Riftbound is the newest game on this site, and the newest game has a problem that the older ones do not: there is not yet enough of it to rank. No vote has been run, no graded market has formed, and the print history is short enough to read in one sitting. So this page does the three things that can be done honestly with a game this young.
It sets out the card types a deck is built from. It lists every Champion Legend the publisher has named, grouped by the product that named it. And it ranks the cards by the one measure the publisher does publish — the slots in a pack, where the publisher places the cards it wants found last. The Riftbound card index covers the domains and the structure; this page goes after the named cards.
Quick answer
Seven card types share one game, and one of them — the Legend — decides what the rest of the deck is allowed to contain, because a Legend fixes which domains a deck may use. The Champion list below is every Legend the publisher has named so far, grouped by the product that named it, from the first set through to the set releasing in 2027. There is no popularity ranking of these champions, and the section below explains why there cannot be one yet. The final list ranks the cards by the position the publisher puts them in: a Legend is one per deck, and an Ultimate Rare is one per set.
The three lists on this page
Two of the three lists on this page are complete, and the third is deliberately not a ranking at all. It is worth saying which is which before the lists start.
- The card index — the card types and what a pack contains. This is published, and it is short, and it is settled until the publisher revises the pack.
- The Champion list — every Legend named so far, in the order the publisher named it. This is an index, not a ranking. Naming order is not preference, and the page does not pretend otherwise.
- The cards the publisher puts first — the one list here that really is a ranking, and the ranking is the publisher’s rather than ours: it reflects where a card type is placed in the product structure, not what anybody thinks of it.
The cards: what a Riftbound deck is built from
A deck here is not a pile of one kind of thing. Several card types have to be present at once, and one of them is not in the main deck at all. The runes are a separate deck of their own, which is the single most useful thing to understand before buying anything.
| Card type | Where it sits | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Legend | One card, and it defines the deck | Fixes which domains the deck may use. A deck is built around a Legend rather than the other way round |
| Unit | The main deck | A body. Units fight through Might rather than through a separate health value |
| Spell | The main deck | A one-off effect rather than a body that stays on the board |
| Gear | The main deck | Equipment that stays with a unit |
| Rune | A separate rune deck | Pays the cost of the rest. Runes can be spent and returned, which is why they are their own deck |
| Battlefield | The board rather than a deck | Scored by conquering and holding, which is how a game is won |
The publisher also states exactly what a pack holds: fourteen cards, in seven common slots, three uncommon slots and two rare slots, with the remaining slots carrying foil, runes or tokens. A booster box holds twenty-four packs. From the 2027 set the publisher is replacing one common slot with a slot that is either a Legend or a Battlefield, which takes commons from seven to six and is aimed at the grumble of opening a pack and finding no Legend in it.
The Champions, by the product that named them
This is every Champion Legend the publisher has named so far, grouped by where it was named. It is an index rather than a ranking: the order inside each row follows the publisher’s own listing, and the rows follow the release calendar.
| Product | Set code | Champion Legends named |
|---|---|---|
| Champion Decks | — | Jinx, Viktor, Lee Sin |
| Proving Grounds | — | Annie, Master Yi, Lux, Garen |
| Arcane Box Set | — | Jinx, Vi, Heimerdinger, Caitlyn, Viktor, Warwick |
| Radiance | RAD | Seraphine, Ziggs, Jarvan IV, Ekko, Evelynn, and four more the publisher has not named yet |
| Legacy | LGC | Ashe, Garen, Heimerdinger, Illaoi, Karma, Lux, Tryndamere, Vladimir, and four more the publisher has not named yet |
Reading that table vertically rather than horizontally tells you something the rows cannot. The same champion can appear in more than one product with different artwork — Jinx is in both a Champion Deck and the Arcane box set, and Viktor is in both as well. That is the first place a Riftbound collection starts to look like a collection rather than a deck, because it means one champion can exist as more than one object.
Why there is no popularity ranking of Riftbound champions
The obvious question about a list like the one above is which champion is the most popular, and the honest answer is that nobody knows, because the publisher has not run a vote. Every other game on this site has had one, and the difference is age rather than policy: a vote needs a population to poll, and a game still releasing its first sets does not have one yet.
What exists instead is a release order and a product structure, and both are published. Neither one is a measure of preference. A champion that appears in a starter product appears there because it is useful for teaching the game, not because it won anything, and a champion named early is not more popular than one named late. Where a vote eventually happens, this page will say so; until then it reports the order the publisher used rather than inventing a different one.
The cards the publisher puts first, ranked
This is the one list on this page that is genuinely a ranking, and it is the publisher’s ranking rather than ours. It works because the publisher places its cards deliberately: some card types are limited to a single copy, some are limited to a single copy per set, and the rest are distributed by slot in a pack. Ranked from the most tightly held down, it reads like this.
| Rank | What it is | Why it sits where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Legend | One per deck, and the card that decides what the other cards may be. A deck cannot be built without one, and the publisher has said that opening one in a pack should feel like a result |
| 2 | The Ultimate Rare | The top rarity the publisher has announced, at one per set. The first is in Radiance and the publisher has not shown it |
| 3 | The rare slots in a pack | Two per pack. Everything above the uncommon line is placed here |
| 4 | The uncommon slots in a pack | Three per pack, and the tier where the card count of a set is concentrated |
| 5 | The common slots in a pack | Seven per pack today, dropping to six from the 2027 set, when one common slot becomes a Legend or Battlefield slot |
| 6 | The rune deck | Separate from the main deck and sold with the products rather than pulled from packs, which makes it the one part of a deck nobody has to chase |
The useful reading of that list is that Riftbound concentrates its scarcity at the top. The Legend is not merely rare, it is structurally required, which is a different kind of pressure from a card that is simply hard to open. That is why the publisher’s announced change to the pack — giving Legends and Battlefields a slot of their own from 2027 — is a design change rather than a marketing one.
What this page does not claim
No prices, and no ranking of champions by popularity, because no vote has been run and we will not publish a ranking we have invented. The set list runs into 2027 and the publisher’s own announcements are the only source for it, so a set that has not released is described here exactly as far as the publisher has described it — including the Champions it has not yet named. Where a product detail is not published by the publisher, this page does not state it.
Frequently asked questions
How many cards are in a Riftbound booster pack?
Fourteen, in seven common slots, three uncommon slots and two rare slots, with the remaining slots carrying foil, runes or tokens. A booster box holds twenty-four packs. From the 2027 set one common slot becomes a slot for a Legend or a Battlefield.
What is a Champion Legend?
A Riftbound card type that defines a deck. A Legend fixes which domains the deck may use, so a deck is built around a Legend rather than the other way round, and a deck cannot be built without one.
Which Riftbound champion is the most popular?
There is no published answer. The publisher has not run a vote, so no ranking of champions by popularity exists, and this page lists the champions in the order the publisher named them rather than inventing a different order.
Do the runes come from booster packs?
No. Runes are a separate deck rather than a slot in a pack, and they are sold with the products. That makes the rune deck the one part of a Riftbound deck that does not have to be opened from a booster.
What is the Ultimate Rare?
The top rarity the publisher has announced, at one per set. The publisher has said the first one is part of Radiance and has not yet shown which card it is.
Sources
Sources and further reading
- Riot Games — the official Riftbound product pages and the “Products and Sets” announcement: the card types, the contents of a booster pack, the set names and codes, and the Champion Legends named for each product.
- Riot Games — the official Riftbound “How to Play” rules page: the domains, the rune deck and the scoring used to explain where each card type sits.
- Riot Games — the official Riot Games store listing for the Riftbound Arcane Box Set, which names the six Champion Legends it contains.
- This page was compiled 2026-10-06. Where a product detail is not published by the publisher, this page does not state it.
Product detail, card types and Champion Legends are quoted from Riot Games’ own pages at the date cited and are subject to change. This page is structure and identification, not valuation: we publish no price for Riftbound cards, because the game is new enough that no tracked graded market exists for it yet.
Related reading
Where to go next
- The CardSpicy card index — every card we track, with its PSA 10 population and market history (195 cards).
- The illustrator index — every artist behind those cards, card by card (110 artists).
Leave a Reply