Riftbound Image How to Play Guide

Riftbound How to Play: Goal of the Game

When learning Riftbound How to Play, understanding the game's objective is crucial. Riftbound is a Trading Card Game for 2-4 players where you join forces with your favorite League of Legends champions. Play out your army and conquer the battlefields of Runeterra to win.

In Riftbound How to Play, each battlefield you take with your units scores 1 point, and each turn you hold one earns you 1 more. The first to 8 points wins! This scoring system is fundamental to mastering Riftbound How to Play strategies.

Riftbound How to Play: Parts of a Deck

When learning Riftbound How to Play, you'll need to understand deck construction. To play Riftbound, you'll need a deck. Preconstructed decks are a good place to start your Riftbound How to Play journey!

In Riftbound How to Play, your deck has a number of components:

• 1 Champion Legend: This special card determines what champion you're teaming up with and which Domains you can play in your deck. It starts in your Legend Zone.
• Battlefields: These horizontally laid out cards represent locations on Runeterra that you and your opponents will fight over. Set them aside for now.
• 12 Rune Deck cards: These are the runes you'll use to pay costs during the game. You need exactly 12 runes, in any combination of the Domains of your champion legend. (These decks use an even split of 6 and 6, which is always a good place to start.)
• 40 Main Deck cards: These are the units and spells that you'll play during the game. One of these is your Chosen Champion, which goes to your Champion Zone alongside your legend. Shuffle the remaining 39 cards to become your starting Main Deck.

Riftbound How to Play: Chosen Champion

Understanding your Chosen Champion is essential when learning Riftbound How to Play. Your Chosen Champion is a champion unit that matches your Champion Legend. It starts in your Main Deck, but is put in the Champion Zone before the game. You can choose any Champion with the name indicated on your Champion Legend. So if your legend is Loose Cannon, you can select either Jinx, Rebel or Jinx, Demolitionist as your Chosen Champion.

In Riftbound How to Play, your Champion Legend and Chosen Champion often point to a particular strategy, like playing lots of units or discarding cards. Your other Main Deck cards and even your battlefields can help support that strategy.

When mastering Riftbound How to Play, remember that your Main Deck can have a maximum of 3 copies of each card, including your Chosen Champion. So you could have 2 more copies of your Chosen Champion in your deck, plus up to 3 copies of any other card your legend allows—including other cards that represent the same character.

You can also include up to 3 copies of a signature card that matches your Champion Legend—usually a signature spell like Super Mega Death Rocket! Signature cards can only be included with their matching Legend in Riftbound How to Play.

Riftbound How to Play: Setting up the Game

Setting up the game is the first step in Riftbound How to Play. All players put their battlefields in the Battlefield Zone. Then each player sets up their board as shown.

• Place your Champion Legend and Chosen Champion face up to one side.
• Shuffle the remaining 39 cards of your Main Deck and put them to one side.
• Shuffle your Rune Deck and place it separately from your Main Deck.

Leave open space for:

• Your Base, where you'll keep your units that aren't at battlefields.
• Your Runes, which you'll channel from your Rune Deck.
• Your Trash, where your cards go when they are discarded or killed.

Riftbound How to Play: Starting the Game

Now that you understand Riftbound How to Play setup, let's begin the game. You've already selected 1 battlefield for each player (see Setting Up the Game). Now, determine the starting player by shuffling the selected battlefields and choosing one at random. That battlefield's owner goes first. Then return the battlefields to the Battlefield Zone. (Their arrangement doesn't matter.)

• With 4 players, remove the battlefield owned by the player going first, so there are only 3 battlefields.
• Each player draws 4 cards from their Main Deck.
• Before the game begins, you may take up to one mulligan: Choose up to 2 cards to recycle (place facedown on the bottom of your deck), then draw that many.
• The last player plays an extra rune on their first turn. (See Steps of the Turn.)
• With 4 players, the first player also skips drawing a card on their first turn.
• Turns proceed clockwise around the table.

Some of these Riftbound How to Play rules are modified in different game modes. (See Modes of Play.)

Riftbound How to Play: Terms to Know

Mastering these key terms is essential for understanding Riftbound How to Play effectively.