Runes — Riftbound Rules
Section 156 — 29 rules
- 157.
- Rune is a Card Type.
- 157.1.
- A Rune is not a Main Deck card.
- 157.1.a.
- This means, despite remaining on the Board until Recycled or otherwise removed from the board, it is not a Permanent.
- 157.2.
- Runes are kept in the Rune Deck.
- 157.2.a.
- Exactly 12 Rune cards chosen during Deck Construction. See rule 103.3. Rune Deck for more information.
- 157.2.b.
- When a Rune is Recycled it is returned to the Rune Deck, not the Main Deck. See rule 403. Recycle for more information.
- 158.
- Runes produce the resources needed to pay costs.
- 159.
- Runes produce Energy and Power.
- 159.1.
- Energy is used to pay numeric Energy costs.
- 159.1.a.
- Energy has no Domain.
- 159.1.b.
- Energy has no type.
- 159.2.
- Power is used to pay Domain-associated Power Costs.
- 159.2.a.
- Power has a Domain.
- 159.2.a.1.
- Power's Domain usually corresponds to the Domain of the Rune that produced it.
- 159.2.b.
- Some Power is Universal and can be used to pay for costs of any Domain.
- 160.
- Basic Runes
- 160.1.
- There are six Basic Runes, each with a Domain corresponding to its name: Fury Rune Calm Rune Mind Rune Body Rune Chaos Rune Order Rune
- 160.2.
- A Basic Rune always has the following two Abilities:
- 160.2.a.
- [E]: [Reaction] — Add [1].
- 160.2.b.
- Recycle this: [Reaction] — Add [C].
- 160.2.b.1.
- The Power added this way corresponds to the Domain of the Rune that is being Recycled.
- 161.
- Rune Pools
- 162.
- The Rune Pool is a conceptual collection of a player's available Energy and Power available to pay Costs.
- 162.1.
- When a card adds Energy or Power, it is added to the controlling player's Rune Pool.
- 162.2.
- Players must first add Energy and Power to their Rune Pool in order to be able to spend it to play cards or pay for Abilities with costs.
- 162.3.
- Energy and Power do not have a physical marker or tracker, although players may wish to use a physical tracker if they are retaining unspent Energy and Power over the course of their turn.
- 163.
- Every player's Rune Pool empties at the end of each player's draw phase and the end of each player's turn.
- 163.1.
- Any unspent Energy or Power are lost.
- 164.
- All Abilities that include the action "Add" are abilities that are adding Energy or Power to the Rune Pool. See rule 416. Add for more information.
Related FAQ (3)
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.
Is there a limit to how many runes I can have?
Yes, all Riftbound decks are built with exactly 12 runes, so once you have channeled all of them, you can't get more runes on the board.
Does Karma trigger off of recycling runes?
No. When the text of Riftbound cards refers to “cards," it means Main Deck cards only. Karma's reminder text reflects this.