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the counter kills the unit the spell was saving

Issue #299 (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: heedless-resurrection-removal-blank, the mono-Chaos ENGINE in which the opponent aims removal at your unit, you answer with UNL-142 Heedless Resurrection, kill the unit as the spell's cost and play the same unit straight back from the trash. The entry is right that the removal then does nothing. Walked as a game, the price is paid before the spell resolves, and that is the whole weakness: the unit is already in the trash when the opponent gets to respond, so a one-Energy counter leaves you a card further behind than if you had let the removal resolve.

Why this line. scripts/sequence-pick.mjs --unplayed, re-run on 2026-10-07 at cfe8539, reads 771 entries, 262 with forced-ordering language, 102 in the queue and 73 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 26 (hits on in response and first), first in the list. The other entry of this slice is rank 27, played in the Vortex taxes whoever answers, and Focus changes hands.

1. Needs

Legendany legend with Chaos in its pair (103.1.b)
Firsta real unit on the board worth saving: OGN-167 Ember Monk (Chaos, E4, M4)
Held opentwo runes, one of them Chaos, through the opponent's turn (2 Energy and 1 Chaos Power)
ThenUNL-142 Heedless Resurrection (Chaos, E2 + 1 Power), in response to their removal

The card text the play turns on:

2. Your order: the kill is the cost, so it happens first

The kill is not optional. 356.2.a.1: "Some Additional Costs specified by Passive Abilities on the card being played or another card are Mandatory, and must be paid to complete playing the card. They use the phrase "as an additional cost" and don't include the word "may."" And it is not a target, so nothing the opponent controls can tax or redirect it — 355.10.c: "“As an additional cost to play me, kill a friendly unit” doesn’t target anything."

So the Monk is in the trash before Heedless Resurrection is even on the chain, and when the spell resolves the Monk is the obvious choice for "a unit from your trash": its own costs meet its own ceiling exactly. It comes back exhausted — 143.4: "Units enter the Board exhausted." — and it can come back where it stood, because 355.2.a: "By default, Valid locations include the controller’s Base or a Battlefield the controller controls." The Mystic Poro beside it keeps that battlefield yours throughout.

The opponent's removal then misses. The Monk that returned is a new object — 359.3.e.4: "If a target changes Zones to or from a Non-Board Zone and then returns to its original zone, it is no longer a legal target, because it's not treated as the same object." — and 359.3.e.5 says what is left of the spell: "If any of the spell's targets are no longer legal, those game objects, players, or zones are unaffected by the spell as it resolves. Any instructions related to an illegal target can’t be followed." The rules' own worked example there is the removal in this play, OGN-024 Void Seeker, and its "Draw 1" still happens for its caster.

3. Their order: answer the answer

Heedless Resurrection is a [Reaction] spell cast into a chain, and a chain is exactly where counters live — 309.1.a: "Only cards and abilities with the Reaction keyword can be played or activated in a Closed State." The opponent who cast the removal gets to respond to your response, and by then the Monk is gone. A counter takes the spell and keeps the cost — 425.1.c: "Countering does not refund any costs paid to play a card, activate an ability, or trigger an ability." — and 425.1.c.1 closes the gap you would hope for: "This includes additional costs."

4. The turns, going first

Mono-Chaos against Fury/Calm. The opponent holds the other battlefield.

turn    runes   your turn                                                 at battlefield A
T1      2       Mystic Poro (E2) at base
T2      4       Poro walks to A, Conquer: +1. Ember Monk (E4) at base.    Poro
T3      6       Hold A: +1. Monk walks to A. Shipyard Skulker (E3) at     Poro, Monk
                base. 3 runes left open; the line needs two.
their T3        Void Seeker on the Monk (E3 + 1 Power). In response:
                Heedless Resurrection (E2 + 1 Chaos Power): the Monk
                dies as the cost and comes back to A, exhausted. Void
                Seeker resolves on nothing; they draw 1.                  Poro, Monk
T4      7       Hold A: +1. 3 points.

The Power comes from a rune, so it takes one off the board — 164.2.b: "Recycle this: [Reaction] — Add [C]." — and 161.2.b: "When a Rune is Recycled it is returned to the Rune Deck, not the Main Deck." That is why T4 has seven runes and not eight. One rune pays both halves: 164.2.a's cost is the exhaust, "[E]: [Reaction] — Add [1].", and 164.2.b's is the recycle, which asks nothing about readiness. So Heedless Resurrection needs two runes held through their turn, one of them Chaos: both exhaust for the 2 Energy and the Chaos one is then recycled for the Power. Those are two runes you did not spend on T3, and one of them does not come back.

5. Breaks to

The line breaks to OGN-045 Defy (Calm, E1 + 1 Power, "[Reaction] (Play any time, even before spells and abilities resolve.) Counter a spell that costs no more than :rb_energy_4: and no more than :rb_rune_rainbow:."), cast in response to Heedless Resurrection. The spell costs E2 and one Power, so Defy reaches it. Heedless Resurrection is countered, the Monk stays in the trash, and Void Seeker still fizzles, because its target is gone. Count the cards. If you had let Void Seeker resolve you would be down the Monk and they would be down nothing, having drawn one for the card they spent. After Defy you are down the Monk and Heedless Resurrection, and they are down one card. Their T3 spends Void Seeker and Defy, E4 + 2 Power, which is four runes: four exhaust for the Energy and two of them are recycled for the Power. Going second they have seven by then — 485.7: "First Turn Process: The player going second channels an extra Rune from their Rune Deck during their first Channel Phase of the game." — so the counter costs them one rune beyond the removal, with three to spare.

Inside Chaos, SFD-136 Hard Bargain (E2, "Counter a spell unless its controller pays :rb_energy_2:.") does the same unless you held four runes open instead of two, and UNL-131 Abandon (E2) counters it and returns Heedless Resurrection to your hand, with the Monk still dead.

Waiting is also an answer, and it costs nothing. The line works only while two runes, one of them Chaos, sit untapped through the opponent's turn. Removal cast on the turn you spent them meets no response at all.

6. Verdict

One removal spell blanked for two runes, unless the opponent holds one rune more. The ordering is forced on you twice: the kill is a mandatory cost, so it comes first, and the spell is a [Reaction], so it lands in the one window where the opponent can still answer it. When they do, the counter keeps your unit in the trash. Nothing here scores; the points are the Hold curve from the Poro.

7. Not verified

I did not walk VEN-152 Rebuttal (Mind/Chaos, a Signature card), which can take control of a spell instead of countering it: what Heedless Resurrection's "your trash" means once the opponent controls it is a reading I have not settled. I did not walk a unit with [Deathknell] as the sacrifice, 2v2, or removal that chooses nothing.

Leads