What you need to start playing Riftbound

Before heading out to your first Riftbound tournament, it's important to make sure you've got everything ready with you. 

Today, I'll provide a very quick overview of what you ought to take, which ranges from absolutely necessary to simply useful.

Let's get into it!

The Deck

This is naturally the bare minimum. You have to take your deck with you. As a reminder, your full deckbox contents ought to include:

• Main deck 39 cards + Chosen Champion
• Legend card
• Sideboard 10 cards
• Rune deck 12 cards
• Battlefields 3 cards

Always double-check that you have everything, as without them you wouldn't be able to compete.

My personal tip here is to use different colour sleeves for the Legend, the Runes, the Battlefield, and the rest. This allows you to very easily recognise which is which, and prevents situations when at the end of the game you shuffle your Runes and your main deck together - and even if you do, it takes 10 seconds to untangle them.

The Decklist

If you're playing at a higher rules enforcement, like RQ, Showdown, or a local Skirmish, you might be required to bring a decklist with you. 

At some tournaments, you will be able to do it fully digitally, but always check if a paper deck list is not preferred. However, even if it is, it's perfectly fine if you print it out or handwrite it.

The Tokens

If your deck produces tokens of any kind, I cannot recommend enough to bring them with you, be it the official ones or your own pre-prepared alternatives. It makes the game so much more chaotic if you're using random dice or empty sleeves to represent game objects, especially if you have a couple of types of tokens.

Take your Golds and Sprites with you, and it's going to make everybody's day easier.

The Points Tracker

When playing Riftbound, you will have to somehow track points, both yours and the opponent's. There are a couple of methods: a playmat with designated numbers on which you place a die or figurine, dice, mobile app.

However, I will suggest a much more analog method of pen and paper. It has numerous unique advantages:

• You can backtrack points if there is any discrepancy
• You won't accidentally change the score like when you nudge a die or accidentally tap the phone
• You can use it as a notepad to learn from the games
• You can analyse the point scoring pattern later
• You can mark how the points got scored, namely from conquers or hold

To the last point, it's something that I personally do. I mark for instance 2C when the second point was scored through conquering or 4H when from holding. You can get even more specific and right a shortened version of the name of the unit that did the scoring.

The Dice

I cannot recommend enough the dice that indicate plus and minus. In no other game that I have played has it been more relevant than here.

The entire game revolves around buffing and debuffing and it's so much easier to track when it's clear what the Might change is and whether it's positive or negative. Even if you just play buffs in your deck, having such dice at hand is super useful when the opposing deck has debuffs, and vice versa.

The Other

We're out of the 'necessary' category, venturing into more optional stuff. I'd highly advise that you take:

• A playmat
• Spare sleeves
• Water
• Nutritious food
• Earplugs

I reckon that such lifestyle things sometimes play an unexpectedly crucial role. I function much better when well fed and hydrated. I also am measurably more focused when using earplugs, as it cancels out a lot of noise in the background that could otherwise be distracting.

Conclusion

Now you are ready to pack up and conquer your next Riftbound tournament! Take your deck, dice, pen, paper, and score that 8th point!