On Monday, March 30th, Riftbound has announced its first ever bans, which includes a variety of spells, champion units, and battlefields. These bans will come into effect on Tuesday, March 31st, 2026. Alongside these bans, they’ve also release a series of rules clarifications.
Here is the list of cards now banned in Riftbound:
Cards
- Called Shot
- Draven, Vanquisher
- Fight or Flight
- Scrapheap
Battlefields
- Dreaming Tree
- Obelisk of Power
- Reaver’s Row
In the article, they outline three criteria for why cards may be banned.
There are a number of factors that matter when we consider whether to ban:
Is the card overrepresented in an unhealthy way?
We don’t want our metagame dominated by a single Legend, domain, or play pattern over an extended period of time. To define this, we take many things into consideration such as impacts on organized play at every level and representation at major events.
Are the problems with the card likely to get worse over time?
Certain types of problems are more likely to get worse over time. Specifically, cards that are inexpensive and synergy-driven will tend to get stronger as we release more cards, since they can combine with more and more things. If we believe we will have to take action against a certain card eventually, we want to act sooner rather than later.
Does this card promote play patterns that negatively affect the game in other ways?
It isn’t all about raw power; player experience matters as well. Riftbound can be complex, and while that’s a big part of what our competitive players enjoy, we don’t want games to feel miserable or tournaments to take forever.
Just because a card or deck runs afoul of one of these factors doesn’t mean we’d take action based on that alone, but depending on the context, each can be a powerful multiplier with the others and lead us to consider banning something.
For more information about why they banned each particular card, make sure to read the full article from the team over at Riot Games themselves.
