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The second Bonds is the +1 Jae lives on, and Falling Star kills him the turn before

Issue #373 (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 and data/Riftbound-Tournament-Rules-2026-07-16.txt. Read the unopposed clock for the baseline this is measured against.

Subject: jae-medarda-repeat-double-choose, the Order/Chaos ENGINE in which SFD-151 Bonds of Strength with its [Repeat] paid chooses SFD-142 Jae Medarda in both executions, so one card draws two. The entry is right about the two draws, and they resolve before anything else on the chain. In a game the draws were the half that did not decide anything. The +1 Mights did. On T4 Jae walked into a 6 at B, and the two +1s made him a 7: he killed both defenders, took 6 and lived, and Conquered. That is 4 to 2. With the [Repeat] not paid, he is a 6 against 6: all three die, B is left empty, and it is 3 to 2 with one card drawn and no Jae. The cheapest answer comes a turn earlier. Going first, Jae lands on T3 with one rune left, and on their T3 OGN-029 Falling Star deals 3 and 3 to him in your base for two runes, before he draws once. Over Fury/Mind it is the cheapest single card that kills a 5 in a base. The only other one at six runes or less is OGN-105 Singularity, at all six of theirs, and it takes a second unit with him.

Why this line. scripts/sequence-pick.mjs --unplayed, re-run on 2026-10-14 at eacc689, reads 773 entries, 262 with forced-ordering language, 100 in the queue and 25 of them with no play. The queue is the one the issue measured. This entry is rank 77, second in the list. The other entry of this slice is rank 76, frozen-fortress-soul-shepherd-asymmetric-sweep, played in The Fortress killed nothing: their Recruits stayed off it until Darius stood there.

1. Needs

LegendVEN-155 Heart of the Tempest (Order/Chaos, tags Yordle, Kennen)
Chosen ChampionVEN-113 Kennen, Storm of Shuriken (Chaos, E3 + 1 Power, M4)
The pairSFD-142 Jae Medarda (Chaos, E5 + 2 Power, M5), SFD-151 Bonds of Strength (Order spell, E2, [Reaction], [Repeat] E2)
The bodiesOGN-210 Daring Poro (Order, E2, M2), OGN-175 Shipyard Skulker (Chaos, E3, M3)

Heart of the Tempest is the only Order/Chaos legend: of the 94 legend base codes in data/cards.json, only VEN-155 and its reprint VEN-197 carry both domains. Its Chosen Champion must share its champion tag, 103.2.a.2: "Must be a champion unit with a champion tag that matches the tag on your Champion Legend." Both Kennen units do; Storm of Shuriken is the one here. It starts in the Champion Zone, 103.2.a.1: "This will be placed in the Champion Zone at the start of the game." It stays there for the whole walk, so the legend is never Empowered (§7).

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 (signature in 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 one Bonds with its [Repeat] buys

Both executions choose when you cast it. 820.2: "When a spell or ability’s effect is performed an additional time with Repeat, choices must be made at the usual time during the Make Relevant Choices step of Playing a Card." The second set may repeat the first, 820.2.a: "Choices made for the additional execution do not have to be the same as the choices made for the initial execution." So Jae is chosen in each, with another friendly unit beside him each time.

Each choice is a target, and each target is a draw. 355.7: "When a card Chooses one or more specific Game Objects to affect, it is Targeted unless indicated otherwise by the rules in this section." 383.4.b.3: "Although these abilities say “choose” in their Condition, they trigger specifically when an appropriate Game Object is Targeted." The rules count one spell choosing one object more than once elsewhere, 809.1.c: "Spells and abilities an opponent controls that target [me/this] cost an amount of Power equal to [Deflect Value] more to play as an additional cost for each time they choose [me/this]." The walk reads Jae's trigger the same way: twice. No paragraph says so in those words (§7, Leads).

The draws come before anything else. 383.4.b.2: "These Triggered Abilities are put on the Chain as Pending Items after a spell or ability that targets an appropriate Game Object is Finalized." They sit above Bonds, and 340.1 resolves the top: "The newest Finalized Chain Item resolves." A response goes above them and resolves first, but nothing in this walk removes the triggers.

The +1s are the part that fights. 143.2.a: "If a Unit ever has nonzero damage marked on it equalling or exceeding its Might, it is Killed." Jae is a 5. Against a 6 he dies. As a 6 he still dies, and as a 7 he lives. That is the whole difference the [Repeat] makes in §4.

The price, and when it can be held up. Bonds and its [Repeat] are 4 Energy: four runes, no Power. Jae is E5 + 2 Chaos Power: five runes exhausted, two Chaos among them recycled, 164.2.b: "Recycle this: [Reaction] — Add [C]." 164.2.b.1: "The Power added this way corresponds to the Domain of the Rune that is being Recycled." A recycled rune leaves the board, 416.1.b: "Runes are Recycled to the Rune Deck." Going first you channel 2 a turn, 315.3.b: "1. The Turn Player channels 2 runes from their Rune Deck." So you have 2, 4, 6 and 8 runes channelled on T1 to T4. Jae on T3 leaves one rune ready and four on the board. To land Jae with four runes ready for Bonds in the same turn you need nine on the board, which going first is T5 at the earliest.

3. Their deck: Fury/Mind, Daughter of the Void

OGN-247 Daughter of the Void (Fury/Mind): ":rb_exhaust:: [Reaction] — [Add] :rb_rune_rainbow:. Use only to play spells. (Abilities that add resources can't be reacted to.)" Its Chosen Champion is OGN-112 Kai'Sa, Evolutionary (Mind, E6 + 1 Power, M6): "[Ganking] (I can move from battlefield to battlefield.) When I conquer, you may play a spell from your trash with Energy cost less than your points without paying its Energy cost. Then recycle it. (You must still pay its Power cost.)" They play OGN-010 Legion Rearguard (Fury, E2, M2, [Accelerate]), VEN-057 Covert Informant (Mind, E3 + 1 Power, M4; its [Empower] is never used) and OGN-103 Ravenbloom Student (Mind, E2, M2: "When you play a spell, give me +1 :rb_might: this turn."). §5 names their answers. Their hand holding none of them is the walk's assumption.

4. The turns, going first

Order/Chaos against Fury/Mind. Your battlefield is G; theirs is B. Your opening four are Daring Poro, Shipyard Skulker, Jae Medarda and Bonds of Strength. Your draws are a second Daring Poro (T1), a second Jae (T2), a second Skulker (T3) and a third Daring Poro (T4). Jae's two draws on T4 are a second Bonds and a third Skulker.

turn    runes   your turn                                                 points
T1      2       Daring Poro (E2) to base.                                 0
their T1        Legion Rearguard (E2) to base. Three runes, one left.
T2      4       The Poro walks to G, Conquer: +1. Shipyard Skulker (E3)   1
                to G. One rune left.
their T2        The Rearguard walks to B, Conquer. Covert Informant
                (E3 + 1 Mind Power) to B, Ravenbloom Student (E2) to
                base. Five runes, none left, one recycled: four on
                the board.
T3      6       Hold G: +1. Jae Medarda (E5 + 2 Chaos Power) to base.     2
                Five runes exhausted, two recycled: four on the
                board, one ready.
their T3        Hold B. Kai'Sa, Evolutionary from the Champion Zone
                (E6 + 1 Mind Power) to base. Six runes, none left, one
                recycled: five on the board.
T4      6       Hold G: +1. Jae walks to B: 5 against the Rearguard's 2   4
                and the Informant's 4. Bonds of Strength (E2) with its
                Repeat (E2): Jae and the Poro, twice. Jae draws 2 and
                is a 7. His 7 kill both; their 6 do not kill him.
                Conquer B. Second Daring Poro (E2) to B. None left.
their T4        Kai'Sa walks to G: 6 against the Poro's 2 and the
                Skulker's 3. Both die. Conquer G. A second Covert
                Informant (E3 + 1 Mind Power) to G. Seven runes, four
                left, one recycled.

Their points: 0 after their T1, 1 after their T2, 2 after their T3, 3 after their T4. After your T4 it is 4 to 2; after their T4, 4 to 3.

Your hand, card by card: 5 after the T1 draw, 4 after the Poro; 5, then 4 after T2; 5 after the T3 draw, 4 after Jae; 5 after the T4 draw, 4 after Bonds, 6 after Jae's two draws, 5 after the second Poro (the second Jae, the second and third Skulker, the third Poro and the second Bonds). Your runes on the board: 2, 4, 4 after T3, 6 on T4.

Your T2, why the Skulker goes to G. A unit is played to your base or to a battlefield you control, 355.2.a: "By default, Valid locations include the controller’s Base or a Battlefield the controller controls." At G it makes a 5 with the Poro. Their only ready unit on their T2 is the Rearguard, a 2, their Chosen Champion costs six runes, and nothing in the hand this walk deals them enters ready. So nothing of theirs can take G that turn.

Their T2. B is empty, so the Rearguard takes it with no combat, 316.8.b.1: "Showdowns that occur as a result of a player moving to an empty Battlefield are a stand-alone Phase and do not create a Combat." The Informant goes straight to B, which they now control (355.2.a), and B is a 6. From their side that is enough. The only unit of yours that can reach B is one in your base, 144.4.a: "Units may move from their Base to a Battlefield." From G a unit moves only home, 144.4.b: "Units may move from a Battlefield to their Base." Neither the Poro nor the Skulker has [Ganking].

Your T3. Jae enters exhausted, 143.4: "Units enter the Board exhausted." You have one rune ready for their T3 and nothing in hand that costs one.

Their T3, why Kai'Sa goes to base. They Hold B, 315.2.b.2: "1. The Turn Player Holds all Battlefields they Control." Kai'Sa comes from the Champion Zone, 419.1.a: "By default, a player can only Play cards from their hand or their Chosen Champion zone." From base she reaches either battlefield on their T4 (144.4.a). They do not see Bonds. From their side B is a 6 against a 5, the one unit of yours that can reach it. Played to B instead, Kai'Sa makes B a 12 and Jae never attacks it. That is the better line for them, and it is priced below.

Your T4, the order on the chain. Your runes are ready again, 315.1.b: "1. The Turn Player readies all Game Objects they control that are able to be readied." Jae walks from base to B and exhausts, 144.2: "Exhausting the Unit is the Cost for this action." B has defenders, so this is a combat, 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." You cast Bonds and pay the [Repeat]. Execution one chooses Jae and the Poro at G; execution two chooses Jae and the Poro again. "Two friendly units" has to be two different units, so Jae always needs a partner. The Poro is not in the combat, and it does not need to be. The two triggers resolve first: Jae draws 2. Then Bonds resolves, and Jae is a 7. They have no rune ready and pass.

Combat follows, 465.1: "If both Attacking and Defending units remain at this battlefield, the following Tasks become Outstanding, in the specified order:" Jae assigns his 7 in order, 465.2.c.3: "Units must have lethal damage assigned to them in full before damage is assigned to a different Unit." That is 2 to the Rearguard, then 4 to the Informant, and the last 1 also goes on the Informant. Both die. Their 6 are less than his 7, and he lives. You won, 466.3.a: "A Player has won a combat if they received either the attacker or defender designation and are the only Player that has units remaining at this battlefield during this step." You Conquer B, 469.1: "Conquer: A player gains Control of a Battlefield they did not yet Score this turn." The second Poro goes to B, which you now control. With it B is a 7 on their turn. His damage heals in the combat cleanup, 466.1.a.1: "Insert “3c. Heal all Units.”"

What the [Repeat] bought. Four lines from the same hand and the same six runes:

So the second execution is worth one point, two dead defenders and Jae himself. The second card it draws is the least of what it bought. The four Mights spread over "two friendly units" each time look like a tax. Two of them went on the Poro at G and did nothing. The two that went on Jae made the line.

Their T4. They control nothing, so they Hold nothing. Kai'Sa walks into G: her 6 kill the Poro (2) and the Skulker (3), and your 5 do not kill her. Conquer G: 4 to 3. Her trigger finds no spell in their trash. Attacking B instead, Kai'Sa and the Student are an 8 against 7. They kill Jae and the Poro, but your 7 kill Kai'Sa, and the Student takes B: 4 to 3 again, without their Chosen Champion. If you hold the two runes with the second Bonds and play no Poro, it is still 4 to 3. They attack G with both. Bonds makes the Poro and the Skulker a 3 and a 4 (or Jae and the Skulker, for a card), their 8 still kill both, and your 7 kill Kai'Sa.

If Kai'Sa had gone to B. B is a 12, and Jae stays home on T4. Hold G: 3 to 2. You hold four runes for Bonds and play the second Poro to G, which makes G a 7. On their T4 they Hold B, 3 to 3. Kai'Sa can gank from B to G (144.4.c.1: "Units with Ganking may use their Standard Move to Move from Battlefield to Battlefield."), but she is a 6 against 7. With the Student walking in from base beside her, as one move (144.3: "Players may perform multiple Units' standard move simultaneously. This is treated as one game action performed on multiple Units."), it is 8 against 7. Then Bonds with its [Repeat] on Jae and the Skulker makes G a 9: both of theirs die, and you keep G. Unattacked, Bonds is cast in answer to the first card they play: two cards, and the four Mights land on bodies that are not fighting. 3 to 3, with Jae alive. That is the line where the engine is only a draw engine.

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. Tournament Rules 402.1: "In a constructed event, players must register a Main Deck of exactly 40 cards (including a chosen champion), 1 Legend, 12 runes, and exactly 3 battlefields each with a unique name." Going first you have seen 7 cards by T3 and 8 by T4. With three of each (103.2.b: "Your Main Deck can include up to 3 copies of the same named card."), a Jae among the 7 and a Bonds among the 8 is 21.71%, counted by enumerating the six copies' positions. Both among the 7 is 19.23%; both among the 8, 24.20%. That counts only those two cards, not the second body Bonds needs.

5. Breaks to

The predicate. The walk's result is 4 to 2 after your T4, with Jae alive and two cards drawn. A break is a card that stops your T4 Conquer of B, or kills Jae before it. Their scope is the Fury/Mind deck of a Kai'Sa legend. It plays only Fury, Mind and Fury/Mind cards (103.1.b.1), and its Signature cards must carry the Kai'Sa tag, 103.2.d.2: "All of the Signature cards must have the Champion tag that corresponds to the Champion Legend of the deck." Counted on data/cards.json, folded by name and type (no legends, battlefields, runes or tokens): 69 cards in those domains print [Action], [Reaction], [Hidden] or [Ambush]. One is another champion's Signature card (SFD-182 Danger Zone, Rumble), which leaves 68. None is banned. By the runes they cost (the larger of the Energy and the Power), 14 cost one rune and 22 cost two. The legend's rainbow pays one Power of a spell, so on these cards the Energy is what limits them.

Their T3, two runes: Jae dies in your base before he draws. You have one rune ready and nothing in the walk's hand to cast with it. Over the whole identity, four Order, Chaos or Order/Chaos cards that can be played on their turn cost one rune (not banned, with [Reaction], [Hidden] or [Ambush]): OGN-169 Gust, which reaches only a unit at a battlefield; OGN-204 Seal of Discord and OGN-245 Seal of Unity, gear; and UNL-173 Sacrifice: "As an additional cost to play this, kill a friendly [Mighty] unit. (A unit is Mighty while it has 5+ :rb_might:.) Draw 2 and channel 1 rune exhausted." None keeps Jae alive. Sacrifice turns him into two cards before Falling Star lands. At two runes, VEN-126 Ki Barrier ("Prevent the next 7 damage that would be dealt to it this turn.") saves him, and choosing him draws a card. On their own turn any card is playable, so this window is swept over every Fury/Mind card, not only the 68. The predicate is: one card, six runes or less, that kills a 5-Might unit in its controller's base. A location clause ("at a battlefield", "here") rules a card out, and so does a Might reduction alone, since 143.2.a kills on damage. Two cards do it:

The rest fall short:

Two cards do it from three runes up:

Each of them, Falling Star included, costs Kai'Sa: she needs all six of their runes. With Jae dead your T4 is the Hold of G, 3 to 2, and nothing reaches B. Kept for their T4, Falling Star meets Jae with four runes up if you hold them: Bonds with its [Repeat] makes him a 7, and 3 + 3 do not kill a 7.

Your T4, a card hidden at B: the T4 Conquer for one recycled rune, even beside Kai'Sa. They control B, which is what hiding needs, 811.1.b: "While this card is in your hand or in your Champion Zone on your turn during an Open State, 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." [A] is a Power, paid by recycling a rune (164.2.b), and recycling needs no ready rune. So they can cast Kai'Sa with all six and still hide a card, ending on four runes. Played from facedown it costs nothing and has [Reaction], 811.6: "A card that is Hidden gains Reaction while facedown or played from facedown, and may be played any time a card with Reaction may be played as a result." A unit they put there joins the fight, 811.1.d.1: "A hidden permanent must be played to that battlefield." And 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." The predicate is the same, narrowed to the 13 of the 68 with [Hidden]. Nine break it alone, against your 7 and their 6:

The other four do not. OGN-083 Consult the Past draws, SFD-004 Bushwhack readies units that are not coming, and UNL-083 Smoke and Mirrors needs a [Temporary] unit. VEN-066 Temporal Breach banishes Jae and has you play him again at B, a new object without the +2. But a card played from anywhere other than your hand empowers Heart of the Tempest, by its own text: "When you play a card from anywhere other than your hand, empower me. [Action][>] Disempower me, :rb_exhaust:: Give a unit [Assault 2] this turn." An [Action] ability can be used in a showdown, 806.1.c.2: "On Activated Abilities: "This can be activated during showdowns on any player's turn."" Jae attacks as a 7 again and Conquers. In each of the nine, Jae's two draws still resolve: the triggers were on the chain before the answer was.

Your T4, from hand: one rune kept on their T3 instead of Kai'Sa. If they skip their champion, they can leave runes up. While Bonds and Jae's triggers are on the chain, only a [Reaction] card is played, 309.1.a: "Only cards and abilities with the Reaction keyword can be played or activated in a Closed State." An [Action] card waits for the open state after the chain resolves, 346: "When the last item on the chain resolves and the turn returns to an Open State during a Showdown, Focus passes, and the next Player gains both Focus and Priority." Six of the fourteen one-rune cards break it:

The other eight do not. OGN-004 Cleave, SFD-003 Blood Rush and UNL-010 Vault Breaker give [Assault], which counts only for an attacker. VEN-015 Decree of Rage needs a Calm unit and VEN-061 Decree of Insight a Body unit, and Jae is Chaos. OGN-104 Retreat returns one of their own: the other is alone against a 7. OGN-040 Seal of Rage and OGN-120 Seal of Insight are gear with their [Reaction] on an ability they would already need on the board.

Two runes kept: eleven of the twenty-two more.

The other eleven do not. OGN-033 Shakedown lets you choose: they draw 2, and the Conquer stands. SFD-011 Angle Shot needs an Equipment, UNL-061 Downstage Dramatics draws, UNL-085 Sumpworks Map draws them a card when you score, and UNL-083 Smoke and Mirrors needs a [Temporary] unit. SFD-004 Bushwhack, VEN-066 Temporal Breach, OGN-097 Blastcone Fae, OGN-121 Teemo, UNL-003 Mischievous Marai and UNL-081 Keeper of Masks have no [Action] or [Reaction] from hand. 308.1.a: "Only cards and abilities with the Action or Reaction keywords can be played or activated in a Showdown State."

The cheapest answer. To the engine, Falling Star on their T3, two runes: Jae dies before he draws, and it is the cheapest Fury/Mind card that does that. OGN-105 Singularity does it too, for all six of their runes, and kills a second unit. To the T4 result, a hidden card at B: one rune recycled on their T3 and nothing on your T4. It sits beside Kai'Sa, and nine of the thirteen hideable cards stop the Conquer. If they spend no rune elsewhere, six one-rune cards held up do the same. OGN-095 Stupefy is the plainest of them, the card the sibling entry jae-medarda-choose-draw uses to feed Jae, here aimed at him by the other side.

How likely an answer is. Out of their own 39, by their T3 they have seen 7 cards: four opening and a draw on each of their three turns. One answer in three copies is among them in 45.73%; two (six cards), 72.23%; three (nine cards), 86.76%. Falling Star alone is the first figure. These count only the cards named, not how many of them a deck runs.

6. Verdict

Right about the two draws; wrong about which half pays. One Bonds with its [Repeat] chooses Jae twice, and both draws resolve before the spell, as the entry says. In the walk the draws decided nothing. The two +1s on Jae did: a 5 against a 6 became a 7 that killed both defenders and lived, and the Conquer is the one point the engine scored. Without the [Repeat] it is 6 against 6, B empty, and no Jae. The entry's moment of your choosing is mostly theirs. Going first, Jae lands with one rune spare, and the turn after, Falling Star kills him in your base for two runes. No Order/Chaos card at one rune keeps him alive (Sacrifice turns him into two cards), and Ki Barrier needs two. Bonds itself holds him against Falling Star only from the turn you can leave four runes up beside him.

7. Not verified

I did not deal the channel order. The walk assumes six Order and six Chaos runes, Heart of the Tempest's two domains, in the twelve of Tournament Rules 402.1. Jae on T3 needs two Chaos among your first six runes. It fails in 37 of 924 deals, 4.00%. Nothing else of yours costs Power.

Their walk assumes six Fury and six Mind. The Informant on their T2 needs a Mind among five runes. It fails in 6 of 792 deals, 0.76%. Kai'Sa on their T3 needs a second Mind among seven: 6 of 792, 0.76%. One or the other fails in 12 of 924 orderings, 1.30%. The second Informant on their T4 needs a third Mind among nine, which every deal has. Falling Star on their T3 needs one Fury on their board beside the legend's rainbow, and every deal has one, since six Mind cannot fill seven runes. Singularity on their T3, and the Smoke Screen and Bellows Breath pair, each need a Mind recycled beside the rainbow, so a second Mind among seven after the T2 recycle: each fails in 6 of 792 deals, 0.76%, as Kai'Sa does. Long Sword is gear, so the legend's rainbow does not pay it, and its Fury comes off a recycled Fury rune: every deal of seven has one. Hiding costs [A], any rune.

Two readings carry the walk. First, that choosing Jae in both executions fires his trigger twice. 820.2, 383.4.b.3 and 809.1.c point that way, but no paragraph says it in so many words. Read once, the T4 is the same 4 to 2 with one card drawn. Second, that Dancing Grenade's replay belongs to the controller of the unit it hit (§5).

Kennen is never played. From the Champion Zone he would empower the legend, whose [Assault 2] makes Jae a 7 attacking B without Bonds. He costs E3 + 1 Chaos: on T2 he replaces the Skulker, and the rune he recycles leaves exactly five on the board for Jae on T3. That line is not walked. Neither are: past their T4, going second, the mulligan, SFD-034 Feral Strength's Calm/Chaos version of the line, or 2v2. Their hand holding no answer is the walk's assumption, and §5 prices it. The probabilities count only the cards named.

Leads