The opening image is Sabotage, the Origins card the whole argument revolves around: it is not a new Radiance card.
The threadWhat the poster is actually asking for
User u/Ok-Mushroom-6530 writes that on the two online platforms he is not playing to win: he is playing to test his deck and get better. That is why he wants to face “the best version” of his opponent, not someone who blunders because they forgot about a card they were shown three turns earlier. Closing your hand the moment the rules let you, he argues, only dumps extra work on the other player, who then either writes the cards down or keeps a running tally in their head.
He says he keeps his own hand face up on the table at every event at Skirmish level or below, and he understands players who would rather not do that in a tournament with prizes on the line. Online, though, refusing strikes him as “ridiculous” and close to unsportsmanlike. The post signs off with its own health warning: “end of rant”.
The ruleWhy your hand has already been seen after a Sabotage
Sabotage is a 1 Energy Origins spell (OGN 156/298). The printed text reads: choose an opponent, they reveal their hand, you pick a non-unit card from it and recycle that card. In other words, to strip one card you first get to see all the others.
That is where the problem starts. At a physical table those cards go back into their owner’s hand and whoever saw them has to remember them: nobody puts them back on display for you. Online, according to the post, the hand snaps shut again as soon as the effect resolves, because the client allows it. Hence the request: keep them on screen for as long as they stay in hand.
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Hand | The cards you are holding, which your opponent normally cannot see. |
| Sabotage | The Origins spell that forces an opponent to show their whole hand before you take a card off them. |
| [Hidden] | A keyword on some cards: you set them aside face down by paying a rune, so you can play them later without spending Energy. Your opponent can see that you hid something, not what it was. |
| Skirmish | Local organised play — the events you sit down for at your game store. |
The exceptionWhen closing your hand is the right call
The same post flags one case where keeping your hand revealed is wrong: when you are about to hide a [Hidden] card while you still hold cards your opponent has not seen, or more than one card already hidden. There, closing up is correct — otherwise your opponent would know exactly which card you set aside and which you did not, information the game never gives them.
Your memory, your problem
After a Sabotage the cards go back to their owner. Whoever saw them has to remember or note them down: that effort is theirs, and no rule puts the cards back in front of them.
One click away
On digital tables, the poster writes, you can leave the hand visible or shut it immediately. It is a player’s choice rather than a rule — and that is precisely what the thread is about.
Why it matters here. Online tables are where almost everyone in Italy tests a list before a Regional Qualifier or a Showdown Series, and with Radiance on the way those practice games are about to multiply. Agreeing now on something simple — hand revealed in practice games, except in the [Hidden] case — costs nothing, and it gets settled where the games are actually arranged: in the Italian Discord and Telegram groups, not in a Riot press release.
The short version
- A player on r/riftboundtcg is asking people to leave their hand revealed after a Sabotage on TCG Arena and Rift Atlas.
- Sabotage (OGN 156/298) costs 1 Energy and forces a full hand reveal: the cards go back to their owner, and remembering them is the opponent’s job.
- The one exception named is the [Hidden] card: there, closing your hand is correct.
- This is one player’s proposed convention, not a rule. Riot has said nothing on the subject.
Source: r/riftboundtcg. Images: Riot Games.
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