Tawan
Radiance releases on October 23, but a week before that, your local game store gets to play it first. The Pre-Rift events run from October 16 to 22 (Riot Games, 2026), and if you’ve never been to a prerelease before, here is what you need to know before you sign up.
What is a Pre-Rift?
A Pre-Rift is Riftbound’s version of a prerelease, and it’s a sealed event. Instead of bringing your own deck, you build one at the table from a kit you open on the spot, and then you play a tournament with it (UVS Games, 2026). Think of it like a cooking show where everybody gets the same mystery box, so it’s about what you make of it and not who owns the most expensive ingredients. The publisher describes it as an easy and beginner-friendly way to try a new set, which is a big plus if you’re a casual player.
What’s in your kit
Every player gets a Pre-Rift Player Kit. According to the retailer guide from UVS Games, which is the game’s publisher, each one contains the following (UVS Games, 2026):
- A mini preconstructed deck of 15 cards, including a Champion Legend and a Champion Unit
- Five Radiance booster packs
- One Pre-Rift promo card
You build your deck from those things together. The kits are built around the nine new Legends in Radiance, so the mini deck you get decides the direction for everything you open (Riot Games, 2026).
The promo is Heimerdinger, Academy Instructor, and you get it by signing up for your store’s Pre-Rift event while supplies last (Riot Games, 2026).
How to actually get a seat
This is the part a lot of people miss. Stores had to register their Pre-Rift events with Riot by August 29, and each event kit supports 16 players (UVS Games, 2026). Stores also got their kits based on their local play community, so a lot of events will be small and will fill up fast.
My advice is to contact your local game store now instead of the week before. Ask if they’re running a Radiance Pre-Rift, which day it is and how sign-ups work.
Picking your Legend
If your store lets you choose a kit, go with the playstyle you actually enjoy. The three new keywords are a good guide here. Deploy rewards holding battlefields and Show Off rewards big payoff cards, while Disarm is all about attacking. I went through all of them in my Radiance keyword explainer.
What comes after the Pre-Rift
Once the set is out on October 23, the regular local calendar picks back up. Weekly Nexus Nights continue with promo packs updated for Radiance, and Riot will publish the full promo list on October 16 (Riot Games, 2026). On the competitive side, the first Summoner Skirmish window runs from November 9 to December 13 and the second from December 14 to January 17, both as 1v1 Constructed best-of-three events (UVS Games, 2026).
Riot will also update its official Radiance overview on October 5 and October 16 with more details, so I’ll cover anything new on the news page. If Radiance is completely new to you, start with the set reveal. In most cases the best preparation is simply to get your store sign-up sorted early and to bring a friend, as a sealed event is a lot more fun with someone to compare pulls with.
It are what it are.
References
Riot Games. (2026, September 25). The Radiance overview. Riftbound: League of Legends Trading Card Game. https://playriftbound.com/en-us/news/announcements/the-radiance-overview/
UVS Games. (2026). Riftbound: Radiance – Dates, details, and what you need to know [Retailer guide]. https://uvsgames.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Radiance-Dates-and-Details.pdf
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