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Riftbound, the League of Legends TCG, is rapidly approaching. With more information and even previews coming out starting today, June 9th, now's a better time than ever to get your hands on the promising new trading card game from Riot. But, one of the biggest question on everyone's minds is how the game is actually played.
Since it was revealed as 'Project K', information about the game has been few and far between. In fact, there's not been a ton of information about what the first set, 'Origins', is going to contain until very recently. So, it's no wonder that people have been a little confused about the actual contents of the game up until this point.
However, look no further, as this guide is going to be your one-stop destination to get to grips with the game. We'll go over the core game loop, so you can go ahead and play your own games of Riftbound ahead of its official Western release in October.
Getting Started with Riftbound TCG
Introducing Riftbound TCG
Riftbound TCG is a new and exciting card game, both in its mechanics and the general buzz around it. It plays differently to most other card games out there, due to its unique objective and point scoring system.
To put it simply, the objective of the game is to get to 8 points before your opponent does. You do this by taking and holding battlefields over multiple turns. Taking a battlefield will score you one point, and holding a battlefield for a turn will also score you one point.
We'll go over how this works in practice later on in this guide, but for now let's take a look at what you'll need to do before drawing your first hand.
Your Riftbound Deck
Before you even sit down to play your first game of Riftbound, there are a few things you'll need to do to be able to play.
First of all, obviously, you'll need a deck. We'll go over deckbuilding in more detail in another article, but you can pick up a preconstructed deck to start off with, so you can learn the mechanics of the game.
Inside of this deck, you'll see:
Your Champion Legend: This will be the card that your deck is built around, and will decide the domains (or colors) of your chosen deck. This will also determine the Champion that you can start in play with. Each legend will also have its own ability, which we'll discuss in more detail later on.
Your Chosen Champion: Alongside your Legend will be your Chosen Champion. This is a Unit that'll start the game next to your legend, and can be played from there, akin to a Commander in Magic: The Gathering. You can play this from the board as a unit at any point, by paying its costs like normal.
Your Deck: Your Riftbound deck will contain 39 cards (40 including your Champion), all of which will be within the domain combination of your chosen legend. This is your main deck, where your Units and Spells are drawn from.
Your Rune Deck: Your Rune Deck will contain 12 rune cards, which will act as your resource to pay costs (similar to Lands in Magic). This will also be in a combination of your Legend's domains, the actual quantity of each colour of Rune being your choice.
Your Battlefields: You'll also have a choice of battlefields, which will be used as part of combat. They're horizontal cards that represent locations within the wider world of Runeterra, and also have abilities (that we'll go over shortly).
Once you have your deck, you can move on to actually start playing!
Preparing for a Riftbound Game
Now you're ready to start playing Riftbound, it's time to set up your game and prepare. Before you start, you'll need to put a battlefield out.
Depending on the gamemode, you'll need to put out a different number of your battlefields, but assuming you're playing a 1v1 game of Riftbound, pick one of your locations and place it out in front of you; you and your opponent should have one each in play.
After that, put your legend and Champion into their respective zones, then shuffle your two decks and place them into your Rune Deck zone and your Main Deck zone respectively.
Once you've done this, determine who's going first (either by shuffling the battlefields as is officially stated, or rolling a dice for a more traditional method), and you're ready to get playing!
If you're playing a game with four players, remove the battlefield of the player taking the first turn, so you end up with three total battlefields in play.
Playing Riftbound TCG
Starting A Riftbound Turn
Once you've determined who's going first, each player draws up to four cards. Then, each player may choose up to two cards in their hand to put on the bottom of their deck, to draw two better ones.
Once you're both ready, the player who's going first will go through the start of their turn. The start of your turn has four-steps, that can be remembered as the ABCD structure:
- A. Awaken: The first thing you do is ready (or untap) your exhausted units, which means turning them vertically from their horizontal state. This doesn't matter on the first turn, but will be relevant from here on out.
- B. Beginning: This is where you play any 'start of turn' abilities. Once again, this isn't relevant on the first turn of the game, but will be important for later turns.
- C. Channel Phase: This is where you 'Channel' the top two cards of your Rune Deck, which essentially means taking two cards from your Rune Deck and putting them onto the board.
- D. Draw Phase: Here, you draw a card from your Main Deck, and put it into your hand.
Importantly, if you're going second, during the Channel Phase of your first turn you instead channel three runes instead of two.
Once you've completed these four steps, you can go on to play your turn.
Playing Cards and Abilities
Now you're in the main part of your turn, it's time to actually play some cards! There are three different types of cards:
Units: Units are going to be how you attack and defend battlefields. Think of them as your 'creatures'. Their Might, at the top right of the card, is their 'Power' and 'Toughness', and a unit that takes damage equal to its Might will be killed and go to the trash.
Spells: Spells, as expected, have one-time effects, then go to the trash.
Gear: Gear are essentially like Artifacts in Magic, in that they stick on the board and have effects. They're basically units without Might.
To play a card, you'll need to pay its costs in the top. There are two costs to pay, its resource cost (the big number) and a Power cost. To pay the resource cost, you'll need to Exhaust runes equal to that cost. To pay its Power cost, you'll need to 'Recycle' a rune of that Domain, which means you'll need to put that Rune on the bottom of your Rune Deck.
Cards and Abilities also have restrictions on when they can be played. In general, cards can be played only on your turn when nothing is happening. But, Actions can be played at any time during showdowns (or, combat), and Reactions can also be played in response to any other spell or ability.
However, abilities that Add Energy or Power, like Runes, can't be reacted to. These are like mana abilities in Magic.
Battlefields, Showdowns, and Combat
The other thing that you can do during your turn is move a number of units to claim a battlefield. This is how you score points, and will eventually win the game.
To do so, exhaust it, and move it to the battlefield. (You can also move a unit away from a battlefield like this). If there are no enemy units there, then great! You score a point, and you now control that battlefield. Resolve any effects that happen on Conquering that battlefield, and continue your turn.
But, if there's an enemy unit there, you enter a Showdown!
Resolve any abilities that trigger on Attack or Defence, or of units on that battlefield, and then get ready to fight, as once everyone is done resolving abilities you'll enter combat. Then, each player adds together the Might of all their units on that battlefield, and then distributes it among the opposing units, ready to assign damage. Lethal damage must be applied to a unit before moving on to apply damage to another unit, and units with 'Tank' must be assigned damage first.
Once damage is assigned, it happens simultaneously, and all damage is dealt. If a unit is dealt damage equal to or greater than its Might, it's killed and moved to the trash. Once all is said and done, if you successfully defeated all of the defending units, you now conquer that battlefield. But, if any defenders remain, the battlefield remains under their control, and all of your remaining units are sent back to base.
Keep doing this until a player reaches 8 points, and is crowned victorious!
For the final point to count as a win, you'll need to either earn it by holding a battlefield, or conquering both battlefields in a singular turn. If you were to earn a final point and it doesn't meet these conditions, then you'll instead draw a card.
Closing Time
With this guide, you now know everything you need to know about playing Riftbound TCG. Use this guide to start playing with your friends, whether it be online using tools like Tabletop Simulator or in real life by printing out proxies to jam games with. By reading this guide now, you can become a pro at the game by the time it releases in October.
If you're looking for the best Riftbound content the internet has to offer, Riftbound.gg has everything you need. From meta tier lists, to deck guides, and everything else you might want to know, we've got you covered.
Thank you for reading, and we'll see you on the rift.
