What does Temporary mean?

Temporary is a keyword in Riftbound: the League of Legends trading card game, and it gives a unit or a gear a short life. A card with Temporary is killed at the start of its controller's next Beginning Phase, before that player scores any battlefields. Until that moment it works like any other card: a unit with Temporary can move, attack, defend and conquer.

The Sprite token shows the keyword at its simplest, with the reminder "Kill me at the start of your Beginning Phase, before scoring." Cards with Temporary tend to give a lot for their cost, and the keyword is the price you pay for it.

What exactly does Temporary do?

Rule 816 of the Core Rules, which Riot publishes on its Rules Hub, makes Temporary a triggered ability of units and gear: when its controller's Beginning Phase starts, the card is killed. A card with Temporary twice still triggers only once.

The kill is a real kill. The card goes to the trash, and abilities that trigger when a card dies, such as Deathknell, trigger as usual. A token killed this way, like the Sprite, stops existing once it reaches the trash. Because Temporary is a triggered ability, the kill waits on the Chain for a moment first, and each player may answer it with a Reaction before it happens.

How long does a card with Temporary stay in play?

A card with Temporary stays until the Beginning Phase of its controller's next turn, so how long that is depends on when it arrived. In a one-on-one Duel, a unit or gear you play on your own turn stays for the rest of that turn and the whole of your opponent's turn. A card you play on your opponent's turn, with Action, with Reaction or from facedown with Hidden, stays only for the rest of that turn, because your own Beginning Phase comes next.

Momentary Companion, a 4 Might Chaos unit with Hidden from Radiance, the fifth set, with its release on 23 October 2026, is built on that difference. Played on your own turn, it stays like a normal unit. Played on an opponent's turn, for example from facedown when its battlefield is attacked, it gives itself Temporary, so it joins that one fight and is killed at the start of your next turn.

Temporary counts the turns of the player who controls the card. In Skirmish and War, the modes for three and four players, a unit with Temporary that you play on your turn lasts through every opponent's turn.

Why does "before scoring" matter?

Because a card with Temporary is killed before you score, a unit with Temporary never holds a battlefield for you on its own. The Beginning Phase first runs everything that happens at its start and then scores each battlefield you control, and you control a battlefield only while you have a unit there. When your last unit there is a Sprite, it is killed, the battlefield stops being yours, and you score nothing for it.

Conquering is a different story. Sprite Call, a Mind spell from Origins, plays a ready 3 Might Sprite for 3 Energy. Units normally enter play exhausted, so a ready Sprite can move to a battlefield at once and score a point by conquering it. On your opponent's turn the Sprite still stands there and defends. It only misses the point for holding at the start of your next turn.

So units with Temporary are best used to attack and to defend, with a unit that stays standing beside them when you want to keep the battlefield.

Which cards have Temporary?

Temporary is found mostly on Mind cards, and Unleashed built two champions around it, Lillia and LeBlanc. The cards fall into three groups.

• Sprites. The Sprite is a 3 Might Fae unit token with Temporary. Sprite Queen plays one when you play her and another at the start of each of your Beginning Phases, so a fresh Sprite arrives as the old one is killed. Bashful Bloom, the Legend of Lillia in Calm and Mind, can be exhausted to make a ready Sprite for 4 Energy, 1 less for each friendly unit with Temporary.
• Copies. Deceiver, the Legend of LeBlanc in Mind and Order, and her signature spell Mirror Image make a Reflection token that becomes a copy of a unit and is given Temporary. Keeper of Masks has Temporary itself and makes two copies of itself, which have the keyword too.
• Gear. Petricite Monument, a Body gear from Spiritforged, gives all your units Deflect until it is killed. Sumpworks Map, a Mind gear with Reaction, draws you a card each time an opponent scores while it lasts. Spinning Axe, a signature Equipment of Draven, is killed by Temporary only while it is not attached to a unit.

Can you give Temporary to a card?

Yes. Several spells give Temporary to a unit or a gear, your own or your opponent's.

• Last Stand, a Calm spell with Action from Origins, doubles a friendly unit's Might for the turn and gives it Temporary. It can win a big fight, and the unit is lost at the start of your next turn.
• Shadow's Call, an Order spell from Unleashed, gives Temporary to a friendly unit that lacks it and draws you 2 cards. It suits a unit you expect to lose anyway, or one with Deathknell.
• Fading Memories, a Chaos spell from Origins, gives Temporary to a unit at a battlefield or to a gear. On an enemy unit it works as slow removal: the unit is killed at the start of its controller's next Beginning Phase, before they score, so it cannot hold its battlefield for them.

A keyword given this way lasts until the card leaves the board. A unit that was given Temporary and returns to its owner's hand loses the keyword, while a card printed with Temporary, such as Keeper of Masks, has it every time it is played.

Which cards keep or reward Temporary?

LeBlanc, Everywhere at Once, a Mind champion unit from Unleashed, stops your Temporary from triggering at her battlefield, so your Sprites and Reflections there are not killed while she stands with them.

Other cards reward Temporary instead of fighting it. Petal Pixie has +1 Might for each of your units with Temporary at its battlefield, and Black Flame Altar is a battlefield that gives Shield to units with Temporary there. Sprite Fountain is a gear with Temporary that plays a ready Sprite to your base when it is played, and its Deathknell repeats that effect. When Temporary kills the Fountain, a new Sprite arrives after the moment Temporary checks, so it lasts until your following turn.

The Sprite and the other tokens are on the tokens page, and the champion pages of Lillia and LeBlanc gather the cards built around the keyword.