Promising Future
Unofficial Riftbound rulings for Promising Future, with rules explanations, examples, and Core Rules citations.
How does Promising Future resolve?
First, every player chooses and banishes a card, starting with the turn player. Then, starting with the next player, every player starts playing their chosen card by putting it on the chain. The chosen cards do not proceed to finalization while Promising Future is still resolving.
Resolution Sequence
Starting with the turn player and proceeding in turn order, each player looks at their top 5 cards, banishes one, then recycles the rest. The cards already banished are public information, so each later player knows what the players before them chose.
Starting with the next player and proceeding in turn order, each player puts their banished card on the chain as a pending item. Each card waits for finalization while Promising Future continues resolving.
Promising Future finishes resolving. This completes the act of playing Promising Future, so applicable abilities on cards such as Ravenbloom Student and Astral Heron trigger and are put on the chain after the chosen cards.
The chosen cards then proceed to finalization in the order they were put on the chain: the next player's card first, followed by each other player in turn order. Their energy costs are set to zero, but their power costs and applicable additional costs still apply. If a player cannot pay every required cost, that card's play process is undone and it returns to banishment.
A unit or gear that finalizes resolves immediately and enters the board. Its own play effect is put on the chain after it enters. Any other ability whose trigger condition was fulfilled by that entry is likewise put on the chain after the inciting event. Because those abilities were added after the chosen cards, every chosen card finalizes or leaves the chain before those abilities finalize.
If any finalized spells or abilities remain, the controller of the newest one receives priority. Players may then play Reactions. In that case, after all players pass priority without adding another item, finalized spells and abilities resolve from newest to oldest.
Example
In a two-player game, the turn player chooses and banishes first, so their opponent knows that choice before making their own. The opponent then puts their card on the chain first, followed by the turn player. If both cards are permanents and both finalize, the opponent's permanent enters first. If both are spells, the turn player's spell is newer and resolves first, after any items played or triggered above it.
Can a counterspell chosen with Promising Future counter another chosen card?
Yes, if another chosen card is an eligible spell that finalizes before the counterspell and is a legal target when the counterspell is finalized.
Promising Future puts every chosen card on the chain as a pending item before any of them proceed to finalization. Players choose only which card to banish during Promising Future's first pass. The counterspell's target is chosen later, during that counterspell's finalization. A counterspell cannot finalize without a valid target. If no valid target exists, its play process is undone and it returns to banishment.
Example
In a two-player game, suppose the turn player banishes a counterspell. The opponent's card is put on the chain first, followed by the turn player's counterspell, so the opponent's card undergoes finalization first. If the opponent chose a spell that the counterspell can target, the turn player can choose that spell while finalizing the counterspell. The counterspell is newer and therefore resolves first, allowing it to counter the opponent's spell before that spell resolves.
A counterspell put on the chain before another chosen card must finalize or leave the chain before that later card can finalize. It needs a legal target when its own targets are chosen.
Does Brynhir Thundersong stop an opponent's card chosen with Promising Future from being played?
Only if Brynhir Thundersong's play effect has already resolved when Promising Future instructs that opponent to play their chosen card. Brynhir then prevents that play, so the card remains banished.
Brynhir prevents an opponent from starting to play a card. A card's play starts when it is placed on the chain; finalization and resolution happen later.
If Brynhir herself is chosen with Promising Future, she does not stop any other chosen card. Promising Future puts every chosen card on the chain as a pending item before any of them proceed to finalization. Brynhir's play effect is added only after she finalizes and enters the board. By then, every chosen card has already started being played, even if it has not yet finalized or resolved.
When I choose Akshan, Mischievous with Promising Future, do I have to pay his additional cost before knowing whether I can take Dazzling Aurora?
No. Every player chooses and banishes a card before Promising Future instructs anyone to play one. Because cards in banishment are public information, you, as Akshan, Mischievous's controller, know whether your opponent chose Dazzling Aurora before deciding whether to pay Akshan's additional cost. You can then choose Dazzling Aurora for Akshan's play effect.
Promising Future puts every chosen card on the chain as a pending item before any of them proceed to finalization. You decide whether to pay Akshan's optional additional cost while Akshan is being finalized, not when he is banished or first put on the chain. His play effect is a separate pending ability put on the chain after Akshan finalizes and enters the board. You choose the enemy gear while that triggered ability is being finalized, rather than while Akshan is being finalized.
This differs from a spell such as Salvage, which chooses a gear while Salvage itself is finalized. If Salvage finalizes before Dazzling Aurora, it cannot choose Aurora because Aurora has not entered the board. Akshan's play effect is instead a separate, newer pending item, so every chosen card finalizes or leaves the chain before that ability finalizes.
Dazzling Aurora Is Banished First
The turn player banishes Dazzling Aurora. Because banished cards are public, you see that choice before selecting Akshan from your own top 5 cards.
Starting with the next player, Akshan is put on the chain first and Dazzling Aurora second.
Akshan finalizes first. You already know Dazzling Aurora was selected and may choose to pay Akshan's additional cost, even though Aurora is still pending.
Akshan enters the board, and his play effect is put on the chain after Dazzling Aurora.
Dazzling Aurora is the older pending item, so it finalizes next and enters the board before Akshan's play effect is finalized.
Akshan's play effect then finalizes. Dazzling Aurora is now an enemy gear on the board, and you can choose it for that ability.
Akshan, Mischievous Is Banished First
If Akshan is banished first, your opponent sees Akshan before choosing Dazzling Aurora. Dazzling Aurora is then put on the chain first and enters before Akshan is finalized. You therefore see Dazzling Aurora on the board when deciding whether to pay the additional cost.
Can Disarming Rake kill Dazzling Aurora if both are chosen with Promising Future?
Yes, regardless of which card is put on the chain first.
Promising Future puts every chosen card on the chain as a pending item before any of them proceed to finalization. Disarming Rake's "When you play me" ability is a play effect. It is put on the chain as a separate pending item only after Disarming Rake finalizes and enters the board.
If Dazzling Aurora finalizes first, it is already on the board when Disarming Rake's play effect is finalized. If Disarming Rake finalizes first, its play effect is put on the chain after Dazzling Aurora, so the older Dazzling Aurora finalizes and enters before the ability is finalized. In either order, Dazzling Aurora can be chosen as the gear for Disarming Rake's play effect.
Can Ravenbloom Prefect banish Dazzling Aurora if both are chosen with Promising Future?
Only if Dazzling Aurora is played by an opponent of Ravenbloom Prefect's controller and Ravenbloom Prefect finalizes before Aurora.
Promising Future puts every chosen card on the chain as a pending item before any of them proceed to finalization. Ravenbloom Prefect's ability triggers when an opponent plays a gear; it is not Prefect's own play effect. Prefect must therefore be on the board when Dazzling Aurora finishes being played for that trigger condition to be fulfilled.
If Ravenbloom Prefect finalizes first, it enters before Dazzling Aurora finalizes. When the opposing player finishes playing Aurora, Prefect's ability triggers and is put on the chain. Prefect's controller may then banish Prefect to finalize that ability and banish Dazzling Aurora when the ability resolves.
If Dazzling Aurora finalizes first, Ravenbloom Prefect is still a pending card on the chain when Aurora enters. The ability does not trigger later when Prefect enters.
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Written by Christian “Near” Ivicevic.
Last updated on .