Cards — Riftbound Rules

125.

Riftbound games are composed of players playing the cards in their respective decks.

126.

Ownership

126.1.

For gameplay purposes, a card's Owner is the player who brought it into the game, either as their Champion Legend, one of their Battlefields, or part of their Main Deck or Rune Deck. The legal owner of a card doesn't matter during gameplay. Example: Bo didn't bring a deck, so Alice loans him a deck. During the game, Bo is considered the owner of those cards, even though legally they belong to Alice.

127.

Privacy

127.1.

A card will always exist in one of the many Zones described during Setup.

127.2.

A card will have a different level of Privacy based on where it resides at a given time

127.3.

Secret: This level of Privacy indicates that neither player may read or look at the face of the card.

127.4.

Private: This level of Privacy indicates that only the controller of a card on the board or the owner of a card in any other zone may read or look at the face of the card. Example: Cards in a player's hand are owned by that player. Only that player may read or look at their faces. Example: If a player controls a facedown card at a battlefield, that player and only that player may read or look at that card's face, regardless of who owns that card.

127.5.

Public: This level of Privacy indicates that any player may read or look at the face of the card.

128.

Back Side

128.1.

The back side of a card is the side with the Riftbound logo.

128.2.

There is a unique pattern of back side for each of the three categories of card: Main Deck cards, Rune Deck cards, and Battlefields and Champion Legends.

128.3.

The back side of a card is presented to conceal information for Private and Secret information cards. For example, cards in the Main Deck and cards in hand have their back side presented.

128.4.

The term facedown is used to describe the state during regular play of having a card's back side presented on the Board. A facedown card’s front side is considered Private Information.

129.

Front Side

129.1.

The front side of a card is the opposite of its back.

129.2.

This is also referred to as a front face.

129.3.

This can be identified in situations where the back is not easily discernible by the presence of the Play Cost in the upper left corner of the card.

129.4.

Cards, when played, are played with their front face presented.

129.5.

The term face up is used to describe the state during regular play of having a card's front face presented

129.6.

Cards are considered to be Public Information while in this state, even if obscured by other cards in a pile. Example: The Trash is Public Information because all cards there have their front face presented even while stacked.

130.

Cost

130.1.

Main Deck cards have a Cost, listed in the upper left corner of the front face of the card. See rule 161. Rune Pools for more information.

130.2.

Energy Cost

130.2.a.

The numeral listed in the Cost element in the upper left corner of the card.

130.3.

Power cost

130.3.a.

The symbols, listed vertically, in the Cost element in the upper left corner of the card.

130.3.b.

This section may not be present on every card. 130.4 Effects that need to determine a card’s cost for any purpose always use its base cost, even if that cost is altered or ignored as the card is played. Example: Sky Splitter is a spell that costs 8 Energy and says in part “This spell's Energy cost is reduced by the highest Might among units you control.” Lux, Illuminated is a unit that says “When you play a spell that costs 5 or more, give me +3 [M] this turn.” If a player who controls Lux plays Sky Splitter, Lux’s ability will trigger, regardless of how much was actually paid for Sky Splitter.

131.

Name

131.1.

Each card has a name that identifies it uniquely.

131.2.

This is usually located in the middle of the card.

131.3.

Cards that are printed in different languages but represent the same card are considered to have the same name for the purposes of deckbuilding and gameplay. Example: Chemtech Enforcer in English and its counterpart in Chinese are considered the same card, despite the Name element on the card reading differently. 131.4 Some cards have both a short name and a subtitle. For all purposes, including rules and deckbuilding, such a card’s name is “[Short Name], [Subtitle]”. Example: Kai’Sa, Evolutionary and Kai’Sa, Survivor both have the short name Kai’Sa, but they have different names. You can include 3 of each in your deck under normal deckbuilding rules. If one of them is your Chosen Champion, the other is not.

132.

Category

132.1.

A card can have one or more Categories and Sub-Categories based on the properties of its front and back sides.

132.2.

These Categories and Sub-Categories dictate the behaviors of the card during play.

132.3.

Spells and other effects can refer to categories, sub-categories, supertypes, card types, tags, and other characteristics inclusively or exclusively. Example: A "non-unit card" is any card that is not a unit. Example: A "unit" is any game object that is a unit, regardless of any other categories it belongs to.

132.4.

Main Deck Cards begin the game in the Main Deck or (in the case of a Chosen Champion) the Champion Zone.

132.4.a.

Permanents

132.4.a.1.

An umbrella sub-category encompassing Main Deck Game Objects that remain on the board after being played.

132.4.a.2.

Unit and Gear are permanent types.

132.4.b.

Spells

132.4.b.1.

A sub-category encompassing Main Deck cards with the spell type, which do not remain on the board after being played.

132.5.

Rune Deck Cards begin the game in the Rune Deck.

132.5.a.

Runes

132.5.a.1.

A sub-category encompassing cards with the rune type. These are channeled rather than played. They remain on the board after being channeled, but they are not permanents, as they are not Main Deck cards.

132.6.

Non-Deck Cards are not part of any deck and begin the game in a zone determined by their type.

132.6.a.

Battlefields

132.6.a.1.

A sub-category encompassing cards with the battlefield type. They are not played or channeled. They start the game on the board.

132.6.b.

Legends

132.6.b.1.

A sub-category encompassing cards with the legend type. They are not played or channeled. They start the game in the Legend Zone and cannot leave it during play.

... and 53 more rules

Related FAQ (12)

When can I use Vi's ability to recycle cards from my trash to increase her Might?

Abilities can only be used in your Main Phase, outside of a showdown, unless they have the Action or Reaction keyword. Vi's ability does not, so it can't be used in combat/showdown.

What happens when I run out of cards in my Main Deck?

If you run out of cards in your Main Deck, and then you need to draw 1, you will Burn Out. This means you take your Trash, recycle it into your deck, shuffle, and then choose an opponent to score 1 point. If you have no Trash to recycle when you Burn Out, then you'll grant an infinite number of points and pick an opponent to win the game.

What happens when I run out of cards in my Rune Deck?

Nothing. You can't channel any more runes, but there's no penalty beyond that.

What about cards like Blind Fury and Promising Future, which let players look at or reveal cards from the top of a deck, play one, and recycle the rest? If I can't play that card, where does it go? It sounds like it's too late for it to be recycled as part of “the rest."

Hey, you're pretty sharp! For most cards that let you play something, it's easy to put the card back where it came from if you can't play it. The Harrowing would put it back in your trash, Ava Achiever would put it back in your hand, and so on. But when the card came out of a deck, which is both secret and randomized, it's not so simple. To provide a clear and easy answer to this question, four cards in set 1 that let you play other cards from decks are receiving errata. They'll each banish the card before instructing a player to play it. If the card can't be played for any reason, it just stays banished. This is a small functional change, but it's one we feel is well worth it to avoid the fuss of getting these cards back into a deck somehow. (1)(C), (E) Kill a friendly unit. Look at the top 5 cards of your Main Deck. You may banish a unit from among them that has Might up to 1 more than the killed unit and play it, ignoring its cost. Then recycle the rest.

If I reveal multiple Nocturnes, can I play more than one? What if all 3 of the cards I look at for Stacked Deck are Nocturnes and I play all of them?

Yes, you can play more than one Nocturne at a time this way. If there aren't any eligible cards left for the original effect you were resolving, any further instructions will be ignored. So if you reveal Stacked Deck, see 3 Nocturnes, and opt to banish and play all of them, you won't put any cards into your hand, nor will you recycle any cards. You will, however, have 3 Nocturnes.

So if Promising Future resolves and one or more players choose to banish Nocturne from the cards they looked at, what happens?

As you go around in turn order and each player looks at their top 5, they can choose to banish one or more Nocturnes before they banish a card with Promising Future. Any such Nocturnes will go on the chain as pending items before whatever that player chooses with Promising Future. They'll remain pending through the whole process of resolving Promising Future, then at the appropriate point they'll be fully placed on the chain and (because they're units) will resolve immediately.

Does Ava's ability let me hide cards?

No, it lets you play cards with Hidden from your hand.

Can I use these cards to save a unit that's already in its base? What about one that's already exhausted? If I can't recall it, do I still exhaust it?

Yes. You can save any unit that meets the description in the replacement ability's condition. For Highlander and Unlicensed Armory, that's any friendly unit. The actions you perform on that unit as a replacement are like the effects of a spell or ability; you'll do as much as you can: heal the unit (if it's damaged), exhaust it (if it's ready), and recall it (if it's somewhere other than its base). And yes, you exhaust the unit even if you don't recall it; as per the above wordings, we've changed the “recall it exhausted" language to make that clearer.

If I play Cruel Patron and kill one of my units for its additional cost, but one of these cards replaces that unit's death, does the cost still count as paid?

Yes. You made the decision to pay the cost and took the action to pay it. What happened after that doesn't matter.

If a unit would be killed by Hidden Blade, but one of these cards replaces that unit's death, does the unit's controller still draw 2?

Yes. Hidden Blade attempts to kill a unit, then says that “its controller" draws 2. Even if the unit doesn't die, it's still on the board and information about its controller is still available, so that player draws 2. This is different from Baited Hook, which requests information about “the killed unit," and can't find any information if no unit was actually killed.