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Onslaught and the Duel beat an ambushed Vilemaw only together, and the second spell is what Crumbling Sands counters

Issue #401 (a slice of #200), 2026-10-18. 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: gentlemens-duel-onslaught-challenge-ceiling, the Body ENGINE in which VEN-081 Onslaught (E4, +6 Might this turn, [Flow] E4) is played in your Main Phase on the body that will fight, and OGS-008 Gentlemen's Duel (E6 + 1 Body Power, [Action]) adds its own +3 and makes that body and an enemy unit deal damage equal to their Mights to each other. The entry is right about the mechanism: the exchange is dealt by the units (417.6.b.3) and is never combat damage (417.6.c), so no [Tank] orders it, and the arithmetic has no cap. It is right that Onslaught has no timing keyword and must be committed in the Main Phase, before the fight. It is wrong about the domain: OGN-154 Primal Strength is a bigger pump (+7) at [Action] speed, and VEN-083 Rampage also pumps and fights with one card. Walked as a game, going first, with Keeper of the Hammer against a Calm/Order Eye of Twilight deck that held nine runes on its T4 and ambushed UNL-060 Vilemaw (M8) into the T5 attack, the engine is the only line that takes their battlefield: Onslaught makes Poppy an 11 that Vilemaw cannot silence, the Duel makes her a 14 that kills Vilemaw and survives, and the attack conquers: 5 to 3 after their T5. The Duel alone trades Poppy for Vilemaw and the attack fails; Onslaught alone leaves Vilemaw standing; both end 4 to 4. The cheapest answer to the engine costs one rune, and it fits beside Vilemaw in their nine: OGN-045 Defy counters Onslaught in the Main Phase, and VEN-039 Crumbling Sands counters the Duel in the combat, because Onslaught was "another spell this turn".

Why this line. scripts/sequence-pick.mjs --unplayed, re-run on 2026-10-18 at 88f0ffe, reads 773 entries, 262 with forced-ordering language, 100 in the queue and 17 of them with no play, as the issue measured. The two picks are unchanged: this entry is rank 85, the second in the list. The other entry of this slice is rank 84, nidalee-towering-combatant-ambush-draw, played in Nidalee draws only behind an attack of eight or less, and the card is the smallest thing the ambush wins.

1. Needs

LegendUNL-203 Keeper of the Hammer (Body/Order, tag Poppy)
Chosen ChampionUNL-116 Poppy, Paragon (Body, E5, M5, [Deflect])
The pumpVEN-081 Onslaught (Body, E4)
The fightOGS-008 Gentlemen's Duel (Body, E6 + 1 Body Power)
The rest of the attackSFD-099 Veteran Poro (Body, E2, M2), SFD-096 Laurent Bladekeeper (Body, E3, M3), OGN-135 Pakaa Cub (Body, E3, M3), SFD-098 Sea Monkey (Body, E2, M2)

The entry admits any of the seventeen legends with Body in their pair. Keeper of the Hammer is the one for this walk because its tag is Poppy, so the Chosen Champion can be a printed 5 with [Deflect], 103.2.a.2: "Must be a champion unit with a champion tag that matches the tag on your Champion Legend." Poppy, Paragon is tagged Yordle, Demacia and Poppy, and is not a Signature card (signature in data/cards.json). She starts in the Champion Zone, 103.2.a.1: "This will be placed in the Champion Zone at the start of the game." The legend's text ("When you hold, gain 1 XP. Spend 3 XP, :rb_exhaust:: Draw 1.") gives three XP by the end of T5, which the walk does not spend.

Every card here is mono-Body, so it is in the legend's domains, 103.1.b.1: "Cards included in your deck must abide by your Domain Identity." A mono-Body card is permitted by 103.1.b.3: "If a card has a single Domain, then that card is permitted in the Domain Identity that corresponds to the same Domain." None is a Signature card, 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 the exchange is, when each half can be played, and what it has to beat

The exchange is unit damage, not combat damage. 417.6.b.3: "When a spell or ability specifies a Unit as the source of the Damage for the Deal action, it is not in addition to the spell or ability that instructed it. Example: Challenge is a spell that reads “Choose a friendly unit and an enemy unit. They deal damage equal to their Mights to each other.” The damage that Challenge causes to be dealt is dealt by the chosen units, not by Challenge." Challenge is OGN-128, the Duel's printed twin without the pump. Combat damage is a different thing, 417.6.c: "Damage Dealt as a result of being assigned during Combat has the Units as its source." So [Tank] orders nothing in the exchange, since 815.1.b scopes it to that step: "It is functionally short for "I must be assigned lethal damage before any other unit with the same controller as me that does not have [Tank] during the Combat Damage step."" Neither does any clause about combat damage. A unit dies when the marked damage reaches its Might, 143.2.a: "If a Unit ever has nonzero damage marked on it equalling or exceeding its Might, it is Killed."

Both choices are made as the Duel is played. 355.5: "If a card requires you to specifically choose one or more Game Objects, that choice is made now." The friendly unit is yours, so its own [Deflect] costs you nothing, 809.1.c: "It is functionally short for "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 only tax a Duel can pay is the enemy target's.

Onslaught is Main Phase only; the Duel waits. Onslaught has no [Action] and no [Reaction], so it falls under 155: "A spell can be played during an Open State outside of Showdowns on its controller's turn." That is your Main Phase, 316.5.b: "This is denoted as a Neutral Open State, and only the Turn Player has the ability to play spells or activate abilities." The Duel is [Action], 806.1.c.1: "On Cards: "This can be played during showdowns on any player's turn."" So the pump is committed before the attack is declared, and the Duel can be held until the combat shows what it has to fight.

What it has to fight is Vilemaw. UNL-060 Vilemaw (Calm, E8 + 2 Calm Power, M8): "[Ambush] (You may play me as a [Reaction] to a battlefield where you have units.) Enemy units here with less Might than me don't deal combat damage. When I hold, draw 1." [Ambush] brings it in after the attack, 822.1.b: "It is functionally short for "I may be played to a battlefield where you control Units" and “I have [Reaction] as long as I’m being played to a battlefield where you control Units.”" It defends as soon as it lands, 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 walk reads "don't deal combat damage" the way the rules write it for a stunned unit, 423.1.b: "A Stunned Unit does not contribute its might to damage in the combat damage step."

The arithmetic against an 8. Poppy prints 5.

Poppy's MightHowAgainst Vilemaw (8)
5no pumpsilenced in combat; no exchange
8the Duel alonethe exchange is 8 against 8, and both die
11Onslaught alonenot less than 8, so she deals combat damage; nothing kills Vilemaw first
14Onslaught, then the DuelVilemaw takes 14 and dies; Poppy takes 8 and lives
15Primal Strength, then the DuelVilemaw dies; Poppy takes 8 and lives

Ten runes, one recycled. Onslaught and the Duel are E10 + 1 Body Power. A rune adds Energy by exhausting, 164.2.a: "[E]: [Reaction] — Add [1].", and Power only by leaving, 164.2.b: "Recycle this: [Reaction] — Add [C]." An exhausted rune can still be recycled, so the pair is ten runes, one Body among them recycled. Going first you have 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 runes by T1 to T5, so the pair is a T5 turn and the whole of it. Going second it is a T5 turn too: 3, 5, 7 and 9 by T4, and 11 on T5, one to spare.

3. Their deck: Calm/Order Eye of Twilight

VEN-147 Eye of Twilight (Calm/Order, tag Shen): "[Action][>] :rb_exhaust:: Give a friendly unit [Tank] this turn. (It must be assigned combat damage first.)" Its Chosen Champion is OGN-241 Shen, Kinkou (Order, E3 + 1 Order Power, M3): "[Reaction] (Play any time, even before spells and abilities resolve, including to a battlefield you control.) [Shield 2] (+2 :rb_might: while I'm a defender.) [Tank] (I must be assigned combat damage first.)" He stays in the Champion Zone all walk, and from there he is always a three-rune defender, 419.1.a: "By default, a player can only Play cards from their hand or their Chosen Champion zone." Their bodies are OGN-052 Stalwart Poro (Calm, E2, M2; "[Shield] (+1 :rb_might: while I'm a defender.)"), OGN-054 Sunlit Guardian (Calm, E3, M3; "[Shield] (+1 :rb_might: while I'm a defender.) [Tank] (I must be assigned combat damage first.)"), UNL-033 Frisky Hunter (Calm, E4, M3; "When you play me, play a 1 :rb_might: Bird unit token with [Deflect] here. (Opponents must pay :rb_rune_rainbow: to choose it with a spell or ability.)") and Vilemaw. Going second, they channel an extra rune on T1, 485.7: "The player going second channels an extra Rune from their Rune Deck during their first Channel Phase of the game." §5 names their answers.

4. The turns, going first

Body/Order against Calm/Order. Your battlefield is A, OGN-278 Bandle Tree ("You may hide an additional card here.", and nobody hides); theirs is B, SFD-221 Veiled Temple ("When you conquer here, you may ready a friendly gear. If it's an Equipment, you may detach it.", and you have no gear). Your opening four are Veteran Poro, Laurent Bladekeeper, Onslaught and Gentlemen's Duel. Your draws are Pakaa Cub (T1), Sea Monkey (T2), UNL-118 Elder Dragon (T3), OGN-158 Volibear, Imposing (T4) and a second Elder Dragon (T5), the top of the curve, E12 each. Their opening four are Stalwart Poro, Sunlit Guardian, Frisky Hunter and Vilemaw. Their draws are UNL-059 Master Yi, Unstoppable (T1, E12, and they have no XP to discount him), VEN-040 Decree of Focus (T2), a second Master Yi (T3) and a second Decree of Focus (T4). Decree of Focus is one rune and dead here, since you play no Fury: "[Reaction] (Play any time, even before spells and abilities resolve.) Choose a friendly unit that's in combat with an enemy Fury (:rb_rune_fury:) unit or that's being chosen by an enemy Fury spell. Give it +4 :rb_might: this turn."

turn      runes  your turn                                               points
T1        2      Veteran Poro (E2) to base. None left.                   0
their T1  3      Stalwart Poro (E2) to base. One left.
T2        4      Veteran Poro walks to A, empty, Conquer: +1.            1
                 Laurent Bladekeeper (E3) to A. One left.
their T2  5      Stalwart Poro walks to B, empty, Conquer. Sunlit
                 Guardian (E3) to B. Two left.
T3        6      Hold A: +1. Poppy (E5) from the Champion Zone to        2
                 base. One left.
their T3  7      Hold B. Frisky Hunter (E4) to B, with its Bird.
                 Three left: Shen's price.
T4        8      Hold A: +1. Pakaa Cub (E3) and Sea Monkey (E2 + E1,     3
                 buffed) to base. No attack. Two left.
their T4  9      Hold B. Nothing played. Nine left.
T5        10     Hold A: +1. Onslaught on Poppy: 11. Poppy, Pakaa Cub,   5
                 Sea Monkey and Bladekeeper attack B. They ambush
                 Vilemaw; the Duel: Poppy 14 against Vilemaw 8.
                 Conquer: +1. None left, one Body recycled.
their T5  9      Nothing can reach B or A.

Their points: 0 after their T1, 1 after their T2, 2 after their T3, 3 after their T4, 3 after their T5. After your T4 it is 3 to 2; after their T4, 3 to 3; after your T5, 5 to 3; after their T5, 5 to 3.

Runes on your board at the end of each turn: 2, 4, 6, 8, 9. On theirs: 3, 5, 7, 9, and 7 after Vilemaw's two Calm are recycled on your T5.

Your hand, card by card: 5 after the T1 draw, 4 after Veteran Poro; 5, then 4 after Bladekeeper; 5 after the T3 draw (Poppy comes from the Champion Zone); 6 after the T4 draw, 4 after Pakaa Cub and Sea Monkey; 5 after the T5 draw, 3 after Onslaught and the Duel (two Elder Dragons and Volibear). Theirs: 5 after the T1 draw, 4 after Stalwart Poro; 5, then 4 after Sunlit Guardian; 5, then 4 after Frisky Hunter; 5 after the T4 draw; 4 after Vilemaw on your T5 (two Master Yis, two Decrees of Focus).

Your T2 and their T2: one battlefield each. Veteran Poro takes A, which is empty: a non-combat showdown, 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." With nothing to play they pass, and 348.2.a.1 makes it a point: "This results in a Conquer if that player has not yet scored that Battlefield this turn." Bladekeeper goes to A, which you now control, 355.2.a: "By default, Valid locations include the controller’s Base or a Battlefield the controller controls." Stalwart Poro takes B the same way on their T2, and Sunlit Guardian joins it.

Your T3: Poppy to base. You Hold A, 469.2: "Hold: A player maintains Control of a Battlefield they did not yet Score this turn during their Beginning Phase." Poppy is played to base, and she is the attack's body: a unit at A cannot reach B without [Ganking], 144.4.a: "Units may move from their Base to a Battlefield."

Their T3: B is 11 when it defends, with Shen behind it. They Hold B and add Frisky Hunter and its Bird. Defending, B is Sunlit Guardian 4 ([Tank]), Stalwart Poro 3, Frisky Hunter 3 and the Bird 1: 11. They keep three runes, which is Shen, Kinkou from the Champion Zone at [Reaction] speed.

Your T4: why there is no attack. Onslaught on Poppy and an attack with her and Bladekeeper, which can gank from A (144.4.c.1: "Units with Ganking may use their Standard Move to Move from Battlefield to Battlefield."), is 11 + 3 = 14 against 11. Unanswered, your 14 kill all four of theirs, their 11 cannot kill both of yours (11 + 3 = 14 lethal), and B is yours on T4. But Shen, Kinkou comes in as a [Reaction] to B for their last three runes and defends at 5, with [Tank]: 16 against 14. Your 14 must go into the two [Tank]s first (815.1.c.2: "If more than one unit with Tank is present with the same controller in Combat, damage may be assigned to any of them. Units without Tank are invalid assignments until all units with Tank have lethal damage assigned to them."), 4 + 5, then Stalwart Poro 3, and 2 on Frisky Hunter, which survives with the Bird. Their 16 kill Poppy and Bladekeeper. So T4 builds the T5 attack instead: Pakaa Cub, and Sea Monkey with its extra Energy for a buff, to base. No Power is paid before T5, because one recycled rune would make T5 a nine-rune turn and the pair unaffordable.

Their T4: nine runes held. They Hold B. Their hand has nothing to play but two Master Yis and two dead Decrees, and Vilemaw is a [Reaction] for eight. They pass with all nine.

Your T5: the pump, before anything is known. All your objects ready, 315.1.b: "1. The Turn Player readies all Game Objects they control that are able to be readied." You Hold A: 4. You channel to ten runes. Onslaught is the first thing in your Main Phase: four runes, Poppy is 11 this turn. They pass with nine up.

The attack. Poppy, Pakaa Cub and Sea Monkey walk from base into B, and Bladekeeper gank-moves from A into B with them, as one move, 144.3: "Players may perform multiple Units' standard move simultaneously. This is treated as one game action performed on multiple Units." Veteran Poro stays, so A is still yours. That is a combat, and you have Focus first, 464.2.c.1.a: "If a showdown opens as part of combat, this player gains Focus as the showdown begins." You pass; 347.2.b: "Otherwise, Focus passes to the next Player in Turn Order."

They ambush Vilemaw. Eight runes, two Calm recycled, to B, where they control units. It lands as a defender (464.2.c.3.a). Its clause now silences every attacker of yours below 8: Pakaa Cub, Sea Monkey and Bladekeeper, all 3s. Poppy, at 11, is not below it. Their chain closes and Focus is yours again, 347.1.b: "When that Chain closes, Focus passes to the next Player in Turn Order."

The Duel. Six runes, one Body recycled: Poppy gets +3, 14, and the enemy unit is Vilemaw. They have one rune, and the only cards in their hand it pays for are the two dead Decrees of Focus. Poppy deals 14 to Vilemaw, Vilemaw deals 8 to Poppy; Vilemaw dies (143.2.a) and Poppy lives, 8 marked on 14. Focus passes, both pass, and 347.2.a ends the showdown: "If all Players have passed once in sequence, the Showdown ends."

Combat damage. 465.2.c: "Starting with the Attacker, each player assigns an amount of damage equal to their summed Might among the other's Units." Vilemaw is gone, so nobody is silenced. Yours is Poppy 14 and three 3s: 23. Theirs is Sunlit Guardian 4, Stalwart Poro 3, Frisky Hunter 3 and the Bird 1: 11. Your 23 put lethal on Sunlit Guardian first ([Tank]) and then on all the others, 4 + 3 + 3 + 1. Their 11 cannot kill all four of yours. Lethal counts what is already marked, 142.4.b: "Lethal Damage for a Unit is a non-zero amount greater than or equal to that Unit’s Might.", so Poppy needs 6 more, and the four need 6 + 3 + 3 + 3 = 15. Whatever they assign, at least one of yours remains and none of theirs does, 466.5.d: "Establishing Control results in a Conquer if that player has not yet scored this Battlefield this turn." That is 5. Eye of Twilight's [Tank] on any of their units changes only which of theirs dies first. Damage heals at the end of the turn, 317.2.b: "Insert “3c. Heal all Units.”"

Their T5. Their board is empty, and units they play enter exhausted, 143.4: "Units enter the Board exhausted." Nothing reaches B or A. 5 to 3.

The Duel alone, without Onslaught. Same draws, ten runes. The same four attack with Poppy at 5; they ambush Vilemaw, and every attacker is silenced. The Duel makes Poppy 8 against Vilemaw's 8, and both die. Your three 3s, 9, go into Sunlit Guardian 4 and Stalwart Poro 3, and 2 sit on Frisky Hunter; their 11 kill all three. B stays theirs. They Hold it on their T5: 4 to 4, and you have lost Poppy and three bodies for Vilemaw, Sunlit Guardian and Stalwart Poro. The four runes the Duel did not need buy nothing that can attack this turn.

Onslaught alone, without the Duel. Poppy is 11 and the only attacker Vilemaw does not silence. Her 11 go into Sunlit Guardian 4, Stalwart Poro 3, Frisky Hunter 3 and the Bird 1, and leave Vilemaw untouched. Their 19 kill Poppy and two of the 3s; the last is recalled, 466.1.a.2: "Insert “3d. Recall Attackers present at the Battlefield if Defenders are still present.”" 4 to 4.

Not attacking at all is 4 to 4 too. The engine is the only line that takes B.

The other pump: Primal Strength waits. OGN-154 Primal Strength (Body, E4 + 1 Body Power): "[Action] (Play on your turn or in showdowns.) Give a unit +7 :rb_might: this turn." With it in Onslaught's place, nothing is committed in the Main Phase. Poppy attacks at 5 with ten runes up, Vilemaw comes in, and then Primal Strength (12) and the Duel (15) are both played into what is known. Vilemaw dies, Poppy lives with 8 marked on 15, and B falls the same way. The pair is the same ten runes, with two Body recycled instead of one, and Primal Strength has no [Flow]. It is still two spells in one turn, so the two one-rune counters of §5 reach it as well.

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 9 cards by T5. With three copies of each (103.2.b: "Your Main Deck can include up to 3 copies of the same named card."), an Onslaught among them is 55.58%, a Duel 55.58%, and both 29.35%. A Duel with either pump, six cards, is 44.13%.

5. Breaks to

What the engine did, and the predicate. On your T5 the pump made Poppy a body Vilemaw could not silence, and the Duel killed Vilemaw at no cost to her, so the attack conquered B. The predicate is: played on your T5 with the nine runes they kept, does it leave B theirs after your T5?

The scope. A Calm/Order deck plays only Calm, Order and Calm/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." Eye of Twilight's tag is Shen. The predicate is: a card in those domains in data/cards.json (not a legend, battlefield, rune or token), not a Signature card with another champion's tag. Folded by name, that is 257 cards; three are Signature cards with another tag and are out (OGN-262 Zenith Blade, SFD-198 Arise!, UNL-196 Daisy!), and Shen's own VEN-148 Shadow Dash is in. None is banned in constructed, which leaves 254. On your turn they can play only what carries [Reaction], [Action], [Ambush] or [Hidden]. The predicate is a card whose text contains one of those four keywords, reminder text included: 61 of the 254. It is a ceiling, not a castable count: 11 of the 61 are [Hidden] cards, and nothing was hidden on their T4, and some carry the keyword only on an ability.

Beside Vilemaw they have one rune. Vilemaw is the card the engine was played to beat, and it does. Shen, Kinkou instead of Vilemaw is three runes and makes B 16. Poppy at 11 and three 3s are 20, which kill all five (4 + 5 + 3 + 3 + 1), and their 16 cannot kill 11 + 3 + 3 + 3 = 20 of lethal: B falls without the Duel. So what can break the engine is what fits in the ninth rune. Of the 61, the cards that cost one rune are OGN-045 Defy, VEN-039 Crumbling Sands, OGN-046 En Garde, UNL-031 Combat Experience, UNL-046 Friendship, UNL-173 Sacrifice and VEN-040 Decree of Focus; the two Seals are gear and cannot be played on your turn.

What does not fit beside Vilemaw. SFD-045 Not So Fast (Calm, E2 + 1 Calm Power; "[Reaction] (Play any time, even before spells and abilities resolve.) Counter an enemy spell or ability that chooses a friendly unit or gear.") counters the Duel for two runes, and OGN-064 Wind Wall, UNL-044 Flurry of Feathers and OGN-080 Mystic Reversal take the Duel for three or four. VEN-126 Ki Barrier (Order, E2 + 1 Order Power) on Vilemaw prevents 7 of Poppy's 14 and leaves it alive at 7 marked on 8. Each is eight plus two or more. Played alone instead of Vilemaw, each leaves your four bodies unsilenced, and the T5 attack with Onslaught is 20 against 11 before the Duel is played. The stuns (OGN-050 Rune Prison, SFD-040 Thwonk!, UNL-042 Back Off and the rest) touch only combat damage (423.1.b), so the exchange still kills.

Defy and Crumbling Sands tie at one rune, exhausted and recycled. Defy works earlier and Crumbling Sands works only because of the pump; neither answers Vilemaw's job, they answer the card that beats it.

6. Verdict

Right about the mechanism and the ceiling; wrong that Onslaught is the domain's biggest pump, and silent on the price of being two spells. The exchange is unit damage (417.6.b.3, 417.6.c), so no [Tank] and no combat-damage clause touches it, and the Duel at [Action] speed can wait for what the combat brings. Walked going first against a Calm/Order deck that held nine runes and ambushed Vilemaw into the T5 attack, Onslaught made Poppy an 11 that Vilemaw could not silence, the Duel made her a 14 that killed it and lived, and the attack conquered: 5 to 3 after their T5. The Duel alone trades Poppy for Vilemaw and loses the combat, Onslaught alone leaves Vilemaw standing, and not attacking is the same score: 4 to 4. The pair is ten runes: the whole of T5 going first, and all but one going second. But it is two spells in one turn, and the cheapest answer is a one-rune counter that fits beside Vilemaw: Defy on Onslaught in the Main Phase, or Crumbling Sands on the Duel in the combat, which is legal only because Onslaught came first. OGN-154 Primal Strength does Onslaught's job at [Action] speed for one more Body rune, and is +7.

7. Not verified

I did not deal the channel order. The walk assumes six Body and six Order runes for you, Keeper of the Hammer's two domains, in the twelve of Tournament Rules 402.1. The only Power in your line is the Duel's one Body on T5, from your first ten runes: it fails in 0 of 924, since ten runes hold at least four of each. With Primal Strength in Onslaught's place it is two Body among ten: 0 of 924. The other six runes play no part, and no Order card is in the walk.

Their walk assumes six Calm and six Order. Vilemaw on your T5 needs two Calm among their first nine: 0 of 924. Vilemaw and Defy or Crumbling Sands need three Calm among nine: 0 of 924, since nine runes hold at least three of each; 84 of the 924 orders hold exactly three. Shen on your T4 needs one Order among their first seven: 0 of 924.

How likely an answer is. Out of their own 39, by your T5 they have seen 8 cards: four opening and a draw on each of their four turns. A Vilemaw is among them in 50.82%; a Defy or a Crumbling Sands, six cards, in 77.43%; a Vilemaw and one of the six, 37.76%. Those are before the deal. The walk fixes their opening four, Vilemaw among them, which leaves four draws from the other 35: one of the six counters among them is 54.64%. These count only the cards named, not how many of them a deck runs.

The walk reads Vilemaw's "don't deal combat damage" as 423.1.b reads a stun, so a silenced attacker adds nothing to 465.2.a's sum. Whether Bladekeeper's gank and the three moves from base are one action under 144.3 is not ruled here; if Bladekeeper cannot join, your T5 side is 20 against their 11, their 11 still cannot kill 6 + 3 + 3 = 12 of lethal, and B falls the same way.

Their hand holding no answer is the walk's assumption; §5 prices it. Not walked: going second, the mulligan, 2v2, a rune split other than six and six, OGN-213 Hidden Blade or OGN-220 Facebreaker hidden at B on their T4. A hidden card is played "ignoring its base cost" (811.1.b), so the hide, one recycled rune, and Vilemaw are exactly nine. What does not fit is the [Deflect] Power a hidden card that chooses Poppy must add. The hidden cards that choose no unit of yours (OGN-057 Block, OGN-053 Stand United, OGN-077 Zhonya's Hourglass, SFD-154 Guards!, VEN-117 Disciple of Shen, SFD-043 Emperor's Divide) fit beside Vilemaw, and none of them stops Poppy's 14 from taking B. Also not walked: pairs of §5's two-rune answers with Shen inside nine runes, their T5 and the board after it, and the Flow plays of Onslaught later in the game.

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