the attack loses both.

The XP side is per unit. 823.1.c.1: "Hunt is functionally short for: “When I Conquer or Hold, my controller gains X XP.”" Two Protectors at one battlefield each gain 1 on every Hold — 315.2.b.2: "1. The Turn Player Holds all Battlefields they Control." — and XP spent is simply gone, 730.2: "To Spend XP, reduce the value of XP marked on the Player spending it."

3. The turns, going first

Mono-Order, a curve of 2-Energy bodies. The opponent is building a board on the other battlefield and holding cheap removal. Mana for a Reaction on their turn has to be left on yours — 415.3.a: "A player Readies all non-spell Game Objects they Control during the Awakening Phase on their turn."

turn   runes   your turn                                               XP    held for their turn
T1     2       Protector #1                                            0     -
T2     4       Protector #2; walk #1 to battlefield A, Conquer         1     2 runes
               (Hunt fires once)
T3     6       Hold A (#1 there): +1; walk #2 to A                      2     6 runes = full-price
                                                                               Poppy, E6 + 1 Order
T4     8       Hold A (#1 and #2 there): +2                             4     4 runes = Poppy at
               spend 4 on your turn (another body)                            E3 + 1 Order after
                                                                              spending 3 XP

4. Breaks to

Kill the garrison in their Main Phase, then attack. If the opponent removes every unit you have at A before they move in, there is no battlefield where you control units and Poppy has no Reaction window at all (822.1.b, 822.3); their walk-in then meets nobody. On a one-Protector board the cheapest kill is OGS-003 Incinerate — Fury, E2, "[Action] (Play on your turn or in showdowns.) Deal 2 to a unit at a battlefield." — or SFD-162 Blood Money in Order, E2, "Kill a unit at a battlefield with 2 :rb_might: or less." The faucet stops with it; the XP already banked stays (730.2 removes XP only when you spend it).

This is why the second Protector is the protection. With both at A, one removal leaves a body standing and Poppy still has her landing pad; the opponent needs two cards, or one that hits both. Buffing a lone Protector to Might 3 instead lifts it out of Incinerate and Blood Money but not out of OGN-009 Hextech Ray (Fury, E1 + 1 Power, "Deal 3 to a unit at a battlefield.") or UNL-159 Soul Harvest (Order, E2 + 1 Power, "Kill a unit at a battlefield with 3 :rb_might: or less."), and it costs the 2 XP Poppy wanted.

Once she lands there is no counter. She is a unit, and 337.2 resolves a unit the moment it is finalized: "If, after finalizing the Chain Item, that item is a Unit, Gear, or an ability that Adds resources, it resolves immediately—Move to Step 4: Resolve." The answer to a 5-Might Tank is a full-price kill on a later turn, OGN-229 Vengeance (Order, E4 + 2 Power, "Kill a unit.").

Or they do not attack A. Then Poppy waits in hand, and the held runes bought nothing that turn. She can still be played on your own turn to A or your base, but then the [Reaction] half of [Ambush] was never used.

5. Verdict

The rate is right and the risk is in the other card. Three Scores buy three Energy off Poppy, but the Protector that mints them is also the only legal landing pad for her Reaction-speed arrival, so the opponent answers the line for E2 by killing a 2-Might body in their own Main Phase before they attack. Play the second Protector to the same battlefield: it doubles the faucet (+2 per Hold) and, more importantly, makes the landing pad survive one removal spell.

It scores nothing: a 5-Might [Tank] at Reaction speed for E3 + 1 Order Power from T4, against E6 + 1 the turn before. It breaks to OGS-003 Incinerate or SFD-162 Blood Money for E2 on a lone Protector, and needs two such cards once both Protectors stand at the same battlefield.

6. Not verified

I did not walk the line with UNL-151 Bandle Soldier in the list (the entry already names the 824.1.d anti-synergy), a combat in which the opponent attacks with more than one unit, or 2v2.

Leads