Arcane Shift
Unofficial Riftbound rulings for Arcane Shift, with rules explanations, examples, and Core Rules citations.
Can I use Arcane Shift to banish the only unit I own and control at a battlefield I control, then play it there again?
Yes, as long as the unit is not a token and you control that battlefield. For a non-token unit, by the time battlefield control is checked, the unit's owner has started playing it, leaving the unit pending on the chain while Arcane Shift finishes resolving. That pending unit keeps the chain active, so you keep control of the battlefield and may choose it for the unit's return.
A token unit instead ceases to exist immediately after moving to banishment, before Arcane Shift can instruct its owner to play it again.
Resolution Sequence
Arcane Shift banishes the unit, causing a cleanup. Arcane Shift then instructs the unit's owner to play it, moving the unit to the chain as a pending item before the spell finishes resolving.
Cleanup runs while the unit remains pending, so the active chain prevents you from losing control of the empty battlefield.
During finalization, you choose the still-controlled battlefield as the unit's location. The unit then enters there.
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Written by Christian “Near” Ivicevic.
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