Build your first Riftbound deck: step by step

New to Riftbound, the League of Legends card game? How to build a playable deck: legend, champion, 40 cards, runes, battlefields and common mistakes.

Riftbound is the League of Legends trading card game. Many people collect Riftbound for the artwork but have never built a deck of their own. This guide takes you in 7 steps from “I have cards” to “I have a playable deck”. No prior knowledge needed.

Riftbound in one minute

• Whoever scores 8 points first wins. You score for conquering a battlefield and for each battlefield you hold at the start of your turn.
• Each turn: ready your cards, score for held battlefields, channel 2 runes from your rune deck and draw 1 card.
• Runes are your resource: exhausting gives energy, recycling gives power in the rune's colour.
• Your final point usually can't come from a simple conquest, most games are won by holding a battlefield.

Step 1: Pick your legend

The Champion Legend sets your champion and the 2 domains (colours) you may play cards from. Pick the legend you own the most cards for.

Step 2: Champion, runes and battlefields

The deck needs at least 1 Champion unit matching your legend. Add 12 runes in your legend's domains and 3 different battlefields. Split the runes roughly by the colours of your cards, for example 6 and 6.

Step 3: 40 cards in the main deck

The main deck has 40 cards, including the Champion unit. Each card may be included at most 3 times.

Step 4: The skeleton

These are guidelines for a first deck, not fixed rules.

Step 5: The cost curve

You get 2 runes per turn. Plenty of cheap units let you occupy battlefields early. Only a few cards should be very expensive.

Step 6: 3 copies beat lots of singles

Your most important cards belong in the deck 3 times, so you actually draw them. A deck of many different single cards plays differently every time and rarely well.

Step 7: Test and adjust

• Shuffle and draw an opening hand. Check that you can do something useful in your first turns. Do this 10 times.
• Play a few games against friends.
• Cards that never did anything go. Replace them with another copy of your best card.

The shortcut: a ready-made deck as a template

Riot releases Champion Decks that are playable right away. Their card lists are online. Paste such a list into TCG-Completist and see what is already in your collection.

How TCG-Completist helps

1. Open 🃏 Decks in the account menu and click “New deck”. Choose Riftbound as the game.
2. Paste a list, for example with “3 Jinx, Demolitionist”. Use the English card names.
3. You see right away which cards you own, which are missing and roughly what the rest costs.
4. If you want to play a card as foil or signature version, set the print with one click. Add missing cards to your wishlist with one click.

The deck builder is free. Guides for other games are under Deck building.

The 5 most common beginner mistakes

1. No Champion unit. It is required and must match your legend.
2. Runes split badly. Match them to your cards' colours.
3. Only attacking. Held battlefields score every turn.
4. Too many expensive cards. Follow the cost curve.
5. Only single copies. Better 3 copies of your best cards.

That's all your first deck needs. Build it, play it and improve it after every game.