How to Play Riftbound: A Simple Guide for New Players

Riftbound is the League of Legends trading card game, where you send your units to take control of battlefields. You build a deck around a Legend, pay for cards with runes, and score points by conquering and holding battlefields. In a standard 1v1 game, reach 8 points and you win. This guide walks you through it one step at a time, with no experience needed, and then shows you the other ways to play.

Download the free printable quick guide (PDF)

Three pages you can print and keep next to the table while you learn, including a page on the different ways to play.

Want the full official rules? Visit Riot's official Riftbound Rules Hub.

Prefer to watch? Official how-to-play video

Riot Games, the company behind Riftbound, has an official video that teaches you how to play. It's about 43 minutes and plays a whole game from start to finish. It uses cards from the Proving Grounds set, and Riot has updated the rules with later sets, so if the video and the current Core Rules ever differ, go with the Core Rules.

Video: Riftbound: League of Legends TCG Learn To Play ft. Good Time Society. Official Riftbound YouTube channel.

What do you need to play?

• 1 Champion Legend. This is your main card. It stays in play the whole game and decides which colors your deck can use.
• A main deck of at least 40 cards. Units, gear and spells, including your Chosen Champion.
• A rune deck of exactly 12 runes. Runes are how you pay for your cards.
• 3 battlefields. One is picked at the start of each game.

Easiest way to start: buy a preconstructed deck. The Riftbound Vendetta Showdown Decks (Zed vs Shen) come with two ready-to-play decks, two playmats, two deck boxes, two booster packs and a rulebook, so two people can sit down and play right away. Stock changes, so check our Riftbound collection or ask us at the counter.

How do you build a deck?

Your Legend has one or more domains, which are the colors printed on it. Your deck can only use cards and runes from those domains. There are six: Fury (red), Calm (green), Mind (blue), Body (orange), Chaos (purple) and Order (yellow). A card with two domains needs both of them on your Legend.

Deck rules

1. 1 Champion Legend.
2. A main deck of at least 40 cards, with no more than 3 copies of any card name.
3. Your Chosen Champion is one champion unit that shares your Legend's champion name. A Jinx Legend goes with a Jinx champion unit, for example.
4. Exactly 12 runes, all from your Legend's domains.
5. 3 battlefields, each with a different name.

Playing in a store tournament? In Constructed events, main decks are exactly 40 cards, and Riftbound has a banned card list. Sealed and Draft events use different deck sizes, which are covered below. Ask us at the counter, or check the official Rules Hub.

What do the cards do?

Might is the number that shows how strong a unit is in a fight. A unit dies when the damage on it equals or is more than its Might.

Where do the cards go?

How do you set up a game?

1. Put your Legend in the Legend Zone and your Chosen Champion in the Champion Zone.
2. In a 1v1 game, each player picks 1 of their 3 battlefields (at random in a single game). Both battlefields go in the middle of the table. Other game modes set up a little differently, so see the play types below.
3. Shuffle your main deck and your rune deck. Keep them separate.
4. Decide who goes first with any fair method, like a coin flip.
5. Draw 4 cards. Don't like your hand? Set aside up to 2 cards, draw that many new ones, then put the set-aside cards on the bottom of your deck.
6. The first player takes the first turn. The player going second channels 1 extra rune on their first turn.

Riot is playtesting a bigger going-second bonus at a few selected events. Until Riot publishes an official rules update, use the steps above for your games.

What happens on your turn?

1. Awaken: stand all your sideways cards back up. This is called readying them.
2. Beginning: for each battlefield you still control, you Hold it and score 1 point.
3. Channel: take the top 2 runes from your rune deck and put them into play.
4. Draw: draw 1 card.
5. Main: do any of these, in any order, as many times as you can: play units, gear and spells, move your units, and fight.
6. End: all damage heals, effects that only last this turn wear off and any unspent Energy or Power disappears. Then it's your opponent's turn.

A, B, C, D helps you remember the start of your turn: Awaken, Beginning, Channel, Draw.

How do runes work?

Runes are your resource cards. You channel 2 every turn, and each rune can be used in one of two ways.

• Turn it sideways to get 1 Energy. Energy pays the number in the top left corner of a card.
• Send it back to your rune deck to get 1 Power of that rune's color. Power pays the colored symbols on a card. The rune goes to the bottom of your rune deck and comes around again later.

Example: a card costs 3 and has one blue symbol. Turn 3 runes sideways for 3 Energy, and send 1 blue rune back for the blue Power. That's 4 runes in all. Some cards have no colored symbol, so they only need Energy.

Use your runes each turn. Whatever you don't spend disappears at the end of your turn.

How do units move and fight?

1. Move. New units come into play sideways, so they can't move until your next turn. After that, turn a unit sideways to move it from your Base to a battlefield, or back to your Base.
2. Fight. If you and your opponent both have units at a battlefield, they fight. Add up the Might of each side. Both sides deal that much damage at the same time, filling one unit with damage before moving on to the next.
3. Conquer. If only one side has units left, that side takes control of the battlefield. Taking control of a battlefield you haven't scored yet this turn is a Conquer, and it scores 1 point.

Empty battlefield? Move a unit in, and if nobody stops you, it's yours.

Example: you move a 3 Might unit and a 2 Might unit to a battlefield with one enemy 4 Might unit. You deal 5 damage, which is enough to kill it. They deal 4 damage back, so they can kill your 3 Might unit and put the last 1 on your other unit. After the fight, damage heals. Your 2 Might unit is the only one left, so you take control of the battlefield and score a point.

If both sides still have units after the fight, the attackers go back to their Base and the defender's units stay put.

How do you score points and win?

The first player to reach 8 points wins. You score in two main ways.

• Conquer: take control of a battlefield you haven't scored yet this turn. That's 1 point.
• Hold: keep control of a battlefield until the start of your next turn. You score 1 point for each one in your Beginning Phase.

Each battlefield can only score once per turn, and some cards give you points too.

The final point

To win by Conquer, you must have scored every battlefield that turn. If you haven't, you draw a card instead of scoring. A Hold at the start of your turn can still give you the last point.

Running out of cards

If you need to draw and your main deck is empty, you shuffle your trash back into your deck, and your opponent gains 1 point. Keep an eye on your deck size in long games.

What do the common keywords mean?

The Radiance set, out October 23, 2026, adds three new keywords, shown at the bottom of the table: Deploy, Disarm and Show Off. Riot's glossary has more keywords than this table, such as Empower and Flow. When one is new to you, check the card text and look it up in the Core Rules.

A showdown starts when units meet at a battlefield. For a moment, both players can play cards with Action or Reaction before the fight happens.

What are the different ways to play Riftbound?

It helps to split Riftbound play into three layers. A game mode is how many people are at the table and how many points win. A format is how you get your deck: building it yourself ahead of time, or building it from packs you open at the event. An event is where you play, from a casual weekly night to a world championship. Everything above this section covers the standard 1v1 game, which is the best place to start.

Game modes: 1v1, free-for-all and 2v2

Riot's Core Rules list five sanctioned game modes. The turn, runes, fights and scoring all work the same way in each. What changes is the number of players, the points you need and how you set up.

Every player still brings 3 battlefields in their deck, but only the ones listed above are used in each game.

How is a 2v2 game different?

• Your team scores together. Both teammates always have the same number of points, and a team wins by reaching 11.
• Turns go back and forth between teams. You play, then an opponent, then your teammate, then the other opponent.
• Teammates can help on each other's turns. During your teammate's turn, they can invite you to play a spell or use an ability.
• Control isn't shared. You can't move your teammate's units, and a battlefield can only score once per team per turn.
• If one player loses or concedes, the whole team loses.

Not sure where to start? Learn the game in 1v1. Free-for-all and 2v2 are great once everyone at the table knows the basics.

Formats: Constructed, Sealed and Draft

The format decides where your cards come from. This is separate from the game mode, so you could play a 1v1 Sealed game or a 2v2 Constructed game.

Sealed and Draft are a good way to learn deckbuilding without owning a big collection, because your packs are your whole card pool. Some Sealed events, including the Radiance Pre-Rift, give you a kit instead of six plain packs. The Radiance kit has five Radiance booster packs and a champion pack built around one of nine new Legends.

Events: from Nexus Nights to Worlds

Riot runs Riftbound Organized Play in steps. Casual events at local stores sit at the bottom, and the big championships sit at the top.

Riot's published plan has the Regionals, Continentals and Worlds played as 1v1 Constructed, with matches that are usually best of 3. The biggest events are also expected to add side events, like free-for-all and team games. Riot has said more details about the 2027 programs are coming, so check the official pages before planning a trip.

Which way should you try first?

1. Learn in a 1v1 Duel. A preconstructed deck is the easiest way to start.
2. Add a 2v2 game when you have four players. It's the same rules plus the team rules above.
3. Try Sealed or Draft if you'd like to build a deck from packs and don't have a big collection yet.
4. Find a Nexus Night. It's the easiest place to meet other players. Ask us what we're running, or check our events page.

Last checked: October 22, 2026. Game modes and keywords are from Riot's Core Rules (updated October 9, 2026). Formats are from Riot's Tournament Rules. The playtest note is from Riot's Testing Start of Game Rules article (October 15, 2026). Events are from Riot's Organized Play overview, the August 2026 State of Play, the Radiance Overview and the Radiance Pre-Rift guide. Riot changes these often, so check the Rules Hub for the newest versions.

What are the best tips for your first game?

1. Use your runes every turn. Unspent Energy and Power disappear.
2. Play units early. A new unit can't move the turn it arrives, so get them out before you need them.
3. Take empty battlefields. Moving into one can score a point right away.
4. Hold what you win. Every battlefield you keep at the start of your turn is another point.
5. Check the final point rule before you count on winning.
6. Card text always wins. If a card says something different from this guide, do what the card says. Ask us if it's unclear.

Quick reference

Printable quick guide

The basics fit on two printable pages, and a third page covers the different ways to play. Print it and keep it at the table.

Download the printable guide (PDF)

Official Riftbound rules and resources (free)

Riot Games posts the official rules for free.

• Rules Hub: the Core Rules and Tournament Rules PDFs, plus the banned card lists.
• Quick Start Guide: Riot's short introduction to the game.
• Official Riftbound YouTube channel: the Learn to Play video and more.

Riot updates the rules and card wording with new sets. The newest versions are always on the Rules Hub.

Where can you learn and play Riftbound near Newport, TN?

Landfall Outpost carries Riftbound booster packs, booster boxes and Showdown Decks in our Riftbound collection. Stock changes, so ask us in-store if you don't see what you want. New players are welcome, and we're happy to teach you your first game. Any card game is welcome for open play when we're open: Friday and Saturday 12–8, Sunday 12–6, at 138 North St, Newport, TN 37821. Free on-site parking. See our events page for what's on.

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