Going first in Riftbound wins more games than Riot would like, and Riot has now said so in writing. On 15 October it announced on playriftbound.com that it will playtest a new start-of-game sequence that hands the second player an extra edge. It is not an official rule yet: it is a time-boxed trial, and the decision will land with the sixth set, Legacy.
Today the only compensation for going second is channelling one extra rune on your first turn (three instead of two). Riot says that is not enough to offset the advantage of opening the game. The stated target is a 50/50 win-rate split between going first and second; the company has not published how far from that number the game is right now.
What changes at the start of the game
- Turn order is decided before Battlefields are chosen. Battlefields go down face-down, sideboarding happens (if any), then they are revealed.
- In best-of-three, each player picks a Battlefield already knowing who goes first. In best-of-one, Battlefields stay random: you see yours before sideboarding and your opponent's afterwards.
- The second player still channels three runes and also gets ONE of three perks: start on 1 point, draw an extra card, or Predict before their first draw (look at the top card of the deck).
- Each test event will announce beforehand which of the three options is in use.
If this sounds like the 16 October rules update, it is not: that was the Radiance patch we covered in our piece on Deploy, Disarm and Show Off, and it is already official. This is a separate experiment.
Where it is tested: China and RC Stuttgart
The trial runs at City Tournaments in China during the Radiance season and at the Friday and Sunday Standard Challenges of the European Regional Championship in Stuttgart, 6-8 November in Hall H of Messe Stuttgart. The main event that weekend uses the normal rules, as do Skirmishes, Showdowns and other higher-tier events unless Riot tells the organiser otherwise. You can try it at home or at your store, but nobody has to.
The same day Riot tightened the rules for Regional Championships: asking for or offering a concession to arrange results is banned, players can no longer pick a winner at random after a draw on time, and decklists will be open. Breaking this means instant disqualification and possible suspension. Intentional draws before time runs out are still allowed, and so is conceding a single game to save time, as long as it does not decide the match. On prizes, overnumbered Foil Plated Legends are now drafted by final standing: the top 58 choose, starting with 1st place. The event pays out $50,000 ($10,000 to the winner) and the Top 8 earn invitations to the first World Championship Showcase, held in China at the end of January.
What it means for you
At your local store, nothing changes tomorrow: the official rules are unchanged and Radiance launches on 23 October after the 16-22 October Pre-Rift. If you are heading to Stuttgart with an invite from an RQ such as RQ Madrid at IFEMA, lock your list knowing your opponent will see it. And if you sit down for a Challenge, ask which perk the second player gets: it changes how you pick your Battlefield. Everything coming to Riftbound is on the release calendar.