RIFTCOMBO
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the Vortex taxes whoever answers, and Focus changes hands

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: mystic-vortex-overt-operation-taxes-the-answer, the mono-Body ENGINE in which you attack into VEN-160 Mystic Vortex, take Focus as the Attacker and play OGN-153 Overt Operation first. It has [Action] and not [Reaction], so the Vortex charges it nothing, and any answer inside its chain must be a [Reaction] card and pays one rainbow Power more. The entry is right about that chain. Walked as a game, the chain closes, Focus passes to the opponent, and an [Action] card played on their Focus is the card that closes the next chain: the Vortex charges it nothing either. The tax falls on the answer to each chain, not on the opponent.

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 27 (hits on first), second in the list. The other entry of this slice is rank 26, played in the counter kills the unit the spell was saving.

1. Needs

Legendany legend with Body in its pair (103.1.b)
TableVEN-160 Mystic Vortex selected as a battlefield (485.5)
Firsttwo units walking into the Vortex together: two SFD-096 Laurent Bladekeeper (Body, E3, M3)
ThenOGN-153 Overt Operation (Body, E5 + 2 Power), first, with Focus

The card text the play turns on:

The Vortex is not certain to be on the table. 485.5: "Setup: Each player randomly selects one (1) of their three (3) Battlefields." It is one game in three when it is yours.

2. Your order: attack first, then play the spell first

Walk both Bladekeepers in as one action — 144.3: "Players may perform multiple Units' standard move simultaneously. This is treated as one game action performed on multiple Units." — and the combat showdown opens with you holding Focus, 464.2.c.1.a: "If a showdown opens as part of combat, this player gains Focus as the showdown begins."

Play Overt Operation now. You are the one closing the state, so 358.4 asks only for [Action]: "If the state is Showdown Closed and the card was the one that Closed the state, ensure that it has [Action] or [Reaction]." It has [Action] and no [Reaction], and 813.1.b runs only one way: "Reaction grants the corresponding card or effect all abilities and permissions of Action." The Vortex reads [Reaction], so it charges you nothing. Each friendly unit gets a buff, and 703: "Each Buff individually contributes +1 Might to a Unit."

Anything the opponent plays inside that chain must be a [Reaction] card — 309.1.a: "Only cards and abilities with the Reaction keyword can be played or activated in a Closed State." — and the Vortex adds a rainbow to it. So they do not answer inside the chain.

3. Their order: let it resolve, then take Focus

When Overt Operation's chain closes, Focus moves. 347.1.b: "When that Chain closes, Focus passes to the next Player in Turn Order." And with it, the right to act: 313.2: "A player who gains Focus also gains Priority." The opponent now plays a card into an Open State and is the one who closes it, which is 358.4's first example again, from their side. An [Action] card with no [Reaction] pays the Vortex nothing, and now your answer is the [Reaction] card that pays the rainbow.

So the Vortex does not tax the defender. It taxes the answer to each chain, and the showdown alternates chains. Whoever plays [Action] cards on their own Focus pays nothing; whoever needs [Reaction] pays.

4. The turns, going first

Mono-Body against Calm/Mind. The opponent's SFD-038 Ribbon Dancer (Calm, E3, M3) has held the Vortex since their T2; you hold the other battlefield, A.

turn    runes   your turn                                                 points
T1      2       Demacian Diplomat (E2) at base                            0
T2      4       Diplomat walks to A, Conquer: +1. Bladekeeper (E3) at     1
                base. 1 rune left.
T3      6       Hold A: +1. Second Bladekeeper (E3) at base.              2
T4      8       Hold A: +1. Both Bladekeepers walk into the Vortex.       3
                Showdown, your Focus. Overt Operation (E5 + 2 Body
                Power): five runes, two of them recycled. Every unit
                you control is buffed, the Bladekeepers are M4.
                6 runes on the board, 3 of them ready.
                Their Focus: Block on the Dancer (E2), untaxed. It
                defends at M6. Combat: the Dancer dies, its 6 damage
                kills a Bladekeeper. Conquer the Vortex: +1.              4

One rune pays both halves of a cost. 164.2.a's cost is the exhaust, "[E]: [Reaction] — Add [1].", and 164.2.b's is the recycle, "Recycle this: [Reaction] — Add [C].", which asks nothing about readiness; 161.2.b: "When a Rune is Recycled it is returned to the Rune Deck, not the Main Deck." So Overt Operation exhausts five runes and recycles two of them for the Body Power: two leave the board, and three of the six left are still ready.

The combat arithmetic is 465.2.c: "Starting with the Attacker, each player assigns an amount of damage equal to their summed Might among the other's Units." Without Overt Operation, two M3 Bladekeepers deal 6 to an M3 Dancer, which kills it, and the Dancer's 3 kills one Bladekeeper. With Overt Operation and nothing else, the Dancer's 3 kills neither M4 body: that is what the spell buys. Block's Shield 3 makes the Dancer M6 as a defender. Your 8 still kill it, and its 6 kill one M4 Bladekeeper: the trade is back where it was without Overt Operation.

5. Breaks to

The line breaks to OGN-057 Block (Calm, E2, "[Hidden] (Hide now for :rb_rune_rainbow: to react with later for :rb_energy_0:.) [Action] (Play on your turn or in showdowns.) Give a unit [Shield 3] and [Tank] this turn. (+3 :rb_might: while it's a defender. It must be assigned combat damage first.)"), cast from hand on the Focus that 347.1.b hands the opponent after Overt Operation resolves. Played from hand it has no [Reaction], because 811.6 grants it only to a Hidden card "while facedown or played from facedown", so the Vortex does not see it. Two runes against your five.

Mono-Body cannot answer it, tax or no tax. You have three ready runes, enough for a [Reaction] card and the rainbow, but nothing in Body's [Reaction] spells lowers a defender's Might. OGN-127 Cannon Barrage (E2 + 1 Power, "Deal 2 to all enemy units in combat.") marks 2 on an M6 Dancer, which your 8 were already killing; the Dancer still assigns 6, and 465.2.c.1 is explicit: "Assigning Damage is not Dealing Damage."

A damage answer is weaker here, and that is the Vortex working. SFD-080 Bellows Breath (Mind, E1 + 1 Power, [Action], "Deal 1 to up to three units at the same location.") on their Focus would put one on each Bladekeeper and let the Dancer's 3 kill one. But you can answer it with OGN-145 Unyielding Spirit (Body, E1 + 1 Power, "[Reaction] (Play any time, even before spells and abilities resolve.) Prevent all spell and ability damage this turn."), and the Vortex charges you a rainbow for it: E1 + 2 Power. One of your three ready runes exhausts for the Energy, and two of the three Overt Operation already exhausted are recycled for the Power, since 164.2.b's cost is the recycle alone. You pay the tax, and the line survives.

6. Verdict

The Vortex taxes the answer to the chain you start, and the opponent does not have to answer that chain. Overt Operation first is the right order: you close the state, you pay nothing, and nobody can answer you inside your chain for free. But a showdown is a series of chains, and Focus passes after each one. An opponent holding a cheap [Action] card waits one chain, then plays it untaxed, and an [Action] combat trick that raises the defender's Might is two runes against your five. The tax only bites when the opponent's answer is one you can answer back, and then it bites you. Nothing here scores beyond the Conquer the attack was making anyway.

7. Not verified

I did not walk the escalated showdown the entry already flags (464.2.c.1.b), Block hidden in advance and played from facedown (which 811.6 makes a [Reaction] card the Vortex taxes), a two-domain shell, 2v2, or a game where the opponent's own battlefield is the Vortex and they attack into you.

Leads