Neeko shows up on the LCS broadcast: Radiance card 167/167

by Riccardo Emanuele Eustor·Riftbound Zone

The September 18 LCS broadcast put Neeko, Blending In on screen — the first Radiance card the public has seen. A photo of the screen, posted to r/riftboundtcg, is sharp enough to read every line: a neutral Champion Unit, cost 6, might 4, with the collector code RAD 167/167. This is not a leak. Riot’s preview schedule, published the same day, listed the LCS and LEC broadcasts for September 18 as the opening act before the season proper.

The cardCost six, might four, neutral

The text box opens with the reminder about neutral cards going into decks of any Domain. A single rune sits under the 6 in the top left corner, and the might value in the top right is 4. Down in the bottom left is the collector line: RAD · 167/167 · EN. RAD is the new set’s code, and 167 is the last number in Radiance’s main numbering. The art is credited to Luscinia Studio.

The part everyone is arguing about is the effect, because nothing in the game works like it. If Neeko is in your deck, you choose three different legends in addition to your starting legend — different meaning no two share a name. When you play Neeko, one of those three joins your Legend Zone and stays there while Neeko is on the board.

Put plainly: this is the first card that lets more than one legend live in the same deck. Through Vendetta the starting legend was a single choice that fixed a list’s domains and identity. A six-cost unit that adds a second one on a timer changes how a deck gets written, not just how a turn gets played.

The scheduleWhy this is a preview, not a leak

The Reddit thread is titled «Menlo Leaked on LCS Broadcast» — the author later corrected the name in an edit — but nothing escaped anyone. The official preview season article, out on September 18, lists LCS Broadcast and LEC Broadcast under today’s date, with a note promising a few previews before the main act. Anyone watching League of Legends esports saw Radiance a week ahead of everybody else.

Riot also explained how to keep up without chasing dozens of accounts: the official Card Gallery is refreshed every day at 5pm Pacific with the previous day’s reveals, and the hashtag to follow is #RBRadiance. As of writing, Neeko is not in the gallery yet.

RulesThe questions the card leaves open

Almost every reply under the Reddit post is a rules question. Where do those three legends sit while they are not in play? Can they be swapped between games of a match? One user, u/BassIsBest35, points out that the current tournament rules say a sideboard may only contain main deck cards, which would make the three legends a zone of their own. Another, u/CT4nk3r, asks what happens if an opponent steals Neeko with Kharox; u/Lekajo23 replies that Kharox pulls units out of the trash, so the case would be different.

These are player readings, not official clarifications. Riot publishes core rules patch notes for every set; Radiance’s are not out yet, and until they are, exactly how an expanded Legend Zone behaves stays an open question.

Source: r/riftboundtcg and playriftbound.com. Photo: u/Kasceon. Images: Riot Games.