The author shares their recent detachment from League of Legends’ competitive grind, despite their affection for its world and characters. However, Riot’s new physical card game, Riftbound, has rekindled their interest, positioning itself as a challenger to established TCGs like Magic: The Gathering and Star Wars: Unlimited.
After playing Riftbound’s demo decks, the author felt a renewed desire to engage with League of Legends again. While a full review is pending, the TCG is praised for effectively capturing the essence and abilities of LoL champions, a design principle that Game Design Manager Jonathan Moormann emphasized as crucial to the game’s identity.
As Riftbound cards become available, some players opening booster packs have reported receiving fewer rare cards than expected, with some packs containing only one rare. Conversely, a few lucky players found extra rare cards. Riot is actively investigating this reported issue.
On Wednesday, October 29, Riftbound Game Director Dave Guskin acknowledged a potential “collation issue” affecting the rarity distribution in individual Riftbound: Origins booster packs. Initial checks indicated that a small percentage of packs contained fewer rare cards, while others had more.
Guskin stated that despite individual pack discrepancies, the overall rarity distribution at the booster box level remained consistent with expectations. He emphasized the importance of a positive pack-opening experience and assured players that Riot is working with production partners to thoroughly investigate the rarity distribution.
He further committed that if a significant number of packs are confirmed to be affected, Riot will offer compensation for this set and implement long-term fixes, likely starting with Set 3. This statement also suggests that Set 2 packs might experience similar issues.
On launch day, Friday, October 31, Guskin reiterated that the team was still addressing the issue and promised more detailed information soon. He advised players experiencing problems to send photos of their “impacted packs,” including all cards with visible rarity gems, the open wrapper with its barcode, and a paper bearing “Riftbound QA – (Date).”
Players facing this issue are encouraged to reply to Guskin’s tweet with the requested information.
Aside from some complaints regarding regional pricing (particularly in Brazil) and challenges in acquiring packs due to the game’s popularity, Riftbound’s launch has been relatively smooth. The author expresses excitement to play with friends, having spent the weekend contemplating the Viktor precon deck and its robot-making potential.
For those reignited with enthusiasm for League of Legends after Riftbound’s release, details on the current Mythic shop are available for cosmetic purchases. Alternatively, for fans of card games similar to Riftbound, other top trading card games are recommended.
The author invites readers to join their Discord community to share their Riftbound experiences and favorite cards, especially any coveted signature cards.