diff --git a/HANDOFF.md b/HANDOFF.md
index 396b53b..53b6cc3 100644
--- a/HANDOFF.md
+++ b/HANDOFF.md
@@ -442,6 +442,14 @@ the countdown panel ('CHANGEOVER · RESUMING IN n'). He kept the burst-arm weapo
 praise words. **A bottom/above-rack message slot was proposed and REJECTED**: that is thumb
 territory — covered by the hand mid-pull and outside where the eyes are.
 
+**Sixth batch, same day — the live card-tuning session (Oliver in the preview pane).** Settled by
+looking, together: the card is `CARD_PAD` 20 with the icon boxed to 46×44 and `CARD_TOP` 88 (flush
+under the flash row). And the RESUMING countdown left the band entirely: **Bangers 16, gold,
+shadowed, floating just above the net tape — no panel, no border.** His call: the countdown
+belongs to the court the pause is holding, and the shout face survives any backdrop, which retires
+the panel that was added for clay-crowd readability two batches ago. The changeover still names
+itself in the same line ('CHANGEOVER · RESUMING IN n').
+
 **Fifth batch, same day — THE BATTERY PASS.** "Drains battery like there is no tomorrow." Measured
 first: update() 0.01 ms, render() 0.15 ms per frame — the JS is nothing. The bill is fill-rate ×
 frame-rate (a 3x iPhone pushes a ~1080×2400 canvas through the compositor 60×/s) plus 60 Hz wakeups
diff --git a/index.html b/index.html
index b702b14..158b2fb 100644
--- a/index.html
+++ b/index.html
@@ -359,6 +359,6 @@
     </div>
   </div>
 </div>
-<script type="module" src="main.js?v=135"></script>
+<script type="module" src="main.js?v=136"></script>
 </body>
 </html>
diff --git a/render.js b/render.js
index 8947428..91c4044 100644
--- a/render.js
+++ b/render.js
@@ -1190,7 +1190,8 @@ const AD_TOP = () => Math.round(proj(0, 0, -6).y) - AD_H; // top of the courtsid
 // or not — the icon sits LEFT of the text instead of stacking above it. Stacked, an icon card ran
 // 102 px tall and its lower third hung over live court; side-by-side it is 62 px flat, sits fully
 // over the crowd, and the art actually draws BIGGER than the stacked layout gave it.
-const CARD_TOP = 96, CARD_H = 62, CARD_PAD = 14; // px of side padding inside the band
+const CARD_TOP = 88, CARD_H = 62, CARD_PAD = 20; // px of side padding inside the band; top sits
+                                                 // flush under the flash row (ends ~88)
 
 function drawCard(title, sub1, sub2, color, icon) {
   const img = icon && SPR[icon];
@@ -1199,7 +1200,7 @@ function drawCard(title, sub1, sub2, color, icon) {
   // it — centred type next to a left icon read as two unrelated things sharing a band
   let tx = CARD_PAD;
   if (img) { // vertically centred, boxed so a wide tin can't reach the type
-    const k = Math.min((CARD_H - 10) / img.height, 58 / img.width);
+    const k = Math.min((CARD_H - 18) / img.height, 46 / img.width);
     const iw = Math.round(img.width * k), ih = Math.round(img.height * k);
     ctx.imageSmoothingEnabled = false;
     ctx.drawImage(img, CARD_PAD, Math.round(CARD_TOP + (CARD_H - ih) / 2), iw, ih);
@@ -1784,22 +1785,15 @@ export function render() {
     : Math.max(G.changeover > 0 ? G.changeover : 0,
                G.phase === 'over' ? G.overT : 0,
                G.interlude ? G.interlude.introT : 0);
-  // A live card owns the band and IS the announcement of the pause — the countdown yields to it.
-  if (waitT > 0.5 && !(G.card && G.card.t > 0 && !(G.card.wait > 0))) {
-    // In the message band with the rest of the family, and on its OWN PANEL: bare shadowed text
-    // was barely readable over the sunlit clay crowd (Oliver flagged it every court since).
-    // Plain Silkscreen on purpose — a countdown is information, not an announcement.
-    // the changeover names itself here — its old separate flash was the same word, twice
+  if (waitT > 0.5) {
+    // OVER THE NET, in the shout face, no box — Oliver's call after trying it panelled in the
+    // band: the countdown belongs to the COURT the pause is holding, and Bangers + shadowText is
+    // the register that survives any backdrop (it is what every flash already rides).
+    // The changeover names itself here — its old separate flash was the same word, twice.
     const txt = (G.changeover > 0 ? 'CHANGEOVER · ' : '') + 'RESUMING IN ' + Math.ceil(waitT);
-    const y = Math.min(FLASH_Y + 26, AD_TOP() - 18);
-    ctx.font = F(10);
-    const tw = Math.ceil(ctx.measureText(txt).width);
-    ctx.lineWidth = 1;
-    // panel top hugs the glyphs: Silkscreen carries its own top leading under baseline 'top',
-    // so a symmetric-looking box needs the frame to start a px above the text, not four
-    panel(W / 2 - tw / 2 - 7, y - 1, tw + 14, 15, 3, 'rgba(8,26,18,0.85)', hexA(UI.warm, 0.4));
+    ctx.font = B(16);
     ctx.textBaseline = 'top';
-    shadowText(txt, W / 2, y, hexA(UI.warm, 0.95));
+    shadowText(txt, W / 2, Math.round(proj(0, COURT.netH, COURT.netZ).y) - 26, hexA(UI.warm, 0.95));
   }
   if (G.phase === 'pretoss' && score.server === 'P' && G.mode !== 'eaten' && !G.horde && !(G.mgT > 0) && !G.aim && waitT <= 0.5) { // while pulling, the draw meter owns this slot
     ctx.font = F(8);