Riftbound rules
Riftbound deck building rules
A Riftbound deck is a Champion Legend, a Main Deck of 40+ cards including your Chosen Champion, 12 runes and 3 battlefields. Max 3 copies of a card and 3 Signature cards.
The explanation
A Riftbound deck has four parts: one Champion Legend, a Main Deck of at least 40 cards, a rune deck of exactly 12 runes, and three battlefields in every sanctioned mode. The Main Deck includes your Chosen Champion, which starts the game in your Champion Zone instead of being shuffled in.
Start with your Champion Legend (every one is on the Legends page). Its domains are your deck's Domain Identity. A card with one domain needs that domain, a card with two domains needs both, and cards with no domain fit any deck. Loose Cannon is Fury and Chaos, so a Jinx deck can play Fury cards, Chaos cards, Fury and Chaos cards, and cards with no domain.
Your Chosen Champion must be a champion unit with your legend's champion tag, like Jinx, Rebel or Jinx, Demolitionist for Loose Cannon. You can play up to 3 copies of a card by name, and your Chosen Champion counts toward its 3. Different versions of a champion have different names, so you can play 3 of each.
Signature cards are tied to a champion too. A deck can hold 3 Signature cards in total, whatever their names, and all of them must have your legend's champion tag. A card with Unique is limited to 1 copy.
Your 12 runes must match your Domain Identity, and your three battlefields must all have different names. Tokens never go in a deck: cards create them during play. Every card must also be legal in the format you play, so check the ban list.
What the Core Rules say
- 103
- To play Riftbound, a player must have a Main Deck, a Rune Deck, a Champion Legend, and a number of Battlefields determined by the Mode of Play. These are collectively referred to as a player’s deck.
- 103.2.b.2
- Your deck’s Domain Identity is dictated by the domains of your Champion Legend. In the default card frame, these domains appear as symbols in the legend’s upper left corner.
- 103.2.b.4
- If a card has more than one Domain, then that card is permitted only in a Domain Identity that contains all of the indicated Domains on that card.
- 103.2.b.5
- If a card has no Domain, then that card is permitted in decks of any Domain Identity.
- 103.3
- A Main Deck of at least 40 cards: A Chosen Champion Unit, as well as Units, Gear, and Spells
- 103.3.a.2
- Must be a champion unit with a champion tag that matches the tag on your Champion Legend.
- 103.3.b
- Your Main Deck can include up to 3 copies of the same named card.
- 103.3.d.1
- Regardless of name, a deck may only contain a sum total of 3 Signature cards.
- 103.3.d.2
- All of the Signature cards must have the Champion tag that corresponds to the Champion Legend of the deck.
- 161.2.a
- Exactly 12 Rune cards chosen during Deck Construction.
- 103.5.c
- Cannot include more than one of a Battlefield of the same name when there are more than one required for the deck.
- 825.3.a
- A deck can contain only one card of a given name if the card has Unique
Quoted word for word from the Riftbound Core Rules, updated October 9, 2026
Common questions
How many cards are in a Riftbound deck?
A Main Deck of at least 40 cards, counting your Chosen Champion, plus a rune deck of exactly 12 runes, one Champion Legend and three battlefields in every sanctioned mode. That's at least 56 cards in all.
Core Rules 103, 103.3, 161.2.a, 103.2, 487.4.a, 488.4.a, 489.4.a, 490.4.a, 491.4.a
What is Domain Identity in Riftbound?
It's the set of domains your deck can use, taken from your Champion Legend. A card with one domain needs that domain in your identity, a card with two domains needs both, and cards with no domain fit any deck. Your runes must match it too.
Core Rules 103.2.b, 103.2.b.2, 103.2.b.3, 103.2.b.4, 103.2.b.5, 103.4.a.1Riftbound Core Rules: Patch Notes
Who can be my Chosen Champion?
Any champion unit with your legend's champion tag. With Loose Cannon, which has the Jinx tag, that's Jinx, Rebel or Jinx, Demolitionist. Signature units like Tibbers aren't champion units, so they can't be. Your Chosen Champion starts in your Champion Zone, and you can play it from there as normal.
Core Rules 103.3.a.2, 103.3.a.1, 103.3.d.3, 108.3.d
How many copies of a card can I have in Riftbound?
Up to 3 of each card by name, and your Chosen Champion counts toward its 3. Cards for the same champion with different names are different cards, so 3 Yasuo, Remorseful and 3 Yasuo, Windrider is legal. Cards with Unique are limited to 1.
Core Rules 103.3.b, 103.3.b.1, 103.3.b.2, 132.4, 825.3.a
How many Signature cards can a Riftbound deck have?
3 in total, whatever their names, and every one must have your Champion Legend's champion tag. A Jinx deck could play 3 copies of Super Mega Death Rocket!, but then no other Signature cards.
Core Rules 103.3.d, 103.3.d.1, 103.3.d.2
How does Unique work with Signature cards?
The two limits stack: 3 Signature cards in total, and only 1 copy of each Unique one. Ornn's Forgefire Cape, Rabadon's Deathcrown and Shurelya's Requiem are all Unique Signature cards, so an Ornn deck can play one of each.
Core Rules 825.3.b, 825.3.a, 103.3.d.1
How many battlefields do you need in Riftbound?
Three, all with different names, in every sanctioned mode. At most one of yours is used in each game; game modes covers how it's picked.
Core Rules 103.5.a, 103.5.c, 487.4.a, 488.4.a, 489.4.a, 490.4.a, 490.5, 491.4.a, 491.5.a
Do tokens go in your deck?
No. Tokens aren't cards, and they can only exist on the board or the chain: cards create them during play. You don't need the printed token cards from booster packs either, since anything can stand in for a token.
Core Rules 185, 180, 186, 181
Can I play banned cards?
No. Your Main Deck has to be legal in the format you're playing. The ban list shows the cards and battlefields banned right now.
Core Rules 103.3.e
Can 2v2 teammates use the same legend?
No. In 2v2, teammates can't use the same Champion Legend or the same battlefields.
Core Rules 491.8.h, 491.8.iRiftbound Core Rules: Patch Notes
Example: Building around Loose Cannon
You pick Loose Cannon, a Fury and Chaos legend with the Jinx tag. You choose Jinx, Rebel as your Chosen Champion and add 2 more copies to your Main Deck, for 3 in all. You add 3 Super Mega Death Rocket!, which uses all 3 of your Signature cards, then fill the rest of the 40 with Fury, Chaos and domainless cards, at most 3 of each. Your rune deck is any 12 Fury and Chaos runes, and you bring three battlefields with different names.
From Riftbound Core Rules
Official rulings
Riot's own words, from its rules articles.
Clarified: Domain Identity is keyed off of Champion Legend.
Clarified: A player’s Chosen Champion is not one specific piece of cardboard, but any Champion Unit with the same name as the Chosen Champion that began the game in the Champion Zone.
NEW RULE: Players cannot have the same Champion Legend as their partner.