Picture this: you're sitting across from a Vex Apathetic on the field, every unit you play gets stunned on entry, and your aggro deck suddenly feels completely helpless. That's the kind of experience Riftbound: Unleashed is designed to create, and it hits hard.
League of Legends spin-off trading card game Riftbound dropped its third set globally on May 8, 2026. Unleashed had already been live in China since early April, giving the rest of the world a preview of what was coming. The set brings new mechanics, a brand-new rarity tier, two pre-constructed champion decks led by Vex and Vi, and a notable first for the game: official card bans.
Vex Apathetic card reveal
The Vex deck rewards patience, punishes aggro
The Vex champion deck is built around two new mechanics: XP and Stun. XP functions as a secondary resource tracked on a dedicated card using tokens or dice. Units and spells with the Level keyword receive buffs once a certain XP threshold is met. For example, Mosstomper has Hunt 2 (earning 2 XP when it conquers or holds a battlefield) and Level 3, which permanently grants +1 Might and the Deflect status as long as 3 XP is on the tracker. The spell Combat Experience normally gives +1 Might for the turn, but jumps to +3 if the player has reached Level 6.
Stun, meanwhile, removes a unit's combat damage contribution for that turn. Stunned units don't count toward total Might in a showdown, which makes them a cost-efficient alternative to removal spells. The standout here is Vex Apathetic, who passively stuns every opposing unit played onto a battlefield while she's present, and those units can't move that turn either. It's a hard counter to fast aggro strategies.
The Vex Legend card rewards holding battlefields with a free card draw, which stacks nicely with the control-oriented gameplan. Two other keywords, Backline (unit takes damage last) and Predict (look at top cards and sort them to top or bottom of deck), appear occasionally in the deck as well. Here's the thing: the XP tracking and Stun timing add genuine complexity, so this isn't the deck to hand a first-time player.
Vi brings the chaos, and it works
The Vi deck plays completely differently. Its core mechanic is Ambush, which lets units be played at Reaction speed, the same way Quick Draw works for equipment and spells. Pair that with the Assault keyword (boosts a unit's Might when attacking) and the Vi Legend ability, which readies a unit whenever the player conquers a battlefield with 3 or more excess damage, and you have a deck that can spiral out of control fast.
Vi Hotheaded has a base Might of 3 and can double it for the turn. Rengar Unseen has Ganking, normally letting a unit move between battlefields (skipping the return-to-base step). The combo is straightforward: Vi deals 6 total Might, triggers the Legend, readies Rengar, and sends him to pressure a second battlefield immediately. Throw in the spell Square Up giving Assault 4 to a unit like Loyal Poro, and the math gets absurd fast.
The Vi deck is more linear than Vex, but that linearity is a feature. Fewer decision points mean the Legend ability fires more consistently. Of the two pre-constructed decks, this one lands harder on average.
Baron Nashor Ultimate card
Baron Nashor and the 0.1% pull rate
Unleashed introduces the first Ultimate rarity card in Riftbound history: Baron Nashor. The pull rate is 0.1% per pack. The card generates its own battlefield, cannot be targeted by spells or abilities, and gives a +2 Might buff to all friendly units. Without a spell that bypasses targeting (like Unchecked Power) or enough units to overwhelm it through raw Might, it's close to a game-ending play. The rarity and raw power make it the set's defining chase card.
China meta preview and the first bans
Because China got Unleashed in early April, the global player base already knows which decks are performing. Master Yi Wuju Bladesman (green and orange) and LeBlanc Deceiver (blue and yellow) are the early frontrunners.
Master Yi Tempered pairs Hunt 2 with Deflect and Ganking at Level 6, making it sticky on battlefields. Vilemaw has Ambush and an ability that nullifies weaker units in a showdown. The green-orange shell's buffs and counter spells make these units genuinely difficult to remove cleanly.
The LeBlanc Deceiver deck leans on her Legend's ability to create readied temporary copies of allied units whenever the player conquers or holds a battlefield (at the cost of discarding a card). Those copies survive until the start of the player's next turn. Units like Karthus Eternal double-trigger Deathknell effects, so LeBlanc Fragmented can draw two or even four cards on death instead of one. The deck is built to see every card it needs.
The staggered global release created a familiar problem: players outside China could see top-performing decks before having access to them, leading to tournament saturation once the set went wide. Riot's response was the game's first-ever card bans, citing unhealthy competitive impacts, cards becoming more problematic as the game scales, and simply not being fun to play against. For a TCG only three sets in, addressing this early is the right call.
For players tracking the broader meta shifts happening in the MOBA itself, our LoL Patch 26.5 breakdown covering every buff, nerf, and meta shift covers what's changing on Summoner's Rift right now.
Unleashed is available globally now. If you're new to Riftbound and want context on where the game has been, our full League of Legends strategy guides collection is a solid starting point for the broader universe.
