Preview season is in full swing for Riftbound: Radiance, the fifth and final set of 2026 for Riot Games’ League of Legends TCG, and this week delivered the clearest look yet at what’s coming when the set goes worldwide on October 23. Between a trio of exclusive outlet reveals and a steady drip from Riot’s own Dev Drop content, we now have a real read on the three new mechanics headlining Radiance — and at least one card that looks built to anchor an entire archetype.
Three new mechanics, one busy battlefield
Radiance introduces Deploy, Reveal/Show Off, and Disarm, and each one nudges the format in a different direction. Deploy lets certain Gear cards go straight to a Battlefield the moment they’re played, where they sit and generate value — until an opponent claims that space and the Gear is destroyed, which already has deckbuilders talking about how much tempo is worth risking on a card that can get blown out for free. Reveal and Show Off reward players for flashing cards from hand or board to unlock bonus effects, pushing hand-visibility into the open in a way Riftbound hasn’t really tried before. Disarm is the subtler of the three: it chips away at enemy unit damage during combat, and stacking instances compound, which could make wide, aggressive boards noticeably harder to punch through.
Altogether, Radiance adds 180 cards to the pool, including 66 with Showcase treatments, nine new champion Legends with Overnumbered variants, and a vanishingly rare Ultimate Rare chase card sitting around a 0.025% pull rate in boosters.
Jarvan IV wants you to build around Gear
The standout exclusive reveal this week was Jarvan IV, Martial Paragon — a 4-cost, 4-Might Legend built entirely around the Deploy mechanic. His design leans into his League of Legends identity as a “flag and drag” battlefield controller: any Gear with Deploy gains Action, meaning those cards can be played mid-showdown instead of only on your turn, and whenever Jarvan conquers a Battlefield that also holds a friendly Deploy Gear, you get to channel an exhausted rune for free.
That’s a tight little engine: conquer, channel, conquer again. If enough playable Deploy Gear shows up in the rest of the set, Jarvan has a real shot at becoming the backbone of a Battlefield-control deck rather than just a solid body with upside.
Satchel Charge and the bomb package
The other reveal worth building toward is Satchel Charge, a 3-cost Action that recycles a Chaos rune to move a friendly unit and then Deploy a Bomb to a Battlefield. Bombs deal 2 damage when destroyed and chain-trigger any other Bombs sharing that location — which is exactly the kind of payoff that makes Ziggs, Hexplosives Expert, worth a second look, since his Legend ability generates Bombs just by exhausting. Stack enough Bombs at one Battlefield and claiming it stops being free for your opponent.
It’s a nice bit of design symmetry: Deploy gives you an engine that punishes patience, and Bombs give you a reason to punish aggression right back.
HEARTSTEEL is back for the victory lap
Riot also used Radiance to close out HEARTSTEEL’s in-universe presence for the year, teasing Overnumbered and OVN Signature treatments for all six band members — Kayn, Ezreal, Aphelios, Sett, K’Sante, and Yone — inside the group’s “Live My Life” music video. K’Sante is the real headline here: this marks his first-ever printed Riftbound card, cosmetic variant or otherwise, so expect a wave of day-one interest in whatever his base stat line ends up being once the full previews land.
With preview season running through October 9 and the full set live October 23, there’s still plenty of Radiance left to see — full champion spoilers, the complete Showcase list, and almost certainly a few mechanic interactions nobody’s spotted yet. We’ll keep tracking it as it drops.
What’s got your attention more — the Deploy/Gear angle or the Bomb package? Come tell us on socials, and catch the rest of this week’s TCG roundups at manariotgames.com. The Riot Report lands every Sunday — follow along so you never miss a set breakdown.