Riftbound Guide

You have a deck. Your opponent has a deck. Neither of you has played Riftbound before and you are both staring at a pile of cards wondering where to begin. This guide walks you through a full first game, turn by turn, so you can pick up and play tonight without needing to memorise the rulebook first.

We are going to use a Jinx deck as our example throughout. The structure of every turn is identical regardless of which champion you are playing, so everything here applies to any deck. By the end of this walkthrough, you will understand setup, how each turn flows, what happens when two units fight, how you score points, and exactly what it takes to win.

What You Need Before You Start

Each Riftbound Champion Deck contains everything required to play. Before your first game, separate the cards into four distinct groups:

Setting Up the Game

Step 1: Place your Champion Legend and Chosen Champion

Each player puts their Champion Legend in the Legend Zone and their Chosen Champion card in the Champion Zone. Both go face up. These are separate cards, so check that you have both before you start shuffling.

Step 2: Choose your battlefield

Each deck includes three battlefield cards. Each player randomly selects one to use for this game and sets the other two aside. Place both chosen battlefields face up between the two players. These are the two locations your units will fight over all game.

Step 3: Shuffle both decks

Shuffle your Main Deck and your Rune Deck separately. Place each one face down in its zone. Neither player can look through either deck during the game unless a card effect specifically says so.

Step 4: Decide who goes first

Use any fair random method you both agree on. A coin flip is fine. The player who wins goes first.

Step 5: Draw your opening hand and Mulligan

Both players draw 4 cards from their Main Deck. Then, in turn order, each player may Mulligan: set aside up to 2 cards from your hand, draw that many new cards, and then shuffle the cards you set aside back into your deck. The Mulligan is optional. If your opening hand looks playable, keep it.

One additional rule for the player going second: during your very first Channel Phase of the game, you channel 3 runes instead of 2. This compensates for going second and matters more than it sounds once you start playing.

Once both players have their opening hands, the first player takes their turn.

Don’t Have a Deck Yet?

Jinx is one of the most beginner-friendly champion decks in Riftbound. She rewards moving fast and applying pressure, which keeps your first few games exciting. Pick one up and follow along with this guide.

How a Turn Works

Every turn has five phases, in the same order, every time. The phases with choices are the Beginning Phase and the Main Phase. The rest are mostly automatic.

Turn 1: Getting Units Onto the Board

The first player takes their turn. We are playing Jinx, so we go through each phase.

Awaken Phase

Nothing is exhausted yet. Nothing happens.

Beginning Phase

We do not control any battlefields yet, so no points are scored. We channel 2 runes, flipping them from the top of our Rune Deck face up onto our base. Each rune generates resources: Energy (the number in the top left corner of the rune) and potentially Power (coloured symbols on the rune). Those resources are now available to spend this turn.

Draw Phase

We draw 1 card. Hand is now 5 cards.

Main Phase

We play a Jinx unit card from hand by paying its Energy cost. The unit enters our base ready to act. Now we use the Standard Move action to send it to one of the two battlefields. Moving exhausts the unit (turn it sideways) and the unit cannot move again until it is readied at the start of our next Awaken Phase.

Our unit is now at a battlefield with no opposing units. A brief Showdown window opens, giving both players a chance to play Action cards in response. Neither of us has anything to play on turn one, so we both pass. The Showdown closes and our unit is the only one at that battlefield.

Ending Phase

No effects trigger. All units heal. Unused rune resources are lost. Turn passes to our opponent.

Turn 1 for Our Opponent: Matching Our Move

Our opponent channels 3 runes on their first turn (the extra rune for going second applies here). They play a unit and send it to the other battlefield. Now each player has one unit on one battlefield each. Both battlefields are Contested.

At the start of our next turn, both players will score 1 point for each battlefield they control during the Beginning Phase. The race has begun.

Turn 2: The First Fight

Back to us. Awaken Phase: our unit readies. Beginning Phase: we channel 2 more runes (4 total on our base now), and we score 1 point for controlling our battlefield. Draw Phase: draw 1 card.

Main Phase: we play another unit and move it to the battlefield where our opponent’s unit is. The moment two units from opposing players share a battlefield, Combat is triggered.

How a Fight Works

Combat always follows the same two steps.

Step 1: The Combat Showdown

Before any damage is dealt, both players get a window to play cards. The Attacker (the player whose unit just moved in) goes first. They can play spells with the Action keyword, activate abilities, or pass. Then the Defender responds. This continues, alternating, until both players pass in a row.

On your first game, you will likely both pass through this immediately. As you learn more cards, this window becomes where a lot of the interesting decisions happen: buffing your unit, weakening theirs, playing a surprise spell before the damage resolves.

Step 2: The Combat Damage Step

Once the Showdown closes, both units deal damage simultaneously. Each unit deals damage equal to its Might to the opposing unit. Might is the number printed at the bottom of the card, inside a fist icon.

A unit is destroyed if it takes damage equal to or greater than its Might. Destroyed units go to their owner’s Trash (the discard pile).

After the fight

Whoever has units remaining at the battlefield after combat resolves establishes Control of that battlefield. Establishing control of a battlefield you have not yet scored this turn is called a Conquer, and it scores a point immediately.

If both units are destroyed simultaneously, neither player scores. The battlefield becomes empty and uncontrolled.

How Scoring Works

There are two ways to score a point, and both matter throughout the game.

Hold is the reason controlling a battlefield carries over into the next turn. A unit sitting on a battlefield at the end of your turn does not score anything immediately. But at the start of your next turn, that battlefield generates a point automatically. This compounds quickly: a player who holds both battlefields scores 2 points at the start of every turn, which is why losing both battlefields at once is dangerous.

How the Game Ends

The first player to reach 8 points wins, but only if they have more points than their opponent at that moment.

There is one important rule about the final point. When you are on 7 points and trying to score your 8th, the way you score that point matters:

• If you score through Hold, you win immediately.
• If you score through Conquer, you only win if you have also scored both battlefields this turn (the one you just conquered and the other one, through either Hold or an earlier Conquer). If you only scored one battlefield via Conquer, you draw a card instead and the game continues.

Points are checked during cleanup, so you cannot win mid-action. If both players somehow reach 8 points at the same time, the player with more points wins. The game is designed so that most games resolve within 20 to 40 minutes.

As Turns Progress: What Changes

Your rune base grows

Two runes per turn add up. By turn 4 you have 8 runes on your base, which means you can start playing higher-cost units and spells. Early turns feel resource-limited because they are. Later turns feel much more capable. Be patient with low-cost units in the opening.

Playing your Champion

Your Chosen Champion starts the game in the Champion Zone and can be played onto the board like any other unit, by paying their Energy and Power costs from your runes. Champions are stronger than most units and have abilities that shape how your whole deck plays. Jinx, for example, rewards you for scoring and picks up momentum as the game goes on.

If your champion is destroyed in combat, they go to the Trash like any other unit. Some players deploy their champion early to apply pressure; others wait until they have enough resources to protect them. Either approach can work depending on the game state.

Spells and Gear

Beyond units, your deck contains spells and gear. Spells are one-time effects: you pay the cost, the effect happens, and the card goes to the Trash. Gear attaches to units and gives ongoing bonuses. Spells with the Action keyword can be played during Showdowns, which is where surprise plays happen just before damage resolves. On your first game, focus on getting units onto battlefields. Incorporate spells once you have the flow of a turn down.

Things That Trip Everyone Up in Game One

Turn Summary: One Page Version

Ready to Play

That is everything you need for your first game. You will make mistakes, and that is fine. The turn structure becomes automatic faster than you expect, and the rules that feel abstract now will make sense the first time they come up at the table.

If you do not have a deck yet, any of the Riftbound Champion Decks work straight out of the box. Jinx is a strong starting choice for players who like applying pressure early. Viktor and Vi reward players who want more cards in hand and options to work with. Lee Sin, Fiora, and Rumble each have their own playstyle worth exploring once you have one game under your belt.

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