Riftbound: Riot's New LoL TCG Respects LoR Fans Concerns

Riot's new card game Riftbound is based on the League of Legends world. It’s made to be easy to play but can it succeed where Legends of Runeterra did not?

I love the smell of new cards fresh from their packs but trying out a brand-new trading card game is even better. So I was really happy when Riot Games invited me to their Los Angeles office to try their new League of Legends card game Riftbound.

Riftbound is a physical card game sold in booster packs. You build decks using your favorite League of Legends champions. It's very different from Riot’s earlier digital card game Legends of Runeterra.

If you’ve played Hearthstone or MTG Arena this game will feel familiar. You collect resources to play spells and send fighters to battle your opponent. The goal is to outsmart them using smart card moves. What makes this game special is that you also try to take control of different areas. You earn points by capturing and holding these battlefields.

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MOBA and card game players both love strategy. They’re good at learning game rules and sometimes spend a lot of money on their hobbies. But the two types of games are still very different. I was curious how Riot would make their new game fun for League of Legends fans So I asked Riftbound’s game director Dave Guskin.

Guskin says the most important part is the champions. We worked hard to make sure they feel the same in this card game he explains. Yasuo still feels like Yasuo, Teemo like Teemo and Viktor like Viktor. They don’t play exactly like in League of Legends but we stayed true to who they are.

In Riftbound each deck is based on one champion. You get three special cards that guide your strategy. The Legend card gives you a power you can always use. The Unit card puts your champion into the fight. The Signature Spell is a powerful move based on the champion’s ability like Volibear’s Stormbringer or Jinx’s Super Mega Death Rocket which you can use later in the game.

Guskin gives an example of Yasuo a samurai champion known for quickly taking down enemies. In Riftbound he’s shown with a power that lets units move fast in or out of battle and he can hit hard before the fight starts. Another example is the Jinx deck which matches her wild and crazy style. It makes you throw away your own cards to play in a risky and fun way.

Guskin says that League and Riftbound are alike because in both games players must pick the perfect time to use a strong power.

We think this is a smart way to play. Like in League of Legends you decide when to stay in a lane or when to go jungle. The game works differently but the timing and flow feel similar to that style of play.

In the end it’s the connection to Riot’s world and characters that will make League players want to try Riftbound. People who like collecting League of Legends champions will be interested he says.

A physical TCG is a set of cards you can easily get. These cards show your favorite champions places, and characters from Runeterra. Just look at how excited Final Fantasy fans are about the new Magic The Gathering x Final Fantasy cards to understand what Riot wants to happen.

Riot Games wants its cards to be special and wanted people to like them. Six months ago when the Project K card designs were not liked, they quickly made changes. Now, the game has a name and a new look. Riot changed the card borders to match the Hextech style a magical steampunk theme from the show Arcane. The cards now better show the main ideas of League of Legends.

Riot knows people like a League of Legends card game. But many fans feel sad because Legends of Runeterra a card game that started in 2020 stopped making new player-versus-player content in February 2024. Now it mostly focuses on single-player games. Riftbound is coming out soon after this change.

I asked Guskin who was in charge of Runeterra until recently if he was worried that Riot might have upset the people they wanted to play Riftbound. He said he has definitely noticed some of that.

He says I understand if you play LoR PVP and feel like you were left behind. But I hope both teams can support each other in a positive way.

LoR has a lot of great art that we are using now to help with Origins and future sets. When we create new art for Riftbound, we plan to share it with LoR too.

When I played Riftbound I saw that even though the characters look good it’s hard to feel the game is really like League. I can imagine a version that is closer to League, with things like turrets as units, cards that match champions abilities clear lanes to play in, and winning by destroying the enemy’s Nexus.

Guskin says that Riftbound used to look more like that in the early stages. He explains that it was actually more fun and easier to create cards and content when the game showed a simpler version rather than trying to copy the Rift exactly.

One reason is that the game has a lot to explain for new players. Riot wants their card game to be easy for everyone to start. Guskin thinks Riftbound is a good way to begin. It’s a game that League fans can play with friends even if they only watched Arcane and never played the original game.

LoL will quickly catch players attention. For most Riftbound players it won’t be long before they spend all their free time playing Summoner’s Rift.

Riftbound will be released in China this summer and in English-speaking countries in October this year. The first set of the game called Origins will be shown from June 9 to July 18.