How to Play Riftbound: Rules, Turn Structure and Scoring Explained

This guide explains how to play Riftbound from the first shuffle to the winning point. It covers setup, the mulligan, each phase of a turn, how runes pay for cards, how fights at battlefields work and the scoring rules that decide close games. If you've never heard of the game, start with our Riftbound beginner's guide and come back.

Rules can change with each set. Riot publishes the official core rules and updates them through the year, so treat the official rules as the final word if anything below differs.

What you need on the table

Each player brings:

• 1 Legend: your champion. It stays face-up outside your deck all game and sets your two domains.
• A 40-card main deck: units, spells and gear, including one copy of your Chosen Champion, a champion unit with the same name as your Legend.
• A 12-card rune deck: your resources, kept separately and never shuffled into the main deck.
• 3 battlefields: locations the players fight over.

In a standard 1v1 game, each player puts one of their battlefields into play, so there are two battlefields on the table.

Game setup, step by step

1. Place your rune deck face-down in its zone.
2. Put your Legend and Chosen Champion face-up.
3. Put one battlefield into play for each player.
4. Shuffle your main deck. Your opponent may cut it.
5. Decide who goes first. The player going second gets an extra rune during their first Channel Phase to make up for it.
6. Draw your opening hand of 4 cards.

The Riftbound mulligan

After drawing 4 cards, you may set aside up to 2 cards, put them on the bottom of your deck and draw the same number of replacements. There's no full reshuffle and no second mulligan. Mulligan aggressively for cheap units you can play on your first two turns. A hand of three expensive cards is a hand that loses battlefields early.

Turn structure: A, B, C, D, then actions

Riftbound turns follow a simple rhythm that players remember as ABCD:

Phase	What happens
Awaken	Ready your exhausted units, gear and runes.
Beginning	Start-of-turn effects happen and you score each battlefield you hold. Temporary units are killed at the start of this phase, before scoring.
Channel	Put the top 2 runes of your rune deck into play.
Draw	Draw 1 card from your main deck.
Action	Play cards, use abilities and move units. This is where the game happens.
End	End-of-turn effects resolve and damage on units is cleared.

How runes pay for cards

Every card has an energy cost (the grey number) and may also have a power cost (domain symbols). Runes cover both:

• Exhaust a rune to make 1 energy.
• Recycle a rune, putting it on the bottom of your rune deck, to make 1 power of that rune's domain.

That trade-off matters. Recycling a rune gives you power for a strong card now, but you have fewer runes on the board next turn. Because you channel 2 runes every turn, you'll almost never miss a land drop the way Magic players do, but you still have to plan your curve. Our Riftbound deck building guide covers how to split your 12 runes between your two domains.

Units, movement and fights

Units enter play exhausted, so they usually can't move the turn you play them. The Accelerate keyword lets you pay extra for a unit to enter ready. Gear enters ready.

During your Action Phase you can move a ready unit from your base to a battlefield. A unit's Might is both its attack and its toughness: a 4-Might unit deals 4 damage and dies once it has 4 damage marked on it.

When units move to a battlefield, two things can happen:

• Showdown: if you move into an uncontrolled battlefield, there's a window where both players can respond with spells and abilities before you take control.
• Combat: if your units move into a battlefield where your opponent has units, combat happens. Each side's total Might is dealt as damage, and attackers and defenders assign it to enemy units. Keywords like Tank, Assault and Shield change how this goes.

If you end up as the only player with units there, you take control of the battlefield. Every keyword is defined in our Riftbound keywords glossary.

How scoring works in Riftbound

This is where many new players go wrong. There are two ways to score:

• Conquer: you gain control of a battlefield you didn't already control and haven't scored this turn. You get 1 point.
• Hold: you still control a battlefield at the start of your turn. You get 1 point during your Beginning Phase.

In 1v1, first to 8 points wins.

The final point rule

You usually can't win your final point by conquering only one battlefield while another battlefield is still unscored that turn. In practice, for the last point you need to hold, or to conquer every battlefield in the same turn. Plan for this from about 6 points. Keeping a battlefield safe until your next Beginning Phase is often the cleanest way to close a game.

Spell timing in brief

Most cards can only be played during your own Action Phase when nothing else is happening. Cards with Reaction timing can be played in response, including during your opponent's turn and inside showdowns and combat. Saving a Reaction spell to blow out an attack is one of the biggest skill gaps between new and experienced players.

Team and multiplayer games

Riftbound also supports 2v2 (team score of 11 wins), three-player Skirmish and four-player War. The setup changes in each: in 2v2, for example, the first player doesn't draw on their first turn and doesn't put a battlefield into play. Our Riftbound 2v2 guide covers team play.

Frequently asked questions

How many cards do you draw at the start of Riftbound?

Four. You may then mulligan up to 2 of them to the bottom of your deck and draw replacements.

How many runes do you get per turn?

You channel 2 runes every turn in the Channel Phase. In 1v1, the player who goes second channels an extra rune on their first turn.

Can units attack the turn they're played?

Usually not. Units enter exhausted. A unit with Accelerate can enter ready if you pay the extra cost.

How do you win Riftbound?

Reach 8 points in a 1v1 game (11 as a team in 2v2) by conquering and holding battlefields.

Where can I read the official Riftbound rules?

Riot publishes the official core rules and updates on its Riftbound site. Check them after each set release, since rules updates often arrive with a new set.

How to play Riftbound better: next steps

You know the rules. Now build something. Read the Riftbound deck building guide, check which cards are on the Riftbound ban list, and pick up the cards you need from our Riftbound singles.