What is the final point rule?

The last point of a game of Riftbound: the League of Legends trading card game follows a rule of its own. Conquering a battlefield normally gives you a point straight away, but when that point would be your last one, the conquer has to meet a condition first. The Core Rules call this the Final Point, in rule 473, and the How to Play booklet of Proving Grounds calls it the winning point.

In practice the rule means that a single attack rarely ends a game. A player who is one point short usually has to keep a battlefield through the opponent's whole turn, or take every battlefield in the same turn.

What does the final point rule say?

The rule limits one kind of point: a point gained by conquering while your score is one point below the Victory Score. In a Duel, which is played to 8 points, that means any conquer you make while you have 7 points. The rule then asks whether you have scored every battlefield in play this turn, the one you are conquering included. If you have, you gain the point and win. If you have not, you draw a card instead, and your score stays where it was.

A battlefield counts as scored when you have held it at the start of your turn or conquered it. Each player can score each battlefield only once per turn, so in a Duel "every battlefield" means both battlefields in play.

The rule applies to any score from one point below the Victory Score upward, so it also covers the rare case of two players tied on the Victory Score.

Which points does the final point rule not limit?

Only points from conquering are limited. The Core Rules say plainly that points from any other source are not held to the restriction, so each of these can be your winning point.

• Holding. A battlefield you still control at the scoring step of your Beginning Phase gives you its point whatever your score.
• Card abilities. A card that tells you to score points gives you those points in full.
• Burning out. An opponent who has to draw from an empty Main Deck burns out and gives a point to an opponent of their choice, which in a Duel is you.

Several cards score points of their own.

• Ahri, Alluring scores you a point when she holds.
• Yasuo, Windrider scores you a point the third time he moves in a turn.
• Renata Glasc, Mastermind has an ability that scores you a point, which she can use only while she is at a battlefield.
• Bottled Constellation, a gear card from Vendetta, lets you kill three of your other units or gear at the start of your Main Phase to score a point.
• The battlefield Power Nexus lets you pay 4 Power of any domain for an extra point when you hold it.

How do you score the final point in a Duel?

A Duel, like each game of a best-of-three Match, has two battlefields and a Victory Score of 8. Counting the battlefields alone, there are three ways to the final point.

1. Hold for it. With 7 points, control either battlefield at the scoring step of your Beginning Phase.
2. Conquer both battlefields in one turn. With 7 points, your first conquer gives you a card instead of a point. Your second conquer gives you the final point, because by then you have scored both battlefields this turn.
3. Hold one and conquer the other. With 6 points, holding one battlefield at the start of your turn takes you to 7. Conquering the other battlefield later that turn then wins, because the battlefield you held already counts as scored.

A single conquer on its own does not work. With 7 points, taking one battlefield while your opponent keeps the other gives you a card, not the game. An empty battlefield is no exception, because you score it only by moving a unit there and conquering it.

What happens when the rule stops your point?

You draw a card, and everything else about the conquer happens as usual. You take control of the battlefield, and it counts as scored this turn, so it helps toward scoring every battlefield. Abilities that trigger when you conquer still trigger, because the Core Rules let a conquer effect trigger even when the point is replaced. Kai'Sa, Survivor draws you a card when she conquers, so a conquer with her that the rule turns into a draw gives you two cards.

The conquer is seldom wasted. If your units there survive your opponent's turn, you hold the battlefield when your next turn begins, and that point wins. There is one risk to watch: if your Main Deck is empty, the card you draw instead makes you burn out, and an opponent gains a point.

How does the rule work with three or four players?

The rule is the same in every mode of play, except for one small adjustment for teams. Otherwise only the number of battlefields and the Victory Score change.

• Skirmish and War. Skirmish for three players and War for four are played to 8 points with three battlefields in play. With 7 points, a conquer gives you the final point only if you have scored all three battlefields that turn, so plan to hold for the last point.
• Magma Chamber. In Magma Chamber, the two-versus-two mode, each team shares one score and plays to 11, so the rule applies from 10 points. A battlefield your teammate controls at the scoring step of the turn's Beginning Phase cannot be scored by your team that turn, and the rule leaves it out: a conquer gives your team the final point when you have scored every other battlefield that turn.

How do you stop an opponent from scoring the final point?

You stop it by counting before you end your turn. In a Duel, an opponent with 7 points can win from the battlefields on their next turn in two ways: by holding any battlefield, or by scoring both battlefields during that turn.

• Leave them no battlefield. A battlefield your opponent still controls at the end of your turn will usually give them the game at the start of theirs. Attack it and win the combat, or remove their units there with spells.
• Keep a battlefield of your own. If you control one battlefield, your opponent has to win a combat there and take the other in the same turn. A unit that is hard to kill on defense, such as one with Shield, makes that much harder.
• Stop the point itself. While Tianna Crownguard, a unit from Spiritforged, is at a battlefield, your opponents cannot gain points.

The battlefields of every set are on the battlefields page. Because the rule limits only conquering, it helps to know how conquer and hold differ, and how a combat decides whether you conquer a battlefield at all. The rule itself is rule 473 of the Core Rules on Riot's Rules Hub.