Riftbound's BestOf Promos: How much they cost and how to get one?

In the game of Riftbound, the choice of your deck and its Legend is particularly important, as it directly influences what you can win at a tournament!

Today, I will explain what a Metal promo is, what BestOf means, how much they cost, and how you can win one!

Let's get into it!

What is a Plated Metal Promo?

Riftbound's Legend cards are typically trivially cheap, and it seems to be a part of the game design philosophy of making game pieces very affordable, while the premium price tag is on special arts, treatments, and promos. A Diana legend for your deck in the base version would cost you about 0,02 euro. 

One of the pillars of Riftbound's approach to promos is making those otherwise cheap Legend cards into Plated Metal Promos. As the name suggests, and yes, it's fully true, these are Legend cards literally made of metal. Compared to a normal card, they are considerably heavier, and they feel very special.

Such a metal Legend will now cost not less than 1 euro but rather upwards of 1,000 euro! This is quite a jump and an insane way to flex. Every Legend in the game has had a Metal Promo made and there are hundreds in circulation per Legend.

How to get a Plated Metal Promo?

As you might predict, a physically metal-made card would make for a bad inclusion in any ordinary booster pack, as it'd be way too easy to discern which booster contains it. Not only can you not randomly get one in a normal booster pack, but you cannot get it in any booster pack or any other sealed product! Yes, it is *not* a lottery ticket-style promo. It's something you get for WINNING.

There are two main ways to get one.

The first is competing at Regional Qualifiers, big international events, and using event tickets obtained there to redeem them for Metal Promos at the prize wall. This makes it so that playing even just side events can get you a promo worth 1,000 euro! In a lot of cases, it alone basically pays back the trip. Depending on your results, you could naturally walk away with more than 1 - lucky (and high win rate) you!

The second is much more direct. At events called Showdowns, there is a so-called BestOf System - and let's dive deeper into it now.

The BestOf System

Various Riftbound events have a so-called BestOf System, and it works as follows.

At any point in the game, there will be X eligible Legends, where X is the pool of Legends from the total of the 3 most recent sets. At designated tournaments (RC, RQ, Showdowns), each person who has had the best result with each Legend is crowned the Best Of <that Legend>. Each person gets not only bragging rights, but also a special promo of that specific Legend to crown this achievement.

And so, tying it back to the previous segment, if at a Showdown event you are the best Diana in the room, you will receive a Metal Diana. There is no down or up limit on how good you have to go. If you were the only Diana in the room...you'd also get the Promo! That's why some niche Legends are always picked in the hopes that you might be among 1-3 people total in the room, and it's considerably easier to get such a promo.

The Plated Metal and the BestOf Metal

There are essentially two types of those promos. The one we've been talking about is Plated Metal. However, there is a separate type which is a BestOf Foil Metal. The idea is the same, but there are three key differences:

• They are obtained *only* through the BestOf System and only at RQ (or RC) events, contrary to Plated Metals that can be obtained through the Prize Wall or at Showdowns.
• They are not only made of metal, but they also have special foiling and unique patterns.
• Instead of being worth 1,000 euro, they cost upwards of... 10,000 euro!

When an RQ concludes, the publisher officially posts a full list of players and their decklists that has accomplished this feat! Each player also gets a cool picture with the card they've got. Like this one from Barcelona, depicting my Team Jester teammate, Fase - who was the BestOf Pyke!

Conclusion

The beauty of this system is that it does not promote random lottery pulls, but rather competition. Even you can get your hands on a Plated Metal, or even a BestOf with your beloved legend!