Welcome to Riftbound!

Whether you’re a seasoned card-slinger or just getting into your first trading card game, you’re in for a wild ride. Riftbound brings the world of League of Legends to the tabletop with fast-paced action, epic champions, and strategic gameplay. In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know to build your deck, hit the battlefield, and start racking up wins.

Goal of the Game

Riftbound is a clash of champions for 2–4 players. Team up with your favourite League of Legends champions to lead an army and battle for control of Runeterra. Capture the battlefields of Runeterra using your army to win. Each battlefield you claim with your units scores 1 point. Each turn you hold a battlefield earns an additional point. The first player to reach 8 points wins the game.

What do you need in your deck?

Your deck is made of four components:

1 Champion Legend:

This legendary card is the heart of your deck. It decides which champion fights at your side and which Domains you can play in your deck. When the match begins, it takes its place in the Legend Zone, ready to lead the charge and define the way you play.

Battlefields:

These cards, laid out horizontally, represent the iconic Battlefields of Runeterra. Each one is a vital piece of the map you’ll fight to control.

12 Rune Deck Cards

These mystical runes are your currency for casting spells, summoning units, and unleashing game-changing abilities. You’ll start each game with exactly 12 runes, chosen in any mix from the Domains tied to your champion legend. Manage them wisely, and you’ll control the flow of power turn after turn.

Main Deck Cards

These are your units and spells that will bring your strategy to life on the battlefield. Among them is your Chosen Champion, a key figure who starts the game in your Champion Zone beside your legend, ready to lead the charge. The other 39 cards? Shuffle them up. They form your Main Deck, the core of your power as the match unfolds.

Chosen Champion

Your Chosen Champion is a champion unit that matches your Champion Legend. Though it starts as part of your Main Deck, it moves into the Champion Zone before the match begins, standing ready beside your legend as the face of your battle plan.

You can pick any champion unit that shares the exact name printed on your legend. For example, if your Champion Legend is Loose Cannon, you get to choose whether Jinx, Rebel or Jinx, Demolitionist best suits your strategy.

Together, your Champion Legend and Chosen Champion form the core of your deck’s identity. Maybe you’re overwhelming the board with cheap units, or discarding cards to fuel explosive plays. Whatever your plan, your supporting cards and even your battlefields can help make it work.

Your Main Deck is where your broader strategy comes to life.

• You can include up to 3 copies of any single card, including your Chosen Champion.
• That means your Champion could appear again during the game, giving you more chances to bring their abilities to bear.

You can also include other cards tied to your Champion Legend, even if they show the same character in a different form. On top of that, if your Legend has a signature spell, like Super Mega Death Rocket! for Jinx, you can include up to 3 copies, but only if the card matches your current Champion Legend.

These signature cards are powerful, theme-driven tools that reinforce your champion’s strengths and can shift the momentum in your favor when played at the right moment.

Setting up the Game

All players put their battlefields in the Battlefield Zone. Then each player sets up their board as shown. Place your Champion Legend and Chosen Champion face up to one side. Shuffle the remaining 39 cards of your Main Deck and put them to one side. Shuffle your Rune Deck and place it separately from your Main Deck.

Starting the Game

You’re almost ready to dive into the action. Each player should already have contributed one battlefield card. Now it’s time to see where the fight begins.

To determine who goes first, shuffle the selected battlefields and randomly pick one. The player who owns the chosen battlefield becomes the starting player. Then, return all battlefields to the Battlefield Zone (placement doesn’t matter; they’re all up for grabs).

Four-player twist: If you’re playing with four, remove the battlefield owned by the starting player before the game begins. That way, only three battlefields are in play.

Finally, each player draws 4 cards from their Main Deck to form their opening hand.

Almost ready to hit the board? Just a few final steps before the battle begins:

🔄 Mulligan for a Better Hand
Before the first turn starts, each player may take one mulligan. That means you can choose up to 2 cards from your hand, place them facedown on the bottom of your Main Deck, then draw the same number of cards. It’s your one chance to fine-tune your opening hand.

💠 Extra Rune Advantage
To balance turn order, the last player gets a slight boost: they play with an extra rune on their first turn. That means more power, earlier plays, and a fighting chance to catch up.

👥 Four-Player Rule
In games with four players, the first player skips their card draw on their opening turn. It’s a small sacrifice for the advantage of going first.

🔁 Turn Order
Once play begins, turns rotate clockwise around the table.

Terms to Know in the Rift

Exhaust (🔄): Turn a card sideways, usually to pay a cost or show it’s been used. Units enter the battlefield exhausted, and just about anything, runes, units, even legends, can be exhausted during play.

Ready
Restore a card to its upright position. It’s the opposite of exhaust, and everything you control becomes readied at the start of your turn, like your army catching its breath before charging again.

Recycle
Send a card from wherever it is to the bottom of its respective deck. Think of it as reshuffling your tools for a later moment.

Channel
Draw raw magical energy from your Rune Deck. At the start of each turn, you’ll channel 2 runes, placing them on the board. Some cards may let you channel even more. This is your power source; use it wisely.

Move
Units can exhaust themselves to move between battlefields. Those with GANKING can leap directly between battlefronts in a single stride. Some spells or abilities can also move units, even if they’re already exhausted or normally couldn’t shift between those zones.

Card
In the rules, text: “card” refers to a card from your Main Deck (not legends, runes, tokens, or battlefields). When something says “draw a card,” it’s drawing from that core arsenal.

Tokens
These are temporary units created during play, not included in your starting deck. Printed tokens are handy, but if you run out, no worries. Anything you can tap and untap clearly (a coin, a sleeve, a sparkly button from your desk drawer) can stand in. Just make sure all players agree on what’s what.

Playing Cards

To unleash the power of your cards in Riftbound, you’ll need to pay their rune cost, shown in the top-left corner of each card. This cost may be divided into two parts, and mastering both is crucial for timing your plays and dominating the board.

The Anatomy of a Card’s Cost

1. Energy Cost
This tells you how many runes you must exhaust (turn sideways) to play the card.

• Think of it as tapping into your rune reserves temporarily.
• Some cards cost 0 energy, making them quick and easy to play.

2. Power Cost
These are elemental icons representing the Domains tied to your Champion Legend.

• For each symbol, you must recycle (place on the bottom of your rune deck) a rune of the matching Domain.
• You can even recycle runes you just exhausted to pay the Energy cost.

Not all cards have both costs. Some may require only energy, only power, or none at all. Learn the balance, and you’ll control both tempo and strategy on the battlefield.

Types of Main Deck Cards

🛡️ Units

These are your frontline forces. When you play a unit, it enters the board exhausted, either at your base or on a battlefield you already control.

• If a unit takes damage equal to or greater than its Might, it falls in battle and is sent to the trash.
• Champions are also classed as units, although they are extremely powerful and have abilities that shape your entire strategy.

✨ Spells
Spells hit fast and vanish just as quickly.

• When cast, a spell does what it says, then heads straight to the trash.
• Spells never stay on the board, though they might affect cards and units that do.

⚙️ Gear
These are your support tools, ready from the moment they enter the board.

• You play Gear readied at your base, where they stay.
• Gear can’t move or attack, but they wield powerful abilities that influence the game.
• They can be exhausted, readied, discarded, or even killed like units, but they don’t have Might, don’t take damage, and never enter combat themselves.

⏳ Timing: When You Can Play Cards and Use Abilities

By default, you can only play cards or activate abilities during your turn, as long as there’s no combat happening and nothing else is currently being played or resolved.

Some cards include keywords that let you break this rule. These keywords appear most often on spells but can also show up on units or their abilities.

ACTIONS
Actions can be played during your turn like normal, but they can also be used during showdowns, including during combat. That flexibility makes them great for reactive plays mid-battle.

REACTIONS
Reactions can be played during your turn or showdowns, but they also have a special timing rule. You can play a Reaction in response to another spell or ability before it resolves. That means your Reaction resolves first.

Abilities that add Energy or Power
These effects, such as those from runes, happen immediately when triggered. They can’t be responded to or interrupted in any way.

Steps of a Turn

Each player takes their turn one at a time, going clockwise around the table. Here’s how a full turn breaks down:

Start of Turn

A. Awaken Phase
Ready all of your exhausted cards. This includes units, your legend, and runes. Turn them upright to show they are available again.

B. Beginning Phase
Resolve any effects that trigger at the start of your turn. Then score one point for each battlefield you currently control. This is called Holding.

C. Channel Phase
Channel the top two runes from your Rune Deck. Place them onto the board in a readied position.

D. Draw Phase
Draw one card from your Main Deck. There is no maximum hand size, so keep building your options.

Now move into your Action Phase.

Action Phase

During your Action Phase, you can take any of the following actions. You can do them in any order, and as many times as you want, as long as you can pay the costs:

• Play cards from your hand or other permitted locations. This includes your Chosen Champion if you have not already played it.
• Use abilities on your units, on your Champion Legend, or on your runes. Runes provide Energy and Power through their innate abilities.
• Exhaust units to move them between your base and battlefields. Moving into a battlefield occupied by enemies will start a combat.

End of Turn

Once you are finished, your turn ends. Resolve any end-of-turn effects. Then fully heal all of your damaged units.

Play passes to the next player.

Moving, Conquering & Control

Conquering Battlefields and Starting Combat

• Move units to a battlefield to take control of it.
• If the battlefield is unoccupied, moving in is enough to conquer it.
• As long as you have one or more units on that battlefield, you remain in control and keep scoring at the start of your turn.

Combat Begins

1. Trigger abilities Start by resolving all “When I defend” abilities first, followed by “When I attack” abilities. Both players involved may use Reactions at this time.
2. It’s a Showdown Each player in the battle can play Actions and other cards that were hidden on the battlefield. This is where surprise tactics come into play.
3. Resolve Reactions When a spell or ability is played, either player may respond with a Reaction before it resolves. Resolve Reactions first, then go back and resolve the original spell or ability.
4. Time to fight Once both players pass and no more cards are played, the remaining units clash in combat.

Multiplayer Twist

• Only two players can be involved in a single combat at any given time.
• By default, only those two players may play Actions and Reactions during that combat.
• However, either of them can invite other players to jump in by playing their own Actions and Reactions.

 Fight!

1. Assign Damage Players assign their damage to enemy units however they choose, but with two important rules:
   • You must assign enough damage to kill one unit before assigning damage to another.
   • Units with TANK must be assigned damage before any other units.
2. Resolve the Clash Damage is dealt simultaneously. Any unit that has damage equal to or greater than its Might is killed and sent to the trash.
3. Heal the Wounded After combat, all units everywhere heal any damage they had. Damage never reduces a unit’s Might. For example, a unit with 6 Might and 5 damage still deals 6 damage in the fight.

Conquering the Battlefield

• If only attackers remain on the battlefield after combat, the attacker conquers the battlefield and scores 1 point.

• If any defenders survive, the battlefield remains contested. The attacker does not score and any surviving attacking units are sent back to base.

Winning the Game

• The game ends when a player reaches 8 points, or in a team game, when a team reaches 11 points.

The Final Point

• You cannot win by conquering a single battlefield and earning your final point that way.
• To claim victory, your final point must come from holding a battlefield at the start of your turn, or by scoring all battlefields in a single turn.

Modes of Play

Two-Player Modes

• Each player chooses 1 of their 3 battlefields during setup instead of selecting one randomly.
• For each new game in the match, players choose a battlefield that hasn’t yet been used.

Free-For-All Modes (3 or 4 Players)

• The first player skips their draw during the first turn.

• The first player skips their first draw.
• They also remove their starting battlefield before the game begins.

2v2 Teams

• Two teams of two race to a combined 11-point victory.
• The first player skips their draw and discards their battlefield, just like in War.
• Allies do not share decks or resources but are considered friendly to each other for the purposes of abilities.

• If a card says “Ready a friendly unit,” that includes your own or your ally’s.

Turn Order and Seating Options

Additional Rules

Keywords alter what your card can do. Here are some common keywords:

ACCELERATE
For an added cost, this unit enters the board readied.

LEGION
Triggers an effect if you’ve already played another Main Deck card this turn.

ASSAULT
This unit has additional Might while attacking.

SHIELD
This unit has additional Might while defending.

TANK
This unit must be assigned damage before any others in combat.

DEATHKNELL
Triggers a special effect when this unit dies.

DEFLECT
Opponents must pay extra Power to target this card.

GANKING
This unit can move directly from one battlefield to another.

TEMPORARY
This unit dies at the start of your next turn.

VISION
When played, look at the top card of your Main Deck. You may recycle it.

HIDDEN
Once per turn, you may hide this card facedown at a battlefield you control by spending 1 Power of any type.

• You may only hide one card at each battlefield.
• As long as you control that battlefield, the card stays hidden.
• You may reveal and play it as a REACTION for 0 cost.

• If it is a spell with targets, it must target a unit at that battlefield.
• If it is a unit, it must enter that battlefield, if possible.

STUN
The stunned unit does not deal combat damage this turn. Some effects care about whether a unit is stunned.

BUFF
A buff is a +1 marker placed on a unit.

• By default, a unit may have only one buff.
• Additional buffs are ignored unless a card lets you spend them for another effect.

That’s everything you need to enter the Rift with confidence. Whether you’re rallying a swarm of allies, laying clever traps, or unleashing chaos with rune-fueled spells, every battle in Riftbound is yours to shape. The choices you make, the decks you build, and the legends you follow will define your path to victory.

So gather your runes, ready your champion, and claim your place in the war for Runeterra. The Rift awaits.