How to Play
Eleven short chapters that teach the game by having you play it. No rulebook, no wall of text — each chapter puts a real board of actual cards in front of you and walks you through one idea at a time, from scoring your first point to the rules that decide a showdown. Half an hour, give or take, and you can stop and pick it up again wherever you like.
Chapters
- 1 The goal of the game Riftbound is not about reducing an opponent to zero. It is about holding ground — and holding ground means leaving units somewhere they can be attacked.
- 2 Reading a card Six numbers and symbols tell you everything you need to play a card. Here is where each one lives.
- 3 The board Your cards live in a handful of clearly separated places. Learn the zones and the rest of the rules get much easier.
- 4 Runes: energy and power This is the mechanic that trips up every new player. There is one rune deck, but two different ways to spend a rune.
- 5 A turn, step by step Every turn opens with the same four automatic phases before you get to do anything. Players remember them as ABCD.
- 6 Moving out and taking ground Playing a unit is only half of it. Points come from getting units out of your base and onto battlefields.
- 7 When can you play this? Some cards you can only play on your own turn. Some you can play mid-fight. A few you can play at almost any moment — including on your opponent’s turn.
- 8 The chain When you play a spell it does not just happen. It goes on the chain, and the other player gets a say before it resolves.
- 9 Showdowns Move into a battlefield the opponent is standing on and you get a showdown. This is the whole of combat.
- 10 Damage is not might Two numbers that look interchangeable and are not. Getting them straight is the difference between a trade and a clean kill.
- 11 Closing out the game The last point is the hardest one, and the rules make sure of it.
About this guide
Written against Riot's official rules documents, and it goes further than most beginner guides — card timing, the chain, and the difference between damage and might all get a chapter of their own. It covers a standard two-player constructed game; team play, and the corner cases behind any individual card, live in the official Core Rules. Card images and text come from the live card pool, so every example uses a real card you can go and look up in the card library.