Riftbound for beginners does not have to be complicated. If you have just decided you want to try this game and you are about to open a new tab to buy something, this guide will walk you through exactly what to expect before you spend a pound or a dollar. What comes in the box, how much to budget, and what you actually need to get started.
Still deciding whether Riftbound is worth your time and money? We have a separate guide for that: Is Riftbound Worth Buying? This article picks up once you have already said yes.
What Is Riftbound, Actually?
Riftbound is a trading card game built around champions from League of Legends. Two players each bring a deck built around one champion and play a series of battles on a shared board made up of three battlefields. You win by taking control of enough battlefields, with the champion card at the centre of your strategy. Each champion has a unique ability that shapes how the whole deck works. If you have never touched a TCG before, the closest comparison is something between Pokemon and Magic: the Gathering, but it plays faster and the rules are designed to be picked up in a single sitting. You do not need to know anything about League of Legends to enjoy it.
Never played a card game before? This guide is written specifically for you. Worried about the League of Legends connection? You do not need to know LoL to play.
What Do You Need to Start?
One champion deck each. That is genuinely it. Riftbound is designed so that two people can sit down, open their decks, and play a real game immediately. No booster packs. No sleeves required. No extra purchases. Each champion deck is a complete, ready-to-play product.
If you are playing with a friend, you each need one deck. If you are buying just to learn the game solo before introducing it to someone else, one deck is enough to read through and understand how everything fits together. We have a guide on exactly what your first game looks like here: How to Play Riftbound.
What Comes in a Champion Deck?
Every champion deck contains everything you need for one player to play a full game. Here is what is inside:
| What’s Included | Details |
|---|---|
| Champion card | The centrepiece of your deck. One unique champion with its own ability. |
| Unit cards | The fighters you deploy to battlefields each turn. |
| Action cards | One-time effects that give you tools, remove threats, or swing momentum. |
| Rune deck | A separate resource deck that powers everything you do. Every deck comes with this included. |
| Battlefield tiles | The three zones where combat happens. Shared between both players. |
| Tokens and markers | Used to track game states. Everything you need is in the box. |
| Rulebook | A printed guide to get you through your first game. |
The total card count varies slightly by deck but sits around 56 cards in the main deck plus the rune deck. You do not need to buy anything separately to play. The decks are balanced against each other out of the box.
How Much Should I Expect to Spend?
One champion deck costs around $20. Two decks for a full two-player game comes to roughly $40. For a game you can play repeatedly with a friend, that is genuinely low-risk entry. We are not calling it cheap because cheap implies low quality. It is not. You are getting a complete, polished product that plays well out of the box. We are calling it low-risk because $40 for a game night activity that you can repeat indefinitely is a reasonable investment.
To put it another way: $40 is about two cinema tickets, and Riftbound is something you can come back to. If you enjoy it, you can expand later. If you do not, you have not lost much.
The decks currently available are priced around $19.99 at major retailers. Prices can shift slightly depending on stock levels, particularly for older sets.
Ready to take a look at what is available right now? TCGPlayer has multiple sellers competing on price, which typically means better availability than a single retail store.
Which Deck Should I Buy First?
The short answer: pick the champion whose playstyle sounds most like how you want to play. Aggressive and physical? Vi or Lee Sin. Tactical and resource-focused? Viktor. High-energy and unpredictable? Jinx. Every deck is playable from day one and none of them requires you to buy upgrades before your first game.
We have a full breakdown with every current champion compared side by side: Which Riftbound Deck Should I Buy First? That guide covers all seven available decks with a playstyle profile for each.
If you are specifically comparing the three original Origins decks, we also have a detailed head-to-head: Jinx vs Viktor vs Lee Sin.
What About Booster Packs?
Not needed to start. We want to be clear about this because it is a question that trips up a lot of new players coming from other card games where packs are effectively mandatory. In Riftbound, you do not need packs to play a complete game. The champion decks are the entry point.
Booster packs let you find additional cards to upgrade your deck once you know which champion you enjoy and what your strategy is missing. Buying packs before you have played a few games means you will not yet know which cards are useful for your deck and which are not. Start with a champion deck, play a few games, and then think about packs once you have a feel for what you want to improve.
When you are ready for that conversation, our Unleashed Products Buying Guide covers the full sealed product range.
Where to Buy
TCGPlayer is the best starting point for champion decks. Multiple sellers compete on price, stock is updated in real time, and you can see exactly what condition you are buying. It is where most of the Riftbound community buys their cards in North America.
Amazon is a solid secondary option, particularly if you already have Prime or prefer a single checkout experience.
Final Verdict
If you have decided you want to try Riftbound, the path forward is straightforward: pick a champion whose playstyle appeals to you, buy one deck each with whoever you are planning to play with, and you are ready to go. The anxiety around getting started is almost always bigger than the actual barrier. You are not going to buy something useless. You are not going to end up confused with a pile of cards you cannot use. Every champion deck is complete, every deck is playable from the first game, and if you pick one that turns out not to be your style, you have spent $20 and learned something about what you do want.
The one mistake worth avoiding: do not buy booster packs on your first purchase. Start with the decks. Everything else can wait until you know what you enjoy.
Once you have your deck, the first game walkthrough takes you through setup and your first turn so you can play tonight without reading the rulebook.
Ready to pick your first deck?
Browse the full range of champion decks on TCGPlayer and find one that matches your playstyle.
All Unleashed Legends Explained: Every champion in the current set with abilities and playstyle
Riftbound Vex Champion Deck Guide: How to play Vex and the best cards to add