The New League Of Legends TCG Is Better With Three Or Four Players

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When it comes to League of Legends, Riot Games is bullish on cross-media projects. The TV series Arcane introduced the IP to millions of people, and now, they’re expanding to the trading card arena with Riftbound.

While the jury is still out on the long-term success of the game, I’ve enjoyed what I’ve played so far. The thing is, I’ve come to really enjoy Riftbound’s multiplayer formats the most.

2v2 Is The Sweet Spot For Riftbound

It Adds A Lot To The Game

As a recap, Riftbound was officially released in the US on October 31, 2025, in the form of Riftbound: Origins, the game’s first set. Set 1 features “over 300 cards,” as well as a handful of accessories, a Providing Grounds starter box, and three Champion starter decks. Riot Games sent us the Proving Grounds box, as well as those Champion starter decks for testing (Jinx, Lee Sin, and Viktor), and by the time I was done, I ended up heavily favoring 2v2 as my preferred format.

Although TCGs are traditionally played in 1v2 formats, this one supports 2v2 and free-for-all formats from the start. One major mechanic that really sets Riftbound apart is the battlefield system. You need to conquer locations on the game board to score points, rather than smash into each other to lower their respective HP pools.

Battlefield management was a significant factor in why things became generally more interesting as the number of players increased. Rather than force everyone into a kingmaking situation (where everyone is ganging up on one person to eliminate them), players need to constantly read into every strategic move and figure out how to capture each battlefield for themselves.

It leads to a lot of interesting and thematic situations, with temporary victories snatched away by a well-timed fireball. It makes everything more chaotic, to a point, but allows for more counterplay and, to an extent, game balance, depending on the combination of Champions.

It’s not too surprising that players are already taking to the 2v2 format with Riftbound. One of Star Wars: Unlimited’s most beloved multiplayer modes, Twin Suns, has gained an increasing amount of traction in that community. That also follows the general rise of Commander in Magic: The Gathering.

I Hope More Formats Keep Coming

The System Is Pretty Versatile

It’s commendable that the Riftbound team has rules for alternative game modes at launch. An increasingly large number of TCGs come and go with a singular format, suffering as a result. It might be way too early for this, but a PVE set would go down nicely with the League of Legends community, if it’s ever in the cards.

Although Riftbound has game meta and distribution growing pains to work out, there’s a lot of potential here. I hope it sticks around and has enough time to figure everything out. We’ll see soon enough: The next set, Riftbound: Spiritforge, is scheduled for release on February 13, 2026.