Riftbound Guide

Choosing the right Riftbound starter deck is the most important decision you will make as a new player, and it is more confusing than it should be. You are looking at a few different boxes and packs on TCGPlayer or at your local game store, the prices are all different, and nobody has explained what makes them different. That is what this page is for.

I will walk you through every beginner product available right now, tell you honestly what you get from each one, and help you figure out which is the right first purchase based on your situation. No assumptions that you already know how trading card games work.

The Four Types of Riftbound Starter Product

There are four categories of product aimed at new players: Proving Grounds, Champion Decks, Booster Boxes, and Booster Packs. They serve very different purposes, and choosing the wrong one is an easy mistake to make when you are just getting started.

Option 1: Proving Grounds ($40 MSRP)

Proving Grounds is the official beginner box set for Riftbound. It was designed from the ground up for people who have never played a trading card game before and want to learn with a group of friends or family.

Inside the box you get four complete pre-built decks featuring Annie, Master Yi, Lux, and Garen, custom acrylic champion figures for each deck, and everything you need to sit down and start playing immediately. The four decks are balanced against each other on purpose, so no single player has an unfair advantage at the table. You can hand a deck to someone who has never touched a TCG and they can hold their own right away.

Proving Grounds also contains 24 cards that are exclusive to this product and unavailable anywhere else. A few of those cards have turned out to be genuinely useful in competitive play. Riot has confirmed that future starter products will not include mechanically unique cards, so these 24 cards will only ever be available in Proving Grounds. That makes the box more interesting for collectors as well as players.

The catch is that Proving Grounds is currently out of stock. A reprint is confirmed and printing has already started as of February 2026, but no firm release date has been announced yet. We are tracking everything in our Proving Grounds reprint guide and will update it as soon as a date lands.

For a full breakdown of what is in the box and whether it is worth buying, see our Proving Grounds buying guide.

Proving Grounds is right for you if: you are buying for two to four people who want to learn together, you want one box that covers everything, and you are happy to wait for the reprint to arrive.

Option 2: Champion Decks (MSRP ~$20 each)

Champion Decks are the individual ready-to-play option for Riftbound, each one built around a specific champion and sold separately. They are aimed at players who want to jump straight into one-versus-one games, or who already have a friend with a deck and need their own. At the time of writing, retail stock is very limited and secondary market prices are running above MSRP. Your local game store is the most reliable place to find them right now. Prices below reflect MSRP.

Every Champion Deck contains 56 cards, a full-size paper playmat, a deck box, and one booster pack. The deck is complete and ready to play out of the box. You do not need to buy anything else to start.

There are currently seven Champion Decks available across three sets.

Origins Champion Decks (Set 1)

Jinx is an aggressive deck that wants to hit your opponent fast and deal direct damage before they can set up a defense. If you like the idea of going on the offensive from the very first turn, Jinx suits that style well.

Available on TCGPlayer, Amazon US, and Amazon UK.

Viktor is a swarming deck that wins by flooding the board with units and overwhelming opponents through sheer numbers. Each unit you play feeds into the next, making Viktor’s deck feel like a machine that builds momentum as the game goes on.

Available on:

Lee Sin wins through disciplined combat, buffing your units and protecting your best ones with defensive spells while steadily outmuscling opponents in battle. He rewards players who like thinking a few steps ahead.

Available on:

We have a full head-to-head breakdown of the three Origins decks in our Jinx vs Viktor vs Lee Sin comparison if you want more detail before deciding.

Spiritforged Champion Decks (Set 2)

Fiora is a precision deck from the second set, Spiritforged. Her strategy revolves around using spells and equipment to make your units Mighty, turning ordinary cards into powerful combatants through clever combat tricks. Each trick you pull off generates more resources, which keeps the pressure on your opponent.

Available on:

Rumble is also from Spiritforged. His deck is all about mechs, with each new one you play giving all your other mechs a new bonus. The more you build up your board, the more powerful each individual piece becomes, until even the smallest unit becomes a real threat.

Available on:

Unleashed Champion Decks (Set 3)

Vi is an aggressive deck from the Unleashed set, running Fury and Order domains (Red and Yellow). Her strategy is built around one idea: hit hard and hit often. When your attacks succeed, Vi rewards you for it, keeping your units active and your pressure constant. She is one of the more direct decks in the game, which makes her a solid choice if you are new to Riftbound and want a deck that is easy to understand from your first few games.

Available on:

Vex is a control deck from the Unleashed set, running Mind and Overgrowth domains (Purple and Green). Where Vi rushes forward, Vex plays the long game. Her strategy is built around holding battlefields, drawing more cards than your opponent, and slowly building an advantage that is hard to overcome. If you prefer to think a few turns ahead and win through patience rather than aggression, Vex is the deck to look at.

Available on:

We have full deck guides for both Unleashed champions if you want more detail before deciding: Vi champion deck guide and Vex champion deck guide.

Champion Decks are right for you if: you are buying for one or two players and you can find one at or near MSRP, whether at a local game store or through a reputable online seller.

Option 3: Booster Boxes (~$120 MSRP)

A booster box contains 24 packs, each with 14 cards, giving you 336 cards in total. For new players, a booster box is not a starting point, but it becomes worth considering once you have a Champion Deck you enjoy and you want to seriously expand your collection or hunt for specific upgrade cards.

If you are trying to upgrade a Champion Deck, a booster box gives you the best odds of pulling the specific rares and epics you need without buying singles individually. If you are a collector chasing alternate art cards or foils, a box is the most efficient way to open a large quantity of packs at once. Each pack includes foil cards, and the rarest cards in the set appear at very low pull rates, so results will vary.

One thing worth knowing: a booster box is not a substitute for a Champion Deck. You could open an entire box and still not have a complete, ready-to-play deck. Buy a Champion Deck first, then consider a box once you know which direction you want to take your collection.

Option 4: Booster Packs (~$5 to $6 each)

A booster pack contains 14 random cards. Every pack includes common and uncommon cards, plus foil cards, but there is no guarantee you will get anything that helps you build a deck you can actually play with. You could open ten packs and still not have a coherent strategy.

If you do not already own a deck, booster packs are not a good first purchase. They are great once you have a Champion Deck and you want to start upgrading specific parts of it, or if you are a collector chasing rare alternate art cards. Grabbing a couple to open at Nexus Nights is also a fun way to dip into the collection side of the game. But as your starting point, they will almost certainly leave you with a pile of cards and no idea how to use them.

Booster Packs make sense if: you already own a deck and want to improve it, you are collecting and chasing rarer cards, or you are heading to Nexus Nights and want something to open on the night.

Side by Side Comparison

Which Should You Buy?

If you are buying for a group of two or more people who want to learn together, Proving Grounds is still the best option. Four balanced decks, exclusive cards, and a proper learning experience built into the box. The only reason not to buy it right now is that it is out of stock. Wait for the reprint, or check our reprint guide for the latest on timing.

If you are buying for one or two players rather than a group, Champion Decks are still the right product, but be prepared for limited availability. Online retail stock is very low right now, with secondary market prices running well above MSRP on some decks. Your local game store is the most reliable place to find them at a fair price. Two decks with different playstyles (say, Jinx and Viktor) gives you a solid two-player setup once you track them down.

If you are somewhere between the two and not sure which champion fits you best, our Jinx vs Viktor vs Lee Sin comparison walks through the playstyle differences in more detail. The Spiritforged decks (Fiora and Rumble) are also worth a look if the mech-building or precision combat style sounds more appealing to you than the Origins options.

Skip Booster Packs for now. Come back to them once you have a deck you enjoy playing and want to start tweaking it.

If you are here because you want to collect as well as play, a booster box is worth considering once you have a deck. With 24 packs per box, it gives you the best shot at pulling rare and alternate art cards. Just make sure you have a Champion Deck first so you have something to play with while you open them.

Riot has also released the Riftbound Showdown Deck, a newer product worth knowing about. Find out what it is and whether it is right for you in our Showdown Deck guide.

Check current Champion Deck availability