Riftbound Frequently Asked Questions

Ruling: Yes, you can reveal Zhonya on your turn at any time you can play a reaction, even if not in response to anything, and it will go to your base. Nuances: - You cannot reveal Zhonya on the same turn you hid it (standard hidden rules apply) - Any reaction priority timing is valid for revealing it

Ruling: Yes, when you receive focus, you can reveal Teemo first (triggering its "When you play me" effect), then while still having priority, reveal Tideturner and target Teemo with its swap ability. Both effects go on the chain and resolve in reverse order. Sequence: - Opponent attacks into BF1 and passes focus to you - You reveal Teemo, its "When you play me" trigger goes on the chain - You still have priority, so you reveal Tideturner and target Teemo, adding that to the chain - If no further responses, Tideturner resolves first and swaps positions with Teemo - Teemo's trigger resolves (gains might) - Chain empties and focus returns to opponent Nuances: - When an opponent asks "do you have a response?" during their focus window, they are shortcutting and effectively passing focus to you - Proper etiquette is to explicitly say "pass focus" rather than asking if opponent has a response, as the latter can create ambiguity or enable meta-gaming - The attacker should make their decisions on their own focus window without fishing for information

Ruling: Hidden cards can only be played at, or affect units at, the battlefield where they were hidden. You cannot reveal a hidden unit and play it at a different battlefield, even if you control that battlefield. Nuances: - This rule applies to all hidden cards, including cards that create spirits or other units - The FAQ on hidden clarifies this restriction

Ruling: No, you cannot play a Reaction during your opponent's turn unless you get priority. Priority is only given during triggered abilities, other abilities, showdowns, or end-of-turn effects (like those from Annie or Sona legends). Nuances: - Simply passing the turn after playing a unit does not create a closed state or give you priority - You can reveal the hidden card as soon as it becomes your turn

Ruling: Yes, you can score a conquer point this way. Each battlefield can only be scored once per turn, but when a battlefield becomes uncontrolled and is then conquered again, it can be scored. However, you cannot use Gust "out of nowhere" - it must be played as a reaction to something (like a Ballista trigger or during a showdown). Sequence: - During your turn, you conquer battlefields and score points - During opponent's turn, you react to a trigger/event by playing Gust to return your unit from battlefield A - Battlefield A becomes open/uncontrolled - You play Ride the Wind to move a unit from battlefield B to battlefield A - You score a conquer point for battlefield A Nuances: - Gust must be played as a reaction to something; you cannot play it without a trigger - If you use Gust during a showdown where you are the defender, you never lost control of the battlefield, so this wouldn't work - A battlefield is either controlled, uncontrolled, or contested (temporarily) - This does not violate the "2 points per turn" concept because battlefields can be scored once per turn, and this occurs on a different turn (opponent's turn)

Ruling: You may show your cards to any player you want at any time. This will not trigger any effects that say "on reveal" since "Reveal" is a specific game mechanic. Nuances: - Showing cards voluntarily is different from the "Reveal" mechanic - The "Reveal" mechanic refers to card interactions that reveal to all players and trigger specific effects

Riftbound rules and card text use the word “score” in a couple different ways. You can score battlefields; you can also score points, as on cards like Tryndamere, Barbarian. The difference between these two is usually clear… but Tianna muddles them more than we anticipated. Tianna is solely concerned with points and doesn’t interfere with the process of conquering or holding battlefields. You can still conquer and hold battlefields and get your conquer and hold triggers. You can even draw a card if you conquer a battlefield and can’t score because it’s the final point and you haven’t scored every battlefield yet. It’s not until you reach for your scorepad, app, or tracking die that Tianna says “No.”

Ruling: No, you cannot summon units to join an attack at a battlefield you don't control. Sequence: - Moving a unit to a battlefield creates a showdown - During a showdown, base speed cards (including most units) cannot be played - Reaction speed units exist but require you to control the location where you're playing them - As the attacker, you do not control the battlefield Nuances: - This restriction applies even to reaction speed units like Shen, because you must control the battlefield to play units there - If you control a battlefield and charm an enemy unit there to start a showdown, your opponent cannot play reaction units like Shen because they don't control that battlefield

Ruling: No, you cannot activate Baited Hook without a friendly unit on board. To put an ability on the chain, you must have all valid targets available, and Baited Hook's activated ability requires targeting a friendly unit. Sequence: - When activating an ability, you must choose valid targets - Check that all targets chosen are legal - If targets are not legal, you revert the action and the ability does not enter the chain - DAMAYC (Do As Much As You Can) only applies during resolution, not when putting abilities on the chain Nuances: - This differs from Harnessed Dragon because playing Harnessed Dragon does not have an ability - you play it first, then its triggered ability triggers and needs a target to enter the chain - If you successfully target a unit with Baited Hook but the unit is removed (e.g., by Gust) before resolution, you still reveal and recycle the top 5 cards, but cannot play a unit since the might value is no longer available (mistarget/DAMAYC applies) - The card uses targeting templating (rather than "you must" templating) specifically to allow interaction by removing the targeted unit in response

Ruling: Yes, you can tap a rune without spending the energy, let it float, play a seal to recycle the exhausted rune, and then use the floated energy to cast another card. Sequence: - Tap a rune to generate energy without spending it (energy floats) - Play a seal - Use the seal to recycle the exhausted rune - Use the floated energy to cast another card (e.g., Sabotage) Nuances: - Energy and power stay in your rune pool until the end of the draw phase or the end of turn - You can recycle an exhausted rune for power

Ruling: Yes, you can exhaust a rune for energy without spending it immediately, then recycle that rune to play a sigil using the floated energy. Sequence: - Step one: Exhaust your rune to generate 1 energy - Step two: Leave that energy in your pool (floating it) instead of spending it immediately - Step three: Recycle the rune to play a sigil - Step four: Use the floated energy from step one to pay for the card Nuances: - 'Floating' refers to leaving resources in your pool instead of spending them immediately

Ruling: Yes, you can return a Gold gear token to your hand to pay the additional cost for Legion Quartermaster. The token successfully moves to your hand (satisfying the cost requirement), then immediately ceases to exist. Sequence: - Choose the Gold gear token as the target for the "return to hand" cost - The token moves to your hand, satisfying the cost requirement - The cost is successfully paid - The token then ceases to exist as a state-based action Nuances: - Tokens cease to exist "immediately after" moving to a non-board zone, not "instead of" moving there - The cost payment is complete before the token disappears - This does not violate the rule against paying costs that result in illegal actions later, because returning a token to hand is not itself an illegal action - The token ceasing to exist happens after the cost is paid, not during the cost payment process

Ruling: No, you cannot retarget. Targets must be locked in when you put the spell on the chain, and if someone responds with Retreat, you cannot change your targets. Sequence: - Declare targets when putting Singularity on the chain - Targets are locked at that point - If opponent responds with Retreat on one target, the original targets remain unchanged

Ruling: No, you cannot modify your rune deck orientation to track recycled runes. Cards in decks must have the same orientation at all times, and explicitly tracking how many runes you have recycled by modifying how you present your rune deck is not allowed. Sequence: - Pay power costs (including recycling runes) before the card hits the field - Recycled runes go to the bottom of your rune deck immediately in the order they were recycled - The order runes are recycled matters Nuances: - At low OPL/casual play this may be tolerated, but at high OPL events this would result in a judge call - You can use markers to track floating energy/power instead - The issue often stems from players not paying costs correctly before playing cards

Ruling: Yes, you can use Call to Glory between the two triggers. When Pit Rookie is played, both Cithria and Pit Rookie trigger simultaneously. As the active player, you order these triggers on the chain, then must pass priority to allow the first trigger to resolve. After Pit Rookie's trigger resolves (buffing Cithria), you regain priority as controller of the next item (Cithria's trigger), allowing you to cast Call to Glory using that buff before Cithria's trigger resolves. Sequence: - Play Pit Rookie, triggering both Cithria and Pit Rookie - Order triggers on chain (e.g., Cithria trigger, then Pit Rookie trigger on top) - Pass priority to opponent - Opponent passes priority - Pit Rookie trigger resolves, buffing Cithria - You gain priority (as controller of next chain item) - Cast Call to Glory, spending the buff - Pass priority to opponent - Opponent can react or pass - Cithria trigger resolves Nuances: - You must pass priority and allow at least one trigger to resolve before casting Call to Glory; you cannot insert it between triggers without something resolving first - Your opponent has a window to respond with removal after the first trigger resolves and before Call to Glory is cast, which would prevent the free cast - Priority returns to the controller of the newest item on the chain after each resolution

Ruling: You cannot use Cleave as a reaction to Smoke Screen because Cleave is an action, not a reaction. However, after Smoke Screen resolves, you regain focus and can then play Cleave to boost your unit. Sequence: - Attacker moves to battlefield and passes priority - Defender uses Smoke Screen (reaction) - Smoke Screen resolves and its effect snapshots in place - Attacker regains focus and can now play Cleave (action) - Whether Cleave is sufficient to overcome the Smoke Screen debuff depends on the specific units involved Nuances: - Cleave is an action and cannot be used to react to anything - Smoke Screen's effect snapshots when it resolves, so subsequent stat changes from Cleave are calculated separately

Ruling: No, if the unit doesn't have an on-play ability, there is no reaction window to use Gust after it's played. Nuances: - Reaction windows only occur when abilities trigger, not simply when units are played without abilities

Ruling: No, you cannot move the unit to trigger Mask of Foresight before Last Breath deals damage. Once Last Breath begins resolving, the entire effect (ready the unit, then deal damage) must complete before any other actions can be taken. Sequence: - Last Breath begins resolving - The unit readies - Last Breath deals damage immediately - Only after Last Breath fully resolves can you take other actions Nuances: - You can use Yasuo's move ability BEFORE playing Last Breath to move the unit to the battlefield first, which will trigger Mask of Foresight on its own chain, then cast Last Breath afterward with the +2 bonus already active - Even if you tried to use a spell to move the unit while Last Breath is resolving, any triggered showdown would be staged and wait for the game state to be open

Ruling: No, you cannot use Sprite Call to place a Sprite at a battlefield you are contesting. You can only play units to your base or to a battlefield you control. Nuances: - Even if you have units already contesting a battlefield, you cannot use Sprite Call to add the Sprite as an additional unit there - The restriction applies regardless of how your units arrived at the contested battlefield (whether you moved them there or they were moved by another effect)

Ruling: You cannot use a reaction during a phase change on your opponent's turn. Phase changes do not give priority and are not valid triggers for reactions. Nuances: - You would need a showdown or a chain to be created in order to react - If your opponent performs an action during their End phase, priority would pass to you to respond to that action - You don't have priority on your opponent's turn during phase changes

Ruling: Yes, as the attacker you get Focus first after the initial attack/defend abilities resolve, allowing you to open a chain with an Action spell before your opponent can respond. Sequence: - Attack is declared - When I Attack and When I Defend abilities form the initial chain - Initial chain resolves - Attacker gets Focus first - Attacker can play an Action spell to open a new chain - Once a chain exists, opponent cannot play Action spells Nuances: - Action spells can only be used during showdowns when there is no chain - Unit abilities (like Warwick's) count as something on the chain, preventing Action spells from being played - This blocking effect applies to both players once any chain exists

Ruling: No, you cannot play actions on your opponent's turn after a 'When I'm played' ability resolves. You can only play actions on your opponent's turn during showdowns when you have focus. Sequence: - Opponent plays a card with 'When I'm played' ability - The ability is placed on the chain - You can play reactions before it resolves - After it resolves, you do not get an opportunity to play an action Nuances: - You can play reactions before the 'When I'm played' ability resolves - Actions can only be played on opponent's turn during showdowns when you have focus

Ruling: Yes, you can use different colored sleeves for different deck types (Legend, main deck, Runes, Tokens), since these cards have different colored backings anyway. Nuances: - All sleeves within each individual deck type must be identical to each other - All cards within a deck must be placed in sleeves in the same manner - Cards in decks must have the same number of layers and be the same orientation at all times

Ruling: No, you cannot use your signature spell in your champion zone. Your chosen champion must be a unit. Nuances: - Signature spells cannot be champions because champions must be units

Ruling: You cannot target Teemo with Icathian Rain while he is hidden because you choose your targets when you put the spell on the chain.

Ruling: Yes, you can play Immortal Phoenix from the crypt if you kill it with your own Cull the Weak. Nuances: - This works similarly to other effects like Hidden Blade that can trigger Phoenix's ability to be played from the crypt.

Ruling: You cannot use Imperial Decree to spread 1 damage to multiple units to wipe them. You must assign lethal damage to an individual unit before moving on to the next one. Nuances: - When assigning damage, Imperial Decree has not triggered yet, so the damage assignment rules require lethal damage to each unit sequentially.

Ruling: No, Imperial Decree does not change how you assign damage to units. When a Tank is present, you must assign all damage to it first before dealing lethal damage, and you cannot reassign damage before doing lethal to a unit. Sequence: - Send recruits one at a time to work around the Tank - Kill the Tank with one 1M recruit (due to Imperial Decree) - Kill Ahri with another 1M recruit - Conquer with the third 1M recruit Nuances: - If you send all recruits at once, all damage must be assigned to the Tank first - Imperial Decree increases damage but doesn't bypass Tank's damage assignment rules

Ruling: Yes, you can send tokens in one at a time to trigger separate combats under Imperial Decree. Each token that deals any damage will trigger the spell's effect to kill the damaged unit, regardless of the unit's Might value. This works on offense when sending units in sequentially. Sequence: - Cast Imperial Decree, which creates a delayed trigger effect for the turn - Send in a 1-Might token to initiate combat at a battlefield - The token deals 1 damage to an enemy unit during the showdown - Imperial Decree's trigger activates and kills the damaged unit - Resolve the combat fully - Send in the next token and repeat Nuances: - Imperial Decree applies to any unit that takes damage during the turn, even units that enter play after the spell resolves (the delayed trigger exists independently, not tied to specific units) - This strategy does NOT work well on defense because damage assignment rules require you to assign all damage to one unit until it has damage equal to its Might before assigning to another unit - You cannot move in multiple tokens simultaneously and spread 1 damage to multiple units - damage must be fully assigned to one unit first - The spell does not retroactively kill units that were damaged before it was cast (the trigger is "when [they] take damage") - If a unit receives lethal combat damage, the Imperial Decree trigger still goes on the chain even though the unit dies during cleanup, opening a reaction window - Units that already have damage marked before Imperial Decree is cast are not affected unless they take additional damage after the spell resolves

Ruling: Imperial Decree only kills units that are damaged after it resolves. It does not look back in time to kill units that were previously damaged but have since healed. Nuances: - Imperial Decree causes any unit that has any damage assigned to it to die - The effect works both ways - your own units will also die from just 1 damage - A strategy is to send units one by one to attack a populated battlefield to clear enemies one by one, since any damage will kill under Imperial Decree

Ruling: Yes, Irelia can move to another battlefield with Ride the Wind regardless of Ganking status. A showdown will be staged at the destination battlefield once the game is in a neutral open state (no other showdown ongoing and no active chain), and you can score points on the opponent's turn. Sequence: - Ride the Wind moves Irelia to the target battlefield - Once the game reaches a neutral open state, a showdown is staged at that battlefield - Points can be scored during this showdown even though it's the opponent's turn Nuances: - Movement abilities like Ride the Wind ignore Ganking and ready/exhausted restrictions, which only apply to the Standard Move Action - Vilemaw's Lair only restricts moving from the battlefield to base, not to other battlefields - Ride the Wind cannot move a unit to base from Vilemaw's Lair because that restriction does apply to all moves

Ruling: Irelia's ability is a triggered ability that activates when you target a friendly unit. To use the ability multiple times in a turn, you must meet the trigger condition (targeting a unit) each time. Sequence: - Target a friendly unit with a spell or ability - Irelia's triggered ability can be used - To use Irelia's ability again, you must target a unit again Nuances: - Simply readying Irelia (such as by paying energy after conquering a battlefield) does not allow you to reuse her ability without meeting the trigger condition again

Ruling: You can play Jinx Demolitionist even with 0 or 1 cards in hand because "discard 2" is an effect, not a cost. This principle applies to other non-targeting effects like Cull of the Weak. Nuances: - If a card requires a target and you cannot satisfy the targeting requirement, then you cannot play it (e.g., Charm cannot be played if the opponent has no units) - Effects that don't target can resolve even if they cannot be fully satisfied

Ruling: Jinx Rebel can be readied multiple times per turn, with each discard trigger activating her ability separately. If she is already ready when you discard, she still gets +1 (do what you can). Nuances: - You must actually discard a card for the ability to trigger; if you have no cards to discard, the ability does not activate.

Ruling: Yes, Kadregrin can count itself.

Ruling: Yes, Kai'Sa legend ability can be used to pay deflect costs. Deflect cost is a mandatory additional cost that becomes part of the spell's total cost, and Kai'Sa can pay any part of a spell's cost whether it's the printed cost or an additional cost. Nuances: - This applies as long as the card being played is a spell - Example: A Kai'Sa player can use the legend ability to pay the deflect cost when targeting a mighty Fiora with Stupify

Ruling: Reaction means you CAN play it in reaction to something, not that you have to. You can use a Reaction any time you could play an Action or a unit, including as the first thing on your turn. Nuances: - Kai'Sa's ability only pays for spells, not for other costs like hiding cards

Ruling: Yes, Kai'Sa's legend ability can be used to pay for Deflect costs. Since Deflect is a mandatory additional cost, it becomes part of the spell's total cost. Sequence: - Put the spell on the chain - Choose targets - Calculate and pay the cost (including any Deflect costs) - Players can then react Nuances: - This only applies if the card being played is a spell (as required by Kai'Sa's ability) - Deflect is not a triggered ability; it's an additional cost that must be paid when targeting

Ruling: No, Kai'Sa's legend ability cannot be used to pay for hidden spell cards. Hiding a card is not the same as playing it. Nuances: - Even though the hidden card is still a spell, the hiding action is distinct from playing the card

Ruling: No, Kai'Sa cannot pay for hiding Sprite Call because hiding is not playing a spell, and Kai'Sa's ability only generates power when playing spells. Nuances: - Hiding a card is distinct from playing/casting it - Sprite Call only requires energy as its cast cost, not power - Kai'Sa generates power specifically for playing spells, which doesn't apply to the hide action

Ruling: Kaisa's ability only provides power that can be used to pay for spells, not energy. This power cannot be used to pay for units or to pay the energy cost of any card, including spells. Nuances: - Kaisa provides power (like recycling a rune), not energy (like exhausting a rune) - The power Kaisa generates can only be used for spell costs, regardless of when or how it was generated - Kaisa can be tapped at any time during the turn and the power gets stored in the pool - Kaisa does not give you a rune or energy; she gives power with a restriction that it can only pay for spells

Ruling: Kaisa's ability generates power (not energy) which can be used to pay for a spell's power requirement. You still need to recycle the required number of runes for the spell's recycle cost. Tapped runes can be used to pay recycle costs. Sequence: - Recycle the required number of runes for the spell (can be tapped or untapped) - Use Kaisa's power generation to fulfill the power requirement - Example: For Smoke Screen, recycle 2 runes and tap Kaisa to pay for the power Nuances: - Kaisa generates power, not energy - The recycle cost (number of runes) must still be paid separately from the power requirement

Ruling: No, Karma cannot give more than one buff when you recycle 2 cards from Candlelit. Nuances: - Karma's text specifies "one or more" cards recycled, which means it triggers once regardless of how many cards are recycled in a single instance

Ruling: No, Karthus cannot cause Ekko to trigger his deathknell twice. You must recycle Ekko to ready the runes, and you cannot recycle him twice from a single death. Nuances: - The recycle part of Ekko's triggered ability is a condition, not a cost - Triggered abilities don't have costs; costs are paid when effects enter the chain - If you fail to recycle Ekko, you don't ready the runes - Ekko's deathknell can trigger on an opponent's turn whenever he dies

Ruling: After the errata, Kinkou Monk now says "up to" so it will always enter the chain, even if you only have 1 or 0 other units to buff. Nuances: - Before the errata, the effect only entered the chain if you had 2 other units available to target

Ruling: Yes, this interaction works as described. Kog'Maw's Deathknell can trigger during combat, and the damage from the Deathknell effect can combine with subsequent combat damage to kill a unit. Sequence: - Opponent attacks with Kog'Maw and Kayn (and hidden Tideturner) - Reaver's Row sends Kayn back to Base - Both players pass Focus and Kog'Maw dies, triggering Deathknell - Mountain Drake heals from Combat Damage - Kog'Maw trigger goes on the chain and Tideturner is activated targeting Kayn - Priority is passed and Tideturner swaps with Kayn - Priority is passed and Kog'Maw's Deathknell resolves, dealing 4 damage to Mountain Drake - Back in combat, both players pass Focus - Combat damage is dealt to Mountain Drake, which dies from the combined damage of Kog'Maw's Deathknell and Kayn's combat damage Nuances: - Once you enter the Deathknell chain, you're past the point of Focus and are passing priority instead - Priority continues to be passed until the chain is empty

Ruling: No, you cannot spend an enemy unit's buff. A player can only spend buffs on units they control. Nuances: - Cards that say "spend a buff" do not explicitly state "spend a friendly unit's buff" in their text, but the rule still applies that you can only spend buffs from units you control

Ruling: Yes, Kraken Hunter's ability to spend buffs can be used to pay for Accelerate costs because Accelerate is part of the total cost. Sequence: - Determine total cost by applying ignores - Apply additional costs (Accelerate) - Apply cost increases - Apply discounts (Kraken Hunter's effect)

Ruling: No, Last Breath cannot be used to respond to Reaction spells during a showdown because it is an Action spell, not a Reaction. Actions can only be played while the Chain is empty. Sequence: - Start of Showdown - opponent passes - You play Hidden Blade (Reaction) onto opponent's unit and pass - Opponent can only play a Reaction spell or pass at this point - If opponent passes, Hidden Blade resolves and the unit dies - Only after the Chain is empty can the opponent play Last Breath on a different unit Nuances: - Last Breath can be played on any unit, not just Yasuo (signature spells are only restricted during deck construction, not targeting) - Actions can never react to anything at any time - only Reactions can react

Ruling: No, Last Breath cannot be activated without both a friendly unit to ready and an enemy unit at a battlefield to deal damage to. Both targets must be legal at activation for the spell to enter the chain. Nuances: - If Last Breath is successfully activated with both valid targets, but one target becomes invalid before resolution, the spell resolves doing as much as it can with the remaining valid target ("do as much as you can" only applies during resolution, not activation) - The distinction between activation requirements and resolution is key: all targets must be legal when activating the spell, but targets can become invalid during resolution - This differs from cards like Dragon's Rage which use "Then" to indicate sequential timing, where the second target is chosen during resolution rather than activation