Can you score your 8th point by using Ride the Wind to move to a second battlefield on your opponent's turn if you already control one battlefield and have 7 points?

Question

Accepted Answer

No — you cannot score your 8th point simply by playing Ride The Wind on your opponent's turn to move to a second Battlefield, except in narrow exceptions. Ride The Wind is an [Action] that can be played only on your turn or in showdowns, and Hold scoring only occurs during your Beginning Phase [464.2]. If you somehow Conquer a Battlefield on the opponent’s turn, Conquer-based scoring is subject to the final-point restriction: Conquering while you are one point from victory will not Give you the Winning Point unless you have Scored every Battlefield this turn; otherwise you would draw a card instead [466.1.b] [466.1.b.2].

You cannot use Ride The Wind on an opponent’s open-turn to immediately gain the 8th point by Hold, because Hold scores only during your Beginning Phase [464.2]. You also cannot normally play Ride The Wind on an opponent’s turn (it’s playable only on your turn or in showdowns — card text). If you were somehow in a Showdown on the opponent’s turn and used effects (including movement) that resulted in you Conquering a Battlefield, Conquer would attempt to Score, but because you are one point from the Victory Score Conquer would only give you the Winning Point if you have Scored every Battlefield this turn; otherwise you would draw a card instead [466.1.b] [466.1.b.2].

Ride The Wind is an [Action] that can be played only on your turn or in showdowns (card text). Therefore you cannot play it on an opponent’s open turn unless a Showdown is occurring. Hold scoring happens only during your Beginning Phase, so moving to a second Battlefield on your opponent's turn will not make you 'Hold' that Battlefield for a Hold Score then [464.2]. Conquer scoring happens when you gain Control of a Battlefield you did not yet Score this turn [464.1]. If moving (or some other effect) caused you to gain Control and thereby Conquer on the opponent’s turn, Conquer would attempt to Score immediately. Because you are one point from victory, the special final-point rules apply: if the Score is via Conquer and you have not Scored every Battlefield this turn, you draw a card instead of gaining the Winning Point; only if you have Scored every Battlefield this turn would the Conquer give you the Winning Point [466.1.b] [466.1.b.2].

If a Showdown is ongoing during the opponent's turn, you may be allowed to play Ride The Wind (it is playable in showdowns per card text). In that case, if the resulting actions cause you to actually gain Control of the battlefield and thereby Conquer, the Conquer scoring rules and final-point restrictions apply [464.1] [466.1.b.2]. If you had already Scored every Battlefield this turn before the Conquer occurred, then Conquer would grant the Winning Point even on an opponent’s turn [466.1.b.2]. If the second Battlefield you move to was already Scored by you earlier this turn, moving there cannot Conquer/Score it again this turn [464.1]. If you're playing in a team game and it is your teammate's turn, you may be able to play spells when invited by your teammate per teammate-priority rules [484.8.a], but that does not change Hold timing [464.2] or the Conquer final-point restrictions [466.1.b].

Two separate things stop you from 'getting' the 8th point by simply using Ride The Wind on an opponent’s turn. First, Ride The Wind is an [Action] that can only be played on your turn or in showdowns (card text). So on an opponent’s open turn you normally cannot play it unless a Showdown is occurring. Second, Hold-based scoring only occurs during your Beginning Phase [464.2], so moving to a second Battlefield on an opponent’s turn does not create a Hold Score for you at that moment. You could, in principle, cause a Conquer on the opponent’s turn if some effect caused you to gain Control of a Battlefield you had not yet Scored this turn [464.1]; Conquer triggers scoring immediately when Control is gained. However, because you are one point from the Victory Score the final-point rules apply: if the point would come from a Conquer, you only Gain the Winning Point if you have Scored every Battlefield this turn; if you have not, you instead draw a card [466.1.b] [466.1.b.2]. Therefore, under normal circumstances you cannot score your 8th point by playing Ride The Wind on an opponent’s turn. The only way a move on the opponent’s turn could directly give you the Winning Point is the narrow case where you Conquer and have already Scored every Battlefield this turn, in which case Conquer would grant the Winning Point immediately [466.1.b.2].