This Riftbound Zed champion deck guide covers exactly how his banish-into-Empower mechanic works, because that one line of text is easy to misread if you have not played the deck yet.
Page last updated: 23 July 2026
Who Is Zed in Riftbound?
Zed is one of nine Vendetta Legends, and one half of the Vendetta Showdown Deck alongside Shen. His identity is built entirely around banishing cards and turning that into card selection. If you already know Flow from Kennen or Burn, Zed is the Legend that rewards you for actually using those mechanics rather than just triggering them once.
Zed’s Legend Ability: Banish, Empower, Loot
Zed’s confirmed Legend ability reads:
Banishing in Riftbound means a card is permanently removed from the game rather than sent to the trash or graveyard. This matters here because Flow cards are banished the moment they finish resolving after being played from the trash. That single detail is the whole engine: every Flow card you play from the trash banishes itself, and that banish triggers Zed.
Once Zed is Empowered, you spend that Empowered state by exhausting him and Disempowering: discard a card, then draw a card. That is a loot effect, and loot is card selection, not card advantage. You are not gaining extra cards, you are improving the quality of the cards you already have.
Burn matters here too, because Burn is one of the main ways cards end up in the trash in the first place. A deck that Burns cards into the trash, then plays them back as Flow, feeds Zed’s Empower trigger repeatedly over the course of a game.
How Zed Plays
Zed decks want to fill the trash with Flow-eligible cards, usually via Burn, then play those cards back from the trash turn after turn. Each Flow play banishes itself, which Empowers Zed again, which lets you loot again. Over a long game this adds up to a meaningful amount of extra card selection, even though no single loot feels dramatic on its own.
This is a value plan, not a burst plan. Zed is not trying to win the turn he Empowers, he is trying to make every subsequent turn slightly better than it would otherwise have been.
Zed vs Kennen: Same Mechanic, Different Payoff
Kennen and Zed both key off the same underlying pattern of playing cards from outside your hand, but they spend that trigger differently. Kennen Empowers whenever you play a card from anywhere other than your hand, which is a broader trigger than Zed’s banish-only condition, and Kennen spends his Empower on Assault 2, which is immediate board pressure. Zed spends his on a loot, which is card quality over time. If you want your Flow deck to hit harder right now, Kennen is the more aggressive option. If you want your Flow deck to simply play better cards more consistently, Zed is the one built for that.
The Showdown Deck
Zed and Shen are paired as the Vendetta Showdown Deck. Riot has not yet published the decklist for this product.
This section will be updated with the confirmed Showdown Deck decklist once Riot publishes it. Check the full Vendetta hub for the latest confirmed details in the meantime.
Is Zed Competitive?
Vendetta has not launched yet, so there is no tournament data for Zed. This section will be updated with real results once Regional Qualifiers and other events have run post-launch. Do not treat any pre-launch assessment as a competitive guarantee.
On paper, Zed’s plan rewards patient, grindy games where small card selection edges compound. Whether the current Flow and Burn card pool is deep enough to support that plan at a competitive level is something only real event results can answer.
How to Get Started
Zed is not available as a standalone Champion Deck at launch. Until the Showdown Deck or a dedicated product is available, singles are the way to build him.
Where to Buy
| Retailer | Best For | Link |
|---|---|---|
| TCGPlayer | Singles, building the deck card by card | Shop Singles |
| Amazon US | Secondary option for singles and sealed product | Shop US |
| Amazon UK | Secondary option for singles and sealed product | Shop UK |
Is Zed Right for You?
If you enjoy Flow-based decks and want a Legend that generates card quality over time rather than immediate board pressure, Zed offers consistent looting as his payoff, turn after turn, for as long as the game goes on. If you want Flow with a more aggressive board impact instead, Kennen generates Assault 2 from the same underlying trigger. Both are valid ways to play the same core cards, this is genuinely a question of which reward you would rather have.
OTHER READING
- Read the Akali guide: Riftbound Akali Champion Deck Guide
- Read the buying guide: Vendetta Booster Display Buying Guide
- How to Play Riftbound Hub