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the Library's buff lands before their removal resolves

Issue #323 (a slice of #200), 2026-10-13. 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: karma-forgotten-library-spell-buff, the Order ENGINE in which UNL-211 Forgotten Library gives a [Predict] for every spell that spends four Energy, and recycling the card fires OGN-235 Karma, Channeler for a +1 buff. The entry is right about the arithmetic: one buff per qualifying spell, capped by the unbuffed bodies. It names no spell. Walked as a game, the Library fires on any turn you play a spell, and a Calm/Order deck's cheapest way to spend four is a [Reaction]: SFD-151 Bonds of Strength with its [Repeat]. Cast in answer to their removal, the buff resolves before the removal does, and on their T4 it is the one point of Might that keeps a body alive. The battlefield the entry calls free is in play in one Duel game in three.

Why this line. scripts/sequence-pick.mjs --unplayed, re-run on 2026-10-13 at 7695ecf, reads 771 entries, 262 with forced-ordering language, 102 in the queue and 49 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 53 (a hit on first), second in the list. The other entry of this slice is rank 52, the same battlefield with UNL-089 Jhin, Meticulous Killer, played in Jhin is in every game, and the Library in one in three. Karma with a [Repeat] spell is played in play the bodies before the spell, which also walks her own [Vision] firing her on entry.

1. Needs

Legendany legend with Order in its pair (103.1.b); here OGN-261 Radiant Dawn (Calm/Order), idle in the walk
The battlefieldUNL-211 Forgotten Library, one of your three, selected for this game and controlled
The payoffOGN-235 Karma, Channeler (Order, E6 + 1 Power, M6), on the board
The spellany spell that spends 4 Energy or more; here SFD-151 Bonds of Strength (Order, E2, [Repeat] 2 Energy)
Bodiesa friendly unit without a buff for every buff you want

The card text the play turns on:

2. The battlefield is one game in three

485.5: "Setup: Each player randomly selects one (1) of their three (3) Battlefields. The other two are removed and will not be used for this game." The Library costs no Main Deck slot, and it is still one of the three battlefields you bring, on the table in one Duel game in three. In a best-of-three match you choose it, and 486.5 removes it after a game somebody won (a drawn game keeps it, 486.5.a and Tournament Rules 406.1.b): "After this game, if a player won, the Battlefields that were used are to be removed and not selected again for this Match." Then it has to be taken. The card reads "While you control this battlefield", and while it has no controller its "you" is nobody, 190.6.d: "If the battlefield has no Controller, “you” refers to no one, and all such instructions are ignored." Here it is your battlefield A, yours from the T2 Conquer.

3. The cheapest spend is a Reaction

Four Energy, no Power. The [Repeat] is spent to play the spell, 820.1.c.1: "The Cost is an Additional Cost to be paid during the steps of playing the spell or ability." So Bonds with its Repeat spends four Energy and recycles no rune, which is the floor: nothing spends four Energy for less. Order's removal at that price, OGN-229 Vengeance, also costs two Order Power (a Fury/Order deck has OGN-254 Noxian Guillotine, E4 + 1 Power): two runes off the board, 161.2.b: "When a Rune is Recycled it is returned to the Rune Deck, not the Main Deck."

The Library does not care whose turn it is. Its trigger is "when you play a spell", and Bonds is playable "any time". The runes you leave ready on your turn are still ready on theirs, 415.3.a: "A player Readies all non-spell Game Objects they Control during the Awakening Phase on their turn."

The order inside the chain. Their removal is on the chain; you answer with Bonds; the Library's trigger goes above Bonds, 383.3: "When a Condition is met, a Triggered Ability behaves like an Activated Ability and is placed on the Chain." Then 340.1: "The newest Finalized Chain Item resolves." The Predict resolves first. Recycle the card and Karma triggers, and her trigger is newer than Bonds, so the buff lands next, then Bonds, then their removal. Her target is chosen when the trigger is put on the chain, and 402.4.b makes it compulsory: "If there are legal options to choose, the ability’s controller must choose them. They may not decline this stage of playing a Trigger." A unit that already has a buff gains nothing, 702.3.a: "If a Buff is added, or instructed to be added, on a Unit that already has a Buff, it is not placed instead."

Bonds' two executions can share a unit. 820.2.a: "Choices made for the additional execution do not have to be the same as the choices made for the initial execution." Each execution needs two friendly units, and the same unit can be one of the two both times: +2 on it this turn.

4. Their order: B, bodies, and a removal spell a turn

Fury/Chaos under SFD-185 Glorious Executioner, whose "When you win a combat, draw 1" is idle in a game with no combat. They take B on their T2 and build it. A unit at B cannot cross to A in one move: a Standard Move goes from base to a battlefield or back (144.4.a, 144.4.b), and only Ganking moves a unit between battlefields (144.4.c.1). A unit in their base can walk to A, but every body they play goes to B to hold it, and from B it takes two turns, by way of their base. While their bodies are committed to B, they answer A with spells. Theirs is OGN-024 Void Seeker (Fury, E3 + 1 Power): "[Action] (Play on your turn or in showdowns.) Deal 4 to a unit at a battlefield. Draw 1."

5. The turns, going first

Calm/Order against Fury/Chaos. Your rune deck is six Calm and six Order. Your opening four are Daring Poro, Trusty Ramhound, Karma and Bonds of Strength. The draws are Soaring Scout on T1, Honest Broker on T2, Unsung Hero on T3 and a second Soaring Scout on T4. The Library is your battlefield A this game.

turn    runes   your turn                                                 points
T1      2       Daring Poro (E2) to base.                                 0
their T1        Shipyard Skulker (E3) to base, on the 485.7 extra rune.
                All three spent.
T2      4       Poro walks to A, Conquer: +1. You control the Library.    1
                Trusty Ramhound (E2) and Soaring Scout (E2) to A. All
                four spent. A is six Might: 2, 3, 1.
their T2        Skulker walks to B, Conquer. Mystic Poro (E2) and a
                second Skulker (E3) to B. B is eight Might. All five
                spent.
T3      6       Hold A: +1. Karma (E6 + 1 Order) to base: six tapped, a   2
                tapped Order recycled. Five runes. Her Vision: the top
                card is a second Daring Poro, recycled. Karma fires:
                buff Karma, Might 7.
their T3        Hold B. Void Seeker (E3 + 1 Fury) on Ramhound at A: four
                damage, he dies in the Cleanup, they draw 1. A Traveling
                Merchant and a second Mystic Poro (E2 each) to B. All
                seven spent, one Fury recycled.
T4      7       Hold A: +1. Honest Broker (E2) to A. Four runes held      3
                ready, one spare. A is five Might: Poro 2, Scout 1,
                Broker 2.
their T4        Hold B. Void Seeker on Broker at A. You answer with
                Bonds of Strength and its Repeat: four ready runes
                exhausted. Choices: Broker and Poro, then Broker and
                Scout. The Library's Predict resolves: recycled. Karma
                fires: buff Broker, Might 3. Bonds resolves: Broker 5.
                Void Seeker resolves: four damage, Broker lives, they
                draw 1. A third Skulker (E3) and a second Traveling
                Merchant (E2) to B. All eight spent, one Fury recycled.

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

What the Library bought on their T4 is Broker. Without it, Bonds and its Repeat make him 2 + 2 = 4, and Void Seeker's four is lethal. With it, the buff resolves first and he is 5. At the end of their turn the damage goes before the +2 does: 317.2.b, "Insert “3c. Heal all Units.”", ahead of 317.2.c, "Insert “3d. All ‘this turn’ effects expire simultaneously.”" He ends the turn at Might 3 with no damage, and their Void Seeker was one card for one card drawn.

What T3's buff bought is Karma. Every body at A, buffed or not, is inside Void Seeker's four: Ramhound would be 4, the Poro 3, the Scout 2. A buff there only changes which one they pick. On Karma at base it takes her to 7, past every single Fury or Chaos spell that can damage a unit at base. Swept over the corpus (Fury, Chaos or Fury/Chaos spells whose text deals damage, kills, banishes or takes Might, less those that read "at a battlefield" or hit only gear), the ones that reach a unit at base deal at most 6 in one cast: OGN-033 Shakedown 6, OGN-029 Falling Star 3 and 3, OGN-252 Super Mega Death Rocket! 5, VEN-015 Decree of Rage 4 (Calm units only), UNL-020 Dancing Grenade 2, its replay yours to decline, since "Its controller" is the controller of the unit hit (359.3.e.14). Void Seeker reads "at a battlefield" and cannot reach her at all. (Corrected 2026-10-16, #377: the Grenade read "2 before any replay", as if the replay were the caster's.)

What it cost. Karma took all six runes on T3, so nothing was held for their T3, and Ramhound died unanswered. On T4 the four held runes are four not spent on Unsung Hero and the Scout, which are still in hand. The Library repays the hold only if they cast a removal spell into it; had they played bodies instead, Bonds is still a Predict and a buff on Broker, on their turn, for four Energy.

The recycle is the price of the buff. "You may recycle it": the buff comes only from a card sent to the bottom, 416.1, "puts it on the bottom of the corresponding deck." Had the top card on their T4 been the card you needed, keeping it costs Broker.

How often this happens. Karma has to be in the first seven cards and Bonds in the first eight: with three of each, 21.7% of games without a mulligan, and 8.4% with the entry's one Karma. With the Library in play as well, one game in three by 485.5, that is 7.2% and 2.8%.

6. Breaks to

The line breaks to OGN-033 Shakedown (Fury, E2 + 1 Power: three resources), cast in answer to Karma's own Vision on your T3: "[Reaction] (Play any time, even before spells and abilities resolve.) Choose an enemy unit. Deal 6 to it unless its controller has you draw 2." Karma is Might 6 until the Vision resolves and the buff lands, so the choice is yours and both halves cost you: she dies, or they draw two. Their price is two runes held ready through their T2, since the Power is any Fury rune recycled, ready or tapped; here that is the Mystic Poro.

Countering Bonds breaks the save, and on the catalogue's reading the buff too. SFD-136 Hard Bargain (Chaos, E2): "Counter a spell unless its controller pays :rb_energy_2:." With one spare rune you cannot pay, and Bonds is gone with its four Energy, 425.1.c: "Countering does not refund any costs paid to play a card, activate an ability, or trigger an ability." The Library is a play trigger, and 425.1.b: "A card that is Countered is not considered to have been played for abilities that trigger on cards being played." Verified entries (not-so-fast-allay-deflect-tax-denial, mystic-reversal-defy-counter-tiers) read that as killing a countered spell's play triggers. On that reading, Hard Bargain cast while the Library's trigger is still on the chain takes the Predict, the recycle and Karma's buff with it, and Void Seeker kills Broker at 2. The timing matters: the trigger sits above Bonds and resolves first (340.1), so a counter cast after the buff has landed takes only the +2, and Broker stands at 3 and dies to four. Either way he dies. Six ready runes pay the tax, which on T4 means no Broker to protect. Whether 425.1.b reaches a trigger already on the chain is under Not verified.

The Library breaks to losing A, which 190.4.c does whenever your last unit there is gone: "If a player has no Units at a Battlefield and the turn is in an Open state, they lose Control of that Battlefield in the following cleanup unless there is a Combat or Showdown ongoing there."

7. Verdict

Right about the cap, and the engine is a Reaction engine. One buff per spell that spends four, placed only on an unbuffed body, and only when you recycle. The play adds three things the entry does not state. The Library is in play in one Duel game in three (485.5), and a best-of-three removes it after a game somebody won (486.5): it costs no Main Deck slot, but it is not free. It fires on their turn as well as yours, and a Calm/Order deck's cheapest way to spend four is SFD-151 Bonds of Strength with its [Repeat], four Energy and no rune lost, at Reaction speed. Cast into their removal, the buff resolves before the removal does (340.1), and here it is the margin that keeps a Might-2 body alive against four damage. And Karma's own Vision buff is best spent on Karma: at A it only moves their Void Seeker to another body, and on her at base it puts her past every single Fury or Chaos spell that reaches her.

8. Not verified

I did not deal the channel order. Karma's Order Power needs one Order rune among your first six; that fails only when all six are Calm, 1 of the 924 deals, 0.1%. Bonds needs no Power. Their Void Seeker on their T3 needs one Fury among their first seven runes, which six Chaos cannot fill, and on their T4 they have channelled nine and recycled one Fury, so at least two Fury are on the board; neither fails. A counter on Bonds has two readings of 425.1.b. On the first, a trigger already on the chain is not touched and the Predict and the buff resolve. On the second, which the catalogue uses, the countered spell was never played and both go with it. I did not walk two-card damage on a Might-7 Karma at base (OGS-001 Annie, Fiery's bonus damage, UNL-013 Lotus Trap's doubling, UNL-020 Dancing Grenade's replays aimed first at their own units, since on Karma its replay is yours, corrected 2026-10-16, #377); the top card on their T4 being one you would keep; a Shakedown held on their T2; the mulligan; or 2v2.

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