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the garrison goes home on turn six, and four bodies come back

Issue #315 (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: moonlight-affliction-tricksy-tentacles-evacuation, the Calm/Mind ENGINE in which UNL-066 Moonlight Affliction takes the biggest defender's Might out of a garrison's sum, and UNL-054 Tricksy Tentacles moves the whole garrison home, so a body of yours walks into an empty battlefield and conquers it with no combat. The entry is right about the rules: 143.2.b reads the afflicted body as 0, 323.6 strips the control, and the walk-in is a Conquer. Walked as a game, the two spells are eleven runes, so the line runs on T6, the first turn with eleven, and only if nothing was recycled before. The garrison has to be the right size, and the opponent decides that size. In the walk it was exactly 8 plus the biggest body, and the line took B for one point. The evacuated bodies were moved, not killed. On their T6 four of them walked back in, and they kept 14 without the biggest, out of the line's reach. What breaks it is OGN-046 En Garde, one rune, on Tentacles.

Why this line. scripts/sequence-pick.mjs --unplayed, re-run on 2026-10-07 at 209c142, reads 771 entries, 262 with forced-ordering language, 102 in the queue and 57 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 44 (a hit on first), first in the list. The other entry of this slice is rank 45, played in the second Sergeant walks the turn it lands, and B changes hands twice.

1. Needs

Legenda Calm/Mind legend (103.1.b); here OGN-255 Nine-Tailed Fox
The spellsMoonlight Affliction and Tricksy Tentacles in hand on the same turn, and eleven runes, one of them Calm
The walkera ready body of yours in base, played on an earlier turn
Targetan enemy garrison whose total Might is more than 8 and at most 8 plus its biggest body

The card text the play turns on:

2. Your order: shrink, move, walk

The Affliction has to resolve first. Tentacles chooses its targets when it is played, and the sum is a targeting restriction, so it has to be 8 or less at that moment. 143.2.b is what the Affliction buys: "If a unit's Might is ever less than 0, it is treated as 0 when referenced by spells and abilities, and when summing Might to be assigned as damage in the Combat Damage Step." A 6-Might body at -4 adds nothing to Tentacles' sum. A second Affliction on the same body adds nothing either. 143.2.b.1: "Although the unit’s Might is treated as 0, it is not 0." Both spells are your Main Phase cards here. Tentacles has no [Action], and 813.1.b lets the Affliction be played wherever an Action could: "Reaction grants the corresponding card or effect all abilities and permissions of Action."

Tentacles chooses the destination. 449.1: "The source of the Move will provide details on any restrictions on legality for Destination." The card says "a single location", so their base is legal. Do not send them to a battlefield of yours. There they would be the Attackers of a combat on your turn, which is a different line.

Their control goes at the next cleanup. 323.6: "Players lose control of any controlled Battlefields without their Units occupying them if the turn is in an Open State and there is no Showdown or Combat ongoing there." Nobody gains it. The battlefield is now open, 170.11.c: "Battlefields can be “open.” This means they are unoccupied and uncontrolled."

Then a body walks in. The walk is a Standard Move, and 144.2 makes it cost an exhaust: "Exhausting the Unit is the Cost for this action." So the walker has to be a body that was already in base and ready, not one played this turn (143.4). 190.3.a.1: "Units moving to or being played to a battlefield apply Contested status if that battlefield is not already Contested and that Unit’s controller does not already control that battlefield." 344.2: "If Control of a Battlefield is Contested, there aren’t units controlled by different players there, and the turn is in a Neutral Open State, a Showdown is opened during the next Cleanup." When everyone passes, 348.2.a gives you control, and 348.2.a.1 makes it score: "This results in a Conquer if that player has not yet scored that Battlefield this turn."

3. Their order: stack B, threaten A from base

Calm/Body with OGN-257 Blind Monk, which buffs one body a turn on their own turn. It cannot answer on yours. 381: "All Activated Abilities can only be activated on the Controlling Player's Turn and during an Open State." They take B on their T2 and stack it to fourteen by T3, three buffed bodies. After that the new bodies go to base, because a body at B cannot reach A. 144.4.b: "Units may move from a Battlefield to their Base." Only a body in base can attack A. That split is what puts B in the line's reach.

4. The turns, going first

Calm/Mind against Calm/Body. Your rune deck is six Calm and six Mind. Your opening four are Stalwart Poro, Sunlit Guardian, Clockwork Keeper and Tricksy Tentacles. The draws are Affectionate Poro, a second Sunlit Guardian, Navori Scout, a second Stalwart Poro, a second Affectionate Poro, and on T6 Moonlight Affliction. You pay no Power before T6.

turn    runes   your turn                                                 points
T1      2       Stalwart Poro (E2) to base.                               0
their T1        Sea Monkey (E2, and E1 extra) to base: it buffs itself
                to 3. All three runes spent.
T2      4       Poro walks to A, Conquer: +1. Sunlit Guardian (E3) to     1
                A. One idle.
their T2        Sea Monkey walks to B, Conquer. Wizened Elder (E4) to
                B, and Blind Monk (E1) buffs it: 4 + 1 + 1 = 6. B is
                at nine. All five spent.
T3      6       Hold A: +1. Nine is out of Tentacles' reach alone.        2
                Clockwork Keeper (E2, extra cost not paid) to base.
                Affectionate Poro (E3) to A. One idle.
their T3        Hold B. Yordle Explorer (E4) to B, and Blind Monk (E1)
                buffs it to 5. B is at fourteen. Two idle.
T4      8       Hold A: +1. Second Sunlit Guardian (E3) and Navori        3
                Scout (E4) to A. One idle.
their T4        Hold B. Second Wizened Elder (E4) to base, and Blind
                Monk (E1) buffs it to 6. Second Sea Monkey (E2, and E1
                extra) to base, at 3. One idle.
T5      10      Hold A: +1. Second Stalwart Poro (E2) and second          4
                Affectionate Poro (E3) to A. Five idle: the two spells
                are eleven.
their T5        Hold B. Navori Scout (E4) and Pit Rookie (E2) to base.
                The Rookie buffs the Scout to 5, and Blind Monk (E1)
                buffs the Rookie to 3. Four idle.
T6      12      Hold A: +1. Moonlight Affliction (E7) on the Elder at     6
                B: 6 becomes -4, read as 0. Tricksy Tentacles (E4 + 1
                Calm) on the Elder, the Sea Monkey and the Explorer,
                0 + 3 + 5 = 8, to their base. Eleven tapped, one of
                them recycled, one idle. At the cleanup B is
                uncontrolled. The Keeper walks in, nobody else comes,
                and the showdown closes: Conquer, +1.
their T6        No Hold. The Elder, the Explorer, the second Elder and
                the Sea Monkey walk into B: 20 Might, 14 without the
                biggest. Nine-Tailed Fox makes them 16 against the
                Keeper's 2. The Keeper dies and takes the Sea Monkey
                with it. Conquer. The other three stay in base.

Their points: 1 on T2, 2 on T3, 3 on T4, 4 on T5, 5 on T6. After their T6 it is 6 to 5.

Their T6 fight. Nine-Tailed Fox gives each attacker -1, so the Elders are 5, the Explorer 4 and the Sea Monkey 2. Their 16 put lethal damage on the Keeper, and the Keeper's 2 kill the Sea Monkey. 466.5.d: "Establishing Control results in a Conquer if that player has not yet scored this Battlefield this turn." The three left in base, the second Sea Monkey, the Scout and the Rookie, are 11, and 8 after the Fox, against A's 24 defending. They do not attack A.

What the line bought. One point. On their T6 they score B either way: a Conquer instead of a Hold. So the point is yours alone, 6 to 5 where the same turns without the line give 5 to 5. The trade was the Keeper for a Sea Monkey. The line also decided their T6. To stay out of reach they walked four bodies into B, 14 without the biggest, so a second Affliction and Tentacles on T7 has nothing to take. It cost eleven runes on T6 and two cards. Nothing was killed: Tentacles moves, and the three bodies it moved came back the next turn.

How often this T6 happens. The line needs one of each spell in the first ten cards (the opening four, then the T1 to T6 draws). With three of each in 39 that is 34.6% of games, without a mulligan. With the entry's single copy of each it is 6.1%. The garrison also has to be in reach, more than 8 and at most 8 plus its biggest body, and that is the opponent's choice, not a draw.

5. Breaks to

The line breaks to OGN-046 En Garde (Calm, E1: one rune, nothing recycled), held from their T5 and cast in response to Tentacles, on the Sea Monkey. It is not alone at B, so it gets +1 and no more. The targets are now 0 + 4 + 5 = 9. 355.11.b: "If the group of targets no longer collectively fulfill the targeting restriction as the spell or ability resolves, that spell or ability’s controller can choose a subset of the original targets that fulfills the targeting requirement for the spell or ability to affect." Any subset leaves one body at B: the Sea Monkey at 4, or the Explorer at 5. B stays occupied, so 323.6 strips nothing, and the Keeper's 2 does not beat either. They keep B. You spent eleven runes, one of them recycled, and two cards. They spent one rune and one card.

The pump works because the sum was exactly 8. With slack under 8, one Might is not enough. The unconditional answers are OGN-045 Defy and VEN-039 Crumbling Sands, one rune each, tapped and then recycled. Crumbling Sands reads "Counter a spell if an opponent has played another spell this turn." The line's own order meets that: the Affliction is the other spell.

The reply is your own Defy with the twelfth rune, cast on En Garde, which is one Energy and inside Defy's limit. T6 then taps all twelve and recycles two. A second answer from them, at one rune more, wins the exchange.

6. Verdict

Right, on turn six, against a garrison the opponent sizes. The rules reading is right. 143.2.b reads the afflicted body as 0, Tentacles moves the rest home, 323.6 strips the control, and the walk-in is a Conquer. The play adds three prices. Eleven runes is T6 at the earliest, and only if no more than one rune was recycled on T1 to T5. The reach is 8 plus the biggest body. The opponent sets the garrison: in the walk a fourth body at B would have put it out of reach, and on their T6 they walked four back in. And the bodies are moved, not killed, so B is theirs again on their next turn. The line is worth one point, and it forces their next turn into B.

7. Not verified

I did not deal the channel order. No Power is paid before T6, and on T6 all twelve runes are on the board, six of them Calm, so Tentacles' Calm Power fails in none of the 924 deals. They pay no Power at all. I did not walk the mulligan, a second walker in base (with the Keeper and a 3-Might body, the En Garde subset becomes a fight the walkers win), Defy cast on Tentacles itself, Eager Apprentice, T7 on, or 2v2.

Leads