League of Legends is by far one of the biggest MOBA games on the planet. Spanning a huge roster of 172 champions and counting, an esports empire, several spin-off games across genres and even an Emmy-winning animated series – it’s really no surprise there’s a trading card game joining those ranks. Riftbound sees players ripping into Runeterra in a new way, collecting their favourite champs and building decks. So does the Riftbound: Origins TCG debut set live up to expectations, or is it in need of a carry?
League of Legends has always been a game I’ve been curious about due to its sheer size. Despite never quite mastering the MOBA, I did find ARAM – LOL’s one lane variant to be the most forgiving to me as a newer player looking to just play casually over the last few years. Given the game’s higher skill ceiling, I made my peace with that because I could at least play and learn different champions’ playstyles.
It really wasn’t until Arcane – the animated Netflix series when I really started to not only understand this world more but also want to dive deeper into the lore. Since then I’ve been picking away at the stories across Runeterra, craving more of that lore magic awakened by Arcane.
When I heard about Riftbound I was very interested to see how a trading card game might add to the experience, offering a new way to collect and experience the world of Runeterra.
What is Riftbound?
Riftbound: Origins is the TCG’s debut set and it’s got a lot riding on it to not only to welcome players into the game but lay the groundwork for future sets. With close to 380 cards across the main set, including variants and overnumbered cards – it’s definitely a bold start for a brand new TCG!
Thankfully, Riftbound is surprisingly easy to pick up. A standard game sees 2-4 players going head-to-head, controlling a 40-card deck helmed by a legend – a League champion that essentially steers the deck’s theme. Decks must be built around that Legend’s rune colours as well as determining your option’s for a chosen champion. The rest of the deck is made up of other champion units, non-champion units, spells, and gear.
The goal of the game is to score points by taking over battlefields and holding them. The first player to reach 8 points is the winner so really what you want to be doing is not only taking over battlefields, but also being prepared enough to fight your opponent, especially if they are making moves to hold battlefields. Battlefields also have abilities that ether player can utilise.
The Rune System in Riftbound
Runes are the engine for the game, and here players have a separate rune deck, which will definitely be a relief to anyone who has been mana-locked for consecutive turns! Every turn players draw 2 runes cards, though casting cards does generally come with a cost, meaning you’ll need to cycle the required runes back into your rune deck. Through my time with Riftbound, the rune deck has been one of my favourite parts of the game. Across every game there has never been a point where I have felt helpless waiting to draw a mana card that just never comes. I really like the focus this puts on deck building outside of that reliance directly on a mana draw system.
There are six rune colours in Riftbound, with each having its own focus across the game’s meta. All of the legends in the Riftbound Origins set are built around two rune colours leading to some fascinating synergies across the colours. The archetypes are as follows;
Fury Rune: This is the fierce red archetype and enables players to fight aggressively, if a little bit recklessly, but the end goal is to win by force.
Calm Rune: This is the balanced green archetype that is less about being aggressive and more reactive. Expect plenty of defensive spells like counterspells and stuns!
Mind Rune: This is the intelligent blue archetype that sees players thinking further ahead. From hidden cards to gear, planning is a mind player’s best friend across the long game.
Body Rune: This is the ramping orange archetype, where players will be buffing out stronger units.
Chaos Rune: This is the trickster purple archetype that’s about all about shocking opponents with left-field interactions and giving decent advantage to the player.
Order Rune: This is the commanding yellow archetype with a strong lean towards overwhelming your opponents with tokens and sacrificing units for a domineering playstyle.
There are a lot of interesting interactions between the rune colours, with each resulting in a guiding synergy for a deck built around them. In the current Riftbound meta Kai’sa has been a top pick – combining an aggressive fury and intelligent mind playstyle where not only can players remove threats easily but they also have that battlefield control.
Another example from the preconstructed decks would be Viktor, a mind and order champion focused on not only building out an army of tokens, but also buffing them to hold battlefields so players can’t just conquer in one hit.
It’s really interesting seeing those champions translated into Riftbound’s first set. Players can pick from 16 legends to helm their deck with my current standouts being Viktor and Lux from the Proving Grounds. The format of each set introducing a new roster of Legends feels like a timely way to progress the game meta as well. Seeing that progression between sets is going to be really interesting for sure.
Playing Riftbound: Origins
The two player format sees players going head to head across 2 battlefields. It’s a direct way of playing and the more classic TCG format. The mana system also creates a ramp-up for the game so there’s never nothing you can do for turns on end. The caveat though is that you really don’t want to leave your opponent unchecked on a battlefield for too long. Collecting a point for conquering then one per turn adds up real fast. Being prepared becomes a back and forth as you must decide if you want to take a battlefield or wait till your opponent does but either way there’s risk. Games do feel well paced, and the mana draw helps keep things chugging along. Typically in the late game, someone controls a battlefield and the other player can’t force them off so they earn the 8th point. I feel like it’s a lot rarer seeing someone score a point of all battlefields in casual play at least.
In the four player format there’s an element here that feels strongly like a tightened game of Magic: The Gathering Commander in the best way possible. From the social element down to the table politics, playing with a bigger group definitely adds to the fun. Battlefields become way more competitive with three opponents to worry about fighting over three battlefields instead of four. Knowing when to send your champions or units in and capture a battlefield is risky yet holding them is a golden carrot no matter how many players you’re up against. It seems common for players to try and hold two battlefields, splitting the attention. Game politics can also play into things as your opponents realise they need to boot you off a battlefield more than they need to boot each other off. I loved this back and forth during my bigger matches and look forward to more of that chaos.
The Proving Grounds With four roughly evenly powered decks, each run by a champion not found within the main Origins set, it’s a worthwhile onramp. The set also includes cardboard gameboards, acrylic character tokens for scoring, oversized battlefields and a comprehensive play guide to learn the rules.
Set up leads to a very cohesive play experience but it’s not the usual TCG on-ramp. In other TCGs “How to boxes” typically there would be decks set in a predetermined order yet here it’s not the case. I think for the most part however the Proving Grounds still provides that same learning experience. Since players don’t need players to worry about drawing mana, really there’s less pressure to have a perfect hand. Newer players still might find it a bit harder if they aren’t as familiar with a hand economy and having cards to play early on.
The Proving Grounds set starter decks are Annie, Master Yi, Lux, and Garen all of which are Legends that aren’t available in the Riftbound: Origins base set. While they don’t include foil cards they do each have a legend, two champion cards matching the Legend and even their matching signature spells. The Viktor, Jinx and Lee Sin Starter Decks don’t include those signature spells so already it’s a solid point of difference there as well.
I will also note the Proving Grounds pack down experience isn’t the best. While the set does come with a plastic tray with sections for everything, the decks don’t fit in after being removed from the shrink wrap. This does make it a little bit tricky to keep it all together, though I’ve since been using the Lux deck with a few upgrades.
She’s a solid legend to build around thanks to her spell focused abilities. Being able to sling out spells cheaper and draw cards when casting bigger spells feels so satisfying especially when your still learning the game!
Riftbound: Origins Starter Decks
Alongside the Riftbound: Origins set there are three preconstructed starter decks;
Jinx
The Jinx deck features a reckless playstyle much like her character across League of Legends. As a fury and chaos deck it rewards you for discarding cards and has some incredible plays when your opponent least expects it.
It’s a hectic playstyle that rewards pushing in early. The quicker you can gain a foothold the better. Discarding cards also has both instantaneous and later game pay-offs. The later being Rhasa the Sunderere which costs 1 less rune for every card in your trash which is a very strong unit to throw down. There’s also some good buffs for cards attacking battlefields. Overall Jinx is worth the stress of not quite knowing what’s coming next because that means your opponent is still regrouping.
Lee Sin
The Lee Sin deck is a much more focused deck. Where Jinx is lashing out, Lee Sin is much more reserved and capable of dishing out responses as games progress. The deck rewards careful plays, offering strategic moves and even allowing you ready units on the turn you played them.
Lee Sin makes for a tough opponent as well. I found it quite wild how few cards in the deck require recycling of runes. It gives the deck a powerful feeling, allowing players to wait out those rushed confrontations and stroll in later to finish the job. If you survive long enough to see it play Mountain Drake, battlefields will become uncapturable fast.
Viktor
Viktor is all about tokens. Reinforcing your units with recruit tokens and then buffing them for some added strength when the fighting starts before locking up a battlefield becomes his entire strategy. If you love playing decks designed to overrun your opponents through evolution then you’ll be right at home. Much like his character, the deck has that same feeling of upgrading for the greater good.
Every turn it’s imperative if you have spare runes that you activate his legend ability, Printing tokens as much as possible should be your main strategy followed. Grand Stratagem is your secret weapon, buffing units for +5 when your on the wire or your opponents are making a play for territory. Hidden Blade is also a good one to play hidden for later, especially if you want to thin out attackers.
Collecting Riftbound
Collecting cards in a TCG is second nature. Cracking a pack, seeing new art and maybe even some rares or better is that dopamine hit that keeps us coming back. In Riftbound, cracking packs is no different with those epic cards featuring some seriously gorgeous treatments. Each pack contains 14 cards including 7 common cards, 3 uncommon cards, 2 rare or higher cards, 1 foil card and 1 token or rune.
Now obviously it’s the rare or higher stuff that turns heads and rightly so yet card rarity pools are designed so players can get access to cards they need to deck build and play as well. Variants of cards with differing art appear across rarities, a nice point of difference from other tcgs that see all of one card locked in a single rarity.
Of the packs I opened, my favourites were the ones that included champion cards which popped up every few packs. While I didn’t open any overnumbered cards, I did however pull a gorgeous alternate art Miss Fortune that I look forward to building a deck around.
While it’s still early days, and the singles market for the game is alive and well I do feel the stock levels are still playing catch up with the hype. Seeing some stores in Australia selling single booster packs for as high as $30 AUD is a brutal reminder of just how the hype can become a barrier for new players.
You can find out more about collecting Riftbound here.
Final Thoughts on Riftbound: Origins
Even for players unsure about diving into a new TCG, Riftbound feels like a great pick-up. With an experience designed with players in mind from the deck building right down to collecting, along with a confident rune draw system, Riftbound aims to solve the issues of other TCGs games with ease. Champion cards are the real draw but thankful even the games rarity system works in players favor with cheaper cards allowing for play with a lower bar of entry no matter your budget. I’m really looking forward to how the game develops over the next year and with more sets on the way I have no doubt we’ll Riftbound continue to bridge the gap between League of Legends and Arcane as a bold new cardboard way to explore Runeterra.
Riftbound: Origins – A League of Legends TCG is available now!
NextPlay received Riftbound Origins products for the purposes of this review.
