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Yasuo fires on turn four off the Hold curve, so Chaos/Order wins turn five unopposed, and their free turn-three attack makes it six

Issue #537 (a slice of #200), 2026-10-31. 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, the coverage table for why this pair, the Chaos/Fury Yasuo shuttle for the same two cards in another identity, and Chaos/Order, the identity with one answer for the Ivern line this pair was last walked with. The Galio walk of the slice before, Galio is a six-Might Tank, supplies the opponent's deck and draws.

Subject: yasuo-ride-the-wind-hold-curve-turn-five, a new CHAIN synthesized for this slice. Chaos/Order is the next legend pair of the identity-first pass. Its Hold baseline is T6, because neither domain prints a unit at Energy 1. Its catalogue holds ten finishers, none clocked by T4, and the issue asks for a BURST or a CHAIN shape. No shape in the pair reaches 8 by T4 (§6), so the question becomes whether one pays on T5. One does: OGN-205 Yasuo, Windrider played on T3 and moved three times on T4 with one OGN-173 Ride the Wind, on top of the Hold curve. The Chaos/Fury shuttle play had the same two cards and a T6 verdict, because it played its Yasuos one a turn and fired all three on T6. Fire the first Yasuo the turn after he lands, and every turn after that. He adds one point on T4 and one on T5 to a curve that already sits at five on T4, so unopposed the line has 8 on T5. The turn clock prices it at T5 against the T6 baseline. Walked as a game, going first, against the Calm/Order Radiant Dawn deck of the Galio walk, it wins on T6. Their free T3 attack takes the second battlefield back, and Yasuo has used all the T3 mana. On that same contested board the free Hold curve wins on T8, so the line saves two turns there and one turn unopposed. The cheapest break is in their own identity: OGN-213 Hidden Blade, hidden the turn before for one Power, kills Yasuo for no Energy as soon as his first move puts him at a battlefield. The walked hand held none.

1. Needs

LegendVEN-155 Heart of the Tempest (Order/Chaos, tags Yordle, Kennen); its ability is never used
Chosen ChampionVEN-113 Kennen, Storm of Shuriken (Chaos, E3 + 1 Power, M4), never played
Battlefieldany. The walk uses OGN-281 Hallowed Tomb (colourless), whose trigger does nothing here
The engineOGN-205 Yasuo, Windrider (Chaos unit, E5 + 1 Power, M4) on T3, to base
The moveOGN-173 Ride the Wind (Chaos spell, E2 + 1 Power) on T4, a second one on T5
The bodiestwo Energy-2 units by T2: the walk plays SFD-159 Trusty Ramhound (Order, M2) on T1 and T2 and OGN-210 Daring Poro (Order, M2) on T2

The line pays two Chaos Power by T4 (Yasuo's and one Ride the Wind's), and a third on T5 for the second Ride the Wind. Each Power comes from a rune that has already paid its Energy, recycled: one Chaos rune among the six runes on the board by T3, and a second Chaos rune among the seven by T4. From the opponent the line needs one battlefield that is yours on T4 and T5, with Yasuo alive when each of those turns starts: at your base on T4, and at A on T5, where the T4 shuttle leaves him.

Heart of the Tempest is Order/Chaos and its tag is Kennen, so Kennen, Storm of Shuriken can be the Chosen Champion, 103.2.a.2: "Must be a champion unit with a champion tag that matches the tag on your Champion Legend." Every card in the line is mono-Chaos, mono-Order or colourless, so the deck admits it, 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." Three copies is the cap, 103.2.b: "Your Main Deck can include up to 3 copies of the same named card." The walk's list runs three each of Yasuo, Ride the Wind, Trusty Ramhound, Daring Poro and OGN-171 Mystic Poro, fifteen of its 39. None of the cards on either side is a Signature card (signature is false for all nine of the line's base codes in data/cards.json), and none of those nine base codes is in any of the 21 rows of data/legality.json.

Why these cards. Yasuo is the only card in Chaos or Order whose point does not come from a Score, a combat or a Hold (§6 lists what else was checked). Heart of the Tempest is the pair's only legend (one Order/Chaos legend line in data/corpus_flat.txt), and it gives [Assault 2], not a move. So the moves come from cards. The Standard Move exhausts Yasuo, so of three moves in a turn one has to ready him, and Ride the Wind is the only card in the pair that moves a friendly unit of any Might and readies it. A grep of the Chaos and Order cards for "move" finds other friendly moves, but none of them readies: OGN-184 The Syren (gear, E2: ":rb_energy_1:, :rb_exhaust:: Move a friendly unit at a battlefield to its base."), OGS-011 Flash (E2: "[Reaction] (Play any time, even before spells and abilities resolve.) Move up to 2 friendly units to base.") and VEN-105 Twilight Step (a unit with 3 Might or less, which Yasuo is not). A Syren-and-Flash route for a Yasuo that starts the turn at A is a lead below.

2. What the line does, and why each step is legal

The cards:

The shuttle, with Yasuo starting the turn at your base and ending it at battlefield A, which you control:

move 1   Standard Move, base -> A                     144.4.a; its cost is Yasuo's exhaust, 144.2
move 2   Ride the Wind (E2 + 1 Chaos Power), A -> base  449: an effect move; the ready refunds the exhaust
move 3   Standard Move, base -> A                     144.4.a again; the third move scores 1

The T4 shuttle's third move is base -> A, so it leaves Yasuo at A. The mirror, with Yasuo starting the turn at A, is what T5 runs:

move 1   Standard Move, A -> base                     144.4.b; its cost is Yasuo's exhaust, 144.2
move 2   Ride the Wind (E2 + 1 Chaos Power), base -> A  449: an effect move; the ready refunds the exhaust
move 3   Standard Move, A -> base                     144.4.b again; the third move scores 1

It ends at base (or at B, if move 3 is a [Ganking] Standard Move, 144.4.c.1), never at A.

The baseline it has to beat. With no unit at Energy 1 in either domain, the Hold curve of the pair is: one body on T1, conquer A on T2 (1), hold A and conquer B on T3 (3), hold both on T4 (5), on T5 (7) and on T6 (9). T6. The line puts Yasuo's two points on T4 and T5, so it reaches 6 on T4 and 8 on T5 without anything else changing. Yasuo's 6 Energy fits on T3, which has 6 runes and has paid only for the move to B.

3. Their deck: Calm/Order Radiant Dawn

The same deck, in the same seat, with the same draws as in the Galio walk and the four Plaza walks before it. OGN-261 Radiant Dawn (Calm/Order): "When you stun one or more enemy units, buff a friendly unit. (If it doesn't have a buff, it gets a +1 :rb_might: buff.)" Nothing in the walk stuns. Its Chosen Champion is OGN-238 Leona, Determined, never played. The cards it plays:

Going second, they channel an extra rune on T1, 485.7: "First Turn Process: The player going second channels an extra Rune from their Rune Deck during their first Channel Phase of the game." Their runes are 3, 5, 7 and 9 on their T1 to T4.

4. The turns, going first

Chaos/Order against Calm/Order. Your battlefield is A, Hallowed Tomb ("When you hold here, you may return your Chosen Champion from your trash to your Champion Zone if it is empty."; Kennen never leaves the Champion Zone, so it does nothing). Theirs is B, OGN-282 Monastery of Hirana ("When you conquer here, you may spend a buff to draw 1.", and nobody spends one). Your opening four are Trusty Ramhound, Trusty Ramhound, Daring Poro and Yasuo. Your draws are Ride the Wind (T1), Ride the Wind (T2), Mystic Poro (T3) and UNL-154 Crimson Pigeons (T4). Their opening four are Daring Poro, Trusty Ramhound, Soaring Scout and Helm of Suppression. Their draws are Sunlit Guardian (T1), Stalwart Poro (T2), Royal Guard (T3) and Vanguard Captain (T4).

turn      runes   play                                                      points
T1        2       Trusty Ramhound (E2) to base. None left.                  0
their T1  3       Daring Poro (E2) to base. One left.                       0
T2        4       Ramhound walks to A, empty, Conquer: +1. Ramhound (E2)    1
                  to A, Daring Poro (E2) to base. None left. Two
                  Ramhounds at A, 3 + 3.
their T2  5       Daring Poro walks to B, empty, Conquer. Trusty            1
                  Ramhound (E2) and Sunlit Guardian (E3) to base. None
                  left.
T3        6       Hold A: +1. Daring Poro (3 attacking) walks to B and      3
                  kills their Poro (2): Conquer B, +1. Yasuo (E5, an
                  exhausted Chaos rune recycled for his Power) to base.
                  One left; five runes stay.
their T3  7       Royal Guard (E4, Sand Soldier to base) and Stalwart       2
                  Poro (E2) to base. One left. Ramhound and Guardian
                  (3 + 3) attack B: your Poro dies, the Guardian takes
                  2 and lives. Conquer B.
T4        7       Hold A: +1. The shuttle with Ride the Wind (E2, a         5
                  second Chaos rune recycled): +1. Mystic Poro (E2) to
                  A, Crimson Pigeons (E3) to base. None left; six runes
                  stay. A holds 3 + 3 + 4 + 2 = 12.
their T4  9       Hold B. Soaring Scout (E2), Vanguard Captain (E3,         3
                  [Legion] on, two Recruits at B), Helm of Suppression
                  (E4); two runes recycled for the two Powers. None
                  left.
T5        8       Hold A: +1. The mirror shuttle from A with the second     7
                  Ride the Wind, E3 under the Helm (a third Chaos rune
                  recycled): +1; Yasuo ends at base. Crimson Pigeons
                  walks to A. Five left; seven runes stay. A holds
                  3 + 3 + 2 + 3 = 11.
their T5  9       Hold B.                                                   4
T6        9       Hold A: +1. Eight.                                        8, win

T1, 0 points. Two runes, Trusty Ramhound to base. Hand: Ramhound, Daring Poro, Yasuo, Ride the Wind.

Their T1, 0. Three runes. Daring Poro to base.

T2, 1. Four runes. Ramhound is ready (315.1.b) and walks to A, which is empty: Conquer, 469.1: "Conquer: A player gains Control of a Battlefield they did not yet Score this turn." The second Ramhound is played straight onto A, 355.2.a: "By default, Valid locations include the controller’s Base or a Battlefield the controller controls." Daring Poro goes to base. Each Ramhound has the other "here", so A defends with 3 + 3. Their Daring Poro attacks with 3, so attacking A would cost it for nothing. Hand: Yasuo, Ride the Wind, Ride the Wind.

Their T2, 1–1. Five runes. Daring Poro walks to B, which is empty, and they conquer it. Trusty Ramhound and Sunlit Guardian go to base. A second branch, where they play the Helm here instead of Guardian and Ramhound, is at the end of this section.

T3, 3. Six runes. Hold A, 469.2: "Hold: A player maintains Control of a Battlefield they did not yet Score this turn during their Beginning Phase." Your Daring Poro walks from base to B. B is theirs, so it is Contested and a combat follows. Your Poro attacks with 2 + 1 = 3. Their Poro defends with 2. Yours deals 3 and theirs dies, 143.2.a: "If a Unit ever has nonzero damage marked on it equalling or exceeding its Might, it is Killed." Theirs deals 2 to your 3, which survives, and Combat Cleanup heals it, 466.1.a.1: "Insert “3c. Heal all Units.”" You conquer B. Then Yasuo: five runes exhausted for E5, and one of them, a Chaos rune, recycled for his Power. One rune stays unexhausted and five stay on the board. Yasuo goes to base, not to A, so their T3 attack cannot reach him. Hand: Ride the Wind, Ride the Wind, Mystic Poro.

Their T3, 3–2. Seven runes. They hold nothing, since B is now yours. Royal Guard goes to base with its Sand Soldier, and so does Stalwart Poro. Then Trusty Ramhound and Sunlit Guardian walk from base to B, where your lone Daring Poro defends with 2. Ramhound has the Guardian "here", so the attack is 3 + 3 = 6. Your Poro takes 6 and dies. Its 2 all go to the Guardian, 815.1.b: "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."" Lethal for the Guardian is 3, so the Guardian lives. They conquer B. Attacking A instead would have been 6 into 6, with both sides wiped. B costs them nothing.

T4, 5. Seven runes (five plus the two channelled, 315.3.b: "1. The Turn Player channels 2 runes from their Rune Deck."). Hold A. Yasuo is ready at your base. Move 1, a Standard Move to A. Move 2, Ride the Wind: two runes exhausted, and one of them, a Chaos rune, recycled for the Power. Yasuo goes back to base and is readied. Move 3, a Standard Move to A. That is the third move: +1, and Yasuo ends the turn at A. Five runes remain unexhausted. Mystic Poro goes to A (its [Vision] looks at your top card, and nothing in the walk depends on what it is), and Crimson Pigeons goes to base. A now holds two Ramhounds (3 + 3), Yasuo (4) and Mystic Poro (2), so it defends with 12. B holds their Ramhound (3) and Guardian (3 + 1 [Shield] = 4), so it defends with 7, and Yasuo's third move cannot take it (see the alternative route below). Hand: Ride the Wind.

Their T4, 5–3. Nine runes. Hold B. Soaring Scout goes to base, then Vanguard Captain goes to B with [Legion] on (the Scout was a card played this turn), so two Recruits come with it. Then the Helm. That is E2 + E3 + E4 = 9 Energy and two Powers, both from runes already exhausted and then recycled. B now defends with 3 + 4 + 3 + 1 + 1 = 12. Their base holds Royal Guard (2), the Sand Soldier (2), Stalwart Poro (2) and Soaring Scout (1), seven against your 12 at A, so they do not attack.

T5, 7. Eight runes (six plus two). Hold A: 6. Yasuo starts the turn at A, where the T4 shuttle left him, so he runs the mirror of §2: a Standard Move from A to base (144.4.b), the second Ride the Wind from base to A, which readies him, and a Standard Move from A to base. The Helm makes Ride the Wind cost one more Energy: three runes exhausted, and one of those three, a Chaos rune, recycled for the Power. +1: 7. Yasuo ends the turn at base. Crimson Pigeons walks from base to A. Seven runes stay on the board and five of them are unexhausted, and nothing you hold can take B. A now holds two Ramhounds (3 + 3), Mystic Poro (2) and Crimson Pigeons (3): 11.

Their T5, 7–4. Hold B. With Yasuo at base, A defends with 11. Their movable Might is still only the 7 at base: Royal Guard (2), the Sand Soldier (2), Stalwart Poro (2, whose [Shield] counts only while defending) and Soaring Scout (1). Their units at B cannot move to A, since none has [Ganking] (144.4.c.1), and the units they play on their T5 enter exhausted (143.4). So nothing reaches A (§8 says what this walk does not check).

T6, 8. Hold A: eight points. You win on T6.

The alternative T4 route, for a board where B holds one weak unit: move 1, a Standard Move from A to base; move 2, Ride the Wind from base to A, which readies him; move 3, a [Ganking] Standard Move from A to B, 144.4.c.1: "Units with Ganking may use their Standard Move to Move from Battlefield to Battlefield." The third move scores, and then the combat at B can win it a Conquer as well. The walked B (7 defending against Yasuo's 4) does not allow it. If that Conquer is the final point, it counts only if every battlefield was scored that turn, 471.1.b.1: "If the player has Scored every Battlefield this turn, that player Gains the Final Point. If the player has not Scored every Battlefield this turn, that player draws a card instead."

The Helm branch. If they play the Helm on their T2 in place of Ramhound and Guardian, their only unit is the Daring Poro at B, and your T3 Conquer kills it. Every unit they play on their T3 enters exhausted (143.4), so nothing of theirs can attack on their T3 and B stays yours. On T4 you hold A and B (5), and the Helm makes Ride the Wind cost E3 + 1, which seven runes pay: the shuttle makes 6. Even if they take B on their T4, the T5 Hold of A (7) and the second shuttle (E3 + 1 on eight runes, 8) win. On that branch the line wins on T5. It is not walked turn by turn past T4.

5. Breaks to

Every price below is set against the target. Yasuo has no [Deflect], so no spell aimed at him pays a surcharge, 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]."" (809.1.b.3, "If X is omitted, it is presumed to be 1.", and 809.1.c.1, "The Power used to pay this cost may always be of any Domain.", never come into it.)

6. Against the free Hold curve, and the BURST and CHAIN shapes searched

boardfree Hold curvethis line
unopposedT6 (5 on T4, 7 on T5, 9 on T6)T5 (6 on T4, 8 on T5)
the walk: they take B on T3 and keep itT8 (A alone from T4: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)T6 (5 on T4, 7 on T5, 8 on T6)
the Helm branch: B stays yoursT6T5 (not walked past T4)

The turn clock (npm run -s adversarial -- --turns) prices the entry at T5 against the Chaos/Order baseline of T6. The clock does not order a spell after the unit it moves (a lead, below). With only one Ride the Wind declared, it puts Ride the Wind on T2 and Yasuo on T3 and prints T4, one turn early. The entry declares two, which is also what the walk plays by T5, and with two the clock prints T5, the turn the hand count gives. Neither open clock gap (#541 and #548) moves it, because the line has no [Hidden] card and no card that #548's regexes read.

The shapes searched for a BURST or a CHAIN by T4 (all cards from data/corpus_flat.txt, filtered to Chaos, Order or colourless). The T4 ceiling of the pair is the Hold curve's 5, plus Yasuo's 1, plus SFD-214 Power Nexus's 1, which is 7. Nothing in the pair reaches 8 by T4.

7. Verdict

A line that beats the baseline on the clock: T5 against T6. Walked against an active opponent, going first, it wins on T6, which ties the unopposed baseline. On the same board the free curve would win on T8. It enters the catalogue as status: candidate, a CHAIN, like the slice-4 entry whose walk also lost to its clock. The reason it is worth entering anyway: it is the first line of the pair whose points do not need the opponent to present a board. It adds the cheapest T5 the pair has found. And the Ivern play's claim that "Chaos/Order owns no board-independent point source (they are all Mind)" is refined. Yasuo is Chaos, and he needs one battlefield that is yours, not a board of theirs.

8. Not verified

Leads