Riftbound Radiance: nine Legends walk in with zero netdecks
Nine brand-new Legends, zero tournament results, and sixteen players brewing from scratch. Tonight's Radiance Pre-Rift is the purest kind of sealed night.
Riftbound Radiance: nine Legends walk in with zero netdecks
Walk into a sealed prerelease where nobody knows what wins yet, and you can feel it in the room. There is no best list to copy, no tier list to memorize, just packs, a blank deck sheet, and the one question that makes every prerelease great: what did YOU pull?
Tonight at Drum Island, sixteen players sit down for the official RGN Radiance Pre-Rift, cracking the new set before it even releases. Radiance, Riftbound's fifth set, hits shelves October 23 with 180 cards. The prerelease window runs through October 22.
Here is what makes this night special: nine brand-new Legends, and not one of them has a tournament result anywhere. Every champion (Ekko, Ziggs, Mordekaiser, Orianna, K'Sante, Riven, Seraphine, Evelynn, and Jarvan IV) is a first-time Legend. Shonen TCG checked Riot's official card gallery and found the 49 earlier Legends cover other champions entirely, so nobody is upgrading an old list tonight. Everyone is brewing from scratch.
The smartest advice going around comes from the Shonen TCG desk: pick the Domain pair you enjoy playing, not the early hype. Each Legend locks in a two-Domain identity for the whole deck, and all nine pairs are different. Fury players get the most new toys, with Ekko, Ziggs, and Mordekaiser all flying the red banner.
Card images: Riot Games, via Shonen TCG
Gear lovers are eating well, too. Ziggs drops Bomb tokens, Orianna wakes gear up and turns it into units, Jarvan IV rewards Deploy plays, and Mordekaiser's Legend power can only be spent on units or gear. Blade of the Exile, Riven's Signature gear, might be the single most fun card in the set for a sealed night.
And then there is the lottery ticket: the Ultimate Rare "Packed Amphitheater," roughly one in every 4,000 packs. Somebody somewhere cracks one this week, and the whole store will hear about it. Around here, we will be just as happy with a clean Heimerdinger, Academy Instructor promo, the Pre-Rift participation card, while supplies last.
Card images: Riot Games, via Shonen TCG
The Tuesday Nexus Night regulars have been waiting for this one. Nine Legends, no solved meta, and a room full of people who would rather discover than copy. That is the version of the game we fell in love with, and tonight it is back on the tables.
Cover image: four Riftbound Radiance Legend cards side by side — Ekko, Seraphine, Evelynn and Jarvan IV. Card images: Riot Games, via Shonen TCG
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