Riftbound: Unleashed Card Preview – Vex’s Gloomist Rewards Battlefield Control

Preview season for Riftbound: The League of Legends Trading Card Game’s upcoming Unleashed set is officially underway, and one of the first cards revealed, exclusively byu Inven Global, highlights the moody magic of Vex.

The new card Gloomist supports players who focus on maintaining control of the battlefield. Inven Global is sharing the first look at this card set ahead of their addition to the public card gallery, which will be updated daily at 5 p.m. PT during the preview window.

Gloomist is a Legend card tied to Vex and features a simple but flexible ability:

“When you or an ally hold, you may exhaust me to draw 1.”

In Riftbound, “holding” refers to maintaining control of a battlefield, which means Gloomist can generate card advantage during turns where you successfully defend or secure key locations. By exhausting the card — temporarily using it so it can’t act again until refreshed — players can draw an additional card whenever those conditions are met.

The design encourages steady board control strategies, rewarding players who focus on defending positions or coordinating with allies in multiplayer formats. Drawing extra cards over several turns can help maintain momentum, especially in slower, tactical matchups.

Riftbound: Unleashed expands the League of Legends TCG with new mechanics and champions

Unleashed is the third set for Riftbound: The League of Legends Trading Card Game, Riot’s physical trading card game set in the world of League of Legends. The expansion contains more than 220 cards and over 30 alternate-art variants, introducing new champions, mechanics, and collectible rarities.

Among the new Champion Legends arriving in the set are Kha’Zix, Lillia, Diana, and Ivern. The set also introduces new gameplay systems including Ambush, which allows cards to be played reactively during combat, and XP, a resource that builds toward stronger effects as players accumulate it.

Another mechanic, Hunt, rewards players with XP when certain units conquer or hold battlefields. Together, these additions aim to expand strategic options while reinforcing Riftbound’s battlefield control mechanics — the same type of gameplay Gloomist supports. Riot has also introduced Ultimate Rarity, an extremely rare card tier appearing in less than 1% of packs. The first Ultimate Rare in the game features the iconic Runeterra monster Baron Nashor.

Unleashed launches in China on April 10, followed by an English release on May 8. Players will also have the chance to try the new cards early during Pre-Rift sealed events at local game stores beginning April 3 in China and May 1 for English-language events.