•Riot Jogos’ trading card game Riftbound is preparing to launch its newest set, Radiance, with a collection of highly sought-after collectibles. Executive producer Chengran Chai provided commentary on how the cards came to be.
The Riftbound team layers collectibility on top of playability with Alt Art, Overnumbered, and SP cards only after completing fine-tuning of the set’s mechanics. Some of the rare standouts for Radiance are Riot Jogos Music crossovers, including the Overnumbered Heartsteel cards, SP K/DA cards, and Overnumbered Ekko, Revolutionary, which features Ekko’s original True Damage skin.
The Overnumbered cards also come in the Signature variety, which are the rarest pulls besides the single Ultimate Rare in this set.
We knew Riot as a whole would have a music moment towards the end of the year, so very early on, we said we would lean into that.
Chengran Chai, Riftbound executive producer
However, as a physical game, the Riftbound team needed to finalize many card details before the songs were even composed and the new character designs were finished.
That is why you see… for the K/DA and Heartsteel cards, it is very much their K/DA All Out and Heartsteel 1.0 versions, because the 2.0 versions just weren’t quite ready.
Chengran Chai, Riftbound executive producer
The original plan didn’t even include teasing Heartsteel’s Riftbound cards in Heartsteel’s new Live My Life music video—the Riot Music Team actually initiated that easter egg, asking the Riftbound team if they wanted the cards in the music video.
Though Riftbound has been very supported from within Riot since the beginning, the somewhat unexpected explosion of its popularity has given Riftbound even more opportunities to be part of Riot-wide moments. Another example is the Riftbound easter egg in Valorant’s Aeris Flex cosmetic.
The Heartsteel Overnumbered cards feature a unique design, akin to K-pop photo cards, complete with bright motifs, stickers, and Y2K elements. The Heartsteel Overnumbered Signature cards are “signed” by the characters themselves—not the artists like on other Signature cards.
Riot Jogos’ senior manager of creative development Michelle Mauk spoke about the design process during the Radiance panel at the Riftbound Regional Qualifier (RQ) in Los Angeles.
The texturing and foiling on Riftbound’s most coveted cards is impressive to behold in person. The Overnumbered Ekko, Revolutionary Champion Unit features different patterns, holographics, and gold text.
Radiance’s Ultimate Rare ties into the heavy music theme but is a Battlefield: Packed Amphitheater. This card will be the rarest card in all of Riftbound’s main sets, only appearing in about 0.025% of booster packs, which is approximately 1 in 4,000 packs.
That’s a huge rarity uptick from the only other Ultimate Rare, Baron Nasher from Unleashed, with a 0.1% pack rate.
In this official PlayRiftbound reel
There are other Overnumbered and Alt Art cards to chase that aren’t musically inclined, like the Overnumbered Mordekaiser Legend IGN exclusively revealed last week. The Overnumbered cards come in a Signature variety, which are significantly rarer than the Alt Art cards.
Radiance Pre-Rifts start at local game stores near you on Oct. 16. Radiance booster boxes, packs, and vaults will be available to purchase on Oct. 23.
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