Events
These articles explain where and how Riftbound: the League of Legends trading card game is played in stores and tournaments. They cover Nexus Nights, Pre-Rift events, the tournament tiers, the formats and what to bring to your first event.
- 3 parts
- 21 articles
Store events
The events your local game store runs every week and every set.
- How do you find a Riftbound event near you?Search the event finder for your city, or press Near me, to see the Riftbound events at the game stores around you. Narrow them by kind, format, day and free seats, then register for the one you pick on playriftbound.com with a free Riot account.7 min
- What is Nexus Night?Nexus Night is the weekly Riftbound event at local game stores. Players meet on the day the store picks, play casual games against each other and get a Nexus Night promo pack of three foil cards for taking part, while the store's supply lasts.6 min
- What is a Learn to Play event?A Learn to Play event is a Riftbound store event for people who have never played. Someone at the store explains the basics and plays with you, the store lends you a ready-made deck so you need no cards of your own, and most of these events are free.6 min
- What is Open Play?Open Play is a casual Riftbound session at a local game store: players bring their decks and play whoever is there, often for free. It is one of the local event types stores list on playriftbound.com, and the store, not Riot, decides how it runs and what it offers.5 min
- What is a Pre-Rift event?A Pre-Rift event is the prerelease of Riftbound: a Sealed event that game stores hold in the week before a new set comes out. Each player gets a kit of the new cards, builds a deck from it at the table, plays a few casual rounds and keeps every card.6 min
- What is the Nexus Cup?The Nexus Cup is a monthly Riftbound tournament at local game stores, new in 2027. It crowns a local champion without leading into the competitive ladder, and it takes over that side of Summoner Skirmish, which Riot retires after the Radiance season.5 min
- What should you bring to your first Riftbound event?For a first Riftbound event, bring a legal deck of your own, such as a ready-made Champion Deck, with sleeves if you have them, dice or coins for damage and XP, a way to keep score and a Riot account to sign up with. At Sealed and Pre-Rift events the store hands out the cards.7 min
Competitive play
The tournaments above the store level, up to the world championship.
- Which kinds of Riftbound tournament are there?Riftbound tournaments climb like a ladder. Game stores run Nexus Nights, Pre-Rift events and Summoner Skirmishes, and above them come the Showdown Series, the Regional Qualifiers and the invitation-only Regional Championships, which lead to the Riftbound World Championship. Several steps get new names in 2027.8 min
- What is a Summoner Skirmish?A Summoner Skirmish is the competitive tournament of a Riftbound store. It is played one on one with your own deck in best-of-three matches at the Competitive rules level, in two windows each set, with promo cards for the players, the top cut and the winner.6 min
- What is the Riftbound Challenge Series?The Riftbound Challenge Series is the competitive store tournament that takes over from Summoner Skirmish in 2027. Riot calls it the first rung of its competitive ladder, held at a curated network of stores, below the Showdown Series, Regionals, Continentals and the World Championship.6 min
- What are Regional Qualifiers and Riftbound Regionals?Regional Qualifiers are the large open Riftbound tournaments held over a weekend in a convention center, where the Top 64 earned an invitation to a Regional Championship. From 2027 Riot calls them Riftbound Regionals, three to four in each set season, and they lead to the Continentals.7 min
- What are the Regional Championships and the Continentals?The Regional Championships are the invitation-only Riftbound tournaments of 2026, in Europe, North America and China, and their Top 8 earn a place at the first World Championship. From 2027 the Riftbound Continentals replace them: four a year, one for each set, with an open qualifier on the first day.7 min
- When is the Riftbound World Championship?Riot plans the first Riftbound World Championship for 2027, as the event that ends the competitive season. Its date and city were not announced by October 2026, and the first invitations go to the Top 8 of each of the three Regional Championships of 2026.6 min
- What is the Showdown Series?The Showdown Series is a run of open Riftbound tournaments for hundreds of players, held by partnered event organizers with Riot's sanction. Anyone can enter, and the best players earn invitations to a Regional Championship, passes to a Regional Qualifier and metal Plated Legends.6 min
- Which rules apply at a Riftbound tournament?Two rule books apply at a Riftbound tournament: the Core Rules for the game itself and the Tournament Rules for everything around it, which win where the two differ. The level of the event, Casual, Competitive or Professional, decides how strictly they are enforced.8 min
- How does a sideboard work at a Riftbound tournament?A sideboard is a set of up to 10 extra cards that a Riftbound player registers with a Constructed deck. Between the games of a match you swap them one for one with Main Deck cards to suit the opponent, and before the next match the deck goes back to its registered list.7 min
Formats
The ways a tournament asks you to build and bring a deck.
- Which formats are played at Riftbound events?Riftbound events use two kinds of format. In Constructed, mostly Standard, every player brings a deck built beforehand. In Limited, which means Sealed and Draft, every player builds a deck at the event from packs. Most events are one on one, and some also offer two versus two or free-for-all.8 min
- How does Constructed work?Constructed is the Riftbound format where every player brings a deck built before the event: a Legend, exactly 40 Main Deck cards, 12 runes and three battlefields, all legal in Standard. Matches are usually best of three, often with a sideboard of up to 10 cards.6 min
- How does Sealed work?In Sealed, each Riftbound player opens six booster packs at the event and builds a deck of at least 25 cards from them, in up to three domains and with no limit on copies. Basic runes may come from anywhere, blank battlefields fill any gap, and the players keep their cards.7 min
- How does Draft work?Draft is a Riftbound format in which each player opens three booster packs at a table of about eight, keeps one card from each pack and passes the rest on, then builds a deck of at least 20 cards from the 39 cards they picked.7 min
- How do 2v2 events work?At a two-versus-two Riftbound event, teams of two sign up together and play every game against another team in Magma Chamber, sharing one score that runs to 11 points. An event is Constructed, with its own 2v2 banned list, or Sealed, with one pool of eight packs per team.7 min