Riftbound: Legacy

What Legacy is about

Legacy centres on the opening moment of a game, when both players reveal who they represent. Each Legend embodies a region, with the champions and mechanics of Demacia, Noxus, Ionia, Piltover and Zaun, the Freljord and Bilgewater running through the cards. Riot says those regional identities should make every game feel like a meeting of two distinct playstyles, a clash unlike anything in the sets that came before.

With 239 main-set cards and another 93 Showcase printings by Riot's count, Legacy is the largest Riftbound set yet. Radiance, by comparison, has 167 numbered cards. Legacy uses the set code LGC and the hashtag #RBLegacy.

Legacy brings three firsts: a design that prioritises drafting, a dedicated booster slot for a Legend or battlefield, and updated card wording that all later cards will follow. Some cards also feature artwork inspired by League of Legends Classic.

The six regions and their champions

• DemaciaGaren, Lux
• NoxusVladimir
• IoniaKarma
• Piltover and ZaunHeimerdinger
• The FreljordAshe, Tryndamere
• BilgewaterIllaoi

The Legends of Legacy

Legacy brings 12 new Legends, and Riot has named 8 of them. Every named champion leads a ready to play deck: four of them in the Champion Decks that come with the set, four in the Proving Grounds, 2nd Edition box three weeks later.

• The Freljord

  Ashe

  Champion Deck

  The Frost Archer heads one of the four Champion Decks. With her champion unit, Ashe, Focused, in Unleashed, decks can choose Ashe as their champion for the first time.

• Demacia

  Garen

  Champion Deck

  Garen returns with his second Legend after Might of Demacia from the Proving Grounds box. His Champion Deck pairs with Lux's to face Tryndamere and Ashe in two-against-two games.

• Piltover and Zaun

  Heimerdinger

  Proving Grounds, 2nd Edition

  The Revered Inventor heads one of the four Proving Grounds, 2nd Edition decks. His champion units already appear in Origins and Radiance, and he has a Pre-Rift promo.

• Bilgewater

  Illaoi

  Proving Grounds, 2nd Edition

  The Kraken Priestess heads a Proving Grounds, 2nd Edition deck. Vendetta contains her champion unit, Illaoi, Prophet of the Great Kraken.

• Ionia

  Karma

  Proving Grounds, 2nd Edition

  The Enlightened One heads a Proving Grounds, 2nd Edition deck. Her champion unit, Karma, Channeler, has been part of the game since Origins.

• Demacia

  Lux

  Champion Deck

  Lux returns with her second Legend after Lady of Luminosity from the Proving Grounds box. Her Champion Deck is designed to partner with Garen's.

• The Freljord

  Tryndamere

  Champion Deck

  The Barbarian King heads a Champion Deck designed to partner with Ashe's. Origins contains his champion unit, Tryndamere, Barbarian.

• Noxus

  Vladimir

  Proving Grounds, 2nd Edition

  The Crimson Reaper heads a Proving Grounds, 2nd Edition deck. Among Legacy's named champions, he alone has no card in the game yet.

• To be revealed

  Legend 9

  Riot will name the last 4 Legends during the previews.

• To be revealed

  Legend 10

  Riot will name the last 4 Legends during the previews.

• To be revealed

  Legend 11

  Riot will name the last 4 Legends during the previews.

• To be revealed

  Legend 12

  Riot will name the last 4 Legends during the previews.

The first cards

Riot has shown two cards ahead of the preview season. They are the first look at the set's wording and at the card that keeps a draft deck afloat.

• 

  Scaled Snapper

  Scaled Snapper is Riot's first Legacy reveal, numbered 41 of 239. Illustrated by Six More Vodka, the Common Calm unit from Ionia costs 5 energy and has 4 Might. Its text, When I enter, you may → Kill a gear, shows the new wording in action: an arrow marks the triggered ability, while a grey backer identifies its target.

• 

  Minion

  The Minion joins stores' Rune Kits with Legacy as a new unit card, numbered RFB 001. It costs 3 energy, has 1 Might and carries no domain. Limited decks can add Minions to meet the main deck's minimum size, much as players take basic runes. That gives drafters a way to field a deck even when their picks leave them short of playable cards.

A Legend or a battlefield in every pack

Legacy replaces one of each booster's seven Common slots with a dedicated Legend or battlefield slot, with roughly equal odds of either. Packs still contain 14 cards, now with six Commons rather than seven. Every set after Legacy will use the same arrangement.

Legends are essential to play, but second and third copies can disappoint. Riot changed the slots because finding a Legend in a rare slot felt anticlimactic. The dedicated slot keeps Legends accessible to new players without displacing a card they wanted. Showcase Legends and battlefields remain among the overnumbered cards, outside the new slot.

The 14 cards of a Legacy booster

• 6CommonPacks have one fewer.
• 3Uncommon
• 1Legend or battlefieldEach appears about half the time.
• 2Rare or betterEpics and Showcase printings appear here.
• 1FoilRarity ranges from Common to Epic.
• 1Token or rune

Built for drafting

Riot describes Legacy as the first Riftbound set designed for drafting, a format where nobody brings a deck. Each player at the table receives three booster packs, opens the first, keeps one card and hands the rest to the next player, and the packs travel round the table until every card is gone, with the second pack going the opposite way. Three packs later everyone holds 39 picks and builds a deck from them: a main deck of at least 20 cards in any three domains, or in one domain beside the two of its Legend, with battlefields from the picks or blank stand-ins, as many copies of a card as were drafted, and a Legend if one came your way. Every pick stays yours.

Half of a draft happens before the first game. A pack returning to you reveals what your neighbours are taking, and the drafter who commits to a strategy early and picks the cards that serve it leaves the table with a deck rather than a heap of cards. Draft has been a format since Origins, yet the sets before Legacy were never built with it in mind, leaving drafters with little in the packs to steer by.

Legacy is built for it in three ways. Its mechanics overlap across champions sharing a domain, so cards picked for one champion keep working for another in the same colours. Its signpost cards sit at Common and Uncommon, the rarities every drafter opens most often, and each signals through its effect that a deck exists around it: spot one early and you know a strategy the set supports, follow it and those same cards become the ones that bind the rest of your picks together. And the new slot places a Legend or a battlefield in every pack, two things a draft deck needs that older packs handed out only now and then.

A draft deck also needs enough playable cards, and 39 picks spread over three domains do not always add up to 20. The Minion card that stores receive in their Rune Kits closes the gap: a limited deck may add Minions, much as a player takes basic runes, so no one plays a deck short. Riot says it will share more about the set's design closer to release.

The new card wording

Riot's updated card wording debuts in print with Legacy, and every later card follows it. The changes affect three things on the card.

1. Targets get a grey backer. A grey highlight behind a word identifies a target. In Kill a unit at a battlefield, the unit is the target; in Kill all units at a battlefield, it is the battlefield. The backer makes that distinction visible without extra rules text or a list to memorise.
2. An arrow in triggered abilities. A triggered ability now puts its condition before an arrow and its effect after it: When I enter → Draw 1. Sona, Harmonious keeps the words of her old text, at the end of your turn, if I'm at a battlefield, ready up to 4 runes, but adds the arrow before Ready. The underlying rules already changed with Unleashed. This update changes how the card looks, not how it plays.
3. Play means one thing. Token-making spells and abilities now use Create rather than Play, while When you play me becomes When I enter. The instruction Play still puts a card on the chain. When you play a card or spell retains its wording, but now means the moment a card is finalized, not resolved. Kelly Digges of the game team describes the shift as Play going from four meanings to 1.2.

League Classic on the cards

Some Legacy cards will carry artwork inspired by League of Legends Classic, the game's original look. Riot's first two teased pieces show Ashe and Master Yi as sketches on parchment.

The products of Legacy

Everything that comes out with the set and in the weeks after it, with the launch prices in US dollars. Single booster packs have sold for $4.99 in every set so far.

• Booster packNot announced yet

  Each pack holds 14 cards, one of them a Legend or a battlefield in the new slot.

  Out Jan 29, 2027

• Booster display$120.00

  The display contains 24 boosters of 14 cards, each with the new Legend or battlefield slot.

  Out Jan 29, 2027

• Champion Decks$19.99 a deck, expected

  Tryndamere, Ashe, Lux and Garen each get a ready-to-play deck with a Legacy booster pack, paper playmat and folded deck box. The four decks are designed for two-against-two games, pairing Tryndamere and Ashe against Garen and Lux. Riot has not announced prices yet; all Champion Decks released so far have sold for $19.99.

  TryndamereAsheLuxGaren

  Out Jan 29, 2027

• Vault Bundle$34.99

  The bundle contains six booster packs, 36 basic runes, four full art foil promo tokens and a storage box.

  Out Jan 29, 2027

• Pre-Rift kitHanded out at Pre-Rift events, not sold on its own

  Each Pre-Rift player receives a Pre-Rift pack in one of six region versions, two Legends, five booster packs and two promo cards bearing the Pre-Rift stamp. Each store kit supports 18 players and includes a display for prizes.

  Out Jan 22, 2027

• Sanctum Box$34.99 each

  The deck box comes in six regional versions and holds 70 double-sleeved cards. Its removable lid opens out into a score track, and a removable frame shows your Legend on the front.

  DemaciaFreljordPiltover & ZaunBilgewaterNoxusIonia

  Out Jan 29, 2027

• Art sleeves$16.99 each

  Six sets feature stained glass art of Lux, Tryndamere, Heimerdinger, Illaoi, Vladimir and Karma. Each contains 50 deck sleeves and 20 rune sleeves.

  LuxTryndamereHeimerdingerIllaoiVladimirKarma

  Out Jan 29, 2027

• Collector binder$39.99

  The binder holds 360 sleeved cards across nine-pocket pages.

  Out Jan 29, 2027

• Playmats$27.99 each

  Twelve neoprene playmats each measure 24 by 14 inches, with a bound edge and one design per Legend in the set.

  Out Jan 29, 2027

• Proving Grounds, 2nd Edition$40.00

  The starter box supports two to four players with decks for Heimerdinger, Karma, Vladimir and Illaoi. It includes four oversized battlefields, four paper playmats, four chibi score trackers and a rulebook, and comes in English, Chinese, French and Korean. None of its cards is exclusive to the box.

  Out Feb 19, 2027

After Legacy

The Reckoning follows as the seventh set, coded REC, on Apr 30, 2027, with Pre-Rift events running Apr 23 to 29, 2027. Riot's line for it is Awaken the Ancients, and its count is 264 cards plus 67 Showcase printings. Of nine new Legends, five are named: Aurelion Sol, Cho'Gath, Shyvana, Vayne and Zilean. Shyvana and Vayne lead the Champion Decks.

Bandle City, home of the Yordles, is the setting for the eighth set, arriving in the third quarter of 2027. The ninth follows in the fourth quarter. Riot plans the first Riftbound Worlds for 2027, then Standard's first rotation at the start of 2028 with the tenth set. Origins to Radiance will leave the format, making Legacy the oldest set still in Standard.