We are in Riftbound: Vendetta launch season, and with the release of the new Riftbound set, I’ve compiled five hidden gems that won’t break the bank but may break your opponent.
Riftbound: Vendetta is here, and it has brought some of the fastest mechanics to the Rift with the fourth mainline set following Unleashed. Vendetta is all about Empowering/Disempowering units and gear, dumping cards into the trash with Burn, and then potentially playing those dumped cards with Flow from the trash at a reduced cost. Vendetta has brought even more speed and mechanics to tabletops, and these mechanics fit nicely in with the already meta-topping Irelia, Blade Dancer and Diana, Scorn of the Moon.
What Riftbound: Vendetta has also brought are some of the most flexible and consistent cards players can deploy against opponents at the drop of a hat. Like a back-pocket (or hidden under a battlefield) Wages of Pain, these five cards can fit into a multitude of decks and power up any strategy with pure consistency. Although Vendetta forgot to invite some legends like the sisters Jinx, Loose Cannon and Vi, Piltover Enforcer (due to the lack of support they have received in the set), the listed five can slot nicely into most decks as players take over battlefields or attempt to set up strategies to get their score to eight.
The following Riftbound: Vendetta cards are a blend of versatility, combined with very modest prices, making them worth considering with the set’s arrival.
Wind and Ghosts
While Wind and Ghosts cannot be played at Reaction speed, what it loses in speed it makes up for in versatility and potential for big plays. For the cost of 3 and the exhaustion of a Chaos rune, you can either banish a small threat that has taken up residence on a battlefield, or bounce it to an owner’s hand for easy conquering. On the other hand, Wind and Ghosts can set up some nasty plays by removing pesky threats like Noxian Demolitionist and the new Shadow Order Disciple.
For bigger bombs that enter like the Eclipse or Elder Dragon, Wind and Ghosts can eject them back to an opponent’s hand, forcing them to spend a wealth of energy to return them to the battlefield. For an extra layer of versatility, Riftbound: Vendetta‘s Wind of Ghosts can help protect a threatened unit (provided the unit is over three might) if it’s the first card played during a showdown, so if your own Dragon is in trouble, you can have it escape and return later with a vengeance.
Mesmerize
Mesmerize is one of those five tool cards that can help you really dismantle an opponent’s strategy. Right off the bat, if your unit at a battlefield is threatened by a removal spell, you can play Mesmerize in response and protect it by returning the card to your hand. On another note, Mesmerize helps players get the most out of their cards by allowing them to be played a second time, potentially reactivating “when played” abilities, or triggering the Legion keyword by playing the same card twice.
For example, if a Rumble, Mechanized Menace player has a Scrapyard Champion in play, and they use Mesmerize, Scrapyard Champion can activate a second time in one turn (by replaying Scrapyard Champion), netting the player an extra four cards drawn. Lastly, Mesmerize can really ruin an opponent’s attack plan by making the math one might score in your favour when an opponent tries to conquer a battlefield. When this works in play, it’s very satisfying.
Up From The Deep
Up from the Deep gives players so much value, and it can be played twice. When a player drops Up from the Deep, they immediately get two token tentacle units for just three energy. With its added Flow ability, players can play this a second time from the trash and get a total of four units with six energy, making this a huge bargain in board state.
In a Kennen, Heart of the Tempest deck, you can deploy tentacle units with Up from the Deep, and then drop Dragon Form (another Flow-based spell) to make the tentacles a five-might unit. After that, you can conquer battlefields with mighty tentacle token units, without risking any of the bigger threats. Up from the Deep’s versatility lies in giving players more units to make plays with, and it does it with more efficiency than nearly every other card since Riftbound: Origins.
Sanction
The Empower Keyword is a huge power boost to the tabletops of Riftbound: Vendetta, so a spell that interacts with it (and potentially shuts it down) is primed for a lot of power, and that’s exactly what Sanction brings to the table. For a modest casting cost (including rune recycling), a player can switch an Empower unit on and off, or off and on immediately.
For Nasus, Curator of the Sands and his new champion, Nasus, Ascended, Sanction can net you more points for conquering without effort. You can choose to conquer a battlefield, play Sanction in response, and Empower Nasus, Ascended for a two-point play. This exact strategy works with all of your units, but helps even more when you’re depowering opposing threats. In response to opposing Empowered Ambessa, The Wolf, players can Sanction her, then hit her hard before the turn’s end to take her off the battlefield. Empower is strong, but control over it proves even stronger in practice.
Dragon Form
Dragon Form may be one of the more versatile Riftbound: Vendetta cards simply because it can be used as a buffer before attacking enemy bases, and it can be used to power up units that can be used as fodder for conquering instead of threats you’d rather protect. In a Fiora, Grand Duelist deck, you can Dragon Form the chosen champion Fiora, Peerless, and activate her Legend ability with the champion’s now mighty status. Then, hit an opponent’s base with a massive 10 might from one champion.
The same goes for any Legends that lean towards making tokens. Viktor, Herald of the Arcane creates small one-might units, but Dragon Form turns them into mighty attackers that can take over a battlefield. Dragon Form’s versatility comes in its allowance to be played on any unit, and how it activates when a mighty trigger occurs. With Zed, From The Shadows in play, 0 might Shadow Clone tokens can be powered up to five might without paying the additional discard fee, and any card with Assault will see its might increase to five first, then the assault is added for extra damage when conquering a battlefield. Dragon Form is a true boon for any offensive-geared strategies.
That wraps the Top 5 Hidden Gems from Riftbound: Vendetta list. This is nowhere near the entire list of viable cards from Riftbound: Vendetta, just the ones I’ve been playing religiously to great effect since Vendetta‘s release. Riftbound: Vendetta events are happening this week, so fans can head to the official UVS Games website to check for any events near them.
