Radiance FAQ: Riot rules on Baron Nashor, Riven and Gravity Field
Riot has published the official Radiance rules FAQ, fourteen answers to the interactions that have been argued over at tables and on Reddit through the set's first two weeks. This is not a casual document: the FAQ takes precedence over the Core Rules Document wherever the two differ, so these are the rulings that apply at the table. They land eleven days before the Stuttgart Regional Championship, the first major European event with Radiance legal.
First thingsThe shorthand, decoded
The document uses shorthand for the symbols printed on cards. Worth having at hand before reading on.
| [E] | Exhaust: turning the card sideways to use it. |
| [M] | Might, a unit's fighting strength. |
| [A] | One power of any domain. |
| [C] | One power of the card's own domain. In Accelerate costs it takes the unit's domain, or becomes [A] if the unit has no domain or several. |
Baron NashorEnters ready, and without a Baron Pit
Two answers cover Baron Nashor and settle the most common arguments.
First: if you control Hunters' Circle and play Baron Nashor without a Baron Pit on the board, the cost reduction applies and you can pay [9][C][C][C]. It comes down to timing. Hunters' Circle reduces cost during finalization, when you pick a play location and the total cost is determined; the effect that puts Baron at the Baron Pit is a replacement effect that fires later, as Baron resolves and enters. By then the cost has already been set and paid.
Second: with Riven, the Exile as your Legend and a battlefield you control, Baron Nashor can enter ready even without a Baron Pit. Two replacement effects apply here — entering ready from Riven, entering at the Baron Pit from Baron — and both stick: in either order, Baron enters ready at the Baron Pit.
Gravity FieldWho pays when you move someone else's unit
Gravity Field charges [1][A] to move a unit to that battlefield, and it produces three clarifications.
With Charm, your opponent pays nothing: Charm tells you to move the enemy unit, not your opponent, so the cost falls on whoever performs the move. It flips the other way too: if your opponent controlled the Gravity Field, you would be the one paying [1][A] to move their unit there as Charm resolves.
With Angler Wyrm's activated ability the cost is paid: that card instructs your opponent to move their unit, so they owe it. If they will not or cannot pay, the unit simply does not move.
On Angler Wyrm, one more useful point: if your opponent forces you to move a unit and you have played Hunker Down on one of yours, you cannot pick that one to dodge the instruction. A player who must move must move, as long as they control at least one unit that can; units that cannot move do not count as a choice. Only if none of your units can move is the instruction negated.
Gravity Field also produced the ruling on the Standard Move: you cannot even attempt one if the resulting move is impossible or you cannot pay its costs. And if you declare the move and then decline the cost, you do not get to keep the exhaust: everything done as part of the move is undone and the move is cancelled.
Riven and MordekaiserCosts, buffs and chain order
On Riven, Broken Blade, Riot clarifies when you spend the buff for the exhaust trigger: on resolution, not when you finalize the ability. The general rule is that a cost written inside the instructions, rather than as the first part of the effect, belongs to what happens when the ability resolves. Riven's first part is "choose one that hasn't been chosen this turn", so the buff is paid afterwards.
Still on Riven: if you Standard Move a Riven, Broken Blade and a Stellacorn Herder simultaneously, Riven's exhaust trigger goes on the chain first, then the Herder's move trigger. The cost of a move is paid before the move itself is performed, and the order is always that: exhaust triggers first, move triggers second.
Two answers involve Mordekaiser, Iron Revenant and his power. If you play Meticulous Restorationist from your trash via its triggered ability, you can banish a unit or gear from your trash with Mordekaiser to pay: "play me for [Cost]" is an alternate cost replacing the base cost, and Mordekaiser's power can be spent to play units.
With Atakhan, no. If you kill a non-token unit for Atakhan's additional cost, that unit cannot help pay his power cost: in Riftbound you pay Energy and Power costs before any "non-standard" costs such as killing a unit. At the moment you pay the power, the unit is not dead yet, so it is not in the trash to banish.
And alsoRuneblade Anvil, Neeko, Seraphic Wyvern
On Runeblade Anvil, the duration "until your next Ending Phase" produces three cases and one consistent logic: the permission lasts until the specified Ending Phase begins. Kill the Anvil during your opponent's turn and you can play the banished card until your next turn's Ending Phase starts. Kill it during your own turn and you cannot play the card in that turn's Ending Phase. Kill it during your Ending Phase and you have until the start of the next turn's.
On Neeko, Blending In: if your opponent empowers Kharox and plays your Neeko out of your trash, they do not get the Legends you picked during deckbuilding. They add one of their own, as if they had played a copy of Neeko they owned — and only if their deck or sideboard holds at least one copy of Neeko. Otherwise the instruction is ignored.
On Seraphic Wyvern, the most technical answer: play Mobilize with the Wyvern on board and one rune left in your Rune Deck and you do not draw. Referencing an action refers only to the original game action and the object it was performed on; the extra channel the Wyvern introduces creates a new game object, but the referenced action is still the one written in the spell. The same holds for Catalyst of Aeons played with a Wyvern and only two runes left: you channel the two, but you do not draw.
It closes on a simple, cheerful one that Riot answers with "yup and yup": play Possession, take control of your opponent's Ekko, Revolutionary, and you can use his activated ability to banish and replay him — and he comes back yours.
Why it matters for us. These fourteen answers are not rulebook trivia: they are the interactions that will decide games in Stuttgart from November 6 to 8. Baron Nashor entering ready off Riven without a Baron Pit changes the clock for a whole archetype; the Charm and Angler Wyrm pair decides who spends power against Gravity Field; the Atakhan ruling closes a shortcut plenty of players assumed worked. And because the FAQ takes precedence over the Core Rules Document, these apply at the table even where the rulebook reads otherwise — arguing it with a judge mid-tournament is wasted time. If you play Riven, Mordekaiser or Baron, read them before you travel.
The short version
- The Radiance FAQ is a set of official rulings and takes precedence over the Core Rules Document where they differ.
- Baron Nashor gets the Hunters' Circle reduction with no Baron Pit, and with Riven, the Exile he enters ready at the Baron Pit.
- Against Gravity Field the mover pays: with Charm that is you, with Angler Wyrm it is your opponent.
- Mordekaiser can banish from the trash to pay for Meticulous Restorationist, but not for Atakhan's power cost.
- With Seraphic Wyvern out, Mobilize and Catalyst of Aeons do not draw if the runes cannot cover the original action.
Source: Radiance Rules FAQ and Clarifications — Riot Games. Images: Riot Games.
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