The wind from the Bohai Bay is biting cold.
Seagulls fly low, snatching food from people’s hands as they pass overhead. In the distance, the afterglow of the setting sun casts the silhouette of the city, while the cross-sea bridge stretches forward silently. The bare branches beside Xinghai Square outline sharp lines against the gray-blue sky, much like the furrowed brows of card players deep in thought. In the hotel lobby not far away, the rustle of hundreds of decks being shuffled and the soft clink of dice rolling on the table converge to form the opening ceremony of the Riftbound: League of Legends TCG Season 2 Regional Open – Dalian Station.
“It has to be me.”
When Xiao Jiang flipped over the card in the Legendary zone, everyone around her seemed to hear this voice in their minds.
She came from Harbin, and a distinct Northeast accent popped out as soon as she spoke.
“I like to try all positions when playing League of Legends, and I often play Sett in the top lane. Among all the Legendary heroes released so far in Riftbound, he’s my favorite.”
Xiao Jiang thinks Sett’s Legendary ability is very interesting—it can protect her own units. The units in her deck, especially the orange-rarity “Sett”, are very faithfully recreated. Through the player’s operations, they can deal massive damage, much like the Decisive Strike that Sett unleashes in League of Legends after stacking up his “Grit”.
“I love that punch-to-the-face feeling of Sett—it’s just you and your opponent, going head-to-head,” Xiao Jiang said excitedly, like a boxer eager to step into the ring.
Her most memorable match was against a “Shining Aurora” player in Set 1: in the final point round, the opponent built a nearly 30-point board, impenetrable like a fortress. Other Legendary heroes would probably only sigh in despair and activate “Rule 650”, but Sett was different. She repeatedly triggered Sett’s ability and used his exclusive spell “Unstoppable Force” to completely clear the opponent’s board.
Sett’s strength lies in his terrifying output values, but he has become somewhat clunky in the Set 2 meta. “Sett hates spells like [Fight or Flight] and [Reprimand], and Draven, who is dominant in Set 2, just happens to carry these,” Xiao Jiang explained.
As a result, most of her friends who played Sett have “painlessly switched” to playing Fiora. Only she persists in playing Sett.
At the Regional Open – Dalian Station, Xiao Jiang came for supplementary registration, and she was the only lucky one among her companions to get a spot. Today, she still went into battle with Sett by her side. “It’s not for Sett’s ‘Legendary Master Award’; it’s just that every time there’s a major competition, I naturally choose to trust him.”
This persistence and trust were soon rewarded by her deck. She faced four Draven opponents in the Swiss Rounds, winning all of her matches—even sweeping three of them 2-0 in a dominant fashion. “I practice this matchup with my friends all the time, but there are few Irelia players around me, so I lost to Irelia.” In the end, her Swiss Round ranking was 66th, just one step away from qualifying for the knockout stage (64th place).
Vita’s main purpose for coming to Dalian was to watch the sea with her friends; she never planned on successfully getting a supplementary registration spot.
Fortune favors the unintended. Having successfully secured a supplementary spot, she finally stood on the stage of the Regional Open Dalian Station. Although she lacked experience in card games, her love for board games on weekdays made her face the competition with full confidence, not the slightest hint of timidity. “I feel that some of the thinking and gameplay in board games are similar to TCGs,” she said. She likes to go to offline card shops to practice on weekdays, loving the feeling of being able to physically touch the cards. “It’s like how some people prefer physical books.” She goes three to four times a week, making her a heavyweight player. Today, the results of her daily practice would be put to the test.
From early morning to evening, after a full day of intense battles, she used Irelia to achieve a 4-2 record. Thanks to her high table number, there was still suspense—this last match would determine whether she could get out of the Swiss Rounds and advance to the knockout stage.
Her opponent exuded a fierce momentum: a diamond avatar border on the mini-program, paired with a meticulous expression and a steady playing style. Vita got off to a bad start and lost the first game.
She was still at a disadvantage in the mid-game of the second round and had no choice but to focus on defense. However, that seemingly unbreakable defense was still breached by the opponent. “I was very nervous at the time, but I quickly calmed down. I think the most enjoyable part of card games is the process of thinking—if you never stop thinking, there will always be a way,” she recalled. In the subsequent rounds, she used her lucky draw of the exclusive spell “Blade’s Edge” to reverse the situation, then pressed her advantage to win the final round, coming from behind to take the match 2-1. She successfully advanced to the knockout stage the next day, becoming the first female player in the history of Riftbound’s official major events to reach the knockout stage.
“My friends usually call me Little Sheep, so I chose this as my in-game ID.”
Yangrou Chuan’s (Lamb Skewer) first deck was Teemo, but her experience with it was not ideal. She then switched to Annie. “She’s very easy to use—I found my本命 (true legendary hero),” she said.
She usually practices her card skills on a board game simulator and searches for Annie-related strategies everywhere. It was during this time that she discovered “Card Maniac Uncle Zhang”. “His Annie guides are full of useful tips, and he replies to every comment I leave,” she said. When the Set 1 Shanghai National Open was held, Yangrou Chuan and Uncle Zhang met by chance. They shared their match experience with Annie’s deck and discussed different deck construction directions together.
In Set 2, she only successfully registered for the Dalian Station. She came all the way from Taizhou, Jiangsu, and her hard work paid off—she started the Swiss Rounds with three consecutive wins, then was selected to play on the live broadcast table. “I was really nervous to be on the live broadcast table, but overall, it was a new life experience,” she said.
Coincidentally, the commentator for Yangrou Chuan’s live broadcast match was none other than Uncle Zhang. Although Yangrou Chuan unfortunately lost that match, many friends came to review the game with her and help her correct her mistakes after the match.
In the end, Yangrou Chuan’s Swiss Round record was fixed at 5-2. She failed to advance to the knockout stage the next day due to tiebreaker points.
The night falls early in Dalian, but the lights in the venue are still brightly lit.
Xiao Jiang’s regret at failing to advance was quickly interrupted by the winning information on the big screen: she won the Riftbound Spring Festival Gift Box. She also opened some good cards in the advanced supplement packs inside. Later, she tried playing Draven for the first time in the City Challenge the next day and made it to the top 8.
Yangrou Chuan saw her ID among the winners of the “Legendary Master Award” on the big screen. She finally got the Legendary Master Award for her true love—Annie—and planned to use it in store competitions once she received it.
Vita encountered an Irelia mirror match in the knockout stage. Her opponent’s deck construction was beyond her expectation, which led to her defeat. Although she didn’t go further in the knockout stage, this was already her best result so far. She said she is deeply fascinated by the strategic battles on the card table. Predicting the opponent’s moves through experience and thinking, then responding to them. When making accurate counters in spell duels, the sense of accomplishment of being fully prepared wells up in her heart. Her eyes were full of excitement as she spoke—a pure longing for thinking and gameplay.
Why do people love thinking in card games?
Because games are a kind of freedom created by humans within rules.
In the real world, there are too many variables that cannot be controlled and too many results that are difficult to predict. But on the card table—a battlefield constructed by 40 cards—probabilities can be calculated, strategies can be verified, and if you are willing to calm down and think, you can even enumerate all possibilities. Thinking is the sharp sword that cuts through the fingers of fate. This is perhaps the most charming core of Riftbound—and all strategy games: it packages humanity’s most precious thinking ability into an adventure that can be experienced repeatedly and restarted at any time.
Here, while you rack your brains for victory, you are also forging new neural pathways for yourself—the instant pleasure of “I calculated it!”, the excitement after a mental showdown with your opponent, and the satisfaction of being fully prepared are deep satisfactions that no simple stimulation can replace.
So, when the venue finally falls silent and the cards are all put back into the card boxes, what really remains is not just the numerical score, but the mentality of staying calm and observing in adversity, the mental resilience of not losing your composure even under the gaze of others, and the determination to never stop thinking.
These are the rewards that last longer than any reward card.
