Riftbound is getting its fourth set at the end of the month, and the opening week of Vendetta previews delivered a decade-old League of Legends champion, a pair of feuding ninjas, and a card that copies your best unit. It's a strong start!
Riot Games kicked off the preview season on July 6th with a dev drop video and a full set overview. New cards have been dropping daily ever since, split across dozens of outlets and creators.
Vendetta is built on rivalries. The set pits longtime enemies against each other on connected, clashing artwork (Shen and Zed, Mel and Ambessa), and it trims the Legend count from the usual 12 down to 9. Nasus, Renekton, Akali, Mel, Ambessa, Zed and Shen all make their Riftbound debuts, with Akali fronting the set. Deckbuilding follows suit: the set leans into new two-domain pairings that force rival domains together, matching Fury with Calm, Mind with Body, and Chaos with Order.
Three new mechanics came along with the overview: Burn sends cards from your main deck to the trash to fuel your strategy or damage your opponent directly, Flow lets you play cards out of that same trash, and Empower gives a card an extra ability once specific conditions are met. Star City Games is keeping a running list of every card revealed so far, and it already spans all six domains plus a cycle of rivalry-flavored Decree spells.
Illaoi, Prophet of the Great Kraken: GameSpot revealed the week's headliner, a champion card that brings the Kraken Priestess into the TCG with her signature Tentacle tokens in tow. She's been part of League of Legends since 2015 and has already crossed over into spin-offs like 2XKO and Ruined King, so her tabletop debut is a long time coming. Her Tentacles tie directly into the new Empower mechanic, and both Zed and Kennen can take advantage of the tokens she leaves on the board.
[Illaoi, Prophet of the Great Kraken card art (official Riot preview asset, via GameSpot's reveal). JPG, <=800px wide, https only.]
Shady Spectacles: Press Start had the exclusive on this one, a 4-cost Epic gear card in the Order domain. Recycle one Order rune to attach it to a unit, and that unit becomes a copy of another friendly unit for as long as the gear stays on. Order decks like to go wide with plenty of bodies, so copying your best unit on demand slots right into the gameplan.
The rival Legends: Wargamer showed off Shen, Scourge of Shadows, while Sheep Esports got the first look at Renekton, Butcher of the Sands. Between those two reveals, the Shen-and-Zed grudge and the Nasus-and-Renekton family feud are both playable from day one.
On the product side, Vendetta introduces Showdown Decks, a two-decks-in-one-box format with Shen and Zed headlining the first release. Collectors get new chase cards as well, including signed Overnumbered Legends and 22 Rival Overnumbers built around Runeterra's most famous feuds. Pre-orders for sealed product open Monday, July 13th. Pre-Rift events hit local game stores on Friday, July 24th, and the set releases everywhere on Friday, July 31st.
For the collectors out there: a single Riftbound card already sold for $100,000 earlier this year. If you're brand new to the game, our Riftbound guide breaks down how it all works before Vendetta shakes things up.
Week one is only half the story. The preview calendar keeps rolling through July 18th, with Polygon, TechRadar, PCGamesN and dozens more outlets and creators still to come, and the finished set clocks in at 166 new cards. Expect the picture to fill in fast.
For my money, Illaoi is the pick of the week. It took a full decade to get her from League of Legends onto cardboard, and those Tentacle tokens look like a blast to build around!
Which week-one reveal won you over? Are you grabbing a Showdown Deck for team Shen or team Zed when they hit shelves?
Sound off in the comments below!
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