Radiance's first cards bring a new keyword: Show Off
Radiance preview season is properly under way. The first cards from Set 5 surfaced at the Los Angeles Regional Qualifier, the opening stop on Riot's preview calendar, and they brought a keyword the game did not have before: Show Off. The photos, taken from the venue and the broadcast, started circulating on r/riftboundtcg and also show a brand-new gear, Pillaged Armory. Nothing is on the official site yet: Riot's card gallery only catches up the next day.
The mechanicWhat Show Off actually does
The reminder text printed on the cards is short and legible in the photos: "Show Off a card with Energy cost 7 or more. (As you play this, you may reveal such a card from your hand or pick a friendly one.)" It is an optional additional cost that does not cost Energy: as you play the card you may reveal a qualifying card from hand, or point at a friendly one already on the board. Do it and the effect gets bigger; skip it and the card still works in its basic mode.
The card you show is neither played nor discarded — it stays exactly where it was. The idea is familiar elsewhere: in the thread's comments players immediately compare it to Behold in Magic and Legends of Runeterra. In Riftbound it is new, and it changes how you value expensive cards sitting in hand. A seven-drop you cannot cast yet is suddenly doing work.
One detail is worth flagging before anyone builds a deck around it: the threshold is not fixed. The image we have asks for a card costing 7 Energy or more, but in the comments under u/Arkalex's thread several players describe a version that only needs a 5-cost card, and another that goes from two tokens to four. Until Riot posts the gallery, read the number card by card.
The other revealPillaged Armory, a one-Energy gear
Alongside the spells came a gear numbered RAD 073/167, illustrated by Yeon Art Studio. It costs 1 Energy, has Deploy — so it only goes to a battlefield and dies when an opponent holds there — and reads: when you play it, or when you conquer there, Buff a friendly unit, meaning +1 Might if it does not already have a buff.
Pillaged Armory
1 Energy, RAD 073/167. Deploy; buffs a friendly unit on arrival and on every conquer at that battlefield.
Show Off
A free additional cost: reveal a qualifying card from hand, or pick a friendly one in play, and the effect scales up.
A one-drop that keeps generating value on every conquer is the kind of card that walks into any aggressive shell, and it fits the direction September's previews already suggested: Radiance pushes battlefield control harder than straight unit-versus-unit combat.
The calendarWhere the next cards show up
Riot published the full preview schedule on September 18: it starts today at the Los Angeles Regional Qualifier and runs to October 10, spread across dozens of creators, outlets and accounts in the United States, Europe and China. If you would rather not chase all of them, there are two shortcuts: follow the #RBRadiance hashtag, or wait for the official card gallery, which Riot refreshes every day at 5pm Pacific with the previous day's reveals — 2am for readers in Italy.
| When | What |
|---|---|
| September 25 | First previews from the Los Angeles Regional Qualifier |
| September 28 – October 10 | Previews spread across creators, outlets and partners |
| Daily, 5pm Pacific | Official card gallery update |
| October 23 | Radiance global release |
Why it matters to us. Radiance lands in Italy on October 23 and boxes are already on pre-order, so knowing the set brings a brand-new keyword helps Italian players judge how much the format will move before they spend. Show Off rewards keeping expensive cards in hand — exactly the archetype that is thin on the ground in Italian Nexus Nights right now. And with the gallery refreshing at 2am local time, anyone waking up in the morning finds the previous day's cards already online, without staying up for American streams.
The short version
- Radiance previews kicked off at the Los Angeles Regional Qualifier; the first images come from the event, not yet from Riot's site.
- Show Off is a new keyword: reveal a card that meets a cost requirement and the spell scales up, with no extra Energy paid.
- The threshold varies by card — 7 Energy on the one photographed, 5 according to comments — so check it case by case.
- Pillaged Armory (RAD 073/167) is a one-Energy gear that buffs a friendly unit on arrival and on every conquer.
- Previews run to October 10; the official gallery updates nightly at 2am Italian time. Radiance releases October 23.
Source: r/riftboundtcg and Radiance Preview Season on playriftbound.com. Images: Riot Games.
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