The League of Legends trading card game is here, and so far none of the twelve-year-olds who play at my store have called me a slur.
It’s impossible to open Riftbound packs quietly. You can slowly tear the plastic away from the booster box, use a pair of scissors to silently cut open each pack, and gently slide the cards out onto a playmat. You can try to be as inconspicuous as possible, but as soon as you start revealing those holographic rares at the end of the pack, you won’t be able to stop yourself from unleashing an “Oh Damn!”, a “Holy Crap!”, or, indeed, a “What the hell is this one? Oh my God!”
Riftbound cards are stunning, which is particularly noteworthy because they didn’t start out that way. When Riot Games presented the prototype for its new League of Legends trading card game to the world, first impressions were overwhelmingly negative. The UI was messy and confusing, the art was oddly proportioned, and there was far too much empty white space on the cards. So, Riot went back to the drawing board, and in a matter of a few months, delivered what is now one of the finest-looking TCGs on the market. If the studio can continue addressing problems that arise that quickly, then Riftbound has a bright future ahead of it.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. It’s hard not to look years down the road when it comes to TCGs (especially when the pre-orders for Riftbound’s first expansion, Spiritforged, are already on sale), but this weekend, with the launch of Riftbound: Origins, comes the game’s only chance to make a first impression. So, how does it feel to crack Riftbound packs for the first time ever? Pretty. Damn. Good.
As a booster pack connoisseur (read: I have a gambling problem), Riftbound: Origins checks a lot of boxes. Packs are generously priced at $5 with 13 cards, which includes three foils (one of any rarity and two rare or better). This ensures packs are both accessible to buy and exciting to open — two things that are difficult to balance in a TCG. Availability will impact prices, but even at $6 a pack (my local game store’s current asking price), it still feels like a good value. However, that will ultimately be for the market to decide.
Pack distribution is meant to give you a wide sample of everything Riftbound has to offer. Early reports suggest that booster boxes typically contain around 50 rares (this is where you’ll find your Legends and most champs), six epics (champs, signature spells, and the spiciest cards), and two to three alternate art chase cards. This is exactly how my first booster box turned out, and with no rare or epic duplicates whatsoever.
This kind of distribution is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, I got to see a huge variety of very flashy cards, and every pack I opened was exciting because I always found something new. On the other hand, knowing each box only contains a third of a playset of a third of the cards in the set makes collecting Riftbound seem daunting. You’d need to open a full case to find a playset of three of every rare, and three full cases for a playset of every epic. That doesn’t include any alternate art or showcase chase cards. That’s just for the basic version of every card.
Maintaining a full playset of every card isn’t required, nor is it reasonable, and these limitations create incentives for trading, which is kind of the point of a trading card game, but there’s something just a little off-putting about the pack distribution being this manicured. It puts an invisible price tag on the set that’s bound to cause some sticker shock.
Decks are built around Legends, so even if you have a lot of cards you like, you can’t use them unless you also have a Legend in their color. My booster box gave me six Legends, but there are 12 in Origins. Luckily, ripping packs isn’t the only way to get a hold of these crucial cards. There are three preconstructed Champion decks designed to be played right out of the box and upgraded with cards you find in your packs. While the options aren’t the most competitively viable Legends (just stay away from Lee Sin entitely) they are a great low-cost way to get started with Riftbound, and they come with a booster pack.
You can also pick up some Legends in the Proving Grounds box: a board game-style learn-to-play experience that features four unique Legends and a stack of cards you won’t find in Origins booster packs. Proving Grounds was designed to be a simplified entry point to the game with low-power cards, but we’ve already seen two of its Legends, Annie and Master Yi, dominating in the Chinese tournament scene. It was probably a mistake to lock these Legends behind a learn-to-play box because it’s going to be a high-value product that will have a difficult time finding its way into the hands of the people it’s supposed to be for. That said, it’s a really great learn-to-play, and it comes with some adorable chibi-style acrylic standees.
Note: Riot is investigating a collation issue affecting a number of packs. If you open a pack that has fewer than two rare-or-better cards in it, follow these steps to potentially get some kind of reimbursement.
As a collector, I’m incredibly impressed by Riftbound. The cardstock quality is excellent, and the art is to die for. A lot of it is repurposed from League of Legends and Legends of Runeterra, but you’d never guess it wasn’t original to Riftbound. I only wish the original artists were credited on every card, rather than the outsource studios they worked for.
As a player, I have some reservations about the investment required to keep up. With playsets spread out over so many cases, building decks from packs you open just isn’t viable. Knowing I’ll be relying heavily on the secondary market makes me nervous. I don’t think it will end up being the most expensive TCG, but it certainly won’t be the cheapest. And I don’t see myself giving up my other games to focus solely on Riftbound — I’ve been playing them much longer.
There’s not a lot of use worrying about so many unknowns, though, when it’s so easy to enjoy the game today. Riftbound’s unique king-of-the-hill-style gameplay is well balanced for both pick-up-and-play and deep strategy, and it scales wonderfully from two to four players. It does a great job capturing the energy and spirit of League without trying too hard to squeeze MOBA mechanics into a TCG package, and in the several months I’ve been playing with Riftbounds trial decks, it’s quickly become one of my favorite games. It’s more enjoyable if you have an attachment to the characters, but it’s certainly not required (though you should watch Arcane either way).
If you like trading card games, there’s no reason you shouldn’t pick up a preconstructed Champion Deck and give it a try. If you’re a fan of League, well, what are you even doing reading this? Go rip some packs right now! Trust me, they’re like Hextech Chests, but better.
Score: 9
The products covered in this review were provided by the publisher.
