Preparing for the Unleashed Pre-Rift

Hello Riftbounders!

This Friday, May 1, stores will begin running their Unleashed Pre-Rift events–Your first chance to play the newest set’s cards. These events generally run through the following week so definitely check the schedule at your local store. If you’re looking for a store or want to see when your local game stores are running their Pre-Rifts near you, check out our event locator.

I’m Frank Skarren, “Vriss”. I am the lead designer for Riftbound’s third set, Unleashed, and today I’ll be your guide for what you can expect when attending these events, starting with the most important question of all…

What is a Pre-Rift?

A Pre-Rift event is your first opportunity to get your hands on a new set’s cards and play with them before the set is officially released. Think of it as a sneak peek of what’s to come with the added bonus of cracking open some sweet sweet booster packs filled with brand new cards to add to your collection.

Pre-Rift events are fun, social, and casual! The focus is on learning and light-hearted fun—not cut-throat competition. Don’t hesitate to ask your fellow Riftbounders or the event judge for help while you’re building your deck or in the middle of a game.

The other great thing about Pre-Rifts is that they are Sealed events. This means all the cards you need to play will be provided to you as part of the event, and you’ll just need to build your deck from that limited card pool.

What is Sealed?

In Sealed, you are provided with booster packs to open, for this event it will be Unleashed booster packs. You can use any of the cards you open from those packs when building your deck, but you can’t add outside cards from your collection to your deck. Building a sealed deck has similar rules to building a normal constructed deck, but there are some key differences:

• Sealed decks have a minimum Main Deck size of 25, but you can play more than that if you want to.
• You can use as many copies of a card as you open, including going above the normal limit of 3 copies of a card.
• Sealed decks can use up to three domains of cards and runes. If you use a Legend or Signature card, that covers two of your domains.
• You are not limited to Runes or tokens that you open in your packs. Additional runes will be provided to you by the event organizer, and you can use anything handy to represent tokens!
• Your Chosen Champion and Signature cards must be within your three domains, but they don’t have to match the champion on your legend. For example, you could have Rengar, Trophy Hunter as your Chosen Champion and Alpha Strike in your deck, with Bashful Bloom as your legend. Your three domains would be: Calm, Mind, and Body.
• You can use battlefields that you open, or use a facedown card as a “blank” substitute battlefield. These blank battlefields have no abilities and are locations for players to conquer and hold.
• You can change the starting configuration of your deck in between games and rounds. Don’t be afraid to alter your build as you go!
• For more details on Limited and Sealed Riftbound, see section 602 of the Tournament Rules.

For Unleashed Pre-Rift events, you’ll be provided with the following to open and use to build your deck. Remember, anything you open is yours to keep!

• 5 Unleashed Booster Packs
• A pack themed around one of six new Champions in Unleashed. These packs have a Legend, a Rare Champion, a Battlefield, and support cards all for that Champion. You’ll get one of these packs at random featuring Jhin, Vi, Master Yi, Ivern, Diana, or Kha’Zix.
• An Ashe, Focused promo card with a special Pre-Rift stamp. You can’t include Ashe in your sealed deck, but she is a special promo you can only get your hands on at these events (while supplies last).

Building Your Deck

When building your sealed deck, there are a few things you’ll want to keep in mind. Remember, what you build has to have at least 25 cards and follow the domain rules listed above. With that in mind, here are a few tips for building your deck at the Pre-Rift:

1. Including a reasonable amount of units in your deck is important, they are the primary way to score points. Most decks want to have at least 15 units that can fight for you. You’ll want approximately five of them to cost 2 Energy, so you have plays to make in your first turns. The rest of your units can be more expensive, with a diversity of costs so you have powerful plays at all points of the game.
2. Use your non-unit cards to help bolster the strategy of your deck. Equipment or spells that give Might are great options to improve your units. It’s also always a good idea to have a few spells that will let you interact directly with your opponent’s units by removing them from play.
3. Think about the different Power costs in your deck. Cards with Power costs tend to have stronger effects, and you will want to have some without going overboard on the runes you’ll have to recycle. When deciding what runes to play in your Rune Deck, make sure to think about the specific Power costs you’re putting in your Main Deck.
4. Unleashed has a new mechanic called XP. It is a resource you can generate that some cards let you spend and some cards will get a benefit from when you have a lot of XP. When including XP cards in your sealed deck, include enough generation to support the payoff cards you want to use.

When building the foundation of your deck, the cards from your Pre-Rift kit are a great place to start. Here’s a quick rundown on the champions in the Pre-Rift kits and their strategies.

Pre-Rift Seeded Legends

Jhin 

“One, two, three, four, two, two, three, four.”

Jhin loves when you pay at least four Energy to play spells. His legend Virtuoso gives you a big reward once you’ve done it four times. His Pre-Rift kit comes with some spells to get you started and some units that get extra bonuses when you pay four energy for spells.

As you open your packs, look for more spells that work with Jhin’s legend and some solid units to hold down the fourt until you can pop off. Keep in mind, using Repeat costs like on Downstage Dramatics is a great way to have early flexibility and pay more for spells later so they work with Virtuoso!

Vi

“They'll never know what hit 'em.”

Vi is all about hitting your opponent’s units and hitting them hard. Piltover Enforcer and her support cards give you bonuses when you conquer and overkill enemy units by three or more damage.

Keep an eye out for units with a lot of Might or ways to pump up your units in combat to make sure you are doing enough excess damage. Units like Arena Kingpin offer great ways to beef up your units and give you something exciting to ready with your legend.

Master Yi

“A true master is an eternal student.”

Master Yi is all about earning XP and saving it up for big rewards. His legend Wuju Master will take your units to the next level once you’ve stored up enough XP.

Expand upon Yi’s Pre-Rift kit by adding as many ways to generate XP as you can to your deck. Units with the Hunt keyword are great options to make sure you can build up XP turn after turn. With Yi, be careful about including cards that spend your XP since you can lose your Level bonuses if you spend too much!

Ivern

“I wonder what adventure today has in store for all of us.”

The mighty Green Father and friend to all critters, Ivern lets you turn battlefields into Brush that give extra Might to units with the Bird, Cat, Dog, and Poro tags. His Pre-Rift kit comes chock full of furry friends to help you get your deck started.

Ivern really gets rolling when you have at least one of each critter in play. In your packs, be on the lookout for more units with those tags that would be right at home in Ivern’s Brush. Cards like Frisky Hunter and Ultrasoft Poro that give you multiple friends in one card are extra important!

Diana

“A new moon is rising.”

Diana’s legend Scorn of the Moon gives you the unique ability to get extra Energy that you can use during showdowns. Her Pre-Rift kit comes with some tricks perfectly set up to take advantage of the bonus Energy to crush your opponents in combat and leave them in the dark.

Look to add in some more Action and Reaction spells to really take advantage of Scorn of the Moon, as well as units that let you pay Energy for a bonus when they Attack, Defend, or enter a showdown.

Kha’Zix

“Consume and adapt.”

Kha’Zix also thrives on XP, but unlike Yi he likes to spend it instead of store it up. Voidreaver and Kha’Zix’s Pre-Rift kit give you some powerful ways to generate and utilize XP, letting you evolve and adapt to any situation you encounter.

Too much is never enough! Find more ways to build XP so you can spend it to your heart’s content. Grim Resolve is the perfect way to get extra XP, rewarding you for winning combat itself and with Voidreaver. Isolate your foes, catching units alone at battlefields with Kha’Zix is the perfect way to get even more XP.

See you on the Rift!

While these legends are the ones you will encounter in the Pre-Rift kits, there are more waiting in the Unleashed boosters. If you open one of the other legends, don’t be afraid to venture into the jungle and try to build something from scratch.

Excited to find a nearby Pre-Rift? Check the event locator and find one near you!

Good luck on your pulls, you never know when you just might open the Ultimate Baron Nashor!