Ekko, Boy Who Shattered Time: a big discount, for one turn only

by Riccardo Emanuele Eustor·Riftbound Zone

Ekko, Boy Who Shattered Time is official: Riot has it in the card gallery as RAD 139/167, Rare, domains Fury and Mind. It offers the strangest bargain in Radiance: your next unit costs 2 energy and a rune less, but it dies at end of turn. And before you can take that deal you have to charge the Legend with Empower, a new keyword worth understanding properly. There is also a Showcase print, 168/167, by Blaine Burgos. Radiance releases on October 23.

The cardTwo lines, two steps

The printed text runs over two lines, and they are two separate things. Line one: «[Empower] — 1 energy, exhaust (use only if not Empowered)». Line two: «Disempower me, exhaust: reduce the cost of the next unit you play this turn by 2 energy and a rune, and give it "Kill me at end of turn"».

One turn you load it, the next turn you fire it. This is not an ability you use on the spot — it is a spring you wind up in advance.

In practiceA big body, rented for a turn

The discount is real, and the price is that the unit vanishes at end of turn. So there is no point using it on a body you need to defend with tomorrow. Its job is to land something bigger than your opponent can account for, right now, win one battlefield fight with it, and let it go.

Two practical consequences. First, Ekko rewards units with effects that fire when they enter play or when they attack, because you keep that value long after the unit is gone. Second, you have to plan a turn ahead: charge the Empower on a turn where nothing threatens you, and the following turn you are holding a threat worth 2 energy and a rune more than it looks.

PartnersThe signature spell flips the bargain

The card that changes everything is Chronobreak (RAD 140/167, Epic, 2 energy, Fury and Mind), Ekko's signature spell. As an additional cost you pay any amount of Power; then you banish that many units you control and, for each one, its owner plays it back to the same location or to their base, ignoring its cost.

Here is the idea: a unit that is banished and replayed comes back as a new card, so on a plain reading the «Kill me at end of turn» Ekko stapled onto it does not follow — and the disposable unit becomes a permanent one. That interaction is what turns the Legend into a deck rather than an isolated trick. Riot has not published an explicit ruling on this point yet, so treat it as the natural reading of the text rather than as confirmed rules.

Ekko's other cards in the set pull in the same direction. Ekko, Revolutionary (RAD 021/167, Epic, 5 energy, 4 Might, 1 Power, Fury) enters ready, has Assault, and can banish itself to replay itself to your base by discarding a card. Ekko, Ingenious (RAD 061/167, Rare, 3 energy, 4 Might, Mind), which we covered earlier, asks you to return a friendly unit to hand as an additional cost and has Ganking, meaning it can move from battlefield to battlefield.

Where it came fromA photo first, the gallery now

The card first appeared in late September on r/riftboundtcg as a signed print, with no confirmation from Riot. It is now in the official gallery, and the number, rarity and text all match the photo — with one difference you only spot on a careful read: the base print carries the reminder «use only if not Empowered», while the Showcase does not. That is a rules clarification, not a change in how the card works. Every Ekko card revealed so far is in our spoiler grid and on the Radiance set page.

Source: official Riftbound card gallery. Images: Riot Games.