Deathknell
Unofficial answers about the Deathknell mechanic in Riftbound, with examples and Core Rules citations.
When is a Deathknell ability added to the chain?
A Deathknell ability is added to the chain before its permanent moves to the trash. At that point it is a pending item, an ability waiting to be finalized. Before the permanent leaves the board, the game records its location, attributes, and other information needed to process the ability.
If the permanent's death is replaced and it is not sent to the trash, the pending ability is removed from the chain. Each instance of Deathknell triggers separately, and the permanent's controller chooses the order in which those pending abilities are added.
When does a Deathknell ability resolve if its unit dies during a cleanup?
It resolves only after the cleanup finishes. During a combat cleanup, surviving units are therefore healed before the Deathknell ability's controller chooses targets or the ability resolves.
The ability becomes a pending item before the unit moves to the trash, but pending items cannot begin finalization until every cleanup task is complete.
Does Deathknell resolve before the card or ability that killed the unit?
It depends on when the unit is killed.
- Killed to pay a cost while a spell or ability is being finalized: The Deathknell resolves first. The original item is already pending when its cost is paid. It finishes finalizing before the newer Deathknell, which then resolves first. For example, if Sacrifice kills Ruined Rex as its additional cost, Ruined Rex's Deathknell resolves before Sacrifice draws 2 and channels 1 rune exhausted.
- Killed during resolution: The killing card or ability finishes first, including when the kill pays a cost within its instructions. Costs within instructions in spells and activated abilities, and those appearing later in triggered abilities, are paid during resolution. The Deathknell is added before its permanent moves to the trash, but it cannot finalize or resolve until the current item finishes. For example, after Baited Hook kills a unit, it finishes every remaining instruction before that unit's Deathknell can resolve.
- Killed by lethal damage: The card or ability that dealt the damage finishes first because cleanup cannot begin during its resolution. The Deathknell is added during the subsequent cleanup and cannot finalize until that cleanup ends.
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Written by Christian “Near” Ivicevic.
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