13 Strongest Cards in Spiritforged Set – Riftbound TCG
Heya everyone! With Spiritforged’s global release right around the corner, players have been hard at work testing the new cards, whether online or with proxies, to figure out which decks and strategies rise to the top. While Draven has been dominating the scene so far, plenty of players are still holding out hope for an underdog deck that can finally give him a real challenge.
Spiritforged brings a massive wave of powerful cards to Riftbound, aiming to shake up the meta and deliver a fresh experience across the board. Ranking the best cards won’t be easy, but I’ll give it my best shot. This should help highlight what you’ll want to keep an eye on when building your competitive decks.
13- Spinning Axe
Spinning Axe is a Signature Gear, so it’s locked to Draven decks, which is the main reason it’s not ranked higher. Spinning Axe has the Quick-Draw keyword, meaning e can develop it on the board at reaction speed, giving one of our units a +3 Might boost that sticks on it.
The only downside for Spinning Axe is that Temperroray keyword, so if the holder dies during the opponent’s turn, we won’t get a change to equip it to another unit before it dies at the beginning of our turn.
12 – Janna Savior
Janna Savior is a 3-cost, 3 Might unit that can be played at reaction speed. She has a lot of potential to catch opponents off-guard, shifting the direction of the combat completely in your favor.
When she joins the base or battlefield, she heals all units there, which can save damaged units from getting killed. If you play her at a battlefield, you can move an opponent’s unit back to base, a massive move if you’re trying to win a combat.
11- Lucian Merciless
Lucian is a 3-cost champion with no Power cost, perfect for playing in the early game and using his Weaponmaster keyword to equip a gear without having to pay the equip cost. You’re developing a 3 Might unit and empowering it with equipment from the get-go, and from there, you’ll be relying on Lucian as a strong attacker, capable of conquering a battlefield.
Lucian Merciless can become a win condition thanks to his ability to re-stand when he conquers a battlefield. This allows Lucian to make another move, either to another battlefield if he has the Ganking keyword, or back to the base to prevent the opponent from easily killing him. You get to attack with Lucian, kill units, conquer a battlefield, and scurry back to the safety of your base to plan another attack on the upcoming turn.
10- Ruin Runner
Ruin Runner in Riftbound follows the footsteps of her Runeterra counterpart, a win-condition unit that’s notoriously hard to remove. At first glance, Ruin Runner doesn’t look too threatening: she’s a 6-cost unit with only 5 Might. However, her real strength lies in her ability, which prevents the opposing player from choosing her with spells and abilities. This makes dealing with Ruin Runner significantly harder, as cards like Rebuke, Frigid Touch, or Hidden Blade can’t be used to take her down.
While 5 Might is serviceable, it’s usually not enough to survive most late-game combats, especially if you’re relying on Ruin Runner to win battles consistently. That said, Spiritforged introduces a wide range of powerful equipment cards that can boost her Might and turn her into a massive on-board threat. When combined with combat tricks, Ruin Runner becomes incredibly difficult to deal with, allowing you to hold key battlefields and even push on the offensive to conquer zones and take out opposing units.
9- Frigid Touch
Blue gains a massive combat trick with no restrictions! Frigid Touch lets you reduce an opposing unit’s Might by 2, and with Repeat, you can recast the spell to apply another −2 Might to the same or a different unit.
In the Origins meta, we were used to units never dropping below 1 Might, but Frigid Touch completely changes that expectation. With its introduction, units can now be reduced all the way to 0 Might, effectively making them offensively useless in combat and swinging battles heavily in Blue’s favor.
8- Called Shot
Called Shot quickly caught players’ attention when it was revealed. The ability to look at the top 2 cards of your Main Deck and choose to add one of them to your hand for 0 Energy and 1 Power cost makes it too good to ignore. You’re essentially losing no Energy to make any of your plays, while adding more consistency to your deck, helping you find the cards you need to get your gameplan rolling. The Repeat keyword is where things get even better. By recycling an additional Chaos Rune, you’re activating Called Shot again for a second draw.
This has been a strong choice for many Chaos decks in Spiritforged, especially with Ezreal Prodigy in play since you can dodge the Power cost from the Repeat.
7- No So Fast
Green decks gain another counter aimed at shutting down the opponent’s game plan. We already have cards like Defy and Wind Wall; however, Not So Fast can also counter abilities, but the spells and abilities it can counter are only those that choose one of your units or gears. So, it has a massive restriction to it, but against certain decks, countering an ability can completely disrupt an opponent’s strategy.
6- Hard Bargain
Purple was already frustrating to play against thanks to its abundance of stall and value tools. Decks like Ezreal, Annie, and Draven can deny opponents from scoring a battlefield using cards like Gust, Fight or Flight, and Rebuke, slowing the game to a crawl and putting the opposing player behind on tempo.
On top of that, Purple has access to consistency tools like Called Shot and Stacked Deck, making it far easier to find the exact cards needed to execute its game plan. With Hard Bargain introduced in Spiritforged, Purple now gains a 2-cost Counter that can shut down game-deciding spells. While opponents can choose to rest 2 Runes to bypass Hard Bargain’s effect, the Repeat keyword lets you lock it in again, forcing them to rest 4 Runes instead.
In many cases, your opponent won’t have enough Ready Runes to bypass the Counter effect, and if they do, you’re effectively shutting down most if not all of their other plays for the turn.
5- Guardian Angel
Zhonya's Hourglass has been a core card in many Green decks, ensuring your key unit doesn’t get killed easily, and keeping your win condition alive. In Spiritforged, we now have Guardian Angel, which works somewhat similarly to Zhonya, but even better in many scenarios.
Guardian Angel is an equipment, so we attach it to the unit we want to protect and give it a +1 Might boost. If the opponent kills our unit, we can instead kill Guardian Angel and keep our unit in play. This has proven to be strong in decks like Irelia, Master Yi, and even Yasuo, as those decks have win conditions they can’t afford to lose.
It’s become a staple card in those decks, earning it a spot as one of the best cards in Spiritforged and a must-get if you’re playing a Green deck!
4- Punch First
1 Energy for +5 Might? Yup! Punch First immediately turned heads when it was revealed, acting as a massive combat trick for Body-type decks like Master Yi, Sett, and Fiora. For just 1 Energy and recycling 2 Body Runes, you can give one of your units a huge +5 Might boost, often enough to win combat and conquer a battlefield on the spot.
Recycling 2 Runes can be a real cost, especially for midrange decks, but the upside is huge. Because Punch First only costs 1 Energy, simply keeping a single Rune available forces your opponent to constantly play around it when committing to attacks. On top of that, its 2 Power cost means Punch First dodges Defy, a commonly played counterspell in Green decks.
That said, Punch First isn’t without its limits. It’s an Action-speed card, meaning you can’t fire it off in response to removal spells, a restriction that helps keep its power in check.
3- Draven Vanquisher
Draven Vanquisher is one of the strongest champions in the game, loving combat and rewarding you for winning them! When attacking or defending, you get to choose whether to recycle a Fury rune or not. If you do, Draven Vanquisher gains a +2 Might boost for the turn, turning him into a 6 Might unit that will force more resources from the opposing player to deal with him.
Draven has found a place outside of just the Fury Chaos Draven deck. We’ve also seen him included in decks like Annie and Kai’Sa, acting as a strong mid-game play that can force resources from the opponent to break through.
2- Fizz Trickster
Fizz has been an absolute powerhouse for Purple decks that want access to extra resources. When played, Fizz lets you dig through your trash and play a spell that costs 3 Energy or less. You still have to pay the Power cost, but being able to reuse exactly the card you need adds a huge boost to your deck’s overall consistency.
Miracle decks in particular have been loving Fizz, especially thanks to its synergy with Ezreal Prodigy. We’re now seeing decks like Draven, Ezreal, Annie, and even Sivir slot in the 3-cost Fizz as a reliable value engine. Depending on the build, Fizz can function as a value card, improve consistency, or even a key combo enabler, all rolled into one card.
1- Ezreal Prodigy
Finally, my pick for Spiritforged’s strongest card is none other than Ezreal Prodigy! Ezreal has become the core enabler for Miracle decks, reshaping how multiple archetypes are built and opening up entirely new versions for players to compete with.
On play, Ezreal lets you trash a card from your hand to draw two cards, immediately generating extra resources. He also pairs perfectly with Scrapheap for even more draw. You’re not just refilling your hand, you’re filtering into better cards while stocking your trash, which later becomes fuel for plays with Fizz or Rhasa.
While Ezreal remains in play, he reduces optional additional costs by 1 Energy or 1 Rune. This ability is especially brutal with spells that have the Repeat keyword, such as Called Shot, stripping away their biggest drawback and allowing for more plays each turn. The result is a huge tempo swing, often pushing opponents to go out of their way just to remove Ezreal and slow the game back down.
