Riftbound Frequently Asked Questions

Ruling: No, Unyielding Spirit does not stop damage from Challenge. Nuances: - Unyielding Spirit does stop damage from units like Void Seeker, Stormbringer, or Yasuo, Remorseless - Unyielding Spirit does not stop damage from Challenge, Last Breath, or Carnivorous Snapvine - The "they deal damage to each other" wording in Challenge does not count as spell damage that Unyielding Spirit can prevent

Ruling: No, you cannot deploy the unit to that battlefield. The unit you find with Baited Hook does not finalize until after Hook finishes resolving, at which point you've lost control of the battlefield. Sequence: - Baited Hook resolves and kills the friendly unit - Hook finishes resolving completely - The unit you picked to play with Hook now finalizes - You make choices for where it goes - At this point, you no longer control the battlefield (cleanup has happened), so it's not a legal target Nuances: - This differs from Cruel Patron, where the unit is killed as part of the cost (before the ability resolves) - You cannot finalize anything on the chain while resolving something else

Ruling: No, Super Mega Death Rocket must already be in the trash when you conquer for its ability to activate. The card's ability self-identifies as being in trash, so it cannot be discarded from hand to trigger itself. Nuances: - Even if you discard Super Mega Death Rocket as part of another "when you conquer" effect (like Zaun Warrens), you cannot return it with its own ability because the conquering already happened and triggered everything before the discard resolved. The rocket was not in trash at the moment of conquest.

Ruling: You cannot voluntarily discard cards from your hand. Discarding must be done through an ability or as a cost for something. Nuances: - You cannot intentionally empty your hand to trigger effects like Jinx's ability that require having one or fewer cards in hand

Ruling: Whether you can react to a movement depends on how the movement was performed and whether anything triggers during the movement. Sequence: - If the movement was done via Standard Move and nothing triggers, no chain opens and you cannot react - If the movement was done through a spell or activate ability, a chain opens and you can react - If any effect triggers while moving (regardless of how the movement was performed), that effect opens a chain and is reactible Nuances: - Standard Move by itself does not open a chain - The method of movement (Standard Move vs spell/ability) determines whether a chain opens - Triggered effects during movement always open a chain even if the movement itself wouldn't

Ruling: Yes, you can draw even if you discard 0 cards. The draw effect is not conditional on successfully discarding. Nuances: - If the draw were conditional on the discard, the card would use "if you do" clause or "discard to draw" syntax - The game uses "discard, then draw" syntax when effects are not conditional - Conditional effects in Riftbound use different templating (e.g., "discard 1 to return" or "if you do" clauses)

Ruling: Equip has default timing restrictions and can only be done during your own turn, outside of showdown, and with nothing on the chain. Nuances: - To re-equip during an opponent's turn, you would need a card effect like Angle Shot that specifically allows it, rather than using the standard equip action.

Ruling: Yes, you can equip equipment to another unit on the same turn that the previously equipped unit dies, following Base Speed timing. Sequence: - Wait until it is your turn - Ensure the Chain is empty - Ensure there is no Showdown - Then equip the equipment to another unit Nuances: - Base Speed timing means you can only use it when it is your turn, the Chain is empty, and there is no Showdown

Ruling: Darius does not add a rune. When you exhaust him, he adds 1 energy to your rune pool (acting like an untapped rune in that way). Sequence: - You must have Legion activated (by playing a card from your main deck) - Darius must be unexhausted - Exhaust Darius to add 1 energy to your rune pool Nuances: - Darius may not be available on your opponent's turn if you already exhausted him on your turn - Energy is generated into an imaginary space called the "rune pool" from which costs are paid - Runes themselves do not pay costs; exhausting a rune generates energy that goes into the rune pool

Ruling: Miss Fortune's Legend card can be exhausted for free, but only on your turn in an open gamestate (when you could play a unit or perform a standard move). Her Champion card's passive allowing friendly units to be played to open battlefields is active as long as she is anywhere on the board (any battlefield or base), but not when she's in the Champion Unit Zone at the beginning of the game. Nuances: - The Champion Unit Zone is not technically your hand, but units there are not in play so their abilities are not active - An "open battlefield" is understood to mean a battlefield with no units at it, though this term is not formally defined in the Comprehensive Rules

Ruling: No, this sequence does not work. You can exhaust Sun Disc without Legion active, but you only get the effect ("The next unit you play this turn comes into play ready") if Legion is active when you exhaust it. Legion requires you to have already played another card this turn. Sequence: (for the interaction to work correctly) - Play a card (activates Legion) - Exhaust Sun Disc (now the effect applies because Legion is active) - Play removal spell - Play Phoenix (comes in ready) Nuances: - Exhausting Sun Disc before activating Legion means the ability resolves with no effect - Activating Legion after exhausting Sun Disc does not retroactively apply the effect - The Legion keyword applies to the entire effect after the colon, not to the exhaust cost itself

Ruling: No, you cannot exhaust Sun Disc in the middle of this sequence. The discard effect goes on the chain immediately after playing the unit, then the Flame Chompers effect immediately goes on a new chain, and Sun Disc doesn't have Reaction so there's no window to activate it between these events. Sequence: - Play unit with "if you play me, discard 1" - Discard effect goes on chain immediately - Flame Chompers ability goes on new chain immediately - No window exists to exhaust Sun Disc between these steps Nuances: - Sun Disc must be exhausted before playing the unit if you want to give that unit (or the next unit played) ready - The "next unit" that gets ready is determined at the time you exhaust Sun Disc, not during mid-resolution of other effects

Ruling: Yes, a single rune can provide both 1 energy (by exhausting) and 1 power (by recycling) in the same turn. These resources go into your resource pool and can be used to pay for different costs. Sequence: - Exhaust the rune to generate 1 energy (goes into your resource pool) - Recycle that same exhausted rune to generate 1 power (also goes into your resource pool) - Both resources remain available in your pool until end of turn - Pay costs from your resource pool as needed Nuances: - Energy and power are completely distinct resource types and are not interchangeable - Resources in your pool don't have to be spent immediately when generated - they can be "floated" and used later in the turn - You must exhaust the rune BEFORE recycling it to get both resources; if you recycle first, you only get the power - Players should verbally announce when they are exhausting a rune for energy before recycling it for clarity - The rune itself is gone once recycled, but the energy it generated remains in your pool

Ruling: No, you cannot exhaust a Sigil to pay a recycle rune cost. Exhausting a Sigil and recycling a Rune are different actions that happen to produce the same resource (Power). Nuances: - "Rune" is a card type - When you recycle a Rune, you get the resource called "Power" - Sigils also give you Power when you exhaust them - Exhausting a Sigil is not the same as recycling a Rune, even though both produce Power

Ruling: Yes, you can float resources by exhausting runes and use them to pay for cards later in the same phase. Any floated energy or power remains available in your rune pool for the rest of your turn. Sequence: - Exhaust a rune to float energy into your rune pool - Play a seal card and pay its cost using the floated energy - Any remaining floated energy stays available for the rest of your turn Nuances: - Cards can only be played during the action phase, not the beginning phase (except reactions to triggers) - The rune pool empties at the end of each turn (both your turn and your opponent's turn) - The rune pool also empties after the draw phase at the start of the turn, though this is rarely relevant

Ruling: Yes, you can exhaust runes at any time to generate energy and create a floating pool of resources. Both players can exhaust and recycle their runes in response to Divine Judgment, and you can float both energy and power. Sequence: - Exhaust runes to generate energy (creating a floating pool) - Recycle runes to generate power (creating a floating pool) - Pay the cost of Divine Judgment from your floating resources - Use remaining floating resources during that turn - Floating resources are lost at end of turn and end of draw phase Nuances: - You cannot exhaust or recycle runes without generating the respective resource - these are limited actions that can only be performed when activating the rune's abilities - Runes have implicit "Reaction - Exhaust me: get 1 energy" and "Reaction - recycle me: get 1 power" abilities - Both players can float resources before Divine Judgment resolves - There is no downside to floating all available resources before Divine Judgment, even if you don't intend to use them all

Ruling: No, you cannot float energy from your opponent's turn into your draw step. Every player's rune pool empties at the end of each player's draw phase and at the end of each player's turn. Sequence: - Rune pool empties at end of opponent's turn - Your draw phase begins with empty rune pool - Rune pool empties again at end of your draw phase - You cannot exhaust runes during draw phase unless you have a trigger effect to respond to Nuances: - You can only exhaust runes when playing a card or when you can play reactions - During draw phase (ABCD section), you can only play reactions if there is a trigger to respond to (like temporary or hold effects) - You cannot play action speed cards during the draw phase even if you had energy available

Ruling: Yes, this is legal. You can float energy and power in Riftbound by exhausting runes to add energy to your pool without immediately spending it, then recycle those same runes for other purposes while the energy remains available. Sequence: - Exhaust 4 runes to add 4 energy to your pool - Recycle 1 of those exhausted runes to play a seal - Reveal the 4-cost spell with recycle cost of 1 - Exhaust the seal to pay for the spell using the floating energy Nuances: - Your energy pool only empties at each player's draw phase and at the end of each player's turn - You can exhaust runes to generate energy, then use that floating energy later in the same phase for spells or abilities

Ruling: You cannot exhaust runes during Stacked Deck resolution itself. However, you can exhaust runes when paying for Nocturnes after Stacked Deck finishes resolving, since Nocturne gets banished as pending during Stacked Deck and costs are paid when it finalizes. Sequence: - Stacked Deck resolves and finds Nocturnes - Nocturnes get banished and become pending - After Stacked Deck resolution completes, when Nocturne finalizes and asks for costs to be paid, you can exhaust runes to float energy - Pay the recycle cost for Nocturne Nuances: - Runes can be exhausted any time a reaction can be played OR any time a card asks costs to be paid during resolution - This applies to other cards that ask for costs mid-resolution like Bullet Time and yellow Fiora - You cannot use runes during Stacked Deck resolution itself because no costs are being paid at that time

Ruling: Spells cannot fizzle and always resolve on the chain (unless countered). If the targeted unit is moved in response, the spell still resolves but cannot find the target anymore, so the targeting effect does not happen. However, any other effects on the spell (like "Draw 1") still occur. Nuances: - If the spell specifies "at a battlefield" (any battlefield), moving to another battlefield does not prevent targeting - If the spell specifies "here" (specific location), moving to a different battlefield would prevent the effect - Moving the unit to base prevents the targeting effect regardless of the spell's wording - The spell resolves and triggers any "when you play" effects even if the target becomes invalid

Ruling: No, Vilemaw Lair prevents any units from moving from it to base, whether through card effects or standard moves. Nuances: - Units can only leave Vilemaw Lair by moving to another battlefield (via ganking or card effects) or through recall effects (mostly via cards that specify recall) - The restriction applies to all movement types, including flash effects

Ruling: You can flip a card without a valid target. Teemo will flip and Ember Monk will receive the buff, but Teemo's ability will not trigger at all. Nuances: - If a target exists when the "when I defend" ability enters the chain, you must reveal the top 5 cards even if the target is removed before resolution - If the target is removed before damage resolution (e.g., by Gust), you still reveal but deal no damage - The same applies if Teemo is removed before resolution - Reveals still happen for the sake of other card interactions (e.g., Nocturne) as long as a target existed when the ability triggered

Ruling: Yes, you can flip Tideturner on Battlefield B and switch it with something on Battlefield A, even when someone is attacking Battlefield A. Nuances: - Tideturner's ability can be activated across different battlefields - Similarly, Zhonyas can be activated on Battlefield A to save a card on Battlefield B (when flipped, Zhonyas is recalled to your base)

Ruling: You must flip Zhonya's Hourglass before Volibear's ability resolves and deals damage. Once Zhonya's is face-up, if multiple units die at the same time from Volibear's damage, you choose which one to save. Sequence: - Volibear attacks and his trigger goes onto the chain, with damage divided among targets - You must react with Zhonya's at this point (before the ability resolves) - Zhonya's resolves and is now face-up - Volibear's ability resolves and deals all damage simultaneously - All units that would die from this damage die at the same time - Zhonya's triggers and you choose which unit to save Nuances: - You cannot use a Reaction in the middle of something currently resolving - If you allow the ability to deal damage and kill units without flipping Zhonya's first, you cannot then use it to save one - Actions and non-reaction speed abilities cannot be used in response to on-attack triggers

Ruling: Yes, you can flip a hidden unit in response to the Temporary trigger to maintain a unit on the battlefield for scoring purposes. Sequence: - Temporary triggers at the start of the beginning phase - The trigger goes onto the chain and gives priority - You can use reactions (like flipping a hidden unit) in response to this trigger - The Sprite dies when the Temporary trigger resolves - Your flipped unit remains on the battlefield for scoring Nuances: - You are technically reacting to the Temporary effect activating, not to the Sprite dying itself - Reactions can be used whenever you have priority, regardless of game phase - The restriction on using cards during ABCD only applies to base speed actions, not reactions - Opponents can also react to the Temporary trigger

Ruling: Yes, you can flip up Sprite Call in response to Grand Plaza's hold trigger. When you hold at Grand Plaza with 6 units, the "when you hold here" trigger goes on the chain, giving you priority to react by flipping Sprite Call face-up to spawn the 7th unit before the trigger resolves and checks the unit count. Sequence: - Beginning phase triggers (like Temporary) resolve first - Hold happens (gain point, then trigger hold abilities) - Grand Plaza's "when you hold here" trigger goes on the chain - Players receive priority and can react (flip Sprite Call) - Trigger resolves and checks "if you have 7+ units here" Nuances: - You cannot react during beginning phase steps by default because no player has priority during ABCD phases unless a trigger creates a chain - Hold scoring happens strictly after beginning phase effects - Riftbound does not have "intervening ifs" - conditions after the trigger (like "if you have 7+ units") are checked only on resolution, not when the trigger occurs

Ruling: Yes, you can float energy when paying for a boss' replacement effect. You can float resources at reaction speed or when a card asks for costs to be paid. Sequence: - Resources can be floated at reaction speed - Resources can also be floated when a card asks for costs to be paid (mid-resolution) - Floated energy empties after your draw step and at the end of the turn Nuances: - You cannot float resources "out of the blue" - it must be at reaction speed or when costs are being paid - The same rules apply to both energy and power

Ruling: Yes, you can float energy or power while resolving an effect that requires you to pay a cost, even if the resource you're floating is different from the resource being paid. Activated abilities that Add resources with the Reaction tag can be activated any time resources are being paid during resolution. Sequence: - When an effect requires you to pay a cost during resolution (like Nocturne requiring power or Bullet Time recycling runes for power) - You can activate any Add-Reaction abilities at that time - This allows you to float energy even when paying power, or vice versa - The floated resource remains available until end of turn or used Nuances: - The rule text "any time that those spells or abilities require that resources be paid" uses "that" as a connector word, not as a limitation to "that specific resource" - it refers to any time resources are being paid - This is particularly important for cards like Bullet Time where you don't know in advance how much you'll need - You cannot react to the act of adding/floating resources itself

Ruling: Yes, you can float energy from runes. You can tap a rune to generate energy, recycle that rune (e.g., with Seal of Unity), and then use the previously generated energy later in the same turn to pay for other cards. Sequence: - Tap a rune to generate 1 energy - Play Seal of Unity, recycling the tapped rune - Use the floating energy (from the recycled rune) plus energy from other sources to pay for a card Nuances: - Your pool of energy and power only empties at the end of the draw phase and at end of turn

Ruling: Yes, you can activate "Add" abilities (such as floating energy from runes) when paying a cost for a spell like Bullet Time. Nuances: - The Add abilities must be Reaction speed to be used during cost payment - Runes are innately Reaction speed for both their abilities - There is only one known Add effect that isn't Reaction speed

Ruling: Yes, you can float energy to pay recycle costs for Power Nexus. You can either float it in response to the trigger or while the triggered ability is resolving and you are paying costs. Sequence: - Float energy either in response to the Power Nexus trigger, or while the triggered ability is resolving - If floated in response, you can potentially use it for a reaction speed effect - Energy will be removed from your rune pool at the end of the draw phase Nuances: - Floating energy will mostly not have a huge impact unless you can spend it before the end of your draw phase - You would need a triggered ability to go on the chain between beginning phase and the end of draw phase to use the floated energy - The most common way to use floated energy is with a reaction speed effect that costs energy (like Consult the Past) activated in response to the Power Nexus hold trigger - Power Nexus starts a chain every time you hold it, not just when you pay for it (similar to Jinx legend)

Ruling: No, you cannot cast an action spell in this scenario. After end-of-turn abilities resolve, the turn ends immediately, so action spells cannot be played at this timing. Nuances: - You can float mana in response to Sona's trigger and have her ready the runes, giving you both floating mana and ready runes - If you have multiple end-of-turn triggers (like two Sonas), you can use this floating mana plus newly tapped runes to cast a reaction spell (not an action spell) - Action spells can never be played during end-of-turn trigger timing

Ruling: Yes, you can float power by recycling runes at any time you have priority or when spending a resource for an effect/card, even if you don't immediately use it. Runes have activated abilities that work like any other activated ability and don't require you to be paying costs to activate them. Nuances: - Any resources in your rune pool will be lost when you get to the draw phase - Players should track floated resources carefully using methods like: flipping recycled runes face-up on top of the rune deck, using dice for longer-term floating, or using pen and paper at higher levels of play - Common use case is floating energy and power before playing Divine Judgment, using the floated power to hide cards before casting the spell

Ruling: Yes, you can float power and energy during the resolution of abilities, even if those abilities don't require you to pay those resources. You can use [reaction][add] abilities (like tapping runes for energy or recycling runes for power) anytime you can play a reaction or are asked to pay costs. Sequence: - During Bullet Time resolution, you can tap runes for energy before recycling them - The rule about using add abilities "to pay costs" provides an additional window to activate these abilities, not a strict requirement that costs must exist Nuances: - Power and energy float until the next time your rune pool empties - The "to pay costs" language in the rules is not a limitation - it simply indicates an additional timing window when these abilities can be used

Ruling: Yes, you can exhaust runes to add energy after playing Bullet Time but before it resolves. Runes may be used any time a card asks costs to be paid, and all Reaction speed ADD abilities can be used before or during resolution. Sequence: - Play Bullet Time (it goes on the chain) - Before passing priority, you can exhaust runes to float energy - If both players pass priority without floating, it becomes too late to float energy - Bullet Time resolves Nuances: - If you don't float energy before passing priority after playing Bullet Time, and your opponent also passes priority without playing something, it's too late to float energy at that point

Ruling: Yes, you can float runes in Riftbound. You can exhaust a rune to float mana, play a Seal to recycle that exhausted rune, and then use the floated mana to play something else. Nuances: - This is described as a very common strategy in the game

Ruling: You cannot gain a conquest point by moving to a battlefield you already controlled. You can gain a maximum of 2 points from battlefields per turn, plus any additional points from unit abilities. Nuances: - Moving back to a battlefield you previously controlled during the same turn does not grant another conquest point - Unit abilities can provide additional points beyond the 2-point battlefield maximum

Ruling: Yes, you can score 1 point for conquering a battlefield on your opponent's turn if you win the showdown there. Nuances: - You can score 1 point per battlefield per turn, regardless of whose turn it is - This applies when your unit is moved into a battlefield on your opponent's turn (e.g., via Charm) and you win the resulting showdown

Ruling: No, you cannot normally gain priority during a Hold step to use the runes readied by Annie's ability before scoring occurs. Once Annie's trigger resolves, you cannot use actions during that step. Nuances: - You could use Gust earlier during your turn before passing, but this would require not spending all your energy - If you have another end phase trigger (like Targon's Peak, Temporary, or Jinx), you can gain priority between trigger resolutions and use Gust at that point with the readied runes from Annie

Ruling: You can gank the same battlefield multiple times in one turn if you have the ability to move multiple times outside of the normal move. However, you can only score 1 point per battlefield per turn. Sequence: - Gank an empty battlefield - Move your unit with ganking to a different battlefield - Move back to the previous battlefield - Gank again (but only score 1 point total from that battlefield this turn) Nuances: - The limitation is on points scored per battlefield per turn, not on the number of times you can perform the gank action

Ruling: You can generate power during the resolution of Bullet Time using Reaction: Add abilities, even though you don't have priority during resolution. This is explicitly allowed by the rules for any spell or ability resolution that requires resources to be paid. Sequence: - Play Bullet Time and pass priority - Opponent passes priority - Bullet Time begins resolving - During resolution, you can use Reaction: Add abilities to generate power - Choose how much power to pay and resolve Bullet Time's effect Nuances: - This permission applies to any resolution that requires resources to be paid, not just costs paid when casting - You can generate any type of resource during this window (both power and energy), not just the specific resource type being paid - The rule allowing this is the same one that permits generating resources during the payment of spell costs

Ruling: Yes, you can generate power or energy from runes without spending them immediately. This is called "floating" resources. Your resource pool empties at the end of every turn (specifically at the end of the Draw step). Sequence: - Declare you are floating resources (e.g. "I'm floating 4 energy") as you recycle/exhaust runes - Track the floated resources (e.g. with dice) - Spend the floated resources later in the same turn in any order - Any unspent resources are lost at end of turn Nuances: - You must declare the shortcut of floating resources before recycling runes, otherwise opponents may call a judge if you try to use energy from already-recycled ready runes - Energy and power are not tied to your runes after being generated - they exist independently in your pool - You cannot use floated resources on your opponent's turn - they expire at end of your turn - If you want to use resources during opponent's turn, you need ready runes available at that time - You can float both power and energy

Ruling: You cannot hard cast Sprite Call as an attacker to the battlefield you're attacking because you don't control it. However, you can play it during that showdown to your own base/battlefield that you do control. Nuances: - In FFA format as a 3rd party, you cannot play it to help an ally in a 2v2 scenario because you cannot have more than 2 players' units present at a battlefield at the same time.

Ruling: Yes, you can have 2 Dazzling Aurora on the field at the same time and get both effects.

Ruling: No, you cannot have more than 1 hidden unit/spell/gear on the same battlefield object in general. Nuances: - There is a card (the Bandle Tree) that modifies this limit and allows exceptions

Ruling: You can have multiple Zhonya's Hourglass on the field at once. If only one unit dies, only one Zhonya's Hourglass gets used. Nuances: - Multiple copies can be present simultaneously - Each death triggers only one Hourglass, not all of them

Ruling: There is no legend rule in Riftbound. You can have multiple copies of the same Champion in play at the same time.

Ruling: There are no restrictions on the number of copies of a unit you can have in play at any time. This applies to all units, including your chosen champion. Nuances: - You can have multiple copies of your chosen champion in play simultaneously - You can have multiple copies of any other champion (like Darius) in play at the same time - Having multiple copies of a champion with abilities that trigger (like Kai'Sa's Conquer and draw) means those abilities trigger for each copy

Ruling: You are allowed to have the same champions on the board. Champions are normal units with no restriction on duplicates. Nuances: - Your chosen champion is special only in that they always start next to your legend and can be played from there - This rule may have been confused with Legends of Runeterra, where you cannot play a champion from hand if it is already on your board

Ruling: You can hide Teemo directly from the Champion Zone without needing to move it to hand first. Nuances: - The ruling was not always this way; previously the rules only allowed hiding from hand, requiring players to pay energy to move Teemo to hand first before hiding - A Chinese FAQ was the first indication of the rule change allowing direct hiding from Champion Zone - The current rules explicitly allow hiding directly from the Champion Zone