Riftbound Frequently Asked Questions

Ruling: When you hide a card, you pay 1 Power of any domain (not the card's energy cost). When you play the card from hidden later, you pay no additional costs. Sequence: - To hide a card: Pay 1 Power (by recycling a rune or using other power-generating abilities) - To play from hidden: Pay nothing (the card is played for free) Nuances: - Power costs are paid by recycling runes (not just tapping them), or through other abilities that generate power (like Kai'Sa legend, Malzahar, or seals) - The 1 Power to hide can be paid with any domain/seal - The rune recycled for power can be one that is already tapped - If playing the card directly from hand (not from hidden), you would pay its normal energy cost in the upper left

Ezreal, Prodigy reduces additional costs that are optional to pay. These will generally use both the words “additional cost” and the word “may.” Repeat and Accelerate are the two main sources of optional additional costs, but Ezreal can also offer a discount for one-off oddballs like Blast Corps Cadet. Ezreal can’t reduce Equip costs. That’s an activation cost for an ability, so it’s neither optional nor additional. There aren’t currently any optional additional costs that apply to activating abilities.

Ruling: A card counts as "played" regardless of whether it's played from hand or cheated out through other means. Tokens are not cards and therefore spawning a token does not count as playing a card. Nuances: - Spells specifically are only considered played if they resolve. If a spell is countered, it is not "played". - When a spell is countered (e.g., by Windwall or Defy), you still pay the cost of the spell before the opponent gets an opportunity to counter it.

Ruling: Play effect triggers only occur after a card is resolved. A card that is countered (such as by Defy) will not count as being played for triggered abilities like Ravenbloom Student. Nuances: - Darius can see himself as the second card played for his own ability - Cruel Patron cannot sacrifice himself because additional costs are paid before the unit hits the board

Ruling: An ability is any text on a card, including Triggered, Activated, and Passive abilities. Nuances: - Targeting occurs when you choose a card for something (often indicated by words like "Choose", "a", "an") - Targeting does not occur when your opponent chooses for themselves - For effects that deal damage "between X units," targeting occurs when you originally choose a unit as one of your possible targets, even if the damage is distributed

Ruling: An 'open' battlefield means completely empty with no units from any players present. Nuances: - You cannot play units to battlefields where opponents have units, even if you don't have units there - You can play multiple copies of the same named champion (including multiple purple MFs) on the field at once

Ruling: Triggered abilities always go on the chain when their trigger condition is met. Whether the effect itself is optional or mandatory is determined by the word "may" - if "may" is present, the effect is optional; otherwise it is mandatory by default. Sequence: - When a trigger condition is met (often starts with "When" or "At"), the triggered ability must be put on the chain - The controller of the last item in the chain gets priority first - Upon resolution, if the effect contains "may", you can choose whether to perform the action; if not, the effect is mandatory Nuances: - You don't "activate" triggered abilities - triggered abilities are triggered, while activate abilities are activated - The distinction between putting an ability on the chain (mandatory for triggered abilities) and resolving its effect (which may be optional with "may") is important

Ruling: You don't pay power to hide cards this turn. Nuances: - The phrasing means "you can [hide] [while] ignoring costs" - the verb is "hide" and you ignore the costs while doing so

Ruling: "Choose" means "Target" in Riftbound. Nuances: - This clarification applies when evaluating whether cards are "choosing" units

Ruling: Open State means the chain is empty. Actions can only be played when the chain is empty (in Open State), while reactions can be played any time you have priority. Sequence: - You gain priority when you get focus - If you have the ability to play an action (focus and chain is empty), you also have priority to play reactions Nuances: - Actions can be played in showdowns when you have focus and the chain is empty, OR outside of showdowns on your turn when the chain is empty - Reactions can be played any time you have priority, not just in Open State - If there are actions in a chain, you can still play reactions as long as you have priority

Ruling: 'Add' means you can exhaust the card and spend it for a power cost, without having to recycle a rune to generate the power.

Ruling: Something is pending when it is being added to the chain, but you haven't made the choices, determined cost, paid cost, and checked legality yet. Sequence: - Cast (becomes pending chain item) - Make choices (target) - Pay costs - Finalizes and goes on the chain - Now reactions can happen Nuances: - Pending exists because sometimes things are played/added to the chain during the resolution of a spell (like Promising Future or Baited Hook), but you have to finish the full resolution of that spell before actually finalizing those cards on the chain

Ruling: Fiora, Peerless is a 3-cost, 3-Might Champion unit with Body domain. When she attacks or defends one-on-one, her Might doubles for that combat (from 3 to 6). Nuances: - The doubling only applies in true 1v1 combat situations - She must be either the sole attacker or sole defender for the ability to trigger - The Might increase lasts only for the duration of that specific combat

Ruling: Nocturne's errata now banishes him to resolve rare corner cases in the rules and ensure the game can rollback if needed. This applies to effects that look at or reveal from the top of your deck (like Vision, Stacked Deck, Teemo, Baited Hook), but does not apply to simply drawing cards. Nuances: - Drawing cards does not trigger the errata interaction - The errata specifically handles effects that look at or reveal from the top of the deck, not just Vision

Ruling: Battlefields can have a domain identity (rune colors), though current cards don't utilize this feature yet. Nuances: - No existing battlefield cards currently have domain identity - This is a rule for potential future cards

Winning and losing combats is a system that was inadvertently left out of the most recent rules update. Here are the conditions under which you win, lose, or tie a combat. After combat damage has been dealt: If neither player has units remaining at the battlefield or both players have units remaining, combat is a tie. If both players do, attackers are recalled. If only one player has units remaining at the battlefield, that player wins the combat and the other player loses. Draven triggers if he’s among the units that survive. It doesn’t matter whether combat damage was actually dealt, only that there was a combat showdown and only your units were left after combat damage. If you killed or removed all the opposing units with spells and abilities before Draven had to throw any punches, he still wins. (Think of it as winning by default.) You can win a combat on either offense or defense.

Ruling: Rule 538 means you cannot play Reactions when a permanent card is played (usually from hand, but also from hidden). You skip priority and go straight to resolving the chain. However, activated and triggered abilities of permanents CAN still be reacted to, because abilities are not themselves cards. Nuances: - Playing a permanent from hidden still counts as playing a permanent card, so no reactions allowed - Token units created by abilities can still be reacted to because abilities grant priority - The rule applies specifically to permanent cards being played, not to abilities of permanents

Ruling: The 'Add' tag means you're adding that resource to your temporary rune pool, which must be spent or it will go away at the end of the turn or at the draw phase. The universal power symbol means you can spend it on power costs of any domain (color), whereas power is normally generated by recycling a rune of the appropriate color. Nuances: - You can't respond to add abilities and they don't pass focus - The resource is temporary and disappears if not used by end of turn or draw phase

Ruling: A dual color rune cost means you can pay that power cost with power of either color shown in the symbol. For example, a dual red/purple cost of 2 can be paid with 2 purple, 2 red, or 1 of each. Nuances: - If a card required both colors separately, it would show separate red and purple symbols rather than a combined dual-color symbol - Single-power dual-domain costs (like 1 power that can be either color) exist and demonstrate this is the intended interpretation

Ruling: "Choose" means "target" in the context of card effects. Nuances: - For cards that choose multiple things, each individual choice must meet the targeting criteria (e.g., if a card requires targeting two enemy units, both chosen units must be enemies) - A card like Switcheroo that swaps stats between two units only triggers "target enemy unit" effects if both units being swapped are enemy units

Ruling: 'Here' refers to any location that the unit is currently at, whether that is the battlefield or a base. Nuances: - The effect applies specifically to the location where the card (e.g., Darius) is positioned, not to any location in general

Ruling: You pay one power to set a unit hidden to a battlefield you control. Starting next turn, you can play the card for free as a reaction, with the restriction that it only affects the battlefield it's been placed on. Sequence: - Step 1: Pay one power to set the unit hidden to a battlefield you control - Step 2: Starting next turn, you can play the card for free as a reaction Nuances: - The card can only affect the battlefield it's been placed on - You ignore the casting cost when playing it from hidden

Ruling: If it's the same player's turn again, a full turn cycle has passed and it's too late to retroactively draw the missed card. Nuances: - The turn where the mistake was made counts as part of the turn cycle - Once your turn comes around again, you cannot go back and correct the missed draw from your previous turn

Ruling: It's easier to think of what CAN be responded to: anything that makes a chain (abilities, units with triggers, and gears). The exceptions are add abilities, units themselves, and gears - these three cannot be responded to even though they use the chain. Sequence: - Playing a unit cannot be responded to - If that unit has a "when I'm played" (WYPM) trigger, that ability goes on the chain and CAN be responded to Nuances: - Cannot respond to: tapping & recycling rune, adding mana to pool, ending turn, playing a unit with no trigger, hiding a card, beginning phase (except hold triggers), standard moving - Might-changing effects using "While" (like Assault, Shield, or conditional might bonuses) don't use the chain - Physical game actions like shuffling, tapping cards, or taking a drink also cannot be responded to

Ruling: The fight would occur but since Snapvine is dead it returns a null/0 might unit and the resulting damage is 0. Effectively nothing happens. Sequence: - Snapvine's triggered ability resolves - The fight occurs - Snapvine (now dead) is treated as a 0 might unit - No damage is dealt to the target

Ruling: When Hidden Blade is responded to with Fight or Flight, the unit does not die and you do not draw 2 cards. Nuances: - The unit moves before Hidden Blade resolves, so the returned value is "null" - You cannot kill something that doesn't exist at that location - The draw effect also does not trigger because the target no longer exists

Ruling: Units only die from having damage counters on them, not from having 0 or reduced might. After combat resolves, damage from all units on board is cleared, so removing a buff at that point does nothing. Sequence: - During combat, units receive damage counters (might itself is not changed) - After combat resolves, all damage is cleared from units - If a buff is removed after this point, the unit simply has lower might but no damage - Units only die when they have damage counters equal to or exceeding their might at cleanup Nuances: - If a buff is removed outside of combat (when damage hasn't been cleared), a unit can have damage equal to or higher than its might, causing it to die at the next cleanup - Cleanups occur at the end of combat showdown, after a chain link resolves, and at the end of the turn - Might-reducing effects like Smokescreen can reduce a unit to 0 might, but it still needs damage counters to die

Ruling: You can play any number of the Nocturne cards revealed by Stacked Deck for any rune each. If you put all three of them into play, you draw nothing (no cards go to hand). Sequence: - Stacked Deck reveals the top 3 cards - You may play any number of the revealed Nocturne cards for any rune each - Any Nocturne cards played go into play, not into your hand - If all three are played, nothing goes to your hand Nuances: - Nocturne's ability does not trigger during Stacked Deck's resolution; the cards go directly into play if you choose to play them

Ruling: When TF with Red Rune attacks a defender at Reaver Row, both the "When I Attack" trigger and the "When I Defend" trigger go on the Initial Chain, with the defend trigger resolving first, then the attack trigger. Sequence: - TF moves into enemy occupied Reaver Row - Both "When I Attack" and "When I Defend" triggers go on the Initial Chain - The opponent targets a unit of theirs when Reaver Row's trigger goes on the chain - The opponent decides whether to resolve Reaver Row's trigger before TF's trigger resolves (before TF flips up a Rune) - Defend trigger resolves first - Attack trigger resolves second

Ruling: Zenith Blade loses its target and does nothing. The card requires targeting an enemy unit at a battlefield, and if that unit is no longer at a battlefield when the spell resolves, the targeting condition fails and neither effect (stun nor moving a friendly unit) occurs. Nuances: - Zenith Blade does not separately target the battlefield itself; it only targets the enemy unit at a battlefield - The second effect references "that enemy unit's battlefield" which no longer exists if the unit is recalled - All targets are declared when the spell is cast, but the targeting condition must still be valid when the spell resolves

Ruling: Zenith Blade's movement is optional, so you cannot choose to move your unit to a battlefield where two other players are already in combat, since only 2 players can be in combat at the same time. Nuances: - If Zenith Blade were a required movement effect, you would not be able to play the card at all because it would create an illegal game state (3 players at 1 battlefield) - The concept of being 'invited' to interact has been removed; all players can interact

Ruling: Units cannot be moved to their opponent's base - this is an illegal move that cannot happen. If an effect would do this, it either must describe how to resolve the situation or the effect would fizzle. Nuances: - This is different from Gears on battlefields: battlefields are not illegal locations for Gears, but cleanup rules send them to base - If a future Golden Rule effect would permit a unit in an opponent's base, that effect would need to describe how to resolve the situation and its impact on other rules - No automatic recall or destruction occurs because the rules don't cover this scenario - it simply cannot happen unless explicitly allowed and explained by a card effect

Ruling: Both players are allowed to select the same battlefield during setup in a 1v1 game. There is no rule prohibiting this. Nuances: - Each player must have 3 unique battlefields within their own deck (no duplicates among your own 3 battlefields) - In 2v2 format, teammates cannot use the same battlefields across both of their decks - The rules do not explicitly specify what happens mechanically when both players select the same battlefield (whether one or two copies enter play), creating a potential gap requiring judge clarification

Ruling: The target is declared when Baited Hook is activated, so you can react with Gust on that unit. If the unit is gone when Baited Hook resolves, the might is returned as "null" and they can't play a unit. Sequence: - Opponent activates Baited Hook and declares the target unit - You can respond by playing Gust on the targeted unit - When Baited Hook resolves, if the unit is gone, the might return fails and no unit can be played Nuances: - Killing the unit is not a cost (costs are before the ":" in card text) - The targeting happens when the ability is put onto the chain, not during resolution

Ruling: If at the end of combat both attacking and defending units remain on the battlefield, the attacking units are recalled (sent to base). Nuances: - If the attacking unit is the only remaining unit after combat, they stay and conquer the battlefield.

Ruling: The card cannot be played while hidden at Rockfall Vale/Path. Nuances: - Hiding a unit at Rockfall Vale is considered a bad strategic move

Ruling: The Tideturner's ability whiffs (resolves to no effect) if Tideturner is no longer on the board when the ability resolves. Nuances: - Tideturner's "original location" is determined when the ability resolves, not when it triggers - If Tideturner is no longer on the board at resolution, the original location returns as "null" and the ability has no effect - Gust specifically cannot target bases, only battlefields, so this exact scenario wouldn't occur with Gust

Ruling: A unit dies during the next cleanup if it has non-zero damage marked on it that is greater than or equal to its current Might. Removing a Gear that reduces Might below the marked damage will cause the unit to die. Sequence: - Damage is marked on the unit - Gear is removed, reducing the unit's Might - During the next cleanup, if marked damage >= current Might, the unit dies Nuances: - A unit can have 0 or negative Might without dying if it has no damage marked on it - The comparison only matters when there is non-zero damage on the unit

Ruling: A stunned unit does not contribute its might to deal damage in combat, but still requires damage equal to its full might value to be killed. In both scenarios where one unit is stunned, if the non-stunned unit cannot deal enough damage to eliminate the stunned unit, the attacker is recalled. Sequence: - Showdown Step occurs (attacker gains Focus, triggered abilities go on chain) - Combat Damage Step occurs if both units remain - Starting with the attacker, each player assigns damage equal to their summed might - Stunned units do not contribute might to damage dealt - Units are killed if they take damage equal to or greater than their might - If any defender remains after damage, the attacker is recalled Nuances: - A stunned unit with 10 might that takes 6 damage survives (still needs full 10 damage to be killed) - A stunned unit with 10 might deals 0 damage to opponents (does not contribute might) - The attacker is recalled in both example situations because the defender survives

The targeted unit does not move. When Tideturner is played from Hidden to the battlefield, its play trigger goes on the chain and you choose a target. If the opponent responds with Gust and returns Tideturner to hand before the trigger resolves, the trigger still resolves but has no effect. When the trigger tries to reference Tideturner's 'original location' but Tideturner has changed zones to a non-board zone (hand), that information is no longer available. The check returns 'null' and the instruction to move the chosen unit 'to my original location' is ignored. The chosen unit stays where it is.

Ruling: If the hidden card is not revealed as a reaction and it becomes the only card remaining on the battlefield, it gets removed during cleanup. Nuances: - Hidden cards can still be played as reactions even when there's no showdown on their battlefield, as long as you could normally play a reaction at that timing - Hidden cards can only target units/cards at the battlefield where they are hidden - If a hidden card is played by paying its full cost (not as a hidden card), it can target units at any battlefield or base

Ruling: When a player loses control of a battlefield that has their hidden card on it, the hidden card goes to the graveyard.

Ruling: When you lose control of a battlefield, any hidden cards on it go to the trash. However, you can flip or play the hidden card in the last available reaction window before losing control. Sequence: - Opponent targets your minion with a spell - You have a reaction window before the minion dies - You can flip the hidden card (if it's a minion) or play it (if it's an action) during this window - If you don't use the hidden card, it goes to the trash when your minion dies and you lose battlefield control Nuances: - You can play any hidden card type in response, even Hidden Blade targeting your own unit - Only one hidden card is allowed per battlefield - Once the minion dies, it's too late to flip the hidden card

Ruling: When a unit with a hidden card is gusted away, the hidden card is put into trash at cleanup (after resolution). However, you can react with the hidden card before the gust resolves to try to get use out of it first. Sequence: - Opponent plays Gust on your unit - You can react by playing your hidden card while still holding the battlefield - If you don't react (or after your reaction resolves), Gust resolves and removes your unit - The hidden card goes to trash at cleanup Nuances: - You can react with hidden units (like Blastcone Fae) and they will be played at that battlefield - You can react with hidden spells like Block, but they may not have any effect depending on timing (e.g., if Gust happens before an attack, Block won't shield the unit being gusted) - Hidden gear cards will be recalled to base when the unit is gusted, but under current rules they work for all battlefields (though this is not intended and will be addressed in new rules before release)

Ruling: When you lose control of a battlefield that has your hidden cards, those hidden cards are sent to the trash. Nuances: - This applies to all hidden cards at battlefields you no longer control - The opponent does not need to use or interact with the hidden cards for this to occur

Ruling: Any energy and power remaining in your resource pool will disappear at the end of your turn. The runes that generated that energy/power remain in their current state (exhausted or ready) - only the generated resources are lost. Sequence: - Generate energy/power during your turn (by exhausting runes or through card effects) - Spend the energy/power to play cards or activate abilities - At end of turn, any unspent energy/power disappears from your resource pool - Exhausted runes stay exhausted (they don't go anywhere) Nuances: - Energy and power are virtual resources separate from the physical rune cards - If you exhaust runes to generate energy but don't spend it, the runes remain exhausted and the energy is wasted - Runes do not go to the trash or rune deck when their generated energy/power is lost

Ruling: Here to Help whiffs because there is no legal destination to play the unit. The "can't" restriction from the battlefield overrides the "can" permission from Here to Help. Sequence: - Rockfall Path allows Here to Help to be played from hidden - Here to Help attempts to play a unit - No valid battlefield exists where units can be played - Here to Help resolves but whiffs (no unit is played) Nuances: - Here to Help uses "may" language, so it can resolve even when the effect cannot be executed - The "can't beats can" principle applies: battlefield restrictions prevent the unit from being played even though Here to Help would normally allow it

Ruling: After Watcher's trigger resolves, the unit (now 3 might with 3 damage) will be healed and recalled to base by Zhonya's Hourglass. It will stay at 3 might until end of turn. Sequence: - Hextech Ray reduces the 6 might unit to 3 might and deals 3 damage - Thousand Tailed Watcher is played and its trigger resolves - Zhonya's Hourglass activates, healing the unit and recalling it to base - The unit remains at 3 might until end of turn

Ruling: When Hidden Blade's target becomes illegal before it resolves (due to being returned to hand by Gust or moved to base by Flash), Hidden Blade resolves with no effect and no one draws cards. When Hidden Blade resolves first (Chain 2), it kills the unit and the controller draws 2 cards, then the Chain 1 spell (Gust or Flash) resolves with no effect since its target is gone. Sequence: - Hidden Blade Chain 1, Gust Chain 2: Gust resolves first returning unit to hand, then Hidden Blade resolves with no effect (no draw) - Hidden Blade Chain 1, Flash Chain 2: Flash resolves first moving unit to base, then Hidden Blade resolves with no effect (no draw) - Gust Chain 1, Hidden Blade Chain 2: Hidden Blade resolves first killing unit and controller draws 2, then Gust resolves with no effect - Flash Chain 1, Hidden Blade Chain 2: Hidden Blade resolves first killing unit and controller draws 2, then Flash resolves with no effect Nuances: - When a spell resolves without a legal target, resources are still spent and the spell is discarded - A unit must be a legal target when the spell is cast, but may become illegal before resolution - Cards do as much as they can even if some parts aren't possible (e.g., Flash targeting two units would still move the other unit)

Ruling: Kayn bounces to base, killing whatever he can during the showdown. Nuances: - Kayn's invulnerability lasts until the end of the turn, not just until the end of the combat - When attacking units survive combat (whether from another battlefield or not), they are always recalled to base, not back to their origin battlefield