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Irelia lands with Discipline open and loses to a stun

Issue #305 (a slice of #200), 2026-10-07. 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: discipline-irelia-fervent-cantrip-choose, the Calm ENGINE in which OGN-058 Discipline chooses SFD-057 Irelia, Fervent. Her own trigger adds +1 to the spell's +2, and the spell draws a card, so it is +3 Might for two Energy at no cost in cards. The entry is right that a spell choosing her triggers her, right that her [Deflect] taxes only the opponent, and right that the Awakening ready is a free +1 on your turn. Walked as a game, two things decide it. Irelia lands only when Discipline is open, because on the opponent's turn she is M4 and VEN-015 Decree of Rage deals exactly 4 and can't be countered. And when she attacks, Discipline goes first, because the attacker acts first in the showdown, so the opponent answers after the +3. What breaks it is a stun cast after the pump.

Why this line. scripts/sequence-pick.mjs --unplayed, re-run on 2026-10-07 at a4767cf, reads 771 entries, 262 with forced-ordering language, 102 in the queue and 67 of them with no play, unchanged from the issue. The pick is by global rank, skipping entries that already have a play: this entry is rank 32 (a hit on before), first in the list. The other entry of this slice is rank 33, played in the discount pays for Reinforce and the kill pays for the Faefolk.

1. Needs

Legendany Calm legend (103.1.b); here OGN-255 Nine-Tailed Fox (Calm/Mind)
Firsta battlefield of your own, taken by OGN-052 Stalwart Poro (Calm, E2, M2)
ThenSFD-057 Irelia, Fervent (Calm, E5, M4) at your base, with two runes still ready after her
Heldtwo OGN-058 Discipline (Calm, E2)

Irelia and both Disciplines are in hand when the walk needs them, as the clock assumes. Under this legend Irelia is not the Chosen Champion, so she has to be drawn: three copies in 39 cards, eight cards seen by T4 going first, find one 50.8% of the time.

The card text the play turns on:

2. Your order: Irelia on T4, Discipline before they act

Irelia comes down a turn late on purpose. On T3 she costs five of your six runes, and the one rune left cannot pay for Discipline. On the opponent's turn she is M4, because her ready +1 comes only from your own Awakening. Decree reaches her at your base, because it names no location, and its 4 is lethal. 054 ("Can't beats Can") puts its "can't be countered" above any counter you hold. Discipline answers it anyway, because it raises her Might and does not need to stop the spell: on their turn it makes her M7, and 4 damage does not kill her. So she lands on T4, three runes stay ready, and Discipline is open through their turn.

The +1 on T5 is free for a reason the entry does not give. 143.4 enters her exhausted, and 315.1.b readies her at your Awakening: "1. The Turn Player readies all Game Objects they control that are able to be readied." That ready triggers her. She starts T5 at M5 without having acted.

Then she attacks, and Discipline goes first. 464.2.d gives the attacker Focus first. If you pass, the defender ends the showdown by passing too, 347.2.a: "If all Players have passed once in sequence, the Showdown ends." At 5 against their 6 she would lose, so you have to act. After your chain closes, the next move is theirs, 347.1.b: "When that Chain closes, Focus passes to the next Player in Turn Order."

When Discipline chooses her, her trigger becomes a chain item of its own, 383.3: "When a Condition is met, a Triggered Ability behaves like an Activated Ability and is placed on the Chain." It was added after Discipline, so it resolves first, 340.1: "The newest Finalized Chain Item resolves." So a counter on Discipline does not stop the +1. The draw has no target, so it still happens if she is gone by the time Discipline resolves. Only the +2 is lost, 359.3.e.7: "If all of an instruction's Targets become Invalid or Unavailable by the time the spell begins resolving, that instruction will not execute." Her [Deflect] costs you nothing, 809.1.c: "Spells and abilities an opponent controls that target [me/this] cost an amount of Power equal to [Deflect Value] more to play as an additional cost for each time they choose [me/this]."

3. Their order: a wall at B, and Decree saved for the combat

Fury/Calm, with VEN-139 Rogue Assassin, whose [Action] move works only "If it's your turn" and so does nothing on yours. They take the other battlefield, B, on T2 and garrison it with OGN-054 Sunlit Guardian (Calm, E3, M3, [Shield], [Tank]) and OGN-013 Pouty Poro (Fury, E2, M2), six Might on defence. They hold Decree. On their T4, Decree into your three open runes trades one card for one Discipline at your base. So they keep it for the combat, where its 4 adds to the six the wall deals. Combat damage is dealt at the end of the showdown, using Might as it is then, 465.2: "1. When the Showdown closes, Attackers and Defenders resolve Combat Damage at the Battlefield that was attacked, using their current Might." Damage already marked counts toward that, 143.2.a: "If a Unit ever has nonzero damage marked on it equalling or exceeding its Might, it is Killed."

4. The turns, going first

Calm/Mind against Fury/Calm.

turn    runes   your turn                                                 points
T1      2       Stalwart Poro (E2) to base                                0
their T1        Pouty Poro to base, with the 485.7 extra rune.
T2      4       Poro walks to A, Conquer: +1. Mutated Mouser (E2) to A.   1
their T2        Pouty Poro walks to B, Conquer. Sunlit Guardian (E3) to B.
T3      6       Hold A: +1. Wizened Elder (E4) to A. Irelia waits: she    2
                would leave one rune, and Discipline costs two.
their T3        Hold B. Noxus Saboteur (E3) to their base. Decree held.
T4      8       Hold A: +1. Irelia, Fervent (E5) to base, exhausted.      3
                Three runes stay ready.
their T4        Hold B. A defends at ten (Poro 3, Mouser 3, Elder 4) and
                the Fox takes 1 off each attacker, so the Saboteur stays
                home. Decree stays in hand.
T5      10      Awakening readies Irelia: +1, M5. Hold A: +1. Irelia      5
                walks to B: combat against the Guardian (3, +1 Shield)
                and Pouty Poro (2), six. Discipline: her trigger, then
                +2, draw 1: M8. Their Focus: Decree on her (E1 + 1 Fury
                Power + 1 for Deflect), 4 marked; six more would be ten.
                Your Focus: Discipline again, M11, draw 1. Both pass.
                She assigns 4 to the Guardian ([Tank]) and 2 to the
                Poro, and takes 6 on top of 4: ten, under eleven.
                Conquer B: +1.

Their points: 1 on T2, 2 on T3, 3 on T4. Mouser and Elder go to A because 355.2.a allows "a Battlefield the controller controls". The Saboteur cannot reach A from B, only from their base (144.4.a, 144.4.b), which is why it was played there. Nothing you cast cost Power, so you have ten runes on T5. Two Disciplines answered one Decree and both drew a card, and the wall's two units died with it. Six runes are still ready at the end of the combat.

5. Breaks to

The line breaks to OGN-050 Rune Prison (Calm, E2 + 1 Power, plus 1 Power for [Deflect]: two runes, both recycled), cast with their Focus where the walk has Decree: "[Action] (Play on your turn or in showdowns.) Stun a unit. (It doesn't deal combat damage this turn.)" At M8 she deals nothing, 423.1.b: "A Stunned Unit does not contribute its might to damage in the combat damage step." The wall's six do not kill her, so the Combat Cleanup sends her home, 466.1.a.2: "Recall Attackers present at the Battlefield if Defenders are still present." B stays theirs, both their units live, and a second Discipline only adds Might that deals no damage. Every Discipline adds Might, and a stun stops that Might from dealing damage. The reply is SFD-045 Not So Fast (Calm, E2 + 1 Power, [Reaction]): "Counter an enemy spell or ability that chooses a friendly unit or gear." That is a third card, and on T5 you have the runes for it.

OGN-045 Defy (Calm, E1 + 1 Power: one rune) is cheaper and counters one Discipline: "Counter a spell that costs no more than :rb_energy_4: and no more than :rb_rune_rainbow:." Her trigger is already on the chain, so she still gets +1: M6 against six, and both sides die. A second Discipline (M9) wins the fight again. Defy costs you one Discipline and its draw, so it delays the engine rather than breaking it.

Decree, which the walk paid for, is the damage answer. Against damage the exchange is even: each answer costs the opponent a card, and each Discipline replaces itself.

6. Verdict

+3 and a card for two Energy, as the entry says, on a body that has to land with the answer open. The rules reading is right. The play adds two points about order. Irelia waits for T4, so Discipline is open on the turn Decree could kill her. In combat Discipline goes first, because the attacker acts first, and that hands the opponent the next move. In the walk two Disciplines take B against Decree. The line breaks to a two-rune stun cast after the pump.

7. Not verified

I did not walk Irelia defending on their turn, the Not So Fast exchange, or SFD-195 Blade Dancer as the legend. Under Blade Dancer she would be the Chosen Champion (103.2.a.2, 108.3.d), and the legend has its own ready for one Power, which is a different entry. 2v2 was not walked.

Leads