If an opponent conquers a battlefield on their turn, then on my turn I charm their unit to my battlefield, and they respond with Ride the Wind to move it back to their original battlefield, do they conquer and score that battlefield again?

Question

Accepted Answer

If your opponent can legally play Ride The Wind in response and the opponent's battlefield became Uncontrolled while their unit was on your battlefield, then moving the unit back can cause them to gain Control and thereby Conquer and Score that battlefield on your turn. Whether that actually happens depends on timing — specifically whether the battlefield ever became Uncontrolled while the unit was off it, and whether Ride The Wind was playable at that moment.

Yes — provided two conditions are met: (1) the battlefield became Uncontrolled while the opponent's unit was on your battlefield (for example, no other units or combats were present and the game reached an Open State), and (2) the opponent was legally able to play Ride The Wind at the time they played it. If those conditions are true, the opponent gaining Control by moving their unit back will cause a Conquer and Score because they have not yet scored that battlefield this turn [461] [464]. If either condition is not met (for example, the battlefield never became Uncontrolled, or Ride The Wind could not legally be played in response), then simply moving the unit back will not create a new Conquer/Score.

Opponent originally conquered and scored their battlefield on their turn (they are the Controller and have already scored that battlefield on that turn). On your turn you play Charm to move their unit from their battlefield to one of your battlefields. If, while the unit is off their battlefield, the game reaches an Open State and there are no Units/Combats/Showdowns there, that battlefield becomes Uncontrolled [323]. If the opponent then (legally) plays Ride The Wind to move that unit back to their battlefield and by doing so "gains Control" of that battlefield, gaining Control will result in a Conquer if that opponent has not yet scored that battlefield this turn [461] [464]. Because the opponent scored it on their prior turn (not on the current turn which is yours), they have not yet scored it this turn, so the Conquer will cause them to Score it now [464]. If either the battlefield never became Uncontrolled (for example there were other preventing factors) or Ride The Wind was not legally playable at that moment, then moving the unit back will not produce a new Conquer/Score.

If Ride The Wind is not legal to play off-turn (for example it’s only playable on its controller’s turn and you are not in a Showdown), the opponent cannot respond with it. In that case they cannot move the unit back in response and cannot trigger a Conquer via that line. If there was any other unit or an ongoing Showdown/Combat at that battlefield when the unit left, the battlefield may remain Controlled (or Combat/Showdown staged), so it would not become Uncontrolled and moving the unit back would not be treated as "gaining Control" and thus would not Conquer [323]. If the unit is moved back before the game ever reaches an Open State (for example all movement happens while the chain is resolving and cleanup hasn’t checked for uncontrolled battlefields), then the battlefield may never have become Uncontrolled and no Conquer will occur. If teammates or effects disqualify that battlefield from being Scored by Conquer this turn (see 2v2 exceptions), the Conquer could be prevented — check the mode-specific rules [484].

Two pieces of the rules determine whether your opponent can Conquer/Score that battlefield again when their unit is moved back. First, a battlefield with no units present (and no Showdown/Combat) becomes Uncontrolled if the turn is in an Open State [323]. Second, a Conquer occurs when a player gains Control of a Battlefield they did not yet Score this turn — gaining Control in that way will result in a Conquer if the "did not yet Score this battlefield this turn" condition is true [461] [464]. Putting it together: if Charm removes the opponent's last unit from their battlefield and the game reaches an Open State so the battlefield becomes Uncontrolled [323], then when the opponent moves that same unit back to that battlefield and thereby "gains Control," that gaining of Control will be treated as a Conquer and will Score the battlefield because they have not yet scored that battlefield on your turn [461] [464]. However, this outcome requires that the opponent was legally able to play Ride The Wind at that moment; if Ride The Wind is not legal to play off-turn (or before the battlefield ever became Uncontrolled), they cannot do this, and no new Conquer/Score will occur. Also note mode-specific exceptions (for example teammate-controlled battlefields during the Beginning Phase) can disqualify Conquers in some formats [484].