Last Updated: 2026-03-30

400. Abilities when added to the Chain become Pending Items until they complete the steps of Playing.

416. Recycle
400.1. When an Ability finishes the steps of playing it becomes a Chain Item just like a Spell.
400.2. When an Ability with the [Add] action is finalized it resolves immediately instead of becoming a Chain Item, like a Unit or Gear.
401. 1. Activate or trigger the Ability
402. 2. Make relevant choices
403. 3. Determine Total Cost
404. 4. Pay Costs
405. 5. Check Legality
406. 6. Proceed with Play
407. Game Actions
408. Game Actions are actions players may perform at any given time during the game.
409. A player, unless otherwise specified or prompted, may only perform actions on their turn.
410. There are two types of Game Actions:
411. Responsibility
412. Types of Actions
413. Draw
414. Exhaust
415. Ready
417. Deal
418. Heal
419. Play
420. Move
421. Hide
422. Discard
423. Stun
424. Reveal
425. Counter
426. Buff
427. Banish
428. Kill
429. Add
430. Channel
431. Burn Out
432. Double
433. Swap
434. Attach
435. Detach
436. Predict
437. Prevent
438. Replace
439. Create
440. Movement
441. Moving is a Limited Action.
442. Moving is defined by the Origin and Destination of the Permanent that is changing locations.
443. Players may choose to move their Units with the Standard Move. See rule 144. for more information on the Standard Move.
444. Spells, Abilities, or other effects may cause a Move to occur.
445. The Destination becomes Contested if it is a Battlefield not controlled by the controller of the Unit or Units that moved.
446. Units may cause a Showdown without a Combat when they Move.
447. Units may cause Combat when they Move.
448. When a Move action is complete, perform a Cleanup.
449. Recalls
450. A Recall is when a Permanent is relocated from anywhere to its Base without it being a Move.
451. Recalls are not Moves.
452. Gear can be Recalled.
453. Recalls do not affect the state of the Permanent being recalled.
454. Combat
455. A Combat occurs when a Cleanup occurs, there are no items on the Chain, there is a staged Combat at a Battlefield, and no Showdown or Combat is ongoing at any other Battlefield. See rule 318. Cleanups for more information.
456. Combat is considered Staged if there are units controlled by two opposing players at a Battlefield but the Steps of Combat have not been initiated.
457. Combat can only occur between Units controlled by exactly two players.
458. The Steps of Combat
459. Step 1: The Combat Showdown Step
460. Step 2: The Combat Damage Step
461. Step 3: The Resolution Step
462. Scoring
463. Scoring is the act of a Player gaining a point through the process of seizing or maintaining control over Battlefields.
464. A player Scores in one of two ways:
465. A player may only Score, from either method, once per Battlefield per turn.
466. When a player Scores, two things occur:
467. When a cleanup occurs and a player has accrued Points greater than or equal to the Victory Score for their Mode of Play, and if they have more points than any opponent, they Win the Game.
468. Layers
469. Layers are the mechanism in which Game Effects alter the Traits, Intrinsic Abilities, or other properties of Game Objects.
470. Layers are an organizational structure.
471. The layers are applied repeatedly until all effects operating on objects have been applied once and no changes have been processed.
472. Layers are applied in the following order:
473. If more than one effect applies to the same Game Object in the Same Layer, or to each other in the same layer, then both effects will apply but their order may be determined by Dependency.
474. To determine which effect Depends on another, determine which of the prior criteria applies, and then also which effect's evaluation is altered by the sequence of applications. That effect is said to Depend on the other.
475. If more than one effect applies in the same layer but no dependency is established, then Timestamp order is applied to the effects within that layer and sublayer
476. Modes of Play
477. There are multiple methods of playing Riftbound.
478. A Mode of Play must define several variables for the game.
479. Sanctioned Modes
480. 1v1 (Duel)
481. 1v1 (Match)
482. FFA3 (Skirmish)
483. FFA4 (War)
484. 2v2 (Magma Chamber)