Riftbound keyword

Deploy

Deploy is a Riftbound keyword on gear: you play the gear to a battlefield instead of your base, and it stays there until an opponent holds that battlefield.

23 cardsFirst seen in RadianceCore Rules 830

Official text

On the cards

Deploy (Play this only to a battlefield. When an opponent holds here, kill this.)

Core Rules

830.1
Deploy is a Passive Ability and a Triggered Ability keyword.
830.1.a
Deploy is present on Gear.
830.1.b
Deploy is short for “This may be played or created to any battlefield,” “Play or create this only to a battlefield,” “If this is not a unit, it is not recalled in cleanups,” and “When an opponent holds here, kill this.”
830.1.b.1
Deploy grants permission for Gear to be played to any Battlefield, including enemy occupied and open battlefields.
830.1.b.2
Gear with Deploy can be Moved by appropriate effects.
830.1.b.3
Non-Unit Gear with Deploy are not recalled from Battlefields in step 5 of a Cleanup.
830.2
Multiple instances of Deploy are redundant.

Riftbound Core Rules, updated October 9, 2026

How Deploy works

Where can I play a gear with Deploy?

Only to a battlefield, never to your base. Any battlefield works: one you control, one where your opponent has units, or one nobody controls. Gear without Deploy can only be played to your base.

Core Rules 830.1.b, 830.1.b.1, 149.2Core Rules: Radiance Patch Notes (Effective October 16, 2026)

When does a Deploy gear die?

When an opponent holds its battlefield. Players hold every battlefield they control at the start of their turn, so if your opponent still controls that battlefield when their turn begins, your gear there is killed. Holding it yourself doesn't hurt it.

Core Rules 830.1.b, 315.2.b.2, 471.2

Does a Deploy gear go back to my base like other gear?

No. Any other gear that ends up at a battlefield without being attached to a unit is recalled to its controller's base in the next cleanup. A gear with Deploy stays at its battlefield.

Core Rules 459.1, 830.1.b.3

Can a Deploy gear move?

Only when an effect moves it, like Command: Attack, which can move a friendly gear with Deploy to a battlefield. Gear don't have the standard move that units use.

Core Rules 830.1.b.2, 144Core Rules: Radiance Patch Notes (Effective October 16, 2026)

Does a Deploy gear keep control of a battlefield for me?

No. Control comes from units. If you have no units at a battlefield, you lose control of it in the next cleanup (unless a showdown or combat is happening there), even with a gear there. Playing a gear to an enemy battlefield doesn't start a combat either, because a combat needs units from both players.

Core Rules 190.4.a, 190.4.c, 316.7.a

When can I play a Deploy gear?

When you could play any other gear: on your own turn, with no showdown going on and nothing on the chain. Jarvan IV, Martial Paragon gives your gear with Deploy Action, so you can also play them in showdowns.

Core Rules 310.1.a, 308.1.a

What happens when a Bomb dies?

Bomb gear tokens have Deploy and Deathknell: when one dies, it deals 2 to an enemy unit at its battlefield and kills all your other Bombs there. That includes dying because an opponent held the battlefield.

Core Rules 187.12

Example: A Bomb at an enemy battlefield

You play Ziggs, Short-Fused, and his ability plays a Bomb gear token to the battlefield your opponent controls. Thanks to Deploy, the Bomb stays there instead of being recalled to your base. If your opponent still controls that battlefield at the start of their turn, they hold it, Deploy kills the Bomb, and its Deathknell deals 2 to one of their units there.

From Riftbound Core Rules

Official rulings

Riot's own words, from its rules articles.

  1. Gear with Deploy can be played to any battlefield; enemy occupied, friendly, or uncontrolled. However, when an opponent holds a battlefield where you have gear with Deploy, those gear will be killed.

    Core Rules: Radiance Patch Notes (Effective October 16, 2026)

  2. Gear with Deploy remain at their current battlefield so long as they aren’t destroyed. Some effects can move gear with Deploy to other battlefields too!

    Core Rules: Radiance Patch Notes (Effective October 16, 2026)

  3. What happens when I choose a gear with Deploy located at a battlefield with Orianna, Lady of Clockwork?

    That gear will become a unit-gear when the triggered ability resolves; if their controller doesn’t control that battlefield, they will apply contested status to that battlefield, and a combat or showdown will be staged there in the subsequent cleanup.

    Core Rules: Radiance Patch Notes (Effective October 16, 2026)

  4. What happens when I choose another gear with Orianna, Lady of Clockwork and the previous unit-gear stops being a unit? Will its attached Equipment fall off? If it’s a deploy gear in base, do I get to move it?

    Its attached Equipment will remain attached, and if it is a Deploy gear in base, it will remain in base. … The majority of gear with Deploy reference “this battlefield” or “hold here” in such a way that gaining a benefit from base is not possible. That being said, if you want to move it back to a battlefield you can either turn it into a unit again with Orianna, Lady of Clockwork or you can use movement effects that specify moving gear, such as Command: Attack.

    Core Rules: Radiance Patch Notes (Effective October 16, 2026)

Every Deploy card (23)

kw:deploy