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Ava's free body lands only while she is still standing there

Issue #343 (a slice of #200), 2026-10-14. 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: ava-achiever-mischievous-marai-attacking-reinforcement, the Fury/Mind ENGINE in which OGN-107 Ava Achiever attacks, pays one Mind Power, and puts UNL-003 Mischievous Marai from hand into the battlefield she is attacking, ignoring its cost, where its own trigger deals 2 to an enemy unit. The entry is right on every step it walks: the Marai lands at the attacked battlefield, its 2 damage kills a 2-Might defender before combat damage, and it joins the attack. Walked as a game, it won the battlefield. The finding is the one step the entry does not walk: the trigger can be answered. "Here" is read when the trigger resolves (359.3.f.2), and between the attack and that moment the defender may play a [Reaction]. A facedown card at the battlefield is one, and from facedown OGN-213 Hidden Blade kills Ava there before the Marai can land. From a Mind/Order hand, nothing can.

Why this line. scripts/sequence-pick.mjs --unplayed, re-run on 2026-10-14 at cdb647e, reads 773 entries, 262 with forced-ordering language, 102 in the queue and 43 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 60 (a hit on before), second in the list. The other entry of this slice is rank 59, UNL-132 Angler Beast emptying a battlefield, played in the Angler Beast opens the battlefield for a body already in base.

1. Needs

Legenda Fury/Mind legend (103.1.b); here OGN-247 Daughter of the Void
The engineOGN-107 Ava Achiever (Mind, E5, M4), attacking
The payloadUNL-003 Mischievous Marai (Fury, E2, M2, [Hidden]), in hand
The costone Mind Power, a Mind rune recycled, paid as the trigger resolves
Their boarda battlefield with a defender of 2 Might or less, for the 2 damage to kill

Ava is mono-Mind and the Marai mono-Fury. The entry names three Fury/Mind legends, and data/corpus_flat.txt has exactly those three (OGN-247, SFD-181, UNL-181). Neither card is in data/legality.src.json.

The card text the play turns on:

2. The window between the attack and "here"

Ava's trigger is pending once she has the Attacker designation (464.2.c.3) and goes on the chain at 464.2.e.1: "The Attacking player, who has Focus, places Triggered Abilities on the Chain first, followed by all non-Defender players in Turn Order, followed by the Defending Player." Then 464.2.f: "The State Closes if a Combat Chain was created." Into a closed state only a [Reaction] may be played. 358.4: "Example: If the state is Closed and the card wasn’t the one that Closed the state, ensure that it has [Reaction]."

When the trigger resolves, "here" is read then and not before, 359.3.f.2: "Information referenced in an instruction in this way will be checked on execution of the instruction." The rule's own example is this exact window: "In reaction to the Yasuo, Remorseful attack trigger, their opponent plays Fight or Flight from hidden targeting Yasuo, moving him back to base. When the attack trigger resolves, “here” is no longer the battlefield where combat is ongoing and the attack trigger mistargets."

The Mind Power is not paid up front either. 205: "Example: A card effect reads, “When I attack, you may pay [4][C]. If you do, kill a unit here.” Paying [4][C] in this way is not a cost of the ability, base or otherwise, but a game action being performed by a player." You decide whether to pay as the trigger resolves, after any response, so an answered trigger costs you no rune.

Which of their cards fit the window. A facedown card does. 811.1.b: "Beginning on the next turn, this gains [Reaction] and you may play this, ignoring its base cost." From facedown its targets are chosen at that battlefield (811.1.d.2), and Ava is standing there. A Hidden Blade in their hand is only an [Action], so it waits until the chain has resolved and the Marai has landed.

3. Their order: B, a facedown card, and a Blade in hand

Mind/Order under OGS-021 Lady of Luminosity - Starter, whose "When you play a spell that costs :rb_energy_5: or more, draw 1." is idle in the walk. They take B with OGN-210 Daring Poro (Order, E2, M2) and OGN-091 Pit Crew (Mind, E3, M3), and hide OGN-094 Sprite Call at B: "[Hidden] (Hide now for :rb_rune_rainbow: to react with later for :rb_energy_0:.) [Action] (Play on your turn or in showdowns.) Play a ready 3 :rb_might: Sprite unit token with [Temporary]." They draw Hidden Blade on their T3 and cannot hide it: B already holds a facedown card (811.1.b, "that doesn't already have a facedown card hidden there"), and A is not theirs.

4. The turns, going first

Fury/Mind against Mind/Order. Your rune deck is six Fury and six Mind; theirs six Mind and six Order. Your opening four are Legion Rearguard, OGN-006 Flame Chompers (Fury, E3, M3; its discard text is idle), Ava and the Marai; you draw OGN-024 Void Seeker (Fury, E3 + 1 Power, [Action]: "Deal 4 to a unit at a battlefield. Draw 1.") by T4, and the other draws are bodies for later turns. Theirs hold Daring Poro, Pit Crew, Sprite Call and Vanguard Sergeant.

turn    runes   your turn                                                 points
T1      2       Legion Rearguard (E2) to base.                            0
their T1        Daring Poro (E2) to base, on the 485.7 extra rune.
T2      4       Rearguard walks to A, Conquer: +1. Flame Chompers (E3)    1
                to base. One rune left.
their T2        Poro walks to B, Conquer. Pit Crew (E3) to B. Sprite
                Call hidden at B for its rainbow: an exhausted rune
                recycled. Four runes, two ready.
T3      6       Hold A: +1. Ava (E5) to base. One rune left.              2
their T3        Hold B. Draw Hidden Blade; it stays in hand. Vanguard
                Sergeant (E4) to base. Six runes, two ready.
T4      8       Hold A: +1. Ava and Chompers move base to B together:     4
                combat, you attack and have Focus. Ava's trigger on the
                chain; their Blade in hand cannot answer it (358.4).
                It resolves: a ready Mind rune recycled, the Marai from
                hand to B, base cost ignored. Its trigger: 2 to Poro.
                Cleanup: Poro dies (323.5), the Marai is an Attacker
                (323.2.a). Focus stays yours (346.1): Void Seeker (E3 +
                1 Fury) on Pit Crew, it dies, draw 1. Their Hidden Blade
                from hand on Ava (E2 + 1 Order): she dies, you draw 2.
                You pass; Sprite Call from facedown, free: a ready
                3-Might Sprite at B. Both pass. Chompers and the Marai
                (5) against the Sprite (3): your 5 kill it, their 3
                kill Chompers. The Marai remains: Conquer B, +1. Six
                runes, four ready: a 3-drop from the draws to base.
their T4        Seven runes. The Sergeant walks to A: 4 against the
                Rearguard's 2. Conquer A.

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

Why your Seeker came before their Blade. 346.1: "Focus will not pass in this way if the chain opened as a result of a triggered ability being added to the chain, nor if it opened as a result of an Add ability being added to the chain." The combat chain opened on Ava's trigger, so when it had resolved you still had Focus, and you spent first. 347.1.b: "When that Chain closes, Focus passes to the next Player in Turn Order." Then they cast the Blade.

Their choices did not change the result. Had they played Sprite Call into Ava's trigger rather than later, the Marai's 2 still took Poro, and the Seeker had a second Might-3 target. Had they killed Chompers rather than Ava, Ava and the Marai (6) would have met the Sprite (3), and Ava would have survived at B. Killing Ava was their best use of the Blade, and B fell either way.

The Marai joined the fight because it arrived after the designations. 464.2.c.3.a: "If a Unit controlled by the Attacker or Defender becomes present at this Battlefield after this moment, it will gain the Attacker or Defender designation during the Cleanup phase following the action that caused it to become present, as appropriate for its controller." So did their Sprite, on their side.

What the same resources would have bought. Without Ava, the five Energy of T3 are the Marai (E2) and a 3-drop from the draws (E3), both to base. A Marai played to base deals nothing: its trigger reads "When you play me to a battlefield". On T4 Chompers, the 3-drop and the Marai attack B, 8 Might against Poro and Pit Crew's 5. The Seeker kills Pit Crew, the Blade kills a 3-drop and Sprite Call adds 3: 5 against 5. Your 5 kill Poro and the Sprite, their 5 kill your last 3-drop and the Marai, and nobody remains: 466.5.b, "If there are no Units remaining here controlled by any player, the Battlefield becomes Uncontrolled." 3 to 2 after your T4 and no one holds B, against 4 to 2 with B yours. The engine's whole margin in the walk was the 2 damage on Poro and the Marai's 2 Might, for one Mind rune.

How often this happens. The draw pile is 39 cards, the 40 of Tournament Rules 601.1.b less the Chosen Champion, which 103.2.a.1 places in the Champion Zone. Going first you have seen 7 cards by T3 (four opening, three draws) and 8 by T4. With the entry's one Ava, Ava by T3 is 17.95%; with the entry's three Marai as well, Ava by T3 and a Marai by T4 is 8.39%. With three Ava, 45.73% and 21.71%. Going second, they have seen 7 cards by their T3: with three Hidden Blade among their 39, they hold one in 45.73% of games.

5. Breaks to

The engine breaks to a facedown OGN-213 Hidden Blade at the battlefield she attacks. Had they hidden the Blade at B instead of Sprite Call, it would be a [Reaction] on your T4 (811.1.b). They cast it into Ava's trigger, free (the rainbow was paid when it was hidden), and kill her; you draw 2. When the trigger resolves, "here" is no longer the battlefield where combat is ongoing (the 359.3.f.2 example), so the Marai is not played into B. By 205 you decline the Mind payment and keep the rune. The engine is gone for no resources at the time. On this board the attack survives it: Chompers and the Seeker still take B from Poro and Pit Crew, because the Blade was spent on Ava and there is no Sprite Call. The free body and its 2 damage never happen.

The scope of "only", in the Mind/Order identity:

The cheapest partial answer is one Energy from hand: OGN-104 Retreat (Mind, E1, [Reaction]): "Return a friendly unit to its owner's hand. Its owner channels 1 rune exhausted." Cast in reply to the Marai's trigger, it saves Poro, which they replay later, and the 2 damage has no target. They even gain a rune. The Marai still lands and still attacks. Among the same 34, VEN-052 Mesmerize (E1 + 1 Power) does the same for two resources, and OGN-207 Call to Glory (E3, or free by spending a buff) makes Poro Might 5 for the turn, so the 2 damage does not kill it.

6. Verdict

Right on every step it walks, silent on the one that breaks it. The Marai lands at the attacked battlefield (355.2.b, 359.3.f.2), its 2 damage kills a 2-Might defender before combat damage (323.5), and it joins the attack (464.2.c.3.a). In the walk that was the margin that took B, for one Mind rune. What the entry does not walk is the window between the attack and "here": a facedown card at that battlefield is a [Reaction] there (811.1.b), and from facedown Hidden Blade kills Ava before the trigger resolves, for nothing at the time. From a Mind/Order hand no [Reaction] removes her. The Mind Power is paid only as the trigger resolves (205), so an answered trigger costs you no rune.

7. Not verified

I did not deal the channel order. Ava's payment needs one Mind on the board on T4: you have channelled eight runes and recycled none, so with six Mind in the twelve it never fails (0 of 495 deals); with four, 1 of 495, 0.20%. Void Seeker's Power is Fury: with six Fury it never fails among eight. Their Blade from hand needs one Order among their seven channelled runes, keeping it when they recycle for the hide: with six Order it never fails (0 of 792); with three, 36 of 792, 4.55%. Sprite Call from facedown and the hide's rainbow need no domain.

I did not resolve what Ava's "If it's a unit, play it here" does when she is dead as it executes. 359.3.f.2.a covers a referent "related to a target", and "here" is her location, not a target; I rely on the 359.3.f.2 example, a mover rather than a kill, and did not find a paragraph that says which. With the Mind payment declined (205) the question does not arise in the walk. I did not walk Temporal Breach or Hostile Takeover into the trigger, a Daughter of the Void rainbow paying a spell's Power, the mulligan, or 2v2. The probabilities in §4 count only cards in hand at the turn named.

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