The caseWhat the two cards actually do
Drakehound Packmaster (RAD-018/167) is a Fury unit for 9 Energy and 9 Might. Its text: «When you play me, reveal the top card of each opponent’s Main Deck. Choose one and banish it, then play it, ignoring its cost. Recycle the rest.» In plain terms, you look at the first card of your opponent’s deck and play it yourself, for free.
Ki Burst (RAD-028/167) is a 1-Energy Calm spell that reads: «As an additional cost to play this, exhaust a friendly unit. Stun a unit.» Note what is missing: the word «may». That cost is not optional.
The rule«Ignoring its cost» does not mean free
The Core Rules separate the base cost — the numbers printed at the top of the card — from an additional cost, which is whatever the card text asks of you on top. Rule 356.1.b.1 states that playing a card «ignoring its cost» sets only its base Energy and base Power cost to zero. Rule 356.1.b.3 immediately adds that additional costs are applied in a later step and can push the total back above zero.
The rulebook even walks through a near-identical example: a player plays Legion Rearguard while ignoring its cost but chooses to pay its Accelerate cost. The 2-Energy base cost vanishes; the additional cost is paid in full. The exact wording is what decides it — only cards that ignore «any and all costs» truly zero everything out, under rule 356.5.a. Drakehound Packmaster does not say that.
So yes, you exhaust one of your own units. «Friendly» in rule 491.8.e means objects controlled by you or your teammate in 2v2, never your opponent’s. You do pick the Stun target, though, because you are the one playing the card.
Edge casesWhat if you cannot — or will not — pay?
The card stays banished
With no ready unit to exhaust, the cost cannot be paid and the card is simply not played (rules 203.3 and 415.4). Drakehound himself is no help: units enter the board exhausted, and he has no Accelerate.
You cannot decline
The exception that lets a player ignore a mandatory instruction (rules 128.6 and 129) only covers secret or private cards, and only when the effect names a card type. Here the card has been revealed to everyone and Drakehound just says «choose one». You play it.
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Base cost | The numbers printed on the card: Energy and Power. |
| Additional cost | Whatever the text asks on top: discard, exhaust, kill a unit. |
| Exhaust | Turn the card sideways: it is spent and cannot act until it readies. |
| Stun | The affected unit deals no combat damage this turn. |
| Banish | The card leaves the game entirely — no deck, no trash. |
| Action | Playable on your turn or during a showdown, not at any moment. |
Why it matters to us. Radiance is legal as of today and both cards will hit tables immediately: Drakehound Packmaster is a Rare, not a chase you crack once per box. Anyone judging a local night or playing our Weekly can run into this on the first relevant turn, and Stuttgart on November 6-8 is an open-decklist event: knowing that additional costs are always paid is the difference between a clean game and a ruling against you. If a table cannot agree, section 356 of the Core Rules is the page to open.
The short version
- «Ignoring its cost» zeroes out base Energy and Power only — additional costs still have to be paid.
- Ki Burst makes you exhaust one of your ready units, and the freshly played Drakehound does not qualify because it enters exhausted.
- With no ready unit the card stays banished and nothing happens; with one, you are not allowed to decline.
Source: Riftbound Core Rules, last updated October 9, 2026 (Riot Games). The case was raised by u/P1InsertCoin on r/riftboundtcg. Images: Riot Games.
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