We Talk With Riot Senior Designer Jon Moormann at PAX East

Key Points:

• Riftbound, Riot Games' League of Legends-themed trading card game, has rapidly gained popularity since its Halloween 2023 launch, supported by local events and large tournaments like Regional Qualifiers.
• Design lead Jon Moormann revealed the team's cautious approach to bans, emphasizing player experience and internal metrics over community chatter, and recently implemented the game's first banlist to address dominant Chaos (purple) and Miracle strategies.
• The upcoming third set, Unleashed, focuses on the Jungle theme and introduces new mechanics like Ambush and Hunt, with plans to explore multi-Domain Champions and Legends in future expansions.
• Despite aiming for accessibility, the game presents a higher-than-desired barrier to entry to maintain depth and longevity, with introductory products like Proving Grounds and Champion Decks available to ease new players into the game.
• Riftbound's development cycle is extensive, with six sets in progress simultaneously, and the team plans to introduce an eternal, non-rotating format in 2028 after the first Standard rotation, while also addressing competitive event demand and balancing issues related to Battlefield cards.