Riftbound Radiance: Release Date, Legends, Pre-Rift and Products

Riftbound Radiance, the fifth set of the League of Legends Trading Card Game, releases on October 23, 2026, in English, French and Simplified Chinese, the first Riftbound set to launch in all three languages on the same day. Pre-Rift events, the game's prereleases, run at local game stores from October 16 to 22. Riot Games counts 180 cards, 66 of them Showcase printings, with nine new Legends, three new keywords (Deploy, Show Off and Disarm) and Neeko, the first neutral champion unit.

As of October 9, 2026, a 24-pack booster display costs $119.99 at Riot's own store ($120 suggested retail) and the Evelynn vs. Seraphine Showdown Decks $34.99. Riot's preview window closes on October 9; by then it had shown eight of the nine Legends, all but Riven's, and it plans to post both Showdown decklists and the Nexus Night promo list on October 16. The card-by-card checklist is on our Radiance set page.

Radiance at a glance

Radiance products and prices

US prices as of October 9, 2026: Riot's store price where there is one, otherwise the suggested retail price.

Riot's own store sells the display and the Showdown box only by drawing, one of each per Riot account, in North America and Europe; sign-ups closed September 30, 2026. At suggested prices, the Vault comes to $5.83 a pack with its runes, tokens and box included, a Showdown box to $17.50 a deck with its boosters and playmats, and a Pre-Rift kit to $30 a player, prize display included.

Booster display24 packs of 14 cardsShowdown DecksTwo 56-card decks: Evelynn and SeraphineVault6 boosters, 36 runes, 3 foil tokensPre-Rift KitFive boosters, a mini deck and the Heimerdinger promo

What a Radiance booster pack holds

The change from Vendetta: there, both rare slots could hold an Alt Art or an Overnumber; in Radiance one of them is always a Rare or an Epic, so a single slot carries every showcase card except the alt-art runes. Legends are Rares in Radiance; from Legacy in January 2027, packs get a slot of their own for a Legend or a Battlefield.

The Ultimate Rare is Packed Amphitheater (184/167), the game's first showcase battlefield. Riot puts it in about 0.025% of packs, roughly one pack in 4,000 or one display in 167 on average (our arithmetic), with no guarantee in any pack, box or case. Unleashed's Baron Nashor, the first Ultimate Rare, was in fewer than 0.1% of packs, not as rare as Riot wanted; Riot calls this one significantly harder to find.

Besides plain Alt Arts, the showcase treatments are five K/DA Special Alt Arts (Ahri, Akali, Evelynn, Kai'Sa and Seraphine, numbered SP1 to SP5), which turn up about as often as Alt Arts; Overnumber versions of the nine Legends, also found signed by the artist; six Heartsteel Overnumbers (178 to 183: K'Sante, Aphelios, Ezreal, Yone, Kayn and Sett); and music-themed alt-art runes.

Ultimate RarePacked Amphitheater, 184/167K/DA Special Alt ArtsSP1 to SP5Heartsteel Overnumbers178/167 to 183/167

The nine Radiance Legends

A Legend sets a deck's two domains, and a Constructed deck adds a Chosen Champion of the same champion. None of the nine champions below had a Legend before Radiance; Ekko, Evelynn and Riven had champion units in earlier sets.

EkkoBoy Who Shattered Time: Fury, MindZiggsHexplosives Expert: Fury, ChaosMordekaiserIron Revenant: Fury, OrderOriannaLady of Clockwork: Calm, MindK'SantePride of Nazumah: Calm, BodySeraphineStarry-Eyed Songstress: Mind, OrderEvelynnAgony's Embrace: Body, ChaosJarvan IVExemplar of Demacia: Body, Order

How each Legend plays (our analysis)

Ekko brings expensive units in early for one turn, so he wants units that do their work when played. His signature spell, Chronobreak, banishes your units and plays them again without paying their costs, repeating those effects; Ekko, Revolutionary can do the same to himself for a discard, 1 Energy and 1 Fury Power.

Ziggs can make a Bomb each turn. A Bomb deals 2 to an enemy unit at its battlefield when it dies, and the first to die takes your other Bombs there with it, so an opponent who holds a battlefield full of Bombs sets them all off. Hexplosive Minefield detonates any number of your Bombs and replaces them on one battlefield at end of turn.

Mordekaiser turns units and gear in your trash into Power for more of them. Mordekaiser, Twice Slain survives once a turn by killing another friendly unit and going back to base, and Mordekaiser, Dominating (9 Energy, 8 Might) can kill a unit or gear when played and on each attack, for a discard.

Orianna animates one gear at a time, and the higher its Energy cost, the bigger the unit. Her signature gear, The Ball, has Deploy, gains Ganking as a unit, and draws a card or deals 2 to enemy units there whenever it is played or moves; an equipment that becomes a unit is unequipped first.

K'Sante turns defense into offense: his Legend gives a unit Assault equal to its Shield, K'Sante, Dauntless doubles a unit's Shield when he attacks or defends, and Ntofo Strikes adds Shield 2, then deals damage equal to the Shield.

Riven is known only through her other cards: Broken Blade buffs, stuns or readies each time she becomes exhausted, Deserter grows when your other units exhaust, and her signature equipment, Blade of the Exile, gives +3 Might and Ganking.

Seraphine goes wide. Seraphine, Not Alone makes a 1-Might Recruit token when played and each time she becomes exhausted, and has +1 Might for each other exhausted unit you control; her Legend exhausts three of your units to make a spell 2 Energy cheaper, which Not Alone turns into Might. Encore, her signature spell, picks two of four effects, two more Recruits among them.

Evelynn plays from face down: hide cards at battlefields you control, then play them later, even on your opponent's turn. Her Legend draws when you do, Evelynn, Consuming readies and grows each time, and Evelynn, In Control scores an extra point when she holds a battlefield where you keep a face-down card, a big swing in a race to 8 points.

Jarvan IV is the Deploy Legend: when you play a Deploy gear, he can exhaust to move a friendly unit to its battlefield for 1 Power. Jarvan IV, Martial Paragon lets Deploy gear be played in showdowns, and Demacian Standard gives an attacker +2 Might and can return to your hand when you hold.

Against the Vendetta field

The last Regional Qualifier of 2026, in Los Angeles from September 25 to 27, drew 1,962 decks on Day 1 across 44 Legends. Irelia was the most played (193 decks, 9.8%), Kennen put the most players into Day 2 (63 of 371), and Rengar won. Three Legends built on gear, Jayce, Azir and Ornn, made up 282 decks (14%). Our reading: Radiance gives that plan new payoffs (Orianna, Jarvan IV, Ziggs) and new answers at Uncommon: Lost to the Sands can kill a gear, Stalwart Goatherd one costing 4 Energy or less, and An Offer You Can't Refuse kills one and leaves its controller a Gold token.

Before building Ekko: Ekko, Recurrent, the Origins Ekko, has been banned in Constructed since September 18, 2026, so an Ekko Legend deck takes Revolutionary or Ingenious as its Chosen Champion. The previous set's cards are on our Vendetta set page.

Deploy, Show Off and Disarm: the exact text

Riot published its Radiance rules notes and errata on October 9, 2026; they take effect on October 16, the first Pre-Rift day. The reminder text below is printed on the cards, and the points under it come from that text and those notes.

Deploy

• Any battlefield, never your base. It can be played to a battlefield you control, one your opponent controls or one nobody controls; on your opponent's, it dies at the start of their next turn unless you take that battlefield first.
• It dies when an opponent holds there, not when they take it. Holding happens at the start of a player's own turn, so after an opponent conquers the battlefield your gear lives through your next turn, your chance to take it back.
• It stays put. A gear that is neither a unit nor attached to one normally goes back to its base at the next cleanup; a Deploy gear stays at its battlefield until it is destroyed or moved.
• It is still a gear. Gear removal kills it, and Command: Attack can move a friendly Deploy gear to another battlefield.
• Some pay off when you hold. The Good Stuff returns to your hand (Demacian Standard may), and Dockside Lock-Up kills itself to play the card it banished for free; a banished token is simply gone, since tokens are not cards.
• Bombs explode however they die, including when an opponent's hold kills them: each deals its 2 damage.

Show Off

• Optional, and decided as you play the card. You may reveal a qualifying card from your hand, or pick a qualifying friendly card or token already on the board, so a token unit counts when a Show Off asks for a unit. A face-down card cannot be picked.
• Revealing costs information, not the card. It stays in your hand, but your opponent has seen it; a card picked on the board is not revealed.
• The payoff reads the card you showed, as it was then. The Empyrean looks at as many cards as the shown card's Power cost before drawing 2; Primordial Roar deals damage equal to the shown unit's Might, locked in when you show it off, even if the unit then changes or leaves.

Disarm

• On attack only. It triggers the first time the unit attacks in each combat, never when it defends, and hits one enemy unit at the same battlefield for the turn.
• The number is Might, not damage. Disarm 2 gives -2 Might, as Mysterious Chronomancer prints in full.
• It stacks. As with Assault, several Disarm keywords on one unit make a single trigger that adds their values together.
• A Might cut alone does not kill. Damage is lethal only when it is at least 1 and at least the unit's Might, so a unit with no damage survives at 0 Might; on a unit already carrying damage, the cut can make that damage lethal.
• Payoffs in the set. Clanging Sentry gives your Mechs Disarm, and Ahri, Confident gets +1 Might for the turn whenever you reduce an enemy unit's Might at her battlefield.

DeployDockside Lock-Up, 136/167Show OffThe Empyrean, 060/167DisarmKai'Sa, Rebel, 063/167Bomb tokenDeploy and DeathknellNeutralNeeko, Blending In, 167/167

Neeko, the first neutral champion unit

Neeko, Blending In (167/167, Epic; 6 Energy and 1 Power; 4 Might) is Riftbound's first neutral champion unit: in Riot's card gallery, checked on October 9, 2026, every other card of its six sets outside battlefields, runes and tokens has at least one domain. Her printed text reads: "(Neutral cards can go in decks of any Domain.) If Neeko is in your deck, choose 3 different legends in addition to your starting legend. (Different means none match names.) When you play me, choose one of those Legends and add it to your Legend Zone while I'm on the board." Riot's errata of October 9, 2026 changes "choose 3" to "choose up to 3".

What Riot's rules settle:

• Any deck can play her, up to the usual three copies of a card.
• In Constructed, she cannot be your Chosen Champion. That slot takes a champion unit with your Legend's champion tag, and no Neeko Legend exists as of October 9, 2026.
• You pick the Legends while building your deck. Up to three, different from each other and from your Champion Legend, shared by every Neeko in your deck; at competitive events they go on your decklist and cannot be changed.
• The extra Legend lasts as long as she does. It enters ready, cannot be one you already have out, stays secret until added, and disappears when Neeko leaves the board. It is not your Champion Legend, which alone sets your deck's domains.

Not settled by Riot's notes of October 9, 2026: whether the extra Legends must share your deck's domains.

What she changes (our analysis): any deck gains a 6-Energy body that brings a second Legend ability, picked from up to three you chose for the matchups you expect. The bonus lasts only while she survives, so expect her to draw removal.

Pre-Rift: the kit, the Legend and the Heimerdinger promo

Pre-Rift events run from October 16 to 22, 2026, at local game stores; find one with the event search on Riot's Riftbound site. They are Sealed events: you build a deck on the spot from your kit, and at past Pre-Rifts you kept everything you opened. As of October 9, 2026, Riot lists no entry fee: stores buy kits for 16 players and price their own seats. Each player kit holds:

• A seeded 15-card mini deck for one of the nine new Legends, with that Legend and a champion unit (nine versions, one per Legend).
• Five Radiance boosters.
• One Pre-Rift promo, Heimerdinger, Academy Instructor (132/167, with a Prerelease stamp), while supplies last.

Riot has not said whether players choose their champion; at the Unleashed and Vendetta Pre-Rifts the themed pack was random. Nor has it said whether the promo may go in your Sealed deck; at those two Pre-Rifts it could not. Heimerdinger himself is a 6-Energy, 5-Might Order champion unit that can turn the unit tokens you play into 3-Might Mechs while he is at a battlefield. With no Heimerdinger Legend before Legacy (January 29, 2027), he cannot be a Chosen Champion in Constructed yet, but any deck with Order can play him.

Which Legend to build around, from the eight shown (our analysis): Ziggs and Mordekaiser ask the least of a Sealed pool, since Ziggs makes Bombs on his own and Mordekaiser feeds on any unit or gear in your trash. Ekko discounts any unit, but that unit dies at end of turn, so he wants units that do their work when played. Seraphine needs three units to exhaust, Jarvan IV Deploy gear, Orianna gear, Evelynn hidden cards and K'Sante Shield, so they need the right pool.

How to build your Pre-Rift deck, step by step

Start from your mini deck. Its Legend sets two of your domains, and its champion unit can be your Chosen Champion.

Add a third domain if your boosters push you there. A Sealed deck may use any three domains, or its Legend's two plus one more, and any champion unit within them can be your Chosen Champion, even one that does not match your Legend.

Switch Legends only for a deeper pool. A Legend you open is worth it when its two domains hold most of your playable cards. A deck may even skip the Legend; it then draws one extra card at the start of its first turn.

Play at least 25 cards, at least 15 of them units. Riot's own Pre-Rift advice is at least 15 units, about five of them costing 2 Energy. The three-copy limit does not apply in Sealed.

Match your 12 runes to your Power costs. Basic runes from any source are legal in Sealed, so you are not limited to the ones you open; at past Pre-Rifts the organizer supplied extras.

Use your battlefields or blanks. You may play the battlefields you opened, or blank ones that have no text.

Rebuild between rounds. At store-level events you can change your deck between games.

Showdown Decks: Seraphine vs. Evelynn, buy or split?

The box holds two decks built to play each other: Seraphine on Starry-Eyed Songstress (Mind and Order) and Evelynn on Agony's Embrace (Body and Chaos). Each has 56 cards, the size of a full Constructed deck (one Legend, a 40-card main deck, 12 runes and 3 battlefields), as Vendetta's Showdown decks did. Riot will publish both lists on October 16, 2026; in Vendetta's Shen vs. Zed box, the first Showdown Decks, the Shen deck ran four Shen champion units and the Zed deck three.

FAQ

When does Riftbound Radiance come out?

On October 23, 2026, in English, French and Simplified Chinese. Pre-Rift events run at local game stores from October 16 to 22.

How many cards are in Radiance?

Riot counts 180 cards, 66 of them Showcase printings. The main set is numbered 001 to 167, and showcase cards are numbered past it, such as the Ultimate Rare at 184/167.

Who are the nine Radiance Legends?

Ekko, Ziggs, Mordekaiser, Orianna, K'Sante, Riven, Seraphine, Evelynn and Jarvan IV. Riven's Legend card had not been shown as of October 9, 2026, but her signature gear is in Riot's gallery, and in Constructed a signature card goes only in a deck led by that champion's Legend.

What does Deploy do in Riftbound?

A Deploy gear can only be played to a battlefield, including one you do not control, and keeps its effect there. It dies when an opponent holds that battlefield, which happens at the start of their turn.

Is Neeko a Legend?

No. Neeko, Blending In is a neutral champion unit that any deck can play; when you play her, one of up to three extra Legends you picked while building your deck joins your Legend Zone, ready, while she stays on the board.

What comes in the Radiance Pre-Rift kit?

A seeded 15-card mini deck with one of the nine new Legends and a champion unit, five Radiance boosters and a Heimerdinger, Academy Instructor promo, while supplies last.

How much is a Radiance booster box?

$119.99 for 24 packs at Riot's store and $120 suggested retail, as of October 9, 2026. Each pack holds 14 cards.

What is the Radiance Ultimate Rare?

Packed Amphitheater (184/167), a showcase battlefield found in about 0.025% of packs, roughly one in 4,000.

What is in the Seraphine vs. Evelynn Showdown Decks?

Two 56-card decks, two Radiance boosters, two deck boxes, two paper playmats and a rulebook, for $34.99 as of October 9, 2026. Riot will publish both decklists on October 16, 2026.