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The ready only pays when Jinx is spent, and in a Duel switching battlefields costs a card

Issue #366 (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: jinx-rebel-discard-event-ready, the Fury/Chaos ENGINE in which OGN-202 Jinx, Rebel readies and gains +1 Might for every discard event, fed by OGN-003 Chemtech Enforcer. The entry is right that the trigger counts events, not cards. In a game, the ready was worth something only when Jinx was already exhausted. That happened twice. On T3 she was played exhausted, and a free discard let her walk into the battlefield they had just taken: their three units died, you took it back, and it was 2 to 1, their next board starting from base. On T4 she had already moved, and a discard made base to B a second legal move: 4 to 1. The other two discards readied a Jinx who was already ready, which does nothing (415.1.c). One of their +1s won the T3 combat; the other came with no combat left. The entry's own line, three Enforcers in one turn, needs six cards in hand: an Enforcer with an empty hand discards nothing, so no event fires (422.4). The two discards that paid in this walk cost no Energy: VEN-007 Punching Poro's Empower and OGN-023 Unlicensed Armory. The cheapest answer in their colours is a hidden OGN-220 Facebreaker or OGN-213 Hidden Blade at the battlefield she attacks, one rune on the turn before.

Why this line. scripts/sequence-pick.mjs --unplayed, re-run on 2026-10-14 at 7717c97, reads 773 entries, 262 with forced-ordering language, 101 in the queue and 29 of them with no play. That is one fewer in the queue than the issue's 102. The two picks are unchanged: this entry is rank 74, the second in the list. The other entry of this slice is rank 73, moonlight-affliction-wind-and-ghosts-banish, played in One Apprentice brings the banish to turn 4, and the bounce alone was the better board.

1. Needs

LegendOGN-251 Loose Cannon (Fury/Chaos, tag Jinx)
The payoffOGN-202 Jinx, Rebel (Chaos, E5 + 1 Power, M5), the Chosen Champion
The discardsVEN-007 Punching Poro (Fury, E2, M2), OGN-023 Unlicensed Armory (Fury gear, E2), OGN-003 Chemtech Enforcer (Fury, E2, M2)

The entry names three Fury/Chaos legends: Bloodharbor Ripper, Master of Shadows and Dark Child. data/corpus_flat.txt prints five. The two it leaves out are SFD-185 Glorious Executioner and OGN-251 Loose Cannon, and Loose Cannon is the one for this entry, because its tag is Jinx. 103.2.a.2: "Must be a champion unit with a champion tag that matches the tag on your Champion Legend." The rule's own example names this card: "Example: Loose Cannon has the tag Jinx. Therefore, a player could choose Jinx, Rebel or Jinx, Demolitionist as their Chosen Champion, because they also have the tag Jinx." So Jinx is never a draw. 103.2.a.1: "This will be placed in the Champion Zone at the start of the game." And 419.1.a lets you play her from there: "By default, a player can only Play cards from their hand or their Chosen Champion zone." Under any of the entry's three legends she is a deck card, and three copies put one in the first 7 cards of a 39-card draw pile (by T3) in 45.73%.

Every card here is in the legend's domains, 103.1.b.1: "Cards included in your deck must abide by your Domain Identity." None is a Signature card (data/cards.json), and none is in data/legality.src.json or marked [BANNED] in data/corpus_flat.txt.

The card text the play turns on:

2. What a ready can buy in a Duel

She enters exhausted, so the first discard after she lands is a move. 143.4: "Units enter the Board exhausted." A move costs the exhaust, 144.2: "Exhausting the Unit is the Cost for this action." A discard readies her, and she can walk the turn she is played.

A ready on a Jinx who is already ready does nothing. 415.1.c: "If a Unit is instructed to be Readied while it is already Ready, nothing additional happens." She is readied by the Awaken Phase every turn after the one she lands, 315.1.b: "1. The Turn Player readies all Game Objects they control that are able to be readied." So a discard before her first move that turn buys only the +1.

The +1 has to come before the combat. She cannot move in a showdown, 144.1.c: "This action cannot be performed during a Showdown or Combat." None of the three discards here can be used in one either. 308.1.a: "Only cards and abilities with the Action or Reaction keywords can be played or activated in a Showdown State." The Enforcer is a unit without [Ambush], and the Poro's and the Armory's abilities carry neither keyword. Both abilities are also confined to your own turn, 381: "All Activated Abilities can only be activated on the Controlling Player's Turn and during an Open State." So every +1 is bought in your Main Phase, before the move into the fight.

From a battlefield, a ready goes home. 144.4.b: "Units may move from a Battlefield to their Base." The other direction is 144.4.a: "Units may move from their Base to a Battlefield." Jinx has no [Ganking], so changing battlefields takes two moves, which is one discard after the first.

The battlefield she leaves goes with her unless someone stays. A cleanup follows every move (319.8, "After a Move is completed"), and 190.4.c: "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."

Every event costs a card. The Poro's and the Armory's discards are costs, 422.3: "When Discarding is listed as a Cost, then the Action must be able to be completed for the cost to be paid." The Enforcer's is part of an effect, 422.4: "When Discarding is part of an effect, then a player must Discard as many cards as possible from their hand." Its example ends: "If they have no cards in hand, the entire discard instruction is ignored." An Enforcer played from an empty hand discards nothing, and Jinx does not trigger. Each Enforcer event costs two cards: itself and the discard.

3. Their deck: Body/Order, going wide

OGS-023 Might of Demacia - Starter (Body/Order): "When you conquer, if you have 4+ units at that battlefield, draw 2." Its Chosen Champion is OGS-007 Garen, Rugged; it never comes down in this walk. They play SFD-159 Trusty Ramhound (Order, E2, M2): "While you have another unit here, I have +1 :rb_might:.", UNL-111 Determined Sentry (Body, E1, M1), UNL-097 Kinkou Initiate (Body, E3, M3), OGN-210 Daring Poro (Order, E2, M2, [Assault]), OGN-136 Pit Rookie (Body, E2, M2) and OGN-218 Vanguard Captain (Order, E3 + 1 Power, M3): "[Legion] — When you play me, play two 1 :rb_might: Recruit unit tokens here. (Get the effect if you've played another card this turn.)" §5 names their answers.

4. The turns, going first

Fury/Chaos against Body/Order. Your battlefield is G; theirs is B. Your opening four are Punching Poro, Punching Poro, Unlicensed Armory and Chemtech Enforcer. Your draws are Chemtech Enforcer (T1), OGN-011 Magma Wurm (T2), Chemtech Enforcer (T3) and a second Magma Wurm (T4). The Wurm (Fury, E8 + 1 Power) cannot be cast before T5 here; it is the discard fodder.

turn    runes   your turn                                                 points
T1      2       Punching Poro (E2) to base.                               0
their T1        Trusty Ramhound (E2) and Determined Sentry (E1) to base.
                Three runes, none left.
T2      4       The Poro walks to G, Conquer: +1. Unlicensed Armory (E2)  1
                and a second Punching Poro (E2) to base. None left.
their T2        Ramhound and Sentry walk to G: 3 + 1 against 2. Your
                Poro and the Sentry die. Conquer G. Daring Poro (E2)
                and Kinkou Initiate (E3) to G: 3 + 2 + 3, an 8. The
                Initiate draws 1. Five runes, none left.
T3      6       Jinx, Rebel from the Champion Zone (E5 + 1 Chaos Power)    2
                to base: five runes exhausted, one of them recycled.
                Armory: discard Magma Wurm, choose Jinx. Jinx readies,
                M6. Poro Empower: discard an Enforcer. Jinx M7, Poro M3.
                Jinx and the Poro walk to G: 7 + 3, a 10 against 8.
                All three of theirs die; your Poro dies. Conquer G.
                Five runes on the board, one ready.
their T3        Nothing to Hold. Pit Rookie (E2) and Vanguard Captain
                (E3 + 1 Order Power, Legion: two Recruits) to base,
                exhausted. Six runes on the board, two left ready.
T4      7       Hold G: +1. Chemtech Enforcer (E2) to G: discard the       4
                second Wurm. Jinx M6; she was already ready. Jinx walks
                G to base. Armory: discard the last Enforcer, choose
                Jinx. Jinx readies, M7. Jinx walks to B: Conquer, +1.
                Hand empty. Five runes left, idle.
their T4        Rookie, Captain and both Recruits walk to B: 7 against
                Jinx's 5. Jinx, the Captain and the Rookie die.
                Conquer B.

Their points: 0 after their T1, 1 after their T2, 1 after their T3, 2 after their T4. After your T4 it is 4 to 1; after their T4, 4 to 2.

Your hand, card by card: 5 after the T1 draw, 4 after the Poro; 5, then 3 after T2; 4 after the T3 draw, then 2 after the two discards; 3 after the T4 draw, then 0. Loose Cannon never fires in the walk (four, three and two cards at the start of T2, T3 and T4). It draws on your T5, with your hand empty.

Your T2, why not the Enforcer. With Jinx not on the board, its discard is an event nobody counts, and it costs a card. The Armory enters ready (359.2.d: "If it is a Non-Unit Gear, it enters the Board Ready at the player's Base."), so it can be used on T3.

Their T2. They take G rather than walk into the empty B. Ramhound is a 3 there, with the Sentry beside it. Your Poro's 2 kills the Sentry, and their 4 kills the Poro. The Daring Poro goes first, so the Initiate draws: its draw needs 5 Might among their other units, and Ramhound (3 beside the Poro) and the Poro (2) make 5. The extra card is not an answer in this walk; §5 prices one. Both new units go straight to G, which they control, 355.2.a: "By default, Valid locations include the controller’s Base or a Battlefield the controller controls."

Your T3, the first discard is the move. Jinx is played to base and enters exhausted (143.4). The Armory's discard is a cost; Jinx's trigger resolves after it, 422.1.b: "“When I am discarded” abilities or other Triggered Abilities that trigger on discarding are executed after discarding has occurred." She readies and is a 6. The Poro's Empower is the second event: the ready does nothing (415.1.c), the +1 makes her a 7, and the Poro is a 3. They had no runes ready to answer either ability (377.3.b.2: "Opponents have an opportunity to respond, as appropriate, as if a card was played onto the chain."). Jinx and the Poro walk in one move (144.3), and you have Focus, 464.2.c.1.a: "If a showdown opens as part of combat, this player gains Focus as the showdown begins." Both pass.

465.2.c: "Starting with the Attacker, each player assigns an amount of damage equal to their summed Might among the other's Units." Your 10 cover Ramhound 3, Initiate 3 and Daring Poro 2. Their 8 must kill one unit in full before the next, 465.2.c.3: "Units must have lethal damage assigned to them in full before damage is assigned to a different Unit." They have two choices. Jinx first is 7, then 1 on the Poro; but the Armory chose Jinx, so you pay a Fury Power, recycled off a rune (164.2.b, "Recycle this: [Reaction] — Add [C]."), and she is healed and recalled instead of dying. That kills nothing. Poro first is 3, then 5 on Jinx, which is not lethal on a 7. They take the Poro. Jinx holds G, and you Conquer it, 469.1: "Conquer: A player gains Control of a Battlefield they did not yet Score this turn."

What the T3 discards bought. Without them Jinx sits in base, exhausted, and your Poro (a 2) cannot attack an 8. It walks to the empty B instead: also 2 to 1. But then their T3 begins with them holding G, 2 to 2, and with 8 Might still at G. With the discards it is 2 to 1 after their T3, and their board is three units in base, played that turn. The second discard was the Might: without it Jinx is a 6 and the Poro a 2, and their 8 kill both: the Armory recalls Jinx, the Poro dies, and G is left empty, so there is no Conquer. The Armory's discard paid for the move. Its protection paid by being there: it turned their best assignment from Jinx to the Poro.

Their T3. Nothing of theirs is on the board, and they control no battlefield, so everything goes to base (355.2.a) and enters exhausted (143.4). Nothing can reach Jinx at G this turn.

Your T4, two discards, one move. You Hold G at the start of the turn, 315.2.b.2: "1. The Turn Player Holds all Battlefields they Control." Jinx is at G and ready. B is empty, and the only way she reaches it this turn is G to base to B: two moves, with a discard between them. The Enforcer goes to G first, because G has to keep a unit when she leaves (319.8, 190.4.c). Its discard is the event she does not need: she is already ready (415.1.c), and the +1 has no combat to go to. Then she walks home, the Armory's discard readies her, and she walks into B. The move contests B, and you have Focus, 345: "As a Showdown begins, the player who applied Contested status to the Battlefield gains Focus." They have two runes ready and pass. Conquer: 4 to 1. You score G and B once each, 470: "A player may only Score, from either method, once per Battlefield per turn."

What the T4 discards bought. One point, the Conquer of B: without the Armory's ready she cannot get there. The other discard was spent on a +1 with nothing to fight. The price is Jinx. She stands alone at B, a 5 again after your turn, and their four bodies in base are a 7. Kept at G instead, with both Enforcers played there (the second one discards nothing, 422.4, but is a body), G is a 9 and B is theirs for free: 3 to 2 after their T4, with Jinx alive. The walk takes the point.

Your hand ran out before your mana. Five of seven runes were idle on T4. The engine is card-bound: every event is a card, and every Enforcer event is two.

Their T4. Their 7 against Jinx's 5: she dies. Your 5 kill the Captain and the Rookie, and the Recruits hold B. Might of Demacia's draw needs four units at B, and two are left.

How often this happens. 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 6 cards by T2 (four opening, one draw a turn from T1). With three of each (103.2.b), an Armory and a Punching Poro both among the first 6 is 14.55%; an Armory and two Poros, the walk's draw, is 1.71%. That counts only those cards. Jinx herself is not a draw: 100% under Loose Cannon. The entry's own turn, all three Enforcers in hand, is 0.61% by T4 (8 cards seen), before counting the three more cards they need to discard.

5. Breaks to

The cheapest answer is one rune on their T2: hide OGN-220 Facebreaker or OGN-213 Hidden Blade at G. Hiding needs a battlefield they control, which they have after their T2 conquer, 811.1.b: "you may pay [A] to hide this facedown at a battlefield you control that doesn't already have a facedown card hidden there for as long as you control that battlefield. Beginning on the next turn, this gains [Reaction] and you may play this, ignoring its base cost." The rune comes out of the Daring Poro's two, so G is a 6 (Ramhound 3, Initiate 3). On your T3 the card plays for nothing in the combat at G, where its target has to be, 811.1.d.2: "If a hidden spell or a play effect of a hidden permanent chooses any targets, those targets must be chosen from among options at that battlefield, unless the ability explicitly restricts targeting in a way that makes this impossible."

The scope of that verdict. A Body/Order deck plays only Body, Order and Body/Order cards (103.1.b.1), and its Signature cards must carry its legend's tag, 103.2.d.2: "All of the Signature cards must have the Champion tag that corresponds to the Champion Legend of the deck." Might of Demacia's tag is Garen. The predicate is: a spell in those domains in data/corpus_flat.txt, with [Action] or [Reaction], not banned, and not a Signature card (signature in data/cards.json) with another champion's tag. The domain, keyword and ban filters give 39 spells. Two of them are Signature cards a Garen deck cannot run: UNL-204 Keeper's Verdict (Poppy) and SFD-206 Riposte (Fiora). That leaves 37, none at E0. OGS-024 Decisive Strike is the Garen Signature and stays, at five runes. The other two Body/Order Signatures, OGN-270 Showstopper (Sett) and VEN-154 Public Execution (Ambessa), have neither keyword. 4 of the 37 cost one rune and 19 cost two (at most 2 Energy and 2 Power, the Power recycled off the same runes). One rune is the floor: with none ready, nothing in the list can be cast, and hiding costs one. From hand, no unit in those domains joins a combat for two runes: the ones playable as a [Reaction] start at three (VEN-123 Soulspinner, E3; OGN-241 Shen, Kinkou, E3 + 1). From facedown, the [Hidden] ones do, for the one rune that hid them; they are swept with the other hidden cards under your T3. The 23 are checked in four windows. Each window prices single cards; the two-card cases found while walking them are named where they occur.

Your T3 at G. In the walk they have no rune ready and nothing hidden, so nothing can be played. Holding something back costs them a body on their T2, and there are three ways to do it: two runes up instead of the Daring Poro, or a card hidden for one rune in place of either body. The predicate for all three is: played in that combat or in answer to your Main Phase abilities, does it stop your Conquer of G?

Two runes up, G a 6 (Ramhound 3, Initiate 3) against your 10. Five of the 23 do, all at two runes:

The other eighteen do not:

Two cards: two Flurries, both runes, put 2 on all four. Their 6 then kill the Poro (1 more) and Jinx (5 more), the Armory recalls her, your 10 kill both of theirs, and G is left empty.

A hidden card. The predicate for the scope is: a Body/Order card with [Hidden], not banned, legal under 103.2.d.2. There are seven, none a Signature card: the units OGN-135 Pakaa Cub (Body, M3), VEN-117 Disciple of Shen (Order, M1) and VEN-135 Kennen, Keeper of Balance (Order, M2), and the spells OGN-213 Hidden Blade, OGN-220 Facebreaker, SFD-111 Here to Help and SFD-154 Guards!. Played from facedown they cost nothing (811.1.b), they have [Reaction] (811.6), and what they put on the board comes in at G, 811.1.d.1: "A hidden permanent must be played to that battlefield." and 811.1.d.3: "If a hidden spell or a play effect of a hidden permanent causes you to play a unit, you must choose to play that unit at that battlefield." A unit that arrives joins the fight, 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." Hiding costs one rune, so they keep either the Initiate (G a 6, one rune left up) or the Daring Poro (G a 5, two up). Three break it alone:

The other four do not, alone. The Cub makes G a 9 or an 8, Guards!' 2-Might Sand Soldier an 8 or a 7, and the Disciple a 7 or a 6: its Shield needs "exactly one other unit you control", and G has two. Against your 10, they still kill only your Poro, and Jinx holds G. Here to Help needs a unit in hand, which is a second card.

With the Daring Poro kept, they also hold two runes for a card from hand, whatever is hidden. G is then a 5 (Ramhound 3, Poro 2) before the hidden card, against your 10. The 23 swept again against that 5: four break it alone. Hidden Blade and Facebreaker work as above. SFD-097 Punch First on Ramhound makes them a 10: they kill both of yours, the Armory recalls Jinx, and your 10 kill both of theirs, so G is left empty. VEN-126 Ki Barrier on either of theirs leaves one alive whatever you assign: Ramhound would need 3 + 7 and the Poro 2 + 7. Cannon Barrage, a break against 6, is not one here: after it your units need 1 + 5 = 6, and they have 5, so they kill your Poro and Jinx holds G. The other nineteen do not either. Flurry needs them at 8; Grim Resolve, Guttural Roar and Bonds of Strength make them 8, 7 and 7. Challenge trades one unit for one and leaves Jinx the bigger side. Deathgrip moves Might without adding any. Here to Help adds at most a 3, so 8. Blood Money finds no unit of yours at 2 Might or less. The rest touch no unit in that combat.

Two cards, walked against the same 23. With the Initiate kept and one rune up, OGN-133 Flurry of Blades breaks it beside the Cub (9), Kennen (8) or the Sand Soldier (8). After Flurry their total only has to reach 8 (2 for your Poro, 6 for Jinx), and your 10 still kill all of theirs, so G is left empty. With the Daring Poro kept and two up, three of the hidden bodies turn more of the 23 into breaks:

Here to Help from hand makes a third card, a unit in hand.

Their T3, Jinx alone at G. They have seven runes and an empty board. Hidden Blade (two runes) kills her: the Armory's protection was for your turn only. G is then empty and is lost in the next cleanup (190.4.c), so you have no Hold on T4. The other 22 do not remove a 5 from a battlefield with one card.

Your T4, the move into B. They have two runes ready. The predicate is: does it stop your Conquer of B, or take G from you? Three do:

The other 20 do not. Cannon Barrage needs a combat, and B has no defender. Facebreaker needs a unit of theirs at B, and Here to Help needs a battlefield they control. Flurry puts 1 on a 7 and on a 2. The pumps and the rest have no unit of theirs at a battlefield to act on. Two cards: two Flurries put 2 on the Enforcer, and G is lost as with Blood Money.

No hidden card reaches this window or the two after it. They control no battlefield on their T3, so they cannot hide anything then. A card hidden at G on their T2 and not used is removed when you take G, 466.5.c: "Remove all Hidden cards from this Battlefield that do not share a controller with the Battlefield." A card hidden on their T4 can be played only from their next turn on (811.1.b).

Their T4, Jinx alone at B and the Enforcer alone at G. Without a card they take one battlefield: taking both needs 6 Might at B (5 to kill her, one body left after her 5) and 3 at G, and they have 7. Nine cards at two runes or less give them both, 4 to 3, seven of them on their own: Hidden Blade and Blood Money clear a battlefield before the attack. Punch First, Grim Resolve, Guttural Roar and Bonds of Strength make the B attackers big enough to survive her. Cannon Barrage kills the Enforcer in the G combat. Confront and Wallop do it too, but only with a unit in hand to play ready. The other fourteen do not: Challenge, Facebreaker, Flurry, Ki Barrier, Tactical Retreat, Deathgrip and Here to Help each leave one battlefield short, and the other seven touch no unit in either fight.

How likely an answer is. Out of their own 39, by your T3 they have seen 6 cards: four opening and a draw on each of their turns. In every line that holds something back, the Initiate draws nothing, because Ramhound alone is a 2 or the Initiate is not played. In the walk the Initiate draws, so they have seen 8 by their T3 and your T4 and 9 by their T4. One answer run three times is among them in 40.30% (6 cards), 50.82% (8) and 55.58% (9). With two of the T3 answers in three copies each (six cards), 66.05% by your T3.

6. Verdict

Right about the count; silent about when the ready is worth anything. Each discard readies Jinx and makes her a point bigger, and three small discards are three events. But a ready only buys a move when she is exhausted. That is on the turn she lands, or after she has already moved. In a Duel, the move it buys from a battlefield is a walk home: changing battlefields is two moves, and the battlefield she leaves needs another unit or it goes in the next cleanup. The +1 only counts if it comes before a combat that turn. Walked, it paid twice. On T3 a free discard walked her, the turn she landed, into the battlefield they held, and their three units died. On T4 a discard was the second half of G to base to B, and it bought a Conquer at the price of leaving her alone. The other two discards readied a Jinx who was already ready. The engine's limit is cards, not mana: the hand ran out with five runes idle.

7. Not verified

I did not deal the channel order. The walk assumes six Fury and six Chaos runes, Loose Cannon's two domains, in the twelve of Tournament Rules 402.1. Jinx on T3 needs one Chaos among the six runes channelled by then: it fails in 1 of 924 deals, 0.11%. The Armory's threat, which is what moved their damage onto the Poro, also needs a Fury among them: needing both fails in 2 of 924 deals, 0.22%. On T4 nothing costs Power, and a Fury for the Armory is on the board in all 495 deals of eight runes.

Their walk assumes six Body and six Order. The Captain needs one Order among their first seven runes, which holds in all 792 deals. For the answers: on your T3, with five runes, Hidden Blade and Ki Barrier need one Order and Cannon Barrage one Body, which each fail in 6 of 792 deals, 0.76%. Punch First needs two Body: 96 of 792, 12.12%. Facebreaker needs none, and hiding costs any rune. On their T3, with seven runes, Hidden Blade's Order holds in every deal. On your T4, Hidden Blade needs an Order rune beyond the one the Captain recycled: 6 of 792, 0.76%. On their T4 they have channelled nine runes, and every answer above holds in every deal.

I did not walk going second, the mulligan, or 2v2. Their hand holding no answer is the walk's assumption; §5 prices it. The probabilities count only the cards named.

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