Movement
Unofficial Riftbound rules answers about movement, with examples and Core Rules citations.
Does a unit move when it enters the board?
No. Moving means changing a permanent's position from one space on the board to another. A card entering the board from another game zone is a zone change, not a move.
Playing or creating a unit at a battlefield therefore does not fulfill an ability that triggers when the unit moves there. Replacing where a unit enters the board also does not turn that entry into a move.
Can I choose a unit's current location as its move destination?
No. A destination you choose must differ from the unit's current location, but if the card specifies the destination, you make no destination choice and the unit can still be a legal target while already there. If the unit is already at that specified destination when the instruction resolves, it cannot move because it would not change board spaces.
How are abilities triggered by exhaustion and movement ordered during one standard move?
Abilities triggered by exhaustion are placed on the chain before abilities triggered by movement, but abilities that remain on the chain resolve in the opposite order. When several abilities trigger simultaneously, each player chooses the relative order of those they control. If more than one player controls them, players order their abilities starting with the turn player and proceeding in turn order.
A multi-unit standard move is one game action. You exhaust all the chosen units simultaneously as its cost. Abilities triggered by that exhaustion trigger simultaneously before the movement occurs.
Although the exhaustion-triggered abilities are already on the chain, the standard move continues through its move effect because the game action executes completely. After that cost is paid, the move effect moves all the chosen units simultaneously. The resulting movement does not use the chain and cannot be reacted to. Abilities triggered by that movement trigger simultaneously and are placed after the exhaustion-triggered abilities.
A cleanup follows the move. Any abilities still pending wait until that cleanup and any other required tasks are completed. They are then finalized from oldest to newest.
The newest finalized ability resolves first. Among those abilities, movement-triggered abilities resolve before exhaustion-triggered abilities, and abilities triggered by the same event resolve in reverse placement order.
Example
If one standard move moves Riven, Broken Blade, Seraphine, Not Alone, and Stellacorn Herder, Riven and Seraphine trigger from becoming exhausted before Stellacorn Herder triggers from moving. Among those three abilities, Stellacorn Herder's ability resolves first, followed by Riven's and Seraphine's abilities in the reverse of the order chosen for them.
Does a later linked instruction still execute if a move is prevented or cannot happen?
If the move is prevented or cannot happen for a reason other than an illegal or unavailable target, yes, unless the linked instruction specifically requires the move to have occurred. The failed move is negated rather than ignored, so it does not cause other linked instructions to be ignored.
How was this page?
Written by Christian “Near” Ivicevic.
Last updated on .