Riftbound: Vendetta launches July 31 with new Protective Sands battlefield and three fresh mechanics

Riot Games' League of Legends TCG is getting its fourth set, Riftbound: Vendetta, on July 31 — and Polygon has an exclusive first look at one of its new battlefield cards. Protective Sands lets a player pay one energy to draw a card upon conquering it, provided they control four or fewer runes, making it a reliable draw engine for low-rune builds.

The card's art is adapted from Legends of Runeterra's Ancient Preparations landmark, depicting a Clockling automaton half-buried in desert sand alongside a Clockwork Curator — constructs tied to the time mage Zilean's lore in Shurima. Beyond Protective Sands, Vendetta introduces three new keywords: Empower, which lets cards gain upgraded abilities after activation (usually by spending runes or meeting a trigger); Burn, which mills cards from the top of your deck into the trash; and Flow, which lets you cast cards directly from the trash for a Flow cost before banishing them. Senior designer Jon Moormann told IGN that Empower functions almost like an alternative card-draw system, giving colors with less natural card flow more ways to develop their board. The set also adds Unit-Gear cards that count as both units and equipment, and a cycle of Decrees — spells built to punish cards from opposing domains.

Riftbound launched as Riot's physical TCG successor to the digital Legends of Runeterra, leaning into League of Legends' iconic champion rivalries and three-lane battlefield structure. Vendetta doubles down on that theme, framing the set around clashes between former friends, immortal enemies, and family members — Zed versus Shen being the headline matchup. Moormann confirmed the team stress-tested Zed's interactions extensively, particularly against Jinx, and landed on a balance where Zed is strong but Jinx also gets a meaningful boost. The purple Jinx, Rebel, gets readied and gains +1 on the turn she's triggered.

Vendetta releases July 31. With the Zed vs. Shen Showdown deck already previewed at Riot HQ and card spoilers rolling out, the community is getting a clear picture of what the new keyword suite enables — and Moormann's comments suggest Empower in particular will reshape how players think about rune management and board development.