Pre-Rift events for Radiance, the fifth Riftbound set, start on Friday, October 16 and run all week, until the 22nd. The set itself launches worldwide on October 23. On October 12, Riot Games posted its official guide to the Pre-Rift: what each kit contains, how to build your deck and which rules questions are worth settling before you sit down.
There is no single schedule. Each store decides which days it runs registration, so your first step is to find yours in the event locator on playriftbound.com and sign up early, since kits are allocated per store.
What is in the Pre-Rift kit
- Five Radiance booster packs.
- A champion pack for one of the nine new Legends: Ekko, Evelynn, Jarvan IV, K'Sante, Mordekaiser, Orianna, Riven, Seraphine or Ziggs. It holds the Legend, the Rare Champion, a Battlefield and support cards.
- A Heimerdinger, Academy Instructor promo.
Everything you open is yours to keep. The Heimerdinger promo cannot go in your Pre-Rift deck, but a regular copy pulled from a pack can. Distributor Asmodee's product listing describes the kit as a mini precon with a Legend, a Champion and its Runes, which is the same thing put another way. Riot gives no price: each store sets its own entry fee.
How to build the sealed deck
It is sealed: you play only with what you open plus the kit, nothing from your collection. Your main deck needs at least 25 cards and at most three domains, which must include both of your Legend's domains if you play one. Signature spells are allowed if both their domains are among those three. You can run as many copies of a card as you opened, even past the usual limit of three, and any Champion Unit can be your Chosen Champion. If you play without a Legend or without a Champion, you draw an extra card on your first turn.
You do not need to open Runes: the store provides them. With no Battlefield, a facedown card works as one with no abilities, and you can tweak your deck between games. Riot suggests at least 15 Units, about five of them costing 2, plus some removal. From October 16 the new keywords Deploy, Disarm and Show Off also apply; we covered them in our rules update story.
What it means for players in Europe
Riot is launching Radiance in English, French and Chinese, so in most of Europe the Pre-Rift will be played with English or French packs: ask your store which it will have. If you want to be sharp for the competitive season, the next big date nearby is the Madrid RQ at IFEMA, on 5–7 February. The launch date and the rest of the year are in the release calendar, and everything known about the set is in our Radiance story. Whatever you open on the 16th can go straight into your collection for Riftbound.