Here Are Our Impressions Of Riftbound Radiance

Published Oct 23, 2026, 11:23 AM EDT Niall (pronounced Ny-ul) is a UK-based writer who has been writing about Magic: The Gathering throughout his entire career, with everything from new set breakdowns and individual deck guides to offering his opinions on the state of formats and the general direction of the iconic TCG. Niall also has a rich history covering triple-A releases, sports games, and PC hardware. Riftbound has grown exponentially in 2026, and the game is on the verge of joining the conversation with Magic: The Gathering, Pokémon, and Yu-Gi-Oh!, even though it hasn't been around nearly as long. Part of this incredible growth comes from being based on a hugely popular video game that's been around since 2009, but Riftbound doesn't get a pass just because it's associated with League of Legends. If anything, being based on a game that's been around so long could just as easily have worked against it, but the game is built on incredibly solid gameplay and has a competitive and casual scene that puts some other games to shame. With the release of Radiance, the fifth set in the game's short history, we're closing out the first full year of Riftbound in style, with some of the best new cards and mechanics we've seen added to the game, but also some amazing art and card variants that set the bar for 2027 very high. Legend cards are the leaders for your Riftbound deck, and new Legends are carefully added to the game in moderation to prevent oversaturation. In Radiance, nine new Legend cards are available, with Riven, Orianna, and Mordekaiser leading the way as the most interesting and powerful cards in the set, but you can build around each of the nine with relative ease. Legends don't make or break a set, but they're typically seen as the headliners for a new set, so if the lineup of new Legends is perceived as weak, it can have a knock-on effect. On the collectibility front, the showcase designs for cards in the set are among our favorites so far, with Radiance being a hugely vibrant set with artwork that pops off the card and is hugely eye-catching. Whether you're collecting cards to bling out decks or keeping them in a binder, Radiance brings some incredible showcase cards to the game. Let's Not Forget The Unsung Heroes Of Any TCG Set With 182 new cards added in the set, or 282 including art variants, there's still plenty to love outside of the Legends, and that's where our attention turns to the common and uncommon cards in Riftbound Radiance. These are the cards you're going to see the most of when opening packs of cards, and they're going to make up the bulk of any good Riftbound deck, so how do these cards shape up in Radiance? Well, like with the Legends, there's a really strong showing here. The set has 109 commons and uncommons, including token units and runes, and the cost base is well spread, with plenty of options across the low, medium, and high cost brackets. We would have liked to see a slightly more balanced split in card types, with Units accounting for just under 50 percent of the total commons and uncommons. This is likely because Radiance is the second-smallest new Riftbound set yet, with just a few extra cards compared to Vendetta, which added 177 cards. With a smaller pool of cards being added to the game, Units will take up a larger share of it, largely because they're so crucial to how Riftbound is played. Riftbound Radiance Product Lineup The final aspect of Radiance that we want to touch on is the product lineup. Riot has kept Riftbound fairly slim in terms of products released with each set so far. The booster box and vault are core products and the easiest way for players to get their hands on multiple packs of cards. In addition to traditional booster-based products, we also have a new Showdown set that pits Evelynn against Seraphine. This Showdown set includes two 56-card preconstructed decks. Each includes one Legend card, a 12-card Rune deck, a 40-card main deck, and three Battlefield cards. The Showdown set also includes two Radiance booster packs, two paper playmats, and two cardboard deck boxes. The Showdown product is a great way to get two well-built, competitive decks and learn how to play the game. Granted, the Proving Grounds box is the best way to teach new players, especially if you have more than two in your group, but the Showdown boxes are a close runner-up. Other products from the Radiance collection include a themed binder, card sleeves, and playmats. Is Riftbound Radiance Worth Buying? Riftbound Radiance is absolutely a set worth investing in, if you can find stock to buy. It's a smaller set, which makes it easy to digest and easy to collect if that's your goal. The draft experience is a little hampered by the size of the set, which led to quite a bit of repetition during pre-rift events, but provided that you're not going to be playing sealed events once the set is out, and you're instead just looking to build exciting new decks or use Radiance as a way to get into the game, this set exceeds all expectations. This is a great way to cap off an already incredible year for Riftbound, and hopefully it can continue into next year and make 2027 an even bigger year for the burgeoning TCG.