RIFTCOMBO
← All plays

the second Sergeant walks the turn it lands, and B changes hands twice

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: overt-operation-fiora-double-untap, the Body/Order ENGINE in which OGN-153 Overt Operation readies every buffed friend by spending its buff, then buffs every friend, and SFD-180 Fiora, Worthy readies each 4-Might body the buff makes Mighty. The entry is right about the rules: 702.3.a makes the two halves disjoint, and the 4 to 5 is 709's crossing. Walked as a game, the order in the entry's steps buys nothing in a duel. It attacks first and casts the spell after, and a body readied at a battlefield can only walk home. The order that buys something is the reverse: the spell first, on a body played that turn, which then walks. In the walk that is T5. The second Vanguard Sergeant walks the turn it lands, the team's +1 makes the attack ten against nine, and B is yours a turn early. On their T5 they take it back. Net, one point, and three of their bodies for one of yours. What breaks it is OGN-095 Stupefy, one rune, on the fresh Sergeant.

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 45 (a hit on first), second in the list. The other entry of this slice is rank 44, played in the garrison goes home on turn six, and four bodies come back. Overt Operation's other catalogued line, with Mystic Vortex, is played in the Vortex taxes whoever answers, and Focus changes hands.

1. Needs

LegendSFD-205 Grand Duelist (Body/Order), the Fiora legend, so Fiora can be the Chosen Champion
ChampionSFD-180 Fiora, Worthy as the Chosen Champion, on the board before the spell
The spell3x Overt Operation, and five runes with two Body among them
The bodies4-Might bodies with no buff: here three Vanguard Sergeant and three Mageseeker Investigator

The card text the play turns on:

2. Your order: the body, the spell, the walk

Fiora is always there. 103.2.a.2: "Must be a champion unit with a champion tag that matches the tag on your Champion Legend." Fiora, Worthy carries the Fiora tag, and so does Grand Duelist. 108.3.d: "The Chosen Champion can be played from here as normal, following the rules of Playing a Card." The entry's one copy of Fiora is never a draw.

The two halves never ready the same body. Half one readies only bodies that have a buff, and spends it. Half two then buffs everything, and 702.3.a skips any body that still has one: "If a Buff is added, or instructed to be added, on a Unit that already has a Buff, it is not placed instead." 703 makes the buff +1, and 709 is the crossing: a unit becomes Mighty "at the moment its Might changes from being less than 5 to being 5 or greater." So a body at exactly 4 goes to 5 and Fiora's trigger asks for the Order rune. 204.3.a: "It must be paid to finalize the triggered ability." Grand Duelist triggers on the same crossing and exhausts to pay, so it channels once a turn whatever the number of crossings. 414.1.b: "A Game Object that is already Exhausted cannot be Exhausted again."

What a ready body can do is move. 144.2: "Exhausting the Unit is the Cost for this action." The entry's steps attack first and cast the spell after. The attackers are then at a battlefield, and from a battlefield the Standard Move goes one way, 144.4.b: "Units may move from a Battlefield to their Base." With no [Ganking], standing them up buys a walk home, and a walk home gives the battlefield up at the next cleanup (323.6). A body in base at the start of your turn is ready already. So the only body the ready does anything for is one played this turn, 143.4: "Units enter the Board exhausted." Play it, cast the spell, and it walks with the rest.

Half one does nothing on the first cast. Nothing has a buff until half two gives one. In the walk half one readies no one.

3. Their order: B, and bodies in base

Mind/Chaos with SFD-199 Prodigal Explorer, idle in the walk. They take B on their T2 and stack it to nine by their T3: Mystic Poro, Shipyard Skulker and Ember Monk, none with a buff. The new bodies after that go to base, where they reach either battlefield, 144.4.a: "Units may move from their Base to a Battlefield." On their T4 they keep two runes open.

4. The turns, going first

Body/Order against Mind/Chaos. Your rune deck is six Body and six Order. Your opening four are Daring Poro, Trusty Ramhound, Vanguard Sergeant and Overt Operation. The draws are Unsung Hero, a second Trusty Ramhound, Mageseeker Investigator, Riposte, and on T5 the second Vanguard Sergeant. You pay no Power before T5.

turn    runes   your turn                                                 points
T1      2       Daring Poro (E2) to base.                                 0
their T1        Mystic Poro (E2) to base. One idle.
T2      4       Poro walks to A, Conquer: +1. Fiora, Worthy (E3) from     1
                the Champion Zone to A. One idle.
their T2        Mystic Poro walks to B, Conquer. Shipyard Skulker (E3)
                to B. Second Mystic Poro (E2) to base. All five spent.
T3      6       Hold A: +1. Vanguard Sergeant (E4) to base. Trusty        2
                Ramhound (E2) to A. All six spent.
their T3        Hold B. Ember Monk (E4) to B: B is at nine. Second
                Shipyard Skulker (E3) to base. All seven spent.
T4      8       Hold A: +1. The Sergeant alone is four against nine.      3
                Mageseeker Investigator (E4), Unsung Hero (E2) and the
                second Ramhound (E2) to A. All eight spent.
their T4        Hold B. Second Ember Monk (E4) and third Shipyard
                Skulker (E3) to base. Two idle.
T5      10      Hold A: +1. Second Sergeant (E4) to base. Overt           5
                Operation (E5 + 2 Body): nine tapped, two Body
                recycled. Half one readies no one. Half two buffs
                every unit, and three cross to 5: both Sergeants and
                the Mageseeker. Grand Duelist exhausts and channels a
                rune exhausted. Fiora: one Order recycled, the second
                Sergeant readied. Both Sergeants walk to B, ten
                against nine. All three defenders die, one Sergeant
                dies. Conquer: +1. Eight runes left, one idle.
their T5        No Hold. The second Mystic Poro, the second and third
                Skulker and the second Ember Monk walk into B: twelve
                against the Sergeant's five. The Sergeant dies and
                takes a Skulker and the Poro with it. Conquer.

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

The T5 fight. The attacker assigns 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." And 465.2.c.3: "Units must have lethal damage assigned to them in full before damage is assigned to a different Unit." Your ten kill the Poro (2), the Skulker (3) and the Ember Monk (4), with one to spare. Their nine put five on one Sergeant and four on the other, which lives at 5. B is yours, and it is a Conquer. The Sergeant heals at the end of the turn and holds B at five.

Their T5 fight. Their twelve kill the Sergeant. Its five kill a Skulker (3) and the Poro (2). They win, 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." Every body they had in base went to B, so A, at 23 defending with the buffs, is never attacked.

What the line bought. On their T5 the opponent scores B either way: a Conquer instead of a Hold. So the point is yours alone, 5 to 4 where the same turns without the spell give 4 to 4. Without it the second Sergeant waits in base, and the first is four against nine. The trade was three bodies for a Sergeant on T5, and two more for the other on their T5. The six bodies at A keep their buffs, +1 each for as long as nobody spends them. The price is runes. T5 recycled three and Grand Duelist channelled one back, so T6 has ten runes, not twelve.

How often this T5 happens. Fiora is in the Champion Zone in every game. The Operation is in the first nine cards (the opening four, then the T1 to T5 draws) in 55.6% of games with three copies, and in 23.1% with the entry's one. With two of the six 4-Might bodies as well it is 21.4%, without a mulligan.

5. Breaks to

The line breaks to OGN-095 Stupefy (Mind, E1: one rune, nothing recycled), held from their T4 and cast in response to Overt Operation, on the second Sergeant. It goes to 3, and the buff takes it to 4, so it never crosses. 709 counts only "the moment its Might changes from being less than 5 to being 5 or greater". Fiora does not trigger, and the Sergeant stays exhausted in base. The first Sergeant crosses, but it is five against nine, and it does not attack. They drew a card. You spent nine runes, two of them recycled, and kept the buffs and Grand Duelist's rune. The attack waits a turn, and B gets a turn to grow.

OGN-169 Gust (Chaos, E1) is the same price on Fiora, while she stands at a battlefield at three: "Return a unit at a battlefield with 3 :rb_might: or less to its owner's hand." She goes to your hand, not back to the Champion Zone, 108.3.c: "The Chosen Champion cannot be returned to this zone by normal means."

The reply is SFD-206 Riposte (Body/Order, E2 + 2 Power: two runes, both recycled), which you hold. It is a Signature card tagged Fiora, legal under Grand Duelist. Cast on Stupefy, choosing the second Sergeant, it counters it and gives the Sergeant +1, Stupefy's Energy cost, so the Sergeant crosses on Riposte and Fiora readies it. On T5 it needs two runes and one is idle. Holding it means the line on T6.

6. Verdict

Right, and in a duel the untap is worth one thing: the body you played this turn walks. The rules reading is right. The halves are disjoint by 702.3.a, the 4 to 5 is 709's crossing, and Fiora readies it. The play adds three things. The entry's order, attack then spell, stands the team up at a battlefield that 144.4.b only lets them leave. The spell first, on a fresh body, is the order that takes B a turn early, and in the walk that turn was T5. Half one readied no one, because nothing had a buff before half two. And the cheapest answer is not the removal on Fiora the entry names. It is one Energy on the fresh body, which stops the crossing and leaves Fiora alone.

7. Not verified

I did not deal the channel order. No Power is paid before T5, and on T5 ten of the twelve runes are on the board, so at least four are Body and four are Order: the two Body and Fiora's Order fail in none of the 924 deals. They pay no Power. I did not walk a second Overt Operation, where every body has a buff and half one readies them all, Gust on Fiora, Riposte on T6, T6 on, the mulligan, or 2v2.

Leads