Riftbound’s Regional Qualifier in Las Vegas concluded just a couple of weeks ago. After two days of competition and more than 1,500 players attending the event, Sam “
Samdsherman” Sherman took home the title with a
midrange Draven deck.
In the interview with
Sheep Esports,
Samdsherman reflected on the Las Vegas tournament and shared his perspective on the current state of
Riftbound as a competitive game. Read the full interview to know more about round timers, potential card bans, the role of metal cards in shaping tournament diversity, and what Samndsherman expects from the upcoming Unleashed set.
Can you introduce yourself a bit and your history both on Riftbound and other TCGs?
Samdsherman: “I started playing Magic in 1998 and have competed in many 10s of serious tournaments, with a total lifetime earnings of around $25000. I started playing Riftbound in November just as a favor to a friend to help him practice for Houston, but then the game was so much fun I wanted to play it too.
What were your overall impressions of the event and the level of play you saw throughout the tournament?
Samdsherman: There's definitely a mix of different skill levels, though once I had a few wins on my record I faced mostly very good players. Overall, I really enjoyed the event, and it's great to see how hyped people are for Riftbound.
Some players attending talked about issues like card markings, judge rulings, and tournament logistics. Did you notice any tournament‑level issues firsthand?
Samdsherman: The round time is a big issue that Riftbound needs to figure out how to handle. Sixty minutes is just not enough to play most matches of the game to a natural conclusion. I would really like to see Riftbound tournaments be restructured to a best-of-one format with 30-minute rounds and playing 50% more rounds in the tournament. Certainly, in the short term, Called Shot and Stacked Deck should be banned, since they hit the trifecta of too strong, horrendous play pattern, and taking too much time.
Riftbound’s competitive scene is still developing quickly as the game is still relatively new. Do you expect the meta to change significantly after Vegas, especially after the success of Red-Purple?
Samdsherman: I would not expect the meta to change much until the ban announcement happens after the upcoming Chinese tournament.
Samdsherman: I love them. Without the metal cards, you would have seen Bologna and Vegas be 50% or more Draven decks, but with them, Draven was only 15%. It makes a huge difference in player perception of the game, and that diversity trickles down to local tournaments even without metal cards. For example, at my local Nexus night right before Vegas, I played against a miracle Jinx guy who was playing Jinx over Draven to practice for his metal card quest in Vegas.
In Riftbound, metal cards are metallized versions of a legends’ card that is awarded to the player with the best-performing deck using that specific legend at an official tournament. This means that, even if a Legend is not considered the strongest in the current meta, players may still choose to bring it in order to compete for that specific metal card reward.
Because of this system, metal cards can influence the tournament meta by encouraging players to explore a wider variety of Legends, rather than everyone gravitating toward the same top-tier decks.
This can lead to greater deck diversity at large events, as players balance their chances of winning the tournament with the opportunity to secure a metal card for a particular Legend. But at the same time it can also mean that the decks seen at events do not always fully reflect the true competitive meta.
How do you feel about the health of Riftbound right now as a competitive game? Do you think it’s worth investing time in for players who want to compete seriously?
Samdsherman: The purple card drawing spells are way too strong and the Draven legend has a horrible impact on game play patterns, but the game is still a lot of fun despite those flaws and the metal cards mean if you want to seriously compete, you can just find any legend you enjoy playing and make the best deck you can with it and you'll be doing something near-optimal, which is awesome. I highly recommend the game to anyone at any level of seriousness.
After much thought, Riot recently announced they're "discussing card bans in the near future based on overly-dominant play patterns." Would you say it’s too early for Riftbound to be making bans? If not, what would you say are the dominant play patterns that should be adjusted?
Samdsherman: As discussed above, Called Shot and Stacked Deck have to go. Beyond that, unfortunately I don't think there's much to be done about the Draven legend, even though it's clearly a mistake to print. It's a tough spot where they can't really want to ban a legend, but adjusting it through errata is also really unpleasant. Hopefully, they will just learn a lesson from this and be more careful when printing legends that encourage bad play patterns in the future.
We have just kicked off the Unleashed preview season with the Baron's card. What do you think of it, and what expectations do you have for the upcoming set?
Samdsherman: It's very cool. I was thinking about adding additional battlefields as a possible mechanic I could imagine them adding in the future so I'm glad they were on the same page as me. I'll be interested to see how strong the Baron card ends up being.”
