Potential Card Bans & Predictions – Riftbound TCG
Heya everyone! Today, Riftbound’s Game Director, Dave Guskin, shared on Twitter that the team is considering banning cards in Riftbound as a way to balance the game, specifically targeting what he described as “overly dominant play patterns.”
The Chaos (Purple) domain has been dominating the competitive Riftbound scene since Spiritforged’s release. This has pushed decks like Midrange Draven and several “Miracle” builds to the top of the meta, making it much harder for non-Purple strategies to compete.
Guskin also mentioned that the team has been closely monitoring how the meta has developed across recent regional tournaments. They’re paying particular attention to dominant playstyles that can become frustrating to play against. That said, no final decision has been made yet—either on whether bans will happen at all, or which cards might be targeted. If bans do happen, they won’t take effect before the Shenzhen Major Open in late March.
While Guskin didn’t directly name the strategy they’re watching, it’s reasonable to assume the focus is on the Chaos domain. Chaos has been extremely popular in Spiritforged, with cards like Called Shot, Stacked Deck, Ezreal Prodigy, Rebuke, and Ride the Wind showing up in many decks. These cards have also helped create the “Miracle” versions of several Purple Legends, including Sivir, Miss Fortune, Ezreal, and Draven.
The Miracle version focuses on playing low-cost spells that draw cards, such as Called Shot and Stacked Deck. These cards add a lot of consistency to the deck, since getting to look at the top of your deck makes it easier to find the pieces you need. At the same time, these spells quickly fill up your trash, letting you play Rhasa the Sunderer for a much lower energy cost earlier in the game.
Cards That Could Get Banned
I’ll share the cards that I think could be potential ban candidates, but that doesn’t mean all of them will end up getting banned. These are simply the cards that might be worth considering.
At the end of the day, the ban hammer doesn’t need to hit all of them—and it probably won’t. Even banning just one or two cards could be enough to slow the strategy down, keeping it balanced while still leaving some of its powerful tools available for multiple decks.
Called Shot has been a key engine for these Miracle decks, especially when paired with Seal of Discord and Ezreal Prodigy to dodge the Power cost. This lets you look at the top 4 cards of your deck and add one to your hand for only 1 Power, without even spending Energy. As a result, you can keep making strong plays while improving the deck’s consistency and finding the pieces you’re missing.
It also helps preserve your resources, allowing you to outvalue opponents over time. With Fizz Trickster, you can even recycle Called Shot and gain access to the effect again for additional draws.
I believe Called Shot is at the top of the list for Riot right now, and unless the upcoming meta can shake things up so that Miracle decks aren’t as dominant, we’ll likely see a ban on Called Shot to lower the consistency of these decks. However, banning Called Shot doesn’t solve the mid-range Draven issue, and decks like Irelia are not affected, and will likely see even more play if no counter decks can keep up.
Stacked Deck is another searcher card, which is usually a more popular option since it can be played outside of the Miracle decks. It’s been around since Origins and has been an extremely popular addition to Purple decks, giving them a way to find the cards they need to run their strategy.
A lot of players have voiced their opinions on the consistency this card gives to Chaos decks, helping them find the pieces they need and thinning their deck. It’s definitely a card for Riot to keep on their radar, but for the time being, Called Shot might be the biggest offender.
Ride the Wind is probably at the top of the list that leaves players “frustrated” when seeing it played. It allows players to move one of their units, usually to another battlefield at Action speed. It’s usually used as a win condition, setting you up to conquer another battlefield and potentially putting you in a spot to win the game.
We’ve seen decks like Draven and Irelia take full advantage of Ride the Win since it can score you a point during the opponent’s turn. We also saw some Ezreal lists dabble with Ride the Win, trying to play a bit faster and keeping an alternate win condition in their arsenal.
Fight or Flight and Rebuke have been strong Chaos control tools since the Origins meta. Both are low-cost spells that can slow the opponent’s tempo and put them behind on the board.
Rebuke is a 2-cost spell with a 2 Power cost that lets you return a unit at a battlefield to its owner’s hand. It’s usually used to bounce high-cost win conditions that the opponent is relying on, weakening their board presence and forcing them to spend the Energy again to replay the unit.
Fight or Flight, however, often feels even stronger—especially in Draven decks. Unlike Rebuke, you don’t have to recycle 2 Runes to play it, and returning a unit from the battlefield to base can be exactly what you need to hold a battlefield or swing a combat in your favor. On top of that, Fight or Flight can be hidden at a battlefield, letting you dodge the Energy cost while keeping a defensive trick that your opponent always has to respect.
While both cards are powerful in the current Chaos meta, Fight or Flight likely has the edge here and could be the one more firmly on Riot’s radar compared to Rebuke.
Although Chaos has been dominating the scene, that doesn’t mean all the cards worth ban list consideration come from that domain. One card that has been getting a lot of attention is Brynhir Thundersong.
It has become an extremely strong option for Fury decks in the Spiritforged meta, as it can shut down the opponent’s ability to make plays during your turn. This makes it much easier to conquer battlefields without having to worry too much about what your opponent might respond with. Your opponent still has a window to play Reaction spells, but they’re locked out of Action spells they might rely on to defend a battlefield.
Although I don’t necessarily think we’ll see it get banned, it’s still a card worth mentioning, as it can completely shut down certain decks for the turn and auto-win the game. This is an ability that will likely remain relevant in future metas and can become even stronger in certain decks.
Finally, I wanted to go over Ezreal, which has been the enabler for the Miracle decks thanks to the reduction he gives on the optional additional cost. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of Ezreal’s ability, and I think he might be doing too much on his own. As the game progresses, I think Ezreal will continue to be problematic and even become a broken card if Riot isn’t careful with the cards they release.
Although Dave Guskin didn’t mention an errata, I would be down to toning down Ezreal somehow. The first thing that comes to mind is lowering the number of cards he draws for you to 1 instead of 2. Another change could be to put a limit on the cost reduction he gives per turn.
Draven has been dominating the competitive scene in China and the West, and although multiple decks have managed to beat him in major tournaments, we can’t just ignore the consistency this deck provides, thanks to the multiple card draw options it has. Draven’s built-in draw mechanic is also the main reason why this deck can be strong on the field and can’t run out of steam easily. Whenever this deck wins a combat, you get to draw a card, making it much easier to play cards from your hand to win a combat, knowing you’re not losing resources and can still keep up in the later stages of the game.
There are multiple ways to approach weakening this Legend’s ability, but the easiest approach is to have Draven use his ability only once. Similar to Ezreal, you’d need to tap him to activate the draw effect. Another approach is redefining what combat is, and whether a unit getting pushed out of a battlefield with cards like Overzealous Fan is considered a “won combat”.
A lot of players have been bringing up the Stellacorn Herder’s draw potential, especially when combined with abilities that let you move her. The card draw can be a value swing, and if players don’t have an immediate answer for Stellacorn Herder, it can be tough for decks to catch up to.
Dazzling Aurora has enabled a lot of interesting archetypes, including Miss Fortune, Sivir, and Volibear. Back in Origins, we even saw Master Yi decks running Aurora, showing how much the card can shape the meta.
If purple decks do end up getting hit, we could easily see a rise in Aurora-based strategies again. Because of that, it’s definitely a card the developers will need to keep on their radar.
Closing Words
We’re still unsure what Riot has planned when it comes to card bans, and we also can’t forget that the Unleashed release is right around the corner. A new set could easily shake up the meta and lower the impact Chaos decks currently have.
There’s also the possibility that Riot adjusts some of the game’s rules to make them more consistent. For example, clarifying what should count as a “combat” could indirectly nerf certain strategies, specifically for Draven players.
On voit trop de volonté a viser le violet mais la couleur jaune a egalement beaucoup de carte forte et je pense que quelque carte serait egalement a banir