Riven and Jarvan IV join Radiance in the Chinese previews

by Riccardo Emanuele Eustor·Riftbound Zone

September 28 was a scheduled stop on Riot's official Radiance preview calendar, and it delivered six new cards on r/riftboundtcg: three in English, three in Simplified Chinese. Two of them carry champions Riot had never announced for Set 5, Riven and Jarvan IV. None of the Chinese cards has come through Riot's English channels yet, so they stay unconfirmed previews. Radiance launches on October 23.

The cardJarvan IV, Legend number 176

The heaviest card of the day is a Legend. The printed name is Chinese, 德玛西亚皇子, sitting above a type line that reads 传奇 · 嘉文四世: Legend, Jarvan IV. The two identity circles in the top-left corner are red and gold — Fury and Order — and the illustration is signed by Herman Ng.

The rules text says that when you play a gear with Deploy, you may exhaust Jarvan and pay one rune of any colour to move a friendly unit to that battlefield. It is the same keyword we saw on the Radiance gear a few days ago, repurposed here as a movement engine: the equipment lands, and the infantry follows it.

The number in the bottom-left corner matters too: RAD · 176/167. Radiance stops at 167 cards, so anything above that is an Overnumber. The six Heartsteel cards Riot announced sit at 178 through 183; if all nine Legends in the set really do get an Overnumber version, as Riot wrote in the overview, then 168 to 176 is exactly nine slots and Jarvan IV closes the row. That is our arithmetic, not a line from Riot, and we flag it as such.

The inferenceRiven has signature gear, so Riven has a Legend

The second Chinese card is a 专属装备, signature gear, tied to 锐雯 · Riven and numbered 150/167. In Riftbound, signature gear exists only for the champion it belongs to, which is why u/Arkalex posted it on Reddit with a flat claim: “Riven Legend Confirmed for Riftbound Radiance!” Riot has not said so. The conclusion belongs to the community — but it rests on a printed card.

The weapon costs 3 energy plus one rune with the hybrid green-and-purple symbol, meaning Calm or Chaos. It has Equip — attach it by paying a rune or by exhausting a friendly unit — grants +3 Might, and carries the movement keyword that lets it travel between battlefields. If the hybrid cost mirrors the Legend's identity, Riven would be the set's Calm/Chaos card. That is the simplest reading, not a confirmation.

The confirmationMordekaiser steps off the leaked poster

On September 23 we covered the Radiance poster photographed without its blur, the one that exposed Mordekaiser and Taric, two names Riot had kept hidden. Today Mordekaiser is a real card: 英雄单位, Champion Unit, from Noxus and carrying the 灵体 (spirit) trait, numbered 137/167.

It costs 9 energy and two Order runes and has 8 Might. The text, translated from the Chinese, says that when you play it or when it attacks, you may discard a card from your hand to destroy a unit or a piece of equipment. This is a closer, and it is the first time one of the poster's hidden names has turned into cardboard. On Taric, still nothing.

The restThree English cards, no new keyword

Three English cards had already landed earlier in the day, posted to Reddit by u/nic_bolas and u/Arkalex. Momentary Companion (095/167) is a Chaos unit from the Shadow Isles at 4 energy and 4 Might, with Hidden and an ability that gives it Temporary when you play it outside your own turn. Transpositionist (115/167) is a Chaos unit from Bilgewater at 6 energy and 4 Might that returns a friendly unit to hand and lets you play a smaller one for free. Rakelstake (165/167) is a battlefield: the first time each player puts a unit or gear there in a turn, they Predict.

None of the three introduces a new keyword. Hidden, Temporary and Predict have all been in the game since earlier sets. Radiance's genuinely new words remain the ones we already know: Show Off, Bomb, Deploy and Disarm.

Sources: r/riftboundtcg and Riot Games. Images: Riot Games.