Riftbound’s shelf carries three products that are complete games in a box, and they are not variations on one idea. One is a deck for a single champion, one is a matched pair built for two people to play each other, and one is a teaching box for a table of newcomers. Choosing between them is mostly a question of who is going to be sitting opposite you. This page sets out what each one is for and what the differences mean in practice.
Quick answer
A Champion Deck is a complete deck built around one champion, sold for one player, arriving with the runes and the battlefield card it needs. A Showdown Deck contains two complete decks in one box, built as a matched pair so two people can play each other immediately. Proving Grounds is a teaching set with four decks and the accessories for a table of two to four. All three are ready to play; the difference is how many people the box is built for and how much the product assumes you already know.
Three shapes, three jobs
The distinguishing feature of the three products is not size or contents, it is the number of people the box is built to serve and how much it assumes you already know. Laying them out together makes the choice straightforward.
What a Champion Deck is
A Champion Deck is a complete deck built around a single champion, sold as one product for one player. It arrives with the runes and the battlefield card it needs, so there is nothing to assemble before the first game.
The important qualification is what it assumes. A Champion Deck presumes that somebody already knows how the game works, so it is the right purchase for a player who has watched games or played before and knows which champion they want. It is not a teaching product, and it does not try to be one. the card types covers what the cards in it actually do, which is the knowledge the product assumes.
What a Showdown Deck is
A Showdown Deck is two complete decks in one box, built as a matched pair. The pairing is deliberate rather than incidental: the two decks are designed to be played against each other, so the first game is a real game.
Vendetta shipped one built around Zed against Shen, and Radiance shipped one built around Seraphine against Evelynn. Because the box contains both sides, it is a product for two people rather than for one, which makes it a different purchase from a Champion Deck even though both contain constructed decks. the sets, from Origins to Radiance places those sets in order if you are deciding which pairing to start with.
Proving Grounds, for a table
Proving Grounds is the teaching product. It holds four complete decks — built around Annie, Garen, Lux and Master Yi — along with a play mat, tokens and markers, and a rulebook that takes you from setup to winning.
Its job is different from the other two. It is sized for two to four players rather than for a single player, it assumes nobody at the table knows the game, and it is designed so that one purchase makes a table playable. Read against a Champion Deck, the distinction is what the product teaches rather than what it contains.
Decks, cards and what each is for
The line between the ready-to-play products and the packs is worth stating, because the two get confused.
| Product | What it delivers |
|---|---|
| Champion Deck | One complete deck, for one player who knows the game. |
| Showdown Deck | Two complete decks as a matched pair, for two players. |
| Proving Grounds | Four complete decks plus accessories, for a table of two to four. |
| Packs and displays | A card pool, for building and upgrading rather than for playing tonight. |
A pack is a pool and a deck is a game. what is in a pack sets out what is in a pack if you are planning to build rather than to start.
Which one to buy
Three situations, three answers.
- Nobody at home knows the game. Proving Grounds, because it is the only one of the three built to teach a table rather than to serve a player.
- You want to play against one other person and you both know the game. A Showdown Deck, because the pair is designed to face each other.
- You know which champion you want. That Champion Deck, because it is built for exactly that and nothing else needs deciding.
In all three cases, the cards arrive ready to use, so the next thing is protection. the sleeves and holders page covers sizes and holders, and the card protection range lists the ranges we keep. the Origins guide and the Radiance guide cover the first set and the current one, and the Riftbound card index collects the rest of the structure.
For the rest of the game’s structure — the set list, the rules and the other article lines — the Riftbound card index is the place to start.
Frequently asked questions
What is a Riftbound Champion Deck?
A complete deck built around a single champion, sold for one player, arriving with the runes and battlefield card it needs. It assumes the player already knows how the game works.
What is a Showdown Deck?
Two complete decks in one box, built as a matched pair so two people can play each other immediately. Vendetta shipped one as Zed against Shen, and Radiance shipped Seraphine against Evelynn.
What is in Proving Grounds?
Four complete decks built around Annie, Garen, Lux and Master Yi, along with a play mat, tokens and markers, and a rulebook. It is designed to make a table of two to four players playable from one purchase.
Which Riftbound product should a beginner buy?
Proving Grounds, if nobody at the table already plays, because it is the one built to teach. A Champion Deck assumes existing knowledge and is better once you know which champion you want.
Do decks come with runes?
The ready-to-play products arrive complete, with what the deck needs to be played. Runes are also sold separately for anyone building a deck from cards rather than starting from a preconstructed product.
Sources
Sources and further reading
- Riot Games — Riftbound official product pages
- Riot Games — Riftbound State of the Game articles
- Riftbound official card gallery
- Third-party sealed-product previews (published set sizes and structure)
Game rules, product contents and card counts are quoted from the publisher’s own materials at the date stated and can change without notice. Prices quoted anywhere on this site are secondary-market observations and move quickly; nothing here is a valuation or an investment recommendation. Our own asking prices for the cards we hold are on each product page.
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).
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