Deploy Keyword — How It Works in Riftbound

Section 830 — 8 rules

What is Deploy in Riftbound?

Deploy is a Passive Ability and a Triggered Ability keyword.

830.1.
Deploy is a Passive Ability and a Triggered Ability keyword.
830.1.a.
Deploy is present on Gear.
830.1.b.
Deploy is short for “This may be played or created to any battlefield,” “Play or create this only to a battlefield,” “If this is not a unit, it is not recalled in cleanups,” and “When an opponent holds here, kill this.”
830.1.b.1.
Deploy grants permission for Gear to be played to any Battlefield, including enemy occupied and open battlefields.
830.1.b.2.
Gear with Deploy can be Moved by appropriate effects.
830.1.b.3.
Non-Unit Gear with Deploy are not recalled from Battlefields in step 5 of a Cleanup. See rule 318. Cleanups for more information.
830.2.
Multiple instances of Deploy are redundant.
830.3.
Deploy, and whether or not a card has Deploy, is a characteristic of the card and may be checked or referenced by other Game Effects.

Related FAQ (2)

What happens when I choose a gear with Deploy located at a battlefield with Orianna, Lady of Clockwork?

The gear becomes a unit-gear when the triggered ability resolves. If its controller doesn't control that battlefield, the battlefield becomes contested, and a combat or showdown is staged there in the next cleanup. That combat or showdown opens when the chain clears (rules 190.3.a, 323.7, 323.8, 323.11, and 323.12).

What happens when I choose another gear with Orianna, Lady of Clockwork and the previous unit-gear stops being a unit? Will its attached Equipment fall off? If it's a Deploy gear in base, do I get to move it?

Its attached Equipment stays attached, and a Deploy gear in base stays in base. Only units can't be attached to objects, so Equipment that doesn't become a unit stays on the gear after the gear stops being a unit. The Equipment's Might bonus no longer applies, since the gear has no Might, but its effect text still applies to the gear. Most Deploy gear refer to "this battlefield" or "hold here", so it gets little from base; to send it back to a battlefield, make it a unit again with Orianna, Lady of Clockwork or use an effect that moves gear, such as Command: Attack. Between the trigger being finalized (the previous gear stops being a unit) and resolving (the new gear becomes one), neither gear is a unit unless it already was one before Orianna, Lady of Clockwork ever chose it (rule 137.3.b).

Cards with Deploy (24)