The new League of Legends TCG Riftbound has just launched its first set, Origins, but its designers have dreamed up ideas for releases much further in the future.
I recently had a chance to catch up with Game Director Dave Guskin, who I met at Riot HQ earlier this year, and he told me the Riftbound team sat down one day and thought up an arc for the next five years of the game.
"I think we got up to, like, 2030," Guskin says. "So about 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 sets." He was quick to add, however, that different sets are at different development stages, and most of these distant ideas are in no way set in stone. "Those are like the very sketches of ideas of sets. The further out in the future it is, the less confident I am that it's actually going to be that," he says.
Right now, in fact, Riot Games is still experimenting with exactly what a Riftbound set even looks like as the fledgling TCG takes its first few tentative steps.
"We're a totally new game, and I don't know that I can say that what's worked for other TCGs will work for us," the director says. He adds that the team is still thinking about questions like 'what's the right size of set?' and 'how many new Legend cards (the special ability cards each Riftbound deck is built around) does a set need?'
We do know a little about the very next Riftbound set, however, which launches in December 2025 in China and February 2026 worldwide (Riot says it's trying to close this gap as fast as possible). Spiritforged will feature over 200 new cards, star League champions like Ezreal and Lucian, and launch with two new ready-made Champion Decks for Rumble and Fiora.
Guskin couldn't get too specific about Spiritforged, but promised it would shake the game up significantly.
"There are new mechanics that I think are pretty impactful. I can't go into what they are, but I think there's enough new stuff that might really change the way people think about building decks," he says.
"It does more than just sprinkle in new stuff," he continues. "I think it does significantly push out the edges in a way that I think is really cool."
Guskin says you're never really done with a set, so while much is finalized about Spiritforged, "decisions still have to be made about organized play, or packaging, or production".
And even though Origins is out the door, the director says he's not done with it yet. "We have a lot to talk about. What went well; what didn't go well? You know, what things do we maybe need to take action about, right?"
"There's a lot of conversations to have about sets even once they're delivered."
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