Recycle — Riftbound Rules

416.1.

Recycling cards is the action in which a player takes one or more cards from a specific zone and then puts it on the bottom of the corresponding deck.

416.1.a.

Main Deck cards are Recycled to the Main Deck.

416.1.b.

Runes are Recycled to the Rune Deck.

416.1.c.

Each player Recycles cards to their own Main Deck and Rune Deck, regardless of which player is instructed to perform the Recycle action.

416.2.

This is a Limited Action.

416.2.a.

The player must Recycle cards from the specified zones when instructed to do so by game effects or costs.

416.3.

When Recycling is listed as a Cost, the action must be able to be completed for the cost to be paid. Example: Vi, Destructive has the ability "Recycle 1 from your trash: Give me +1 [M] this turn." Each time a player activates the ability, they must recycle 1 card from their trash to pay its cost. If they have no cards in their trash, they can't activate the ability, because they can't pay its cost.

416.4.

When Recycling is part of an effect, a player must Recycle as many cards as possible from the specified zone or zones.

416.5.

If 2 or more cards are Recycled to the Main Deck simultaneously, they are placed on the bottom of that deck in a random order. Example: Garbage Grabber has the ability "Recycle 3 from your trash, [1], [E]: Draw " To pay the cost of activating this ability, its controller chooses 3 cards from their trash and places them on the bottom of their Main Deck in a random order.

416.5.a.

If 2 or more cards are Recycled to the Rune Deck simultaneously, they are placed on the bottom of that deck in the order of their owner's choosing.

416.6.

This action, when instructed, is sometimes formatted as "Recycle X from [Zone]." That means to take X cards of the instructed player's choice from the relevant zone and recycle them. Example: Dr. Mundo, Expert has the ability "At the start of your Beginning Phase, recycle 3 from your trash." As that ability resolves, its controller recycles 3 cards from their trash. If there are fewer than 3 cards in that player's trash, they recycle as many as they can.

Related FAQ (4)

How do runes work? What are energy and power? Can I recycle an exhausted rune?

Yes, each rune has two abilities, and you can use both of them in the same turn: ● You can exhaust a rune to produce 1 energy. Energy is used to pay numerical costs, and doesn't have a domain/color associated with it, even though the runes used to generate it do. ● You can recycle a rune (even an exhausted one) to produce 1 power of that rune's domain/color. Power is used to pay color symbol costs. Rune abilities have the Reaction keyword, which means they can be used anytime.

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 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.

Can Rumble, Hotheaded choose a Mech token to recycle? If he does, where does it go?

Yes. Tokens inherit the recycle destination of their types, so a unit/gear token recycles to your Main Deck. It then vanishes, as tokens do any time they leave the board.