Independent Research on the Business of Trading Card Games
How we research15 stories about Riftbound
Riftbound's 2027 program adds Ladder Points, a five-rank ladder and Grandmaster titles for the top 50 annual players, four three-day Continentals (Dallas, Melbourne, London, Toronto), three-day Regionals and 30-40 Showdown Series events per season.
In its 2027 Consumer Trends Report, Whatnot says Pokémon orders and buyers more than doubled, with a monthly record above ten million Pokémon cards in September, and The Hobbit outsold in-universe Magic sets 5x; in Germany, One Piece orders rose 340% to 17% of TCG revenue.
At Regional Championships the top 58 players will pick Overnumbered Foil Plated Legends by placement, match concessions and post-time result deciding are banned, and decklists are open. Each Regional's Top 8 is invited to a first World Championship Showcase in China in late January.
TCGplayer's Q3 2026 ranking by GMV kept Magic, Pokémon, One Piece and Yu-Gi-Oh! in the top four places. Riftbound rose to fifth ahead of Disney Lorcana, Union Arena climbed into ninth, and Pokémon's 30th Celebration was the top-grossing new set.
In an interview, the head of the Riftbound trading card game discussed what a top competitive deck ought to cost, called decks priced at $300+ unhealthy and said he wants Riftbound to remain accessible.
Cardmarket's September update brought multi-select seller inventory filters without the old 300-item cap. Sorcery became its third full game added this year, after Cyberpunk and Gundam, and the catalog gained over 2,850 cards from ten games.
Riftbound renamed its Regional Qualifiers to Regionals and scheduled 2027 events in Madrid (February 5-7) and Philadelphia (February 12-14). The first Continental, successor to the Regional Championships, takes place in Dallas on March 26-28, 2027.
Korean-language Riftbound Origins goes on sale on 18 September 2026, followed by Spiritforged in December. Seven sets are planned for Korea in 2027 so that Korean releases align with the global schedule by early 2028.
Riftbound is replacing Summoner Skirmish with the Riftbound Challenge Series and a monthly Nexus Cup, and renaming Regional Qualifiers to Regionals and Regional Championships to Continentals. Stores begin moving from Carde.io to the Riftbound Gaming Network on 14 September.
Riftbound unveiled two collector products marking T1's 2025 League of Legends Worlds title, in English, Chinese and Korean versions. The reveal also confirmed an upcoming official Korean launch with Korean-language products.
Riot is moving its Riot Merch Store to a new warehouse, starting with the Riftbound set Vendetta, and aims to deliver all preorders within a week of the July 31 launch. It also adds Showdown Decks, two prebuilt decks, alongside booster displays.
Riftbound will be printed in Korean, with the Korean-language Origins set launching in September 2026. The game also has a booth with localized demo decks at the MSI Fan Fest in South Korea in July.
Riftbound is adding the Showdown Series, sanctioned tournaments run by partner organizers in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific that award Regional Championship invites, plus Le Rift Tour, a French national circuit tied to the game's launch in France.
Riftbound's French version of Origins is now on sale, the game's first added language since launch. French releases will catch up with the English and Chinese versions when the fifth set, Radiance, comes out, and a French national tournament series, Le Rift Tour, was announced.
English Riftbound products are heading to Southeast Asian markets including Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. GLORIOUS SOUL (HK) LIMITED will publish a Traditional Chinese edition for Macau, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
