Riftbound Radiance FAQ Explained: The Rulings on Gravity Field, Baron Nashor, Mordekaiser and More

Riot Games has published the official rules FAQ for Radiance, the newest set for Riftbound, and anyone building decks for the League of Legends trading card game should give it a read. The FAQ collects official rulings on tricky card interactions, and Riot notes that where it differs from the Core Rules Document, the FAQ takes precedence until a new version of the Core Rules is released.

The full article is a long list of questions and answers, so we have pulled out the rulings most likely to come up at your table and explained what they mean in practice.

Gravity Field and Who Pays the Cost

Gravity Field gets several rulings, and the main lesson is that the player doing the moving is the one who pays.

• Standard Moves: If you try to Standard Move a unit to a battlefield with Gravity Field and decline the cost, you cannot still exhaust your unit. Riot clarifies that you cannot attempt a Standard Move if the move is not possible or you cannot pay its costs. If a cost cannot be paid, the Standard Move and everything done as part of it is undone and cancelled.
• Charm: If you play Charm to move an enemy unit to a battlefield where you control Gravity Field, your opponent does not pay, because Charm tells you to move the unit. If your opponent controls the Gravity Field, you would be the one paying.
• Angler Wyrm: Angler Wyrm instructs your opponent to move their unit, so they do have to pay Gravity Field's cost. If they choose not to or cannot, the unit does not move.

Angler Wyrm and Hunker Down

Another Angler Wyrm ruling closes a potential loophole. If your opponent targets you with Angler Wyrm's ability and you respond by playing Hunker Down on one of your units, you cannot choose that unit to satisfy the move if you control other units that can move. Riot explains that the chosen player must move a unit that can actually move. If none of their units can move, the instruction is simply negated.

Baron Nashor Without a Baron Pit

Two rulings cover playing Baron Nashor when there is no Baron Pit on the board.

• Hunters' Circle: If you control Hunters' Circle, you can play Baron Nashor for [9][C][C][C]. The cost reduction applies when you pick the play location and determine the total cost. Baron entering at the Baron Pit is a replacement effect that happens later, after his cost has already been paid.
• Riven, the Exile: If your legend is Riven, the Exile and you control a battlefield, Baron Nashor will enter ready at the Baron Pit. Both replacement effects apply, and the order does not change the outcome.

Mordekaiser, Iron Revenant and Your Trash

Mordekaiser, Iron Revenant players get two answers about banishing cards from the trash to help pay costs:

• If you play Meticulous Restorationist from your trash for its alternate cost via its triggered ability, you can banish a unit or gear with Mordekaiser to help pay. Riot notes that Mordekaiser's Power can only be spent to play units.
• If you play Atakhan and kill a non-token unit for its additional cost, you cannot banish that unit with Mordekaiser to help pay Atakhan's Power cost. Energy and Power costs are paid before other costs like Atakhan's optional kill, so the unit is not dead yet when you pay.

Runeblade Anvil Timing

Runeblade Anvil's permission lasts "until your next Ending Phase," and Riot spells out what that means:

• Kill it during an opponent's turn, and you can play the banished card until the Ending Phase of your next turn begins.
• Kill it during your own turn, and you cannot play the card during that turn's Ending Phase, because the permission ends once that phase begins.
• Kill it during your own Ending Phase, and you can play the card until the Ending Phase of your next turn begins.

Other Rulings Worth Knowing

• Seraphic Wyvern: If you play Mobilize while controlling Seraphic Wyvern and only have one rune left in your Rune Deck, you do not draw a card. The same logic applies to Catalyst of Aeons with two runes left.
• Kharox and Neeko: If your opponent empowers Kharox and plays your Neeko, Blending In from your trash, they do not get the Legends you chose during deckbuilding. They can only add Legends they chose, and only if their own deck has a copy of Neeko.
• Riven, Broken Blade: The buff for her exhaust trigger is spent when the ability resolves. If she is Standard Moved alongside a Stellacorn Herder, her exhaust trigger goes on the chain before the Herder's move trigger.
• Possession and Ekko: If you take control of your opponent's Ekko, Revolutionary with Possession, you can use his ability to banish and replay him, and you will control him when he comes back.

Each ruling in the FAQ lists the relevant sections of the Core Rules for players who want to dig deeper. With K/DA also taking the Worlds 2026 stage and getting its own Riftbound collector's box, there is plenty of League card game news for players to keep up with.

Which Radiance ruling surprised you the most, and did any of them change how you were planning to build your deck?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.