Runes

What this section covers

1. 1

   What a rune actually is

   Not a land, not something you play. A separate deck feeding everything.

   There is no cap on runes on the board, only the two per turn the Channel Phase gives you and a 12 card Rune Deck to draw them from. Run that deck dry and the Channel Phase quietly does nothing for the rest of the game.

   Every basic rune has the same two abilities and differs only in its domain, which is its colour. There are six: Fury, Calm, Mind, Body, Chaos and Order (rule 163.1).

   3 hands-on tests · Core Rules 160, 103, 162, 163
2. 2

   Energy and Power

   One rune, two jobs, and you must choose which.

   Your Champion Legend sets your Domain Identity, and every card you include must fit inside it (rule 103.1.b). A deck that cannot make Chaos power simply cannot cast Chaos cards, so the constraint is real rather than a suggestion.

   Bone Skewer needs Chaos power, and three Body runes can never make Chaos. In a Body deck it is a dead card in every hand you draw, which is why Domain Identity is fixed at deckbuilding (rule 103.1.b) rather than left to chance.

   2 hands-on tests · Core Rules 163, 163.2, 166, 167
3. 3

   Ready and exhausted

   Sideways means spent. Same idea for runes and units.

   The ready one. A standard move costs exhausting the unit itself (rule 144.2), so a unit already sideways has nothing left to pay with. Notice that no rune was touched either: a move is paid by the unit and by nothing else.

   Everything you control straightens at once (rule 315.1). It is the first thing on your turn, before draw or channel, and it is why exhausting is only ever a cost for the current turn.

   3 hands-on tests · Core Rules 143.4, 144.2, 315.1, 414, 415

How this section is taught

Runes is 3 lessons and 8 tests, played on a board with real cards. Every idea above is shown with the card that does it and then handed to you to perform. Get it wrong and the trainer names the rule you missed at the moment you miss it.

Core Rules cited in this section

103 143.4 144.2 160 162 163 163.2 166 167 315.1 414 415

Every clause number above is checked against the official Riftbound Core Rules and printed on screen inside the lesson, so you can read the rule the trainer is teaching from.