Gatineau, Canada Friday August 7th, 2026 – Sunday August 9th, 2026

Friday – Registration

Temporarily Occupied
AP controls a Sprite with its temporary trigger on the stack. NAP plays Rengar, Trophy Hunter at the same battlefield to apply the contested status, what happens? The Sprite trigger resolves before the showdown begins because to begin a showdown the game must be in an open neutral state. (CR 301.1, CR 344)

A Controlling Presence
In 2v2 if AP's teammate scores on a battlefield and then moves their unit back to base, can AP's partner then score on that same battlefield? Yes, AP is only forbidden from scoring on battlefields that their partner controlled during the beginning phase of that turn. (CR489.8.b, CR 469.1)

Horrific Triggers
AP attacks with Kha'zix, Mutating Horror, NAP defends with a Sprite token. Before Kha'Zix's trigger resolves, NAP plays Rengar, Trophy Hunter to the same battlefield, what happens? Kha'zix will get +2 might, its triggered ability checks when it goes onto the chain. (CR 383.2.a.1)

Saturday – Main Event Deck Checks

Policy Ponderings
Unlike in some other popular trading card games, the late to match policy in Riftbound is a game loss at 2 minutes into the round and a match loss and drop at 10 minutes into the round. (TR 703.8) Another oddity is the upgrade path for infractions, while like in Magic, any three of the same Game Play Error will result in a game loss, a collection of any 6 game play errors will also upgrade to a game loss, irrespective of what category of warning they are. I don't know how I feel about this just yet, a while back I had the notion that maybe we should implement this in Magic, as it does make each warning worth a little bit more. I think it's pretty difficult to get three of the same type of infraction (I can count on one hand the amount of times I've upgraded a warning for that). Though it might be equally difficult to get 6 warnings in an event (While I personally, as a player, have come close, I can also count on one hand the amount of times it's happened to players in my events). Thankfully, and notably, failure to maintain game state will never upgrade.

Finally, another weird policy diversion from Magic is that warnings don't reset between days of the same event. Again, I'm not quite sure how I feel about this, but it doesn't feel immediately bad to me. The major issue is players remembering how many infractions they've gotten, since a lot of information leaves people's brains over the course of the night. The other issue is that naturally players will accumulate more warnings in two days than one, and so this increases the probability we are game lossing players on upgrades in top 8 or the finals, which is never great.

Ending the Round
End of round is a little different in this game, first off at time in the round players get three additional turns, not five. (TR 408.2.a) The other oddity about time in the round is that if any player has a point lead of two or more they are considered the winner at the end of turns. (CR 408.2.b) I don't entirely hate this, that being said this still has the same issues that Magic has where control decks might not get an early point lead but can be very obviously winning the game even at 1-5. Another thing to note is that whose turn it is when time is called is much more impactful in Riftbound because of this. In Magic most games in turns end in a draw so whose turn it was seldom matters much, in Riftbound a few quick points grabbed on the last turn of the game could lock down a win, and the match for one of the players.

Lurking Reductions
AP uses Last Rites to play Shadowblade Lurker from their trash, how much does it cost? The first step of playing a unit is removing it from wherever it is and putting it onto the chain, so it won't see itself. (CR 354)

Refuted Ire
AP plays Rampage choosing to pay the additional cost. Before it resolves, NAP plays Rebuttal, also choosing to pay the additional cost. Can NAP choose the same two units that AP chose? If so will NAP's unit get +2 might, or will AP's unit continue to get +2 might? If NAP chooses the same two units their friendly unit will get +2 might, not AP's. Whether they can choose the same two units is a bit debated. A strict reading of CR 751.1 implies they can't, however a reasonable interpretation is that while the same two units are being chosen, they are being chosen for different designations on the spell, and thus can be chosen again.

Thrilling Reversal
AP plays Thrill of the Hunt on their unit while there are two empty battlefields. Does AP choose where to move their unit when they put Thrill of the Hunt on the chain or when it resolves? They choose when it resolves, things are only chosen if they are considered a targeting restriction, otherwise things are chosen as part of the resolution. (CR 355.4, CR355.10.b)

Stolen Junk
AP uses Akshan, Mischeavous to gain control of NAP's equipment. Afterwards they play Jax, Unrelenting and attack the stolen equipment to him. If Akshan, Mischievous dies in combat, what happens to the equipment? It will remain attached to Jax until he dies. Conversely, what happens if Jax dies, but Akshan is still alive? In that case the Equipment would return to AP's base and AP would be able to pay its equip cost to attach it to one of their other units. (CR 718.5.f, CR 718.1, CR 323.7)

Sunday – Main Event Deck Checks

Turning the Wind
AP plays Tideturner and puts its ability on the chain, choosing their sprite token. Before it resolves, NAP casts Gust on the token, what happens when the ability resolves? The location of the targeted unit is checked upon resolution, so as Tideturner can't move to where the token is now, nothing happens.

If instead, AP controls the sprite token and casts Flash on it before the tideturning trigger resolves, then the exchange will happen as normal with Tideturner ending up at the location the sprite token ended up at, which is AP's base. (CR 358.3, CR 359.e.2)

Even odder is if instead AP casts flash on the Tideturner, then the Tideturner will end up at the battlefield and the sprite token will end up in AP's base. the "original location" part of Tideturner's text refers to the location it was at as its triggered ability began resolving not its location when the trigger was first put onto the chain.

Always Use Protection
In Riftbound at high OPL using opaque card sleeves is mandatory, because the Chinese printing of the cards is different than the english version, though both are legal. The difference is similar to Summer Magic vs regular Magic. (TR 422) In the current era, using sleeves is pretty ubiquitous anyways since trading cards are often worth enough that the $10 to buy a pack of sleeves to protect them is a good choice especially if you're playing in tournaments.

Show Up and Show Down
AP attacks with Ambessa, Respected and Feared, and Diana, Lunari, which triggers occur first? Diana triggers first because first a showdown is opened (CR 344, CR 323.8, CR 316.8.b.1) and then afterwards the attacker or defender designation is applied to any units there. (CR 464.2.b)

A Hidden Problem
AP controls a bird token at a battlefield, and also has Guards! hidden there. Can AP play Guards! After combat has occurred and damage has been dealt? No, there are are no priority windows between when combat damage is dealt (CRT 465.2.d) and when hidden cards are removed (CR466.5.c)

Hidden and Forgotten
AP moves Lillia, Fae Fawn from a battlefield they control, they also have a hidden card there. As soon as Lillia moves, the hidden cards will be removed during the next cleanup, which becomes an outstanding task as soon as Lillia's move is completed. However this action also triggers her ability, which could be put on the chain, however the act of putting this on the chain will also trigger a cleanup. (CR 319.3) However AP won't lose control of the battlefield until the game is in an open state (CR 190.4.c). So Lillia's trigger will resolve before AP loses control of the battlefield, allowing them to put a Sprite token there and not losing their hidden card.

A Damaging Rule
Like classic Magic rules, in Riftbound when assigning combat damage, a unit must be assigned lethal damage before any other units are assigned damage. (CR 465.2.c.3) However, unlike magic, you can’t overassign damage to a unit that has been assigned lethal damage

Checks on the Side
Sideboard checks are a thing in Riftbound. This is a very odd thing for a Magic judge, but very normal for the Riftbound community. Basically, judges will be given a row of tables and a list of sideboards for those tables, the judges will then take that list and go down the row checking the sideboards of those players, while the players are playing their first game. This is a very good way to check for pre-boarding. It's ambiguous whether failure to de-sideboard is a game loss, since the TR specifies that a player other than the offending players has to discover the error for it to be valid for the upgrade. (TR 703.4.b.3) I feel like philosophically the TR does point towards game loss here, and my lead also felt that way. Notably, in Magic it's very hard to get a game loss for failure to de-sideboard in the current era, so this felt much harsher policy-wise.

Trashy Rulings
Can AP activate Ezreal, Prodigal Explorer if they've chosen a unit in NAP's trash with Gust Monk twice? Ambiguous, it's not clear whether the term "unit" refers to the card type in any zone, or just on the board. (CR 141.1.b.2, CR 355.9.a.1)

Rain on Your (Unit) Parade
AP plays Falling Star and deals 3 damage to NAP's 4 might unit. Then goes to their end step, and puts Elder Dragon onto the battlefield from Dazzling Aurora's triggered ability. Will NAP's 3 might unit die? Yes, Dazzling Aurora's trigger goes onto the chain at the beginning of the ending step (317.1) and damage isn't healed until the expiration step.

Flow Upstream
AP controls Kennen, Heart of the Tempest and casts Up From the Deep for its Flow cost, NAP casts Abandon to counter Up From the Deep. First where does Up From the Deep go when Abandon resolves? It will be banished, basically, if it leaves the chain for any reason, the card will be banished. (Vendetta FAQ) Secondly Kennen will not become empowered as Up From the Deep did not resolve and therefore was not played.

An Oddity
AP plays Against the Odds on their Sand Soldier, which is at a battlefield with NAP's bird token. NAP then plays Switcheroo on the bird and sand tokens. What are the resulting mights? NAP's bird token will be 4 might and the sand soldier will be 1 might. What happens if NAP first plays Switcheroo and then AP plays Against the Odds on their sand soldier? In this case the bird would be 2 might and the sand soldier would be 3 might. While Riftbound does have a layers system it doesn't put switching might last like in Magic, Instead it's increases, decreases and that's it. (CR 477.3) If a switch effect happens it's quantified as an increase in one unit's might and a decrease in the other unit's might. (CR 433.1)

Mighty Master
AP controls Master Yi, Wuju Bladesman and defends with Fiora, Peerless, what is her resulting might? First Fiora gains the defender designation, which results in her getting +2 might from Master Yi's passive ability. (CR 363) Afterwards, her trigger will go onto the chain, doubling her might, resulting in her having 10 might. (CR 382)

Invested Mainboard
The judges discovered a sideboard Vi, Peacekeeper in AP's main board, as a part of sideboard checks. Both players were in contention for the best of metal card, which is a prize awarded to the best champion in each category, the metal cards are often worth more than top 8 prizes, so it makes investigations more relevant, even at lower tables. It was a Rek'sai mirror, in this situation I like investigating whether the card is good in the matchup, but because I'm less experienced with Riftbound, it's a little difficult for me to do that. I asked the player as well as consulting another judge on the event to determine this. After gathering some information we determined that the Vi had been sideboarded in the previous round (and this seemed viable for the matchup according to my floor judge) and was also pretty mediocre in this matchup. We issued the game loss but it didn't go further than that. (TR 703.4.b.3)

...In Conclusion
I had a great time at the Ottawa Riftbound event, it was nice to not be in charge of anything and just to be able to focus on the rules and policy. It was also nice to not be someone that people came to for help! On the other hand it reminded me a lot of my early days of judging, where almost every call was a struggle and I often needed to seek help from more experienced judges. I spent a lot of time familiarizing myself with the CR, and double-checked a lot of rulings. While it's tempting to just "rule it the Magic way" I had to constantly remind myself that this game, at its core has some very different underlying rules that fundamentally alter how certain things play out. I learned a ton, and it made me excited to engage more in the Riftbound rules space!