How are Riftbound cards banned or changed?

Riot Games, the studio that designs Riftbound: the League of Legends trading card game, has two ways to change a card after it has been printed. A ban keeps a card that is bad for the game out of competitive decks. An erratum changes the wording a card is played with, so that it works as intended. Riot keeps the current banned list and every errata article on its Rules Hub.

What does it mean when a Riftbound card is banned?

A banned card may not be in a deck in the format it is banned in, whether in the Main Deck, among the battlefields or in the sideboard. Riot keeps one list for Standard Constructed and one for 2v2 Constructed, and both apply to sanctioned play, from a Nexus Night to the largest tournaments. The 2v2 list holds every card on the Constructed list and the Legend Wuju Bladesman of Master Yi as well.

Sealed and Draft decks may use a card banned in Constructed unless that format bans it too (Tournament Rules 602.1.b), and at casual events a ready-made deck played exactly as it comes in its box may keep its banned cards (rule 601.2.d.2). Every other Constructed deck has to leave them out, as the article on what makes a legal Riftbound deck sets out.

How does Riot decide to ban a card?

Riot asks three questions before it bans a card, and its reasons for every ban so far follow them. Is the card overrepresented in an unhealthy way? Are its problems likely to get worse over time? Does it promote play patterns that harm the game?

• Overrepresented. Wuju Bladesman gives +2 Might to a friendly unit that defends alone. In 2v2 that bonus helps both teammates, and Riot found the Legend hugely overrepresented among the top teams of that format.
• Worse over time. Stealthy Pursuer made an endless combo with Eye of the Herald and Renata Glasc, Industrialist that could create Recruit tokens without limit from the third turn. Riot judged that its problems would only get worse.
• Play patterns. Aspirant's Climb raises the points needed to win by one, which made tournament rounds run long. The Arena's Greatest gives each player a point in their first Beginning Phase, which Riot found especially strong for the player who goes first.

In its first ban announcement, Riot said that limiting or restricting a problem card can make the problem sharper, because games then come down to who draws their lone copy, and that it had no plans to pursue restrictions. It called banning a Legend a last resort, since that takes away every deck of the champion. So when Draven decks were too strong, Riot admitted a mistake with his Legend, Glorious Executioner, but banned the unit Draven, Vanquisher instead.

Which cards has Riot banned so far?

Riot has changed the banned list three times. Each change took effect on the date below, one day to about a week after Riot announced it. None of these updates took a card off the list.

• 31 March 2026. Riot's first bans covered four cards, Called Shot, Fight or Flight, Scrapheap and the unit Draven, Vanquisher, and three battlefields, The Dreaming Tree, Obelisk of Power and Reaver's Row.
• 24 July 2026. The July ban list update added Stealthy Pursuer, Aspirant's Climb and The Arena's Greatest to the list, and Riot started the 2v2 list with Wuju Bladesman.
• 18 September 2026. The September ban list update banned Ekko, Recurrent and Stacked Deck in both formats. Riot said that Ekko, Recurrent drove an endless combo in Lux decks and that Stacked Deck made Kennen decks too consistent.

That update left seven cards and five battlefields banned in Constructed. The current list is always on the Rules Hub, and the deck builder on this site warns you when a deck holds a banned card.

What is errata in Riftbound?

Errata are changes to the rules text of a card after it was printed. The printed card stays legal, but from then on it is played with the new wording. Riot issues errata with each new set, in one article that shows the old and the new text of every card it changed, older sets included. The Rules Hub links an errata article for each of Origins, Spiritforged, Unleashed, Vendetta and Radiance, and the table counts the cards each one changed.

Why does Riot change the wording of a card?

Riot rewords a card when the printed text led to play it did not intend, was unclear about what the card does, or no longer fit the updated rules. Most changes only make a card clearer and do not change how it plays in an ordinary game.

• Tianna Crownguard was printed with "opponents can't score points" and now reads "opponents can't gain points". The Core Rules treat scoring a battlefield and gaining points as two things (rule 470.1), and Riot's Spiritforged FAQ says the card is solely concerned with points, so it does not interfere with conquering or holding a battlefield.
• Astral Heron made "your next card" cheaper. It now makes "the next card you play this turn" cheaper, so the discount cannot be saved for a later turn.
• Elnuk Herd gave +3 Might to "another friendly unit" and now gives it to "a friendly unit", itself included. Riot changed it on 9 October 2026, two weeks before Radiance, with its release on 23 October 2026.
• Even a banned card can be reworded: Draven, Vanquisher got a clearer wording of its +2 Might ability in the Vendetta errata of 23 July 2026.

Riot does not use errata to balance the game. Its Origins FAQ says that errata may affect how strong a card is, but that Riot has no plans to issue errata strictly for power level reasons.

How do you play a card that has errata?

You play it with the new wording, whatever your copy says. When it published the Origins errata, Riot said that restocks and translations of Origins were not planned to carry the new text, so even a newer copy can show the old wording. The card pages on this site show the wording each card is played with today, and for most cards with errata the printed wording under it, with a link to the errata that changed it.

At a tournament, any player can call a judge for the official wording of a card in the language they prefer (Tournament Rules 420.2). Using the printed text of a card with errata to mislead an opponent is angle shooting, which earns a Warning (rule 704.4.a.4).

The Core Rules change as well. Riot updates them with each set and explains every update in patch notes on the Rules Hub, and a rules update can change how a card plays without touching its text.

A ban takes single cards out of play, while rotation, which Riot plans to start in 2028, would take whole sets out of Standard at once, as the article on whether older sets stay legal explains. Before an event, check your deck against the banned list on the Rules Hub, the one page where Riot keeps that list, the errata and the rule books, which the article on where to find the official Riftbound rules goes through.