RIFTCOMBO
← All plays

the bounce hands the Mech back, and the second stun kills it

Issue #319 (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: eclipse-herald-existential-dread-repeat-bounce, the Calm/Chaos ENGINE in which UNL-134 Existential Dread with its [Repeat] is aimed twice at the same attacking unit: the first execution stuns it, the second finds it stunned and returns it to its owner's hand, and OGN-059 Eclipse Herald takes +1 for the one stun. The entry is right about the rules. Walked as a game, the full line is live from their T5. On their T5 they attacked A with twenty-two against seventeen, OGN-088 Mega-Mech among them. The bounce sends the Mech back to their hand. Spending the same Repeat on a second stun lets your side kill the Mech, and their attack drops to ten instead of fourteen. Your side had the Might to kill the stunned Mech, so the bounce was the wrong half of the card; the Herald's triggers were worth one body. The line breaks to SFD-136 Hard Bargain, two runes, against four runes held.

Why this line. scripts/sequence-pick.mjs --unplayed, re-run on 2026-10-07 at 9ea2315, reads 771 entries, 262 with forced-ordering language, 102 in the queue and 53 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 48 (a hit on first), first in the list. The other entry of this slice is rank 49, played in Masa stuns B, Vex takes it alone, and her Tank covers no one. The Herald's other [Repeat] line, with SFD-040 Thwonk!, is played in two stuns make the Herald nine, and all six attackers die.

1. Needs

LegendCalm/Chaos (103.1.b): Unforgiven, Blade Dancer or Gloomist; here OGN-259 Unforgiven, idle in the walk
The bodyOGN-059 Eclipse Herald (Calm, E7 + 1 Power, M7), at the battlefield they attack
The spellUNL-134 Existential Dread (Chaos, E1 + 1 Power, [Repeat] 2 Energy), in hand, and three runes left ready through your own turn
Board it wantsan attack on the Herald's battlefield

The card text the play turns on:

2. Your order: the Herald on T4, the spell on their T5

The full line costs three runes and a recycle. One Energy for the spell and two for the Repeat, 820.1.c.1: "The Cost is an Additional Cost to be paid during the steps of playing the spell or ability." The Chaos Power comes from recycling a rune, and a rune already tapped for Energy still recycles: 164.2.b, "Recycle this: [Reaction] — Add [C].", carries no exhaust. Runes ready again only in your own Awakening, 415.3.a: "A player Readies all non-spell Game Objects they Control during the Awakening Phase on their turn." So three runes stay ready through your own turn.

The Herald is a T4 card, and that turn leaves one rune. Seven Energy is seven runes tapped, and the Calm Power recycles one of them: on T4's eight runes, one stays ready. The spell alone is live from their T3, three runes held out of six; the Herald and the full line together from their T5.

Both targets are chosen as the spell is played. 820.2: "When a spell or ability’s effect is performed an additional time with Repeat, choices must be made at the usual time during the Make Relevant Choices step of Playing a Card." 820.2.a lets the second choice be the same unit or another: "Choices made for the additional execution do not have to be the same as the choices made for the initial execution." Riot's example under it says the same: "if they choose the same mode, may choose the same target or a different one." So the card has two modes with the Repeat paid, and they cost the same:

What a stun is worth, and what the bounce adds to it. 423.1.b: "A Stunned Unit does not contribute its might to damage in the combat damage step." It still dies only to full damage, 423.1.c: "A Stunned Unit must still have damage applied to it equal to, or greater than, its full might value to be killed." So after the first execution the target already deals nothing. The second execution decides one thing: whether the stunned unit stays in the fight for your side to kill, or goes back to their hand, where it cannot die. A second stun takes a second attacker's Might out of their sum and puts +1 more on the Herald.

3. Their order: B, and everything at A on their T5

Mind/Chaos under SFD-199 Prodigal Explorer, idle in the walk: it needs enemy units chosen twice with their spells, and they cast none. They take B on their T2 and hold it with one Shipyard Skulker. Every body after that goes to base, where it can reach A, 144.4.a: "Units may move from their Base to a Battlefield." They attack when the bodies in base add up to more than A, and on their T5 they do: twenty-two against seventeen. That turn they spend no runes before the attack.

4. The turns, going first

Calm/Chaos against Mind/Chaos. Your rune deck is six Calm and six Chaos. Your opening four are Stalwart Poro, Navori Scout, Eclipse Herald and Existential Dread. The draws are Shipyard Skulker, a second Stalwart Poro, Mystic Poro, a second Navori Scout, and on T5 Playful Phantom. You pay no Power before T4.

turn    runes   your turn                                                 points
T1      2       Stalwart Poro (E2) to base.                               0
their T1        Shipyard Skulker (E3) to base, with the 485.7 extra
                rune. All three spent.
T2      4       Poro walks to A, Conquer: +1. Navori Scout (E4) to A.     1
                All four spent.
their T2        Skulker walks to B, Conquer. Mystic Poro (E2) and a
                second Skulker (E3) to base. All five spent.
T3      6       Hold A: +1. Shipyard Skulker (E3) to A. Three ready:      2
                Existential Dread is live already, without the Herald.
their T3        Hold B. A defends at ten (the Poro at 3 with its
                Shield, the Scout 4, the Skulker 3) and their two in
                base make five: no attack. Ember Monk (E4) and a third
                Skulker (E3) to base. All seven spent.
T4      8       Hold A: +1. Eclipse Herald (E7 + 1 Calm) to A: seven      3
                tapped, one tapped Calm recycled. One ready.
their T4        Hold B. A defends at seventeen and their four in base
                make twelve: no attack. Mega-Mech (E7) and a second
                Mystic Poro (E2) to base. All nine spent.
T5      9       Hold A: +1. Playful Phantom (E5) to base, for B on T6.    4
                Four ready.
their T5        Hold B. All six in base walk into A, twenty-two against
                seventeen. They pass Focus. Existential Dread with its
                Repeat, three tapped and one tapped Chaos recycled:
                the Mech and the Monk stunned, two Herald triggers, the
                Herald at 9. They pass, you pass. Their ten kill the
                Herald. Your nineteen kill the Mech, the Monk and both
                Skulkers. Both Mystic Poros are recalled. A stays yours.

Their points: 1 on T2, 2 on T3, 3 on T4, 4 on T5. After their T5 it is 4 to 4.

The T5 fight. Twenty-two attack: the Mega-Mech 8, the Ember Monk 4, two Skulkers (3 + 3) and two Mystic Poros (2 + 2). Seventeen defend: the Herald 7, the Scout 4, the Skulker 3 and the Poro at 3 with its Shield (814.1.c). The attacker has Focus first (464.2.d) and passes, and you cast the spell with it, 806.1.b: "Action grants the corresponding card or effect permission to be played or activated during Showdowns, even when it is not the Controlling player's turn." The two choices are the Mech and the Monk. Both are stunned, the Herald triggers twice, and he defends at 9. Focus goes back to them, both players pass, and the damage step reads ten Might on their side and nineteen on yours.

They assign first, 465.2.c: "Starting with the Attacker, each player assigns an amount of damage equal to their summed Might among the other's Units." Ten is the Herald's nine and one more, or the Scout, the Poro and the Skulker, ten exactly. They take the Herald, and the tenth point goes on the Poro, which lives. Your nineteen kill the Mech at its full 8, the Monk at 4 and both Skulkers (3 + 3): eighteen. The last point goes on a Mystic Poro, which lives, 465.2.c.4: "Units cannot have more damage assigned to them than the minimum required to constitute lethal damage unless no further units remain to have damage assigned to them." Both Mystic Poros are still there with your defenders, so the cleanup recalls them, 466.1.a.2: "Insert “3d. Recall Attackers present at the Battlefield if Defenders are still present.”" That is no result, 466.3.d, and A stays yours.

The same fight with the entry's line. The Mech twice: stunned, then back to their hand. One trigger, the Herald at 8. Their attack is fourteen (the Monk 4, the Skulkers 3 + 3, the Mystic Poros 2 + 2), yours eighteen. Their fourteen kill the Herald, the Poro and the Skulker, 8 + 3 + 3 exactly. Your eighteen kill all five, fourteen, with four to spare. You are the only player with units left, 466.3.a: "A Player has won a combat if they received either the attacker or defender designation and are the only Player that has units remaining at this battlefield during this step." A stays yours either way.

After their T5two stuns (played)the bounce (the entry's line)
Their deadMega-Mech, Ember Monk, two SkulkersEmber Monk, two Skulkers, two Mystic Poros
Their survivorstwo Mystic Poros, in basenone; the Mega-Mech in hand
Your deadthe Heraldthe Herald, the Poro, the Skulker
Your survivors at Athe Scout, the Poro, the Skulkerthe Scout
Spentthree runes, one recycledthree runes, one recycled

The bounce takes out two more of their bodies, worth four Energy. It hands back the Mech, which costs them seven to play again on their T6, out of twelve, and it costs you two bodies more. The two stuns kill the Mech outright. What decides it is the 8 the stunned Mech needs: with two stuns your side has nineteen and spends eight of it on the Mech; with the bounce the Mech never needs killing, but their side keeps four more Might and kills two more of yours.

What the Repeat added. Without it the spell is one Energy and one Power: the Mech stunned, the Herald at 8, their fourteen against your eighteen. Your eighteen kill the Mech, the Monk and both Skulkers, eighteen exactly; their fourteen kill the Herald, the Poro and the Skulker. The Repeat's two Energy, spent on the Monk, saved the Poro and the Skulker. Spent on the bounce, it bought nothing over the single stun but the Mech's trip to their hand, and it cost the Mech's death.

What the Herald added. Play the two stuns with the Herald as a plain 7: their ten kill him and the Poro, 7 + 3 exactly. Your seventeen kill the Mech, the Monk and a Skulker (8 + 4 + 3), and the last two kill a Mystic Poro; the other Skulker and Mystic Poro are recalled. The +2 was the Poro saved and the second Skulker dead instead of a Mystic Poro: one body each way. The Mech dies either way.

When the bounce is the right mode. The bounce beats a second stun only when the stunned unit would live anyway: when your side cannot spare its full Might, and no second attacker is worth stunning. The Herald pays per stun, and the bounce is the mode with one stun. And a token is different, 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." A bounced token is removed for good, whatever its Might.

How often this T5 happens. The Herald has to be in the first eight cards and the spell in the first nine: 4 + 4 and 4 + 5 cards of 39 (Tournament Rules 601.1.b makes the Main Deck exactly 40, and 103.2.a.1 sets the Chosen Champion aside). That is 26.8% of games with three of each and 4.3% with the entry's one of each, without a mulligan. And they have to attack the Herald's battlefield.

5. Breaks to

The line breaks to SFD-136 Hard Bargain (Chaos, E2: two runes, nothing recycled), cast out of their eleven in response to the spell. You held four and tapped three, so you cannot pay the two. The spell is countered, and the Repeat's two stay spent, 425.1.c.1: "This includes additional costs." Nothing is stunned, the Herald never triggers, and the fight is twenty-two against seventeen. They kill all four of yours, seventeen with five to spare. Your seventeen kill the Mech, the Monk, a Skulker and a Mystic Poro, 8 + 4 + 3 + 2. They keep a Skulker and a Mystic Poro, win A, and 466.5.d makes it a Conquer: "Establishing Control results in a Conquer if that player has not yet scored this Battlefield this turn." That is 4 to 5 after their T5, with both battlefields theirs.

The reply is five runes held, to pay the two, which on T5 means the Phantom stays in hand. Or skip the Repeat: the single stun taps one rune, and three ready pay Hard Bargain's two. That fight is the one priced above, the Mech dead and three of yours with it.

6. Verdict

Right about the rules, and the bounce was the wrong mode in the fight. 820.2.a lets the Repeat choose the same unit, 423.1.a.1 stops the second stun, and the printed alternative returns the unit to its owner's hand; the Herald triggers once. The play adds four things. The Herald is a T4 card, so the full line is live from their T5, three runes held. In the walked fight the same three runes spent on two different attackers killed the Mega-Mech that the bounce would have handed back, and lost one body instead of three. The Herald pays per stun, so the bounce gives him +1 where two stuns give +2; in the walk that was one body each way. And three runes plus one lose to SFD-136 Hard Bargain at two.

7. Not verified

I did not deal the channel order. The one Power before their T5 is the Herald's Calm on T4, out of eight runes on the board, so at least two are Calm: it fails in none of the 924 deals. The spell's Chaos Power on their T5 is one Chaos among the nine runes on the board, the first ten channeled less the recycled Calm: none of the 924 fail. The spell live on their T3 needs one Chaos in the first six: it fails in 1 of the 924, the deal whose first six are all Calm. They pay no Power. I did not walk the opponent killing the Scout, the Poro and the Skulker instead of the Herald, an attack on B, Hard Bargain with its own Repeat, a second Existential Dread, OGN-259 Unforgiven moving the Herald, the mulligan, T6 on, or 2v2.

Leads