All You Need to Know About How to Play Riftbound

If you’re diving into Riftbound for the first time or just looking to understand its mechanics better, this guide will walk you through everything you need — from deckbuilding and setup to combat, scoring, and multiplayer adjustments.

The core goal in Riftbound is to be the first to score 8 points. You earn points by:

• Conquering a Battlefield (attacking it successfully).
• Holding a Battlefield (having a unit there at the start of your turn).

To win with the final point, there's a twist: your last point can’t come from conquering a Battlefield unless you’ve also scored points from every other Battlefield that turn. Most often, your eighth point will come from holding a Battlefield or using specific card effects.

To start playing, you'll need:

• 1 Legend
• 40-card Main Deck, including at least one Champion Unit matching your Legend.
• 12-card Rune Deck
• 3 Battlefield cards

All cards in both your Main and Rune decks must match the Domains allowed by your chosen Legend. For example, Jinx – Loose Cannon allows Chaos (Purple) and Fury (Red), so your decks can include cards from either Domain.

Main Deck rules:

• Max 3 copies of any single card.
• Must include at least one matching Champion Unit (your Chosen Champion).
• You can include other Champions, even from different Domains, if they follow your Legend’s rules.

Rune Deck rules:

• No copy limit.
• Exactly 12 cards, all matching your Legend’s Domains.

Here’s how to get ready:

1. Each player presents their Legend and selects a matching Champion Unit.
2. Shuffle your Main Deck and Rune Deck.
3. Place your Legend and Chosen Champion face-up off to the side.
4. In 2-player games, each player secretly picks one Battlefield and reveals it.
5. Determine who goes first randomly.
6. Draw 4 cards. Then, optionally mulligan up to 2 cards by recycling them (bottom of deck) and drawing replacements.

Now you’re ready to start the game.

Every turn follows this structure:

** 1 Awaken Phase** Ready all of your cards — turning any sideways (Exhausted) cards upright (Ready).

2 Beginning Phase

• Score 1 point for each Battlefield you hold (if you have a unit there at the start of your turn).
• Channel 2 Runes (draw top 2 Runes and place them Ready).
• • On the second player’s first turn, they channel 3 Runes instead.
• Draw 1 card from your Main Deck.

3 Action Phase

This is where most of the gameplay happens.

You can:

• Play Units, Spells, or Gear.
• Move Units and initiate Showdowns.
• Use Exhaust abilities on cards like Legends, Gear, or Units.

You may take any number of Actions, in any order, until you end your turn.

Main Deck cards cost Energy (top left corner) and sometimes Power (symbol beneath Energy cost). To pay these costs:

• Exhaust Ready Runes for Energy.
• Recycle matching Runes (place them at the bottom of the Rune Deck) for Power.
• A Rune can be used for both Energy and Power in the same Action.

For example, a card costing 4 Energy and 1 Fury Power requires:

• Exhausting 4 Runes.
• Recycling 1 Fury Rune.

Units also have:

• Might (top right) = attack strength and health.
• Tags (e.g., Noxus, Trifarian) = used for synergies.
• Abilities that make each unit unique.

Units enter play Exhausted, usually in your Base (not a Battlefield). You can also deploy them to any Battlefield you already control.

To attack a Battlefield:

1. Move Ready Units from your Base to a Battlefield.
2. A Showdown begins between the Attacker and Defender (if present).
3. Both players alternate playing Action Spells, starting with the Attacker.

Combat Resolution:

• Each side totals their Units' Might.
• Players alternate assigning damage to enemy Units until they run out of Might or Units to target.
• A Unit is destroyed if it takes damage equal to or more than its Might.
• If the Attacker has Units left and the Defender does not, they Conquer the Battlefield and score 1 point.

After combat:

• Surviving Units heal all damage.
• The Showdown ends, and play continues in the Action Phase.

Gear cards enter play Ready and stay in your Base. They provide ongoing support, such as:

• Seals: Provide Power once per turn (instead of Recycling Runes).
• Arena Bar: Buffs exhausted Units by increasing their Might.

Look out for abilities like:

• Exhaust: Tap the card for a one-time effect.
• Ganking: Allows Units to move between Battlefields.
• Reactions: Special abilities or cards that resolve before the Action they respond to.

You win by scoring 8 points, but the last point has to follow a specific rule:

You can’t win by conquering a Battlefield unless you also:

• Hold or conquer every other Battlefield that turn, or
• Score the final point through a card effect.

Example win conditions:

• Conquer both Battlefields when at 7 points.
• Hold one and conquer the other.
• Use an ability or spell that directly grants a point.

3-player:

• Each player brings 1 Battlefield.
• The first player doesn’t draw on their first turn.

4-player:

• Only 3 Battlefields are used.
• The first player doesn’t get their preferred Battlefield or draw a card on turn one.

In Showdowns, only the two involved players can act — but they may invite other players to assist by playing Actions.