Riot is kicking off the preview season for "Radiance", the fifth set of the League of Legends trading card game Riftbound. Starting September 25, Riot will reveal the first cards at the Regional Qualifier in Los Angeles – the beginning of roughly two weeks in which the entire new set gets unveiled piece by piece, ahead of its worldwide release on October 23.
The road to release
According to Riot, the preview season unfolds in several stages. It starts September 25 at the Regional Qualifier in Los Angeles, the closing event of the 2026 qualifier season, where Riot shows the first official cards. Daily reveals continue through October 9. From October 16 to 22, local game stores run so-called Pre-Rift events, where the first boosters get opened and the first singles change hands. The worldwide release is set for October 23.
Nine new Legends – six already confirmed
Radiance introduces nine new champion Legends. Six are confirmed by name: Ekko, Seraphine, Evelynn, Ziggs, Jarvan IV, and Orianna.
- Orianna was added later; confirmed at a PAX West livestream after the original announcement had named only five champions.
- Riot has not yet named the remaining three. All six confirmed champions are getting their first "Riftbound" Legend with Radiance – none of them is a reprint.
Ekko is the furthest along: Riot already detailed his Legend, "Ekko, Boy Who Shattered Time", in its own preview article as a Fury/Mind Legend built on the "Empower" mechanic. According to Riot, Ekko can be disempowered to make your next unit cost two energy and one power less – that unit is then killed at the end of the turn.
For Seraphine, the picture got clearer on September 22: her Legend card, "Starry-Eyed Songstress", was photographed as a physical print, numbered RAD 151/167 according to RiftCompare.
- Her ability: as an additional cost to play a spell, Seraphine and three friendly units can be exhausted to reduce that spell's cost by two.
- Seraphine also already has a card in circulation ahead of the set's actual release – but not a Legend: one of five cards in the "Riftbound x T1 2025 Worlds Champion Collection", her card "Not Alone", a different card type than the Legend card, is already in circulation, though not tournament-legal until October 23.
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Evelynn is so far only known through her artwork ("Evelynn, In Control"); reporting from a Riot preview event in Vancouver suggests she's placed in the Chaos domain, though that's not officially confirmed yet. Nothing beyond the name has surfaced for Ziggs, Jarvan IV, or the three unannounced Legends.
In addition to the nine Legends, Riot has already shown a card for K'Sante ("K'Sante, Courageous") – but as a regular champion unit card, not a Legend. K'Sante doesn't count among the nine new Radiance Legends.
What else is known about the set
Beyond the Legends, Riot has revealed a few more key details:
- New card category: Radiance introduces a new "Ultimate Rare" tier – a single card sitting above the existing over-numbered tier, which according to Riot won't appear in every set. Which card that will be remains unknown.
- HEARTSTEEL in the set: A Riot-published set-contents graphic, still partially redacted, confirms Ekko, Seraphine, an unnamed colorless champion unit, and – notably – the virtual band HEARTSTEEL as part of Radiance, the band's first appearance in this set.
- Card count unclear: Riot itself states 180 cards (66 of them Showcase variants). Several already officially shown cards with regular numbering – including Neeko (RAD 167/167), Seraphine's Legend card "Starry-Eyed Songstress" (RAD 151/167), and her card "Not Alone" (RAD 136/167) – point to a 167-card base set that doesn't neatly line up with Riot's stated figure of 180. The reason for the discrepancy is currently unclear.
- Unnamed new mechanic: Riot's content overview confirms Radiance brings its own new game mechanic without naming it. Leaks pointing to possible mechanics called "Deploy," "Showoff," and "Disarm" reportedly stem from photographed internal demo material at PAX West, per RiftCompare, and remain neither confirmed nor denied by Riot.
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The products at launch
Per Riot's own announcement, four product lines are planned for release: booster packs and displays, Showdown Decks, a Vault Bundle, and Pre-Rift kits for local retailers. The Showdown Decks are themed around Seraphine versus Evelynn and, according to Riot, include two preconstructed 56-card decks, two booster packs, two playmats, and a rulebook – at an MSRP of 34.99 USD.