On March 30, 2026, Riot Games announced the Riftbound ban list for the first time in the game’s history. Four cards and three battlefields were banned from Standard Constructed play, effective March 31. A second wave of bans was announced July 17, effective July 24. If you play Riftbound competitively, or if you are building a deck and want to make sure you are spending your money on cards that are still legal, this guide covers every confirmed ban and what each one means for players.
Page last updated: July 24 2026. Vendetta-era bans now active. The official ban list is maintained at riftbound.leagueoflegends.com/en-us/rules-hub/.
When I started following Riftbound, I did not expect the first ban announcement to arrive this quickly. The game launched in early 2026, and here we are just months later with Riot making a second round of calls about competitive balance. That is actually a sign that Riot is watching the competitive scene closely and is willing to act, which is reassuring for the long-term health of the game.
What does a ban mean?
In Riftbound, a banned card cannot be included in your deck for Standard Constructed play. This applies to organised competitive events and is the format used at official tournaments. If you only play casually at home with friends, you are free to keep using these cards. But if you are building a deck to play at a local event or beyond, you will need to remove the banned cards from your list.
Riot confirmed they have no plans to introduce a restriction or semi-limited system. A ban means the card is simply not allowed in competitive play. There is no middle ground.
The current confirmed ban list is always maintained at riftbound.leagueoflegends.com/en-us/rules-hub/. Check this before any tournament.
For more on how organised play works in Riftbound, see the Summoner Skirmish guide.
The banned cards
Five cards are now banned from Standard Constructed. The first four were banned March 31 2026. Stealthy Pursuer was added July 24 2026.
| Card | Type | Effective | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| Called Shot | Spell | March 31 2026 | Free cycling in Miracle decks at an unhealthy pace |
| Scrapheap | Unit | March 31 2026 | Free card filtering that powered Miracle strategies |
| Draven, Vanquisher | Champion | March 31 2026 | Guaranteed strong turn-two play that made Draven decks too consistent |
| Fight or Flight | Spell | March 31 2026 | Overpowered flexible Chaos spell crowding out other designs |
| Stealthy Pursuer | Unit | July 24 2026 | Part of a 3-card infinite combo with two Vendetta cards; banned before Vendetta launches |
Called Shot and Scrapheap: targeting Miracle decks
You may have seen the term “Miracle decks” come up in Riftbound discussions. These are decks built around a core of Chaos-domain cards that let you cycle through your deck very quickly and play multiple undercosted units in the same turn. They had been performing strongly at tournaments, and they also had the side effect of making rounds take an unusually long time, which became a problem at organised events.
Called Shot and Scrapheap were both key pieces of this engine. They let the Miracle player filter through their deck and get ahead on cards for free, which Riot described as moving at a pace that was too efficient. By removing both cards, Riot is breaking the core of that strategy without banning any champion or domain outright.
Draven, Vanquisher: weakening Draven without removing the Legend
Draven decks had the highest win rate and tournament presence among non-Miracle strategies. Riot acknowledged they made a mistake with how powerful the Draven Legend is, but rather than ban the Legend entirely (which would stop anyone playing Draven at all), they targeted Draven, Vanquisher specifically.
Draven, Vanquisher is a Chosen Champion that gave Draven players a guaranteed strong play on turn two, which made it hard for opponents to keep up early and gave Draven deckbuilders a lot of freedom in how they built the rest of the deck. Removing it makes Draven decks less consistent without eliminating the archetype.
Importantly, Draven, Showboat from Origins is still legal. Draven decks still have access to a Chosen Champion in each of their domains. If you have been building a Draven deck, see the Budget Draven Deck Guide for an updated look at how the deck plays now.
Fight or Flight: reducing Chaos power more broadly
Fight or Flight is a Chaos spell that can be played from your hand or while hidden, and it either negates combat or protects a friendly unit. Riot described it as “best in class in too many scenarios”, meaning it was good enough that any Chaos deck had a strong reason to include it regardless of strategy, which left less room for other Chaos spell designs to compete. The ban is intended to bring Chaos down to a level where other domains can compete with it more fairly.
Stealthy Pursuer: a preemptive ban ahead of Vendetta
This one is unusual. Stealthy Pursuer is an Origins card that, on its own, has not caused problems. The ban was announced on July 17 2026, before the Vendetta set even launches on July 31, and it is effective July 24.
The reason is a 3-card infinite combo. When Stealthy Pursuer is combined with two specific Vendetta cards, Eye of the Herald (an Equipment card) and Renata Glasc, Industrialist (a champion unit), the interaction generates infinite Recruit tokens as early as turn 3. Rather than wait for that combo to appear in tournaments, Riot removed the Origins piece from the equation before the new set goes live.
If you own Stealthy Pursuer, it is not wasted for casual play. But it cannot be included in Standard Constructed decks from July 24 onward.
The banned battlefields
Vendetta ban update: effective July 24 2026. Three bans are now active alongside the Vendetta launch window. Stealthy Pursuer (Origins) is banned in Standard. The Arena’s Greatest and Aspirant’s Climb are banned as battlefield cards in Standard. Master Yi, Wuju Bladesman is banned in 2v2 Constructed only and remains legal in Standard 1v1. Full details are in the ban list below.
Five battlefields are now banned. The first three were banned March 31 2026. Two more are banned effective July 24 2026.
| Battlefield | Effective | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Reaver’s Row | March 31 2026 | Promotes non-interactive play; disproportionately strong in Draven decks |
| The Dreaming Tree | March 31 2026 | Excessive card flow on both players’ turns; distorts deckbuilding |
| Obelisk of Power | March 31 2026 | Ubiquitous among top decks; removes interesting deckbuilding decisions around energy costs |
| The Arena’s Greatest | July 24 2026 | First player advantage too consistent in Game 2 and 3 once turn order is known |
| Aspirant’s Climb | July 24 2026 | Extra point increases round and tournament time; auto-included once turn order known in sideboard games |
Reaver’s Row
Reaver’s Row encouraged a pattern where players simply retreated rather than engaging in meaningful combat and holding battlefields. Riot noted this was particularly bad in Draven decks, where opponents could not retreat without giving Draven an extra card. The result was that games played out in a way that felt non-interactive, with Reaver’s Row defining the shape of the game rather than supporting it.
The Dreaming Tree
The Dreaming Tree provided card flow that could be used on both players’ turns, which gave it a level of consistency that Riot felt was too high. Card flow is normally a strength (or weakness) of specific domains, and having a neutral battlefield that provided it so freely was flattening those differences in ways that distorted how decks were built.
Obelisk of Power
When building a deck, you normally have to think about energy costs for both going first and going second, because those situations play out differently. Obelisk of Power let players bypass that decision by ensuring they always hit the same energy breakpoints regardless of turn order. Riot felt this was reducing the variety and skill in deckbuilding, and since the most powerful decks were running it almost universally, it was doing more to limit interesting decisions than to create them.
The Arena’s Greatest and Aspirant’s Climb
Both of these battlefields were flagged as problems in sideboard games, where you already know the turn order going into Game 2 or 3. Once that information is known, The Arena’s Greatest gives the first player a consistent advantage that skews those games unfairly, and Aspirant’s Climb adds extra scoring that slows down rounds and tournaments. Both became automatic includes in any competitive sideboard once turn order was settled, which is exactly the kind of auto-include behaviour Riot targets with bans.
2v2 Constructed bans
A separate ban list for 2v2 Constructed was introduced July 17 2026. The 2v2 ban list includes everything on the Standard ban list above, plus one additional card.
| Card | Format | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Master Yi, Wuju Bladesman | 2v2 Constructed only | Power level too high in the 2v2 format specifically |
Master Yi players: Master Yi, Wuju Bladesman is banned in 2v2 Constructed but remains fully legal in Standard 1v1 Riftbound. If you play Standard, nothing in your deck has changed.
Can I still play banned cards in my precon deck?
Official ruling (April 2026 Tournament Rules Update): At Casual organised play events such as Nexus Nights and Summoner Skirmish, players using the exact decklist of an official preconstructed Riftbound product are permitted to play banned cards included in that deck. The moment any card is changed, any card is added, or a sideboard is introduced, banned cards must be removed before play.
In plain English: if you bought the Jinx Champion Deck and have not touched it, you can bring it to your local Nexus Night and play Called Shot legally. Riot specifically designed this exception because they did not want new players to buy a product and immediately find themselves unable to use it at events.
The line is simple. Unmodified precon deck means every card is exactly as it came in the box, with no sideboard. The moment you make a single swap or add even one card to a sideboard, the ban applies in full and Called Shot must come out. If you are planning to upgrade your Jinx deck at any point, remove the banned cards at the same time you make your first change.
Other rule changes: sideboard size
Effective July 24 2026 (Vendetta launch), the maximum sideboard size increases from 8 to 10 cards.
Cards the community is watching
These cards are not currently banned. Riot has made no announcement of any pending action. This section tracks cards generating sustained competitive discussion so you know what to monitor before investing in a build that depends on them.
| Card | Set | Why It Is Being Discussed | Current Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dazzling Aurora | OGN-160 | Chaos domain took 7 of 8 Top 8 slots at RQ Sydney, dominated RQ Vancouver, and faced no ban action at Utrecht, making three consecutive Unleashed RQs with no Riot action. Community pressure has been sustained. Riot has not responded and did not act in the July 17 announcement. Worth monitoring as Vendetta meta develops. | Legal in all formats. No Riot action. |
This list reflects community discussion and tournament results only, not official Riot action. Check riftbound.leagueoflegends.com/en-us/rules-hub/ before any tournament for the current confirmed ban list.
What this means for your deck
If you own any of the banned cards or battlefields, they are not wasted. You can still use them in casual games with friends. They just cannot be played in Standard Constructed at organised events.
The practical effect of the March bans was that Chaos decks became less dominant in the Unleashed meta. The July bans remove a combo piece before it can cause problems in Vendetta, and clean up two battlefields that were warping sideboard construction. For most players building into Vendetta, none of these bans affect the champion decks launching July 31.
Note: These bans apply to Standard Constructed. Limited formats (Sealed and Draft) are not affected. Banned cards can still appear in limited card pools and be used in limited events.
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Reassessing your deck after the bans?
The Vendetta Champion Decks launching July 31 are all unaffected by these bans. If you are still figuring out which deck to build into, the champion deck guides are the best place to start.
Browse all available Champion Decks: