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Riftbound Basics: How to Play and Learn the Rules
A beginner’s guide to the basic rules of Riftbound and how to play your first game.
What is Riftbound?
Riftbound is a trading card game made by Riot Games, the same company behind League of Legends and the Netflix series Arcane. Two to four players face each other using decks of cards representing champions, units, spells and gear from the League of Legends universe. If you have watched Arcane, you will already recognise many of the champions and the world of Riftbound. It launched in October 2025 and is one of the fastest growing card games in the world.
What are the card types?
Legends are your Champion cards, always kept in the Legend Zone. They set your deck’s Domain identity and have powerful abilities.
Units are the fighters you play to battle for Battlefields. Units enter play exhausted (turned sideways) and cannot act until your next turn.
Spells are one-time effects that go to the Trash after being played.
Gear cards are played ready to your Base and give your units ongoing abilities. Equipment is a type of Gear introduced in Spiritforged that can be attached to your units to grant them Might bonuses and extra abilities.
Battlefields are the locations on the board that you fight to control to score points.
Runes are resource cards that power everything else. You use a separate 12-card Rune deck.
What is a Chosen Champion?
Your Chosen Champion is a Unit card that matches your Legend’s tag. It starts the game face up in the Champion Zone, separate from your Main Deck, and can be played any time you have enough Runes to pay for it. If it is destroyed it goes to the Trash like any other card. Think of it as your ace in the hole, always available when you need it most.
What are Domains?
Domains are the six factions in Riftbound, each represented by a colour. Your Champion Legend determines your deck’s Domain identity. Building your deck around one or two Domains makes your cards work better together and triggers Allegiance bonuses.
Fury (Red) is aggressive and fast, focusing on high damage.
Calm (Green) specialises in healing, growth and endurance.
Mind (Blue) uses spells and tricks to outsmart opponents.
Body (Orange) plays strong units built around toughness and fighting.
Chaos (Purple) is unpredictable and risky, with high reward potential.
Order (Yellow) focuses on control, protection and consistency.
What are Runes?
Runes are your resource for playing cards. There are two types of resource Runes generate.
Energy is produced by exhausting (turning sideways) a Rune. The Energy cost of a card is the number shown in the top left corner. Exhaust that many Runes to pay it.
Power is produced by recycling a Rune, meaning you place it on the bottom of your Rune deck. The Power cost appears as a coloured Domain symbol below the Energy cost. You must recycle a Rune of the matching Domain colour to pay it. A useful trick: you can exhaust a Rune to pay the Energy cost first, then recycle that same Rune to also cover the Power cost in one go.
Each turn during the Channel phase you take 2 Rune cards from the top of your Rune deck and place them face up in your Rune area. These are the Runes you have available that turn. Managing your Runes well is one of the most important skills in Riftbound.
What is a Battlefield?
Battlefields are the locations on the board that both players fight to control. There are always two Battlefields in play during a standard game. Each player brings 3 Battlefield cards and at the start one from each player is randomly selected.
You score points by conquering Battlefields and holding them. Conquering means winning combat on a Battlefield. Holding means starting your turn with a unit still controlling that Battlefield, which scores you an additional point.
How big is a deck?
A standard Riftbound deck contains exactly 40 cards, plus a separate 12-card Rune deck. You can have up to 3 copies of any individual card, and up to 3 Signature cards matching your Champion Legend’s tag.
What is the Mulligan?
At the start of the game each player draws 4 cards from their Main Deck. You may swap up to 2 cards you do not want by recycling them to the bottom of your deck and drawing replacements. You do not reshuffle your Main Deck.
How does a turn work?
The game is played on a mat with dedicated zones for your Legend, Base, Rune area and Battlefields. Each turn follows four phases known as ABCD.
A – Awaken. Ready all your exhausted cards by turning them upright.
B – Beginning. Score 1 point for each Battlefield you control. Trigger any start-of-turn effects.
C – Channel. Take the top 2 Rune cards from your Rune deck and place them face up in your Rune area. On your very first turn if you are going last, you channel 3 Runes instead of 2 to compensate for going second.
D – Draw. Draw 1 card from your Main Deck.
After ABCD you enter the Action Phase. You can play cards, move units to Battlefields, start combat, activate your Legend’s abilities, and use card abilities in any order, as long as you have the Runes to pay for them.
When you are done, your turn ends. Any end-of-turn effects trigger, and all damage is cleared from every unit on the board. Then play passes to your opponent.
How does combat work?
Units are played from your hand to your Base. From your Base you can move them to Battlefields.
Moving a unit from your Base to a Battlefield starts a Showdown. There are two types.
An Open Showdown happens when the Battlefield has no enemy units on it. Your opponent has a window to play Actions and Reactions. If your unit survives you conquer the Battlefield and score a point.
A Combat Showdown happens when the Battlefield has enemy units on it. Both players add up the total Might of all their units at that Battlefield. Might is the number shown in the top right of each unit card. It is both how hard a unit hits and how much damage it can take before it is destroyed.
Each side distributes their total Might as damage across the enemy units. You must assign enough damage to fully destroy one unit before moving on to the next. Both sides do this at the same time, so even the losing side deals their damage before units are removed. Any unit that takes damage equal to or greater than its Might is destroyed. If your attacking units survive you conquer the Battlefield and score a point.
How do you win?
The first player to score 8 points wins the game. You score points by conquering and holding Battlefields. Conquer a Battlefield by winning combat there, then score an extra point at the start of your next turn if you still control it.
The final 8th point must be scored by either holding a Battlefield into your next turn, or by conquering both Battlefields in the same turn.
What game modes are there?
Riftbound supports several ways to play.
Duel is the standard 1v1 format. First to 8 points wins. This is the default way to play and what most beginners start with.
Match is a best of three 1v1 format. Players choose their Battlefields rather than selecting randomly, and cannot reuse a Battlefield already played that match.
Skirmish is a three player free-for-all. Three Battlefields are in play and the player going first skips drawing a card on their first turn.
War is a four player free-for-all. Similar to Skirmish but the player going first also removes their starting Battlefield from the game.
Magma Chamber is the 2v2 team format, played to 11 points combined by one team. Allies do not share cards or resources but their units are friendly to each other.
Where can I buy Riftbound cards?
Riftbound cards are available at game stores, hobby shops, and online retailers worldwide. A single booster pack contains 14 cards and a full booster box contains 24 packs. Prices vary by country and retailer.
Ready to start playing? The Proving Grounds buying guide covers everything you need to know about getting your first set of cards, or you can browse Champion Decks on TCGPlayer if you’re ready to buy now.
Curious what’s coming next for Riftbound? Our Riftbound Unleashed guide covers everything confirmed so far about the next set.