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The Gardens buy Level 6 a turn early, and a ready attacker on their T2 takes them first

Issue #354 (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: gardens-becoming-wuju-xp-faucet, the Calm/Body ENGINE in which UNL-213 Gardens of Becoming gives every unit standing there an exhaust for 1 XP, UNL-191 Wuju Master turns 6 XP into +1 Might for all your units and 11 XP into units that enter ready, and UNL-109 Blood Rose adds 1 XP for 1 Energy per unit played. Walked as a game, the faucet paid exactly where it mattered. On your T3 the Gardens' 2 XP made Level 6 live, your four bodies became a 15 the opponent could not attack, and without those 2 XP they were a 9 that their T3 board takes. Level 11 arrived on T4 and bought one more XP, not the attack. The entry overstates two things. The faucet does not start a turn late for every body: from the second one on, you play it straight to the Gardens. And the [Hunt] units a Calm/Body deck stands there pay as much XP as the Gardens do. The cheapest break needs no card beyond the walk's own. On their T2, while every body is still a 2, Pridestalker's two triggers make the ready Rearguard a 4, and it empties the Gardens.

Why this line. scripts/sequence-pick.mjs --unplayed, re-run on 2026-10-14 at e879748, reads 773 entries, 262 with forced-ordering language, 102 in the queue and 35 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 69 (a hit on first), second in the list. The other entry of this slice is rank 68, OGN-231 Commander Ledros paid for with Bird tokens, played in The Poro dies where he has to stand, and the Dredgers alone cast Ledros a turn sooner.

1. Needs

LegendUNL-191 Wuju Master (Calm/Body)
The battlefieldUNL-213 Gardens of Becoming (colourless), as one of your three
The gearUNL-109 Blood Rose (Body, E1)
The bodiesUNL-094 Gemhand Hunter (Body, E2, M2), UNL-040 Wuju Apprentice (Calm, E2, M2), UNL-097 Kinkou Initiate (Body, E3, M3), UNL-102 Crowd Favorite (Body, E3, M3)

None of these cards is Signature (data/cards.json), and none is in data/legality.src.json. UNL-191 Wuju Master is not OGS-019 Wuju Bladesman - Starter, the legend restricted in 2v2. Its Chosen Champion carries the Master Yi tag (103.2.a.2), here UNL-113 Master Yi, Tempered (Body).

The card text the play turns on:

2. How the XP arrives, and when it counts

A level is a balance, read continuously. 824.1.b.1: "It is functionally short for “While you have [N] or more XP, this card gains ‘[Text]’.”" 824.1.d: "The Dependent Ability will be Inactive as soon as the controlling player has less than [N] XP." 730.2: "To Spend XP, reduce the value of XP marked on the Player spending it." Nothing in the walk spends, so nothing walks a level back.

Three faucets feed the same balance. The Gardens' exhaust pays 1 per body per turn. Blood Rose pays 1 per unit played, for 1 Energy. And [Hunt], 823.1.c.1: "Hunt is functionally short for: “When I Conquer or Hold, my controller gains X XP.”" Every Hunt unit standing on the Gardens when you Hold it pays 1 more. The entry names the first two and not the third.

The exhaust is the price, once per turn. A unit enters exhausted, 143.4: "Units enter the Board exhausted." Walking costs the same exhaust, 144.2: "Exhausting the Unit is the Cost for this action." So a body pays XP on the turn after it arrives, readied by the Awaken (315.1.b), and an activated ability is yours to use only on your turn, 381: "All Activated Abilities can only be activated on the Controlling Player's Turn and during an Open State." Who gains the XP is written out in the entry under both readings of 190.6.d, and both give it to you here, because you control both the Gardens and the bodies.

Only the first body has to walk. Once you control the Gardens, 355.2.a: "By default, Valid locations include the controller’s Base or a Battlefield the controller controls." A unit played straight there enters exhausted and pays the next turn. Played to base and walked over, it pays a turn later.

An exhausted body still defends. 464.2.c.3: "Units at the Contested Battlefield controlled by the Attacker or Defender gain the Attacker or Defender designation now, as appropriate." No readiness is asked, so a body that paid for XP is still a full defender.

Level 11 replaces 143.4. 143.4.a: "This can be altered by Accelerate or similar game effects." From 11 XP on, a unit you play to the Gardens is ready the moment it lands, and can exhaust for XP or walk.

3. Their deck: Fury/Body, cheap bodies and Assault

UNL-183 Pridestalker (Fury/Body): "When you play a unit, give a unit +1 :rb_might: this turn." Its Chosen Champion carries the Rengar tag, here SFD-025 Rengar, Pouncing (Fury). They play OGN-010 Legion Rearguard (Fury, E2, M2, [Accelerate]), OGN-003 Chemtech Enforcer (Fury, E2, M2): "[Assault 2] (+2 :rb_might: while I'm an attacker.) When you play me, discard 1.", OGN-130 Crackshot Corsair (Body, E3, M3): "When I attack, deal 1 to an enemy unit here.", UNL-097 Kinkou Initiate and OGN-136 Pit Rookie (Body, E2, M2): "When you play me, buff another friendly unit." Pridestalker's +1 from each unit they play lasts the turn and matters only when they attack.

4. The turns, going first

Calm/Body against Fury/Body. Your battlefield, Gardens of Becoming, is G; theirs is B. Your opening four are Gemhand Hunter, Wuju Apprentice, Blood Rose and Kinkou Initiate. Your T1 draw is a second Gemhand Hunter and your T2 draw is Crowd Favorite. Every card either side plays in the walk costs Energy only, so neither rune deck's split matters to it.

turn    runes   your turn                                                 XP   points
T1      2       Gemhand Hunter (E2) to base.                              0    0
their T1        Legion Rearguard (E2) to base. Three runes, one left.
T2      4       Gemhand walks to G, Conquer: +1, its Hunt +1 XP. Blood    2    1
                Rose (E1). Wuju Apprentice (E2) straight to G, Blood
                Rose's E1: +1 XP. No runes left.
their T2        Rearguard walks to B, Conquer. Chemtech Enforcer (E2,
                discard 1) and Crackshot Corsair (E3) to base. Five
                runes, none left.
T3      6       Hold G: +1, two Hunts +2 XP. Gemhand and Apprentice       7    2
                exhaust at G: +2 XP, Level 6 is live. Kinkou Initiate
                (E3) to G, Blood Rose's E1 +1 XP, and Kinkou draws. The
                second Gemhand Hunter (E2) to G. No runes left.
their T3        Hold B. Kinkou Initiate (E3) and Pit Rookie (E2) to B,
                the Rookie buffing the Corsair. Seven runes, two left.
                No attack on G.
T4      8       Hold G: +1, three Hunts +3 XP (10). Apprentice exhausts:  13   4
                +1, Level 11 is live. Crowd Favorite (E3) to G, enters
                ready, Blood Rose's E1 +1 XP. The second Gemhand exhausts:
                +1. Gemhand, Kinkou and Crowd Favorite walk to B: 12
                against 7. B falls, Conquer: +1.

Their points: 0 after their T1, 1 after their T2, 2 after their T3. After your T4 it is 4 to 2. Your XP is 13 before the combat at B, and 14 or 15 after it, depending on whether the attacker they kill is one of your two with Hunt.

Why they did not attack G on their T2. They could have, with the same cards. Pridestalker reads "When you play a unit, give a unit +1 :rb_might: this turn." Chemtech Enforcer and Crackshot Corsair, played before the move, make the ready Rearguard a 4. It walks from base to G: 4 against Gemhand 2 and Apprentice 2. Their 4 kill both, your 4 kill it, and nobody is left. 466.5.b: "If there are no Units remaining here controlled by any player, the Battlefield becomes Uncontrolled." That costs them the Rearguard and B's Conquer: 1 to 0 after their T2 instead of 1 to 1. They took the point and kept the body. §5 walks the attack, because it is the cheapest break.

Your T3, where the faucet pays. At the start of the turn you have 2 XP. The Hold and the two Hunts make 4, and exhausting Gemhand and Apprentice at G makes 6. Level 6 is live before you play anything, so every body is +1 and Gemhand Hunter's own Level 6 adds 1 more: Gemhand 4, Apprentice 3. Kinkou Initiate sees 7 Might among your other units and draws, and is a 4 itself. The second Gemhand is a 4. Four bodies at G, 4 + 3 + 4 + 4 = 15.

Why they did not attack G on their T3. Rearguard stands at B, and only [Ganking] moves a unit from battlefield to battlefield (144.4.c), so their attackers are the two in base: the Enforcer (4 as an attacker) and the Corsair (4 with the Rookie's buff), so 8. Each of their two plays adds +1 this turn through Pridestalker, so 10, and the Corsair's trigger adds 1 damage. That is 11 against bodies whose lethal damage (142.4.b) sums to 15: they kill at most three, and your 15 kill both attackers. They held B instead.

What the Gardens bought. Take the Gardens' 2 XP off your T3 and you have 5: 1 from the T2 Hunt, 1 from Blood Rose on T2, 2 from the T3 Hunts, 1 from Blood Rose on Kinkou. Level 6 is one short. Gemhand and Apprentice are 2s, Kinkou a 3 who draws nothing (4 among the others), the second Gemhand a 2: 9. Their 10 and the Corsair's 1 kill all four, your 9 cannot kill both attackers (10 between them), and the one left conquers G (466.5). The Gardens' 2 XP on T3 are the margin between keeping G and losing it with every body on it.

What Level 11 bought. On T4 Crowd Favorite enters ready (143.4.a) and walks to B. Without Level 11 it enters exhausted, and the second Gemhand walks instead of paying XP. The attack is 12 either way: Level 11 was worth one XP on T4. The attack is 12 against 7 because of Level 6, not 11. At B their 7 kill one of your 4s, your 12 kill Rearguard (2), Kinkou (3) and the Rookie (2), and B is yours: 466.5.d, "Establishing Control results in a Conquer if that player has not yet scored this Battlefield this turn."

How often this happens. Gardens of Becoming has to be the battlefield the game uses. 485.5: "Each player randomly selects one (1) of their three (3) Battlefields." Tournament Rules 402.1 makes the three unique names, so that is 1 in 3. The draw pile is 39 cards, the 40 of Tournament Rules 402.1 less the Chosen Champion, which 103.2.a.1 places in the Champion Zone. Going first you have seen 5 cards by T1 and 6 by T2 (four opening, one draw a turn). With six Hunt 2-drops (three Gemhand Hunter, three Wuju Apprentice) and three Blood Rose, two Hunt 2-drops and a Blood Rose among the first 6 cards (which puts one of the two among the first 5) is 7.11%. Times the battlefield, the walk's first two turns are 2.37% of games. One Hunt 2-drop by T1 alone is 58.78%.

5. Breaks to

The cheapest break is the walk's own T2, pointed at G. On their T2 your G holds Gemhand and Apprentice, two 2s, and you have 2 XP. The Rearguard played on their T1 is ready, and the Enforcer and the Corsair, played first, make it a 4 through Pridestalker. It walks to G and trades for both bodies, and 466.5.b leaves G uncontrolled. It costs no card and no rune beyond the walk's five. The price is the Rearguard and B's Conquer, 1 to 0 after their T2. You have no body on the board, and 355.2.a sends every unit you play on T3 to your base. The faucet is off until a body walks back, and that walk is its exhaust (144.2). A unit you play on T3 enters exhausted in base (143.4), readies and walks to G on T4, and exhausts for XP on T5. T4 pays only the Hunt on that walker's Conquer (823.1.c.1), so the first XP from the Gardens comes on your T5.

A second ready attacker conquers G instead of emptying it. Rearguard was played on their T1 and is ready. They play a second OGN-010 Legion Rearguard with its Accelerate, 805.1.a: "As you play me, you may pay [1][C] as an additional cost. If you do, I enter ready." That is E2 + E1 + 1 Fury Power, three runes, one of them exhausted for the Energy and recycled for the Power (164.2.a, 164.2.b). Pridestalker gives the first Rearguard +1. Both walk from base to G in one move (144.3): 3 + 2 = 5 against 2 + 2. Their 5 kill both bodies. Your 4 kill one Rearguard and not both, which needs 5. The survivor conquers G: 1 to 1 after their T2, with two runes left over. You have no body on the board, G is theirs, and 355.2.a sends every unit you play on T3 to your base, so the faucet is off until you take G back. A UNL-006 Sharkling played with its Accelerate (E4 + 1 Fury Power, M1, +4 while attacking) does the same with one Rearguard. The walk's T1 Rearguard is one of six copies, three Legion Rearguard and three Sharkling. Given it, one of the other five is among the other five cards they have seen by their T2 (38 left) in 52.72%. Not given it, at least one of the six is in 6 of 39 cards in 66.05%; three Sharkling alone, 40.30%.

The walk's own hand saves G, at the price of the T3 wall. Played on T2 with the four runes that went to Blood Rose, the Apprentice and the Rose's XP, the Apprentice and the second Gemhand make three 2s at G against their 5: they kill two, your 6 kill both Rearguards, and G stays yours with one body. You are at 1 XP, with one Hunt body and one exhaust on T3, so Level 6 is not live on T3. UNL-031 Combat Experience (Calm, E1, [Reaction]), held instead of the Rose's XP, makes one defender a 3: their 5 still kill both, your 5 kill both Rearguards, nobody is left, and 466.5.b leaves G uncontrolled. Against the single 4 of the first break, the same three 2s lose two and kill it, and G stays yours.

After Level 6 the same attack costs them a board. On their T3 your G is the 15 of §4. A ready Sharkling (E4 + 1 Fury Power, 5 as an attacker) and one more E3 play beside the walk's Enforcer and Corsair, the two in base, make 4 + 3 + 5 + 2 = 14 and the Corsair's 1: exactly the 15 that kills all four bodies. Your 15 kill all three attackers (14 between them). Nobody is left, and 466.5.b leaves G uncontrolled. They spend their whole T3 and three attackers to empty it. With three Sharkling it is in their hand by their T3 (7 of 39 cards seen) in 45.73%.

The scope of the cheap-card verdict. A Fury/Body deck plays only Fury, Body and Fury/Body cards (103.1.b.1). The cards in those domains in data/corpus_flat.txt whose text reaches all units, all enemy units, all damaged enemy units or enemy units here are ten. Read with Pridestalker's +1, one of them removes both 2-Might bodies from the Gardens on their T2 for fewer runes than the Rearguard's three. None does it with no card, as the first break does:

6. Verdict

Right about the rate and about only summing; wrong that the faucet starts late for every body, and silent about Hunt. The Gardens paid 2 XP on T3 and that was the whole difference: Level 6 on T3 made four bodies a 15 their board could not attack, where without it they were a 9 that their board takes. Level 11 arrived on T4 and bought one XP. Hunt paid 6 of the 13 XP by T4, the Gardens 4, and Blood Rose 3. The faucet's weak turn is the opponent's T2, before Level 6, when two 2s stand on the Gardens. Pridestalker's triggers from the walk's own T2 plays make the Rearguard a 4 that empties it for no extra card, at the price of a body and a point. A second ready attacker conquers it outright for three runes.

7. Not verified

No card in the walk costs Power, so it rests on no rune-dealing assumption for either side, at any split. The break's Accelerate needs one Fury among the five runes they have on their T2. With six Fury in the twelve the five hold none in 6 of 792 deals, 0.76%. The Sharkling on their T3 needs one Fury among seven: with six in twelve that always holds. The cheapest break, the Rearguard made a 4 on their T2, and the Stare Down line cost Energy only, so they add no rune assumption.

I did not walk the T3 attack on B that Gemhand and Apprentice give up by exhausting for XP, Gardens of Becoming as their battlefield instead of yours (their units at G gain the same exhaust), Combat Experience at Level 6 (+3), the mulligan, or 2v2. The probabilities in §4 and §5 count only cards in hand at the turn named.

Leads