Decks
These articles explain how a deck for Riftbound: the League of Legends trading card game is put together. They cover the deck rules, how to build your first deck, the ready-made decks Riot sells and the decks that do well in tournaments.
- 4 parts
- 23 articles
Deck rules
What a deck must hold to be legal in a game or a tournament.
- What makes a legal Riftbound deck?A legal Riftbound deck has one Champion Legend, a Main Deck of at least 40 cards with the chosen champion among them, a Rune Deck of 12 runes and three battlefields with different names. Every card fits the Legend's two domains, no card name appears more than three times and no banned card is included.7 min
- How many cards are in a Riftbound deck?A complete Riftbound deck holds 56 cards: one Champion Legend, a Main Deck of 40 cards with the chosen champion among them, a Rune Deck of 12 runes and three battlefields. At home the Main Deck may hold more than 40, but every Constructed event asks for exactly 40.6 min
- How many copies of a card can a Riftbound deck hold?A Riftbound Main Deck may hold up to three copies of a card with the same name, every printing and language counted together and the chosen champion included. A Unique card may appear only once, while Spiderling from Vendetta may be played in any number.6 min
- How do the Legend's domains limit a deck?A Riftbound deck may only hold cards that fit the two domains of its Legend, plus cards with no domain. A card with one domain needs the Legend to have it, a card with two needs the Legend to have both, and all 12 runes must come from the Legend's domains too.5 min
- What is the chosen champion?The chosen champion is the champion unit a Riftbound deck sets aside while it is built. It carries the name of the deck's Legend, starts the game face up in the Champion Zone and can be played from there as if it were in your hand.6 min
- How many signature cards can a deck hold?A Riftbound deck may hold at most three signature cards in all, whatever their names, and each of them must belong to the champion of the deck's Legend. Three copies of one signature spell fill that allowance, and the limit does not apply in Sealed and Draft.6 min
- How do you choose the battlefields for a deck?Any battlefield fits any Riftbound deck, so you pick your three for what they do: choose battlefields whose abilities reward your own plan, leave out those that would help your opponent more, and in a best-of-three Match keep one for the opponents it hurts most.7 min
- How many runes of each domain should a deck bring?A Riftbound deck brings exactly 12 runes in any mix of its Legend's two domains. Six of each is the usual start, and every Champion Deck comes that way. When the cards of one domain ask for clearly more Power, seven or eight runes of that domain serve the deck better.7 min
Building a deck
From an empty list to a deck that is ready for the table.
- How do you build your first Riftbound deck?To build your first Riftbound deck, start from a Legend or from a ready-made deck built around one. Pick the chosen champion and signature cards, fill the Main Deck to 40 cards with mostly units, then add 12 runes of the Legend's two domains and three battlefields.7 min
- How do you pick a Legend?Pick a Riftbound Legend by its champion, its ability and its two domains. Start with a champion you enjoy, read what the Legend's ability rewards, check the cards its domains and champion bring, and learn on a Legend whose ability works without much planning.7 min
- What is a good Energy curve?A good Energy curve lets a Riftbound deck spend its runes on every turn. Most decks want about 15 to 20 of their 40 cards at 2 Energy or less for the first turns, most of the rest at 3 to 5, and only a handful at 6 or more.6 min
- How many units, spells and gear should a deck run?No rule sets the mix: a Riftbound Main Deck of 40 cards can hold any number of units, spells and gear. Six ready-made decks with lists published by Riot play 20 to 31 units, 9 to 16 spells and up to 10 gear, while tournament decks spread much wider, because the Legend decides what a deck needs.7 min
- How do you build a strong deck on a budget?A strong Riftbound deck on a budget starts from a ready-made deck or a core of Commons and Uncommons, uses standard printings and adds the Epics and Rares one at a time. Even a Regional Qualifier winner plays 20 Commons and Uncommons.7 min
- How do you test and improve a deck?You test a Riftbound deck by playing it: draw sample hands, play a few turns alone, then play full games against friends and at store events. Afterwards you change two or three cards at a time, keep the Main Deck at 40 cards and play again before you judge the change.7 min
- How do you share or import a decklist?A Riftbound decklist travels as a link or as plain text: one line per card with its copies and full name, under the Legend, chosen champion, Main Deck, battlefields and runes. On this site every deck page shares both, and Create copy puts any deck into your own builder.7 min
Ready-made decks
The decks that come built in a box, and what to do with them.
- Which ready-made Riftbound decks are there?Riftbound has three kinds of ready-made deck: Champion Decks with one complete deck, Showdown Decks with two decks made to face each other, and the Proving Grounds starter box with four. Seven Champion Decks, two Showdown boxes and Proving Grounds belong to the first five sets, and Riot has announced more for 2027.7 min
- Which starter deck should a new player pick?Pick a Riftbound starter deck by who you will play with: Proving Grounds for two to four people who learn together, a Showdown box for two, and a Champion Deck for one player who wants to join a store. Then pick a champion you like, and if you have none, a Legend that works without a decision every turn.7 min
- What are the four Proving Grounds decks like?The four decks of the Riftbound Proving Grounds box play in four different ways. Garen floods the battlefields with units, Master Yi holds them with one strong defender, Lux wins the long game with costly spells, and Annie burns units with cheap spells, many of them playable on the opponent's turn.8 min
- How do you upgrade a Champion Deck?To upgrade a Riftbound Champion Deck, add copies of its champion and its signature card up to three each, take out any banned cards and the weakest ones, and keep the Main Deck at 40. Change a few cards at a time and test each version.6 min
Archetypes and the meta
The kinds of deck people play and the ones that win.
- What are the main deck archetypes in Riftbound?Riftbound players sort decks into a few archetypes borrowed from other card games: aggro decks that take battlefields early, control decks that answer threats and win late, midrange and ramp decks in between, and combo decks built around one engine.7 min
- Which decks are strong in the current meta?The strongest Riftbound decks of the Vendetta season were Kennen, Irelia, Rengar, Azir, Ornn, Akali and Master Yi with Wuju Bladesman. Ornn, Akali and Rengar won the three Regional Qualifiers of August and September 2026, and Kennen was the most played deck until the bans of 18 September 2026.7 min
- How should you read a Riftbound tier list?A Riftbound tier list is a ranking of the decks to beat, made by players and content creators for one format at one moment. Read it with its date, format and sources in mind, and use it to learn what you will face rather than as a rule for what to play.6 min
- Which Legends are the strongest?No Riftbound Legend stays the strongest for long, because every set and every ban changes the field. In the Vendetta season Kennen was the Legend to beat until a ban in September 2026, while Master Yi's Wuju Bladesman and the Legends of Azir and Irelia kept reaching Top 8s through the year.7 min