You can be doing "the right thing" in Riftbound and still be wildly wrong on timing. That is the part that gets people in their first week.

The good news is it is not a "you" problem. Riftbound is complicated, but it is also super rewarding once chains and showdowns click. Once you stop giving away free windows, the game starts feeling fair again.

What makes Riftbound feel so hard at first?

A lot of games teach you one main lesson - "play your stuff on your turn." Riftbound teaches "play your stuff when the game state says you can." That difference is basically the entire learning curve.

So here are 15 "rules" that are really 15 common misreads of timing, chains, and how showdowns actually hand out permission to act.

What is the one cheat sheet I wish everyone had?

Keep this mental model handy.

• Open state - someone can start actions (and reactions still work too).
• Closed state (a chain exists) - you are usually living in reaction-only world until the chain clears.
• Showdown - you are in a special window where focus matters, and you do not just "both get to do stuff whenever."

Now let's get into the mistakes.

Which 15 rules do new players mess up most?

1. "I can respond to anything with any card." - Not true. A lot of cards are only legal at action timing, and action timing is not "whenever I want." If the chain is already rolling, you usually need reaction timing to interact.
2. "Actions are basically instants." - This is the fastest way to lose games. If your card does not have reaction timing, assume it is not saving you mid-chaos. Learn what your deck can actually do when you are under pressure.
3. "The chain resolves in the order we played things." - It resolves newest-first (last in, first out). So, the "cute" trick you tossed on top might resolve before the thing you were trying to set up. Plan your sequencing like you are stacking plates, not building a line.
4. "If my opponent passes, it is basically my turn now." - Passing is not the same as handing you full freedom. Priority and focus are different concepts, and new players blend them together. Watch who actually has permission to act in the current window.
5. "Showdowns are just combat." - Some showdowns lead into combat, some do not. Treating every showdown like "damage is about to happen" makes you burn resources too early (or hold them too long).
6. "During a showdown, we can both play spells whenever." - Showdowns are a window of opportunity, but they are structured by who has focus and how passing works. The clean way to play is announce your action, confirm responses, then move on.
7. "I can play normal cards during a showdown state." - A common misunderstanding is thinking the showdown itself opens the floodgates. In practice, showdowns come with their own restrictions and flow, so do not assume your usual action-phase play patterns apply.
8. "I will decide move destinations later." - Riftbound will absolutely punish this. Move destinations are a required choice when you put the effect on the chain, not a vibe you pick during resolution. If you cannot choose a valid destination up front, you probably cannot make that play.
9. "If the target disappears, treat its value as 0." - Nope (and this one creates a ton of phantom lines). The rules clarify that unavailable numerical info is null, not zero, which can make an effect fail to compute the way you hoped. This is the difference between "still works, smaller" and "does not work at all."
10. "Contested means control flips right away." - Contested is its own state machine. A big set of clarifications landed around how contesting works, when control can change, and what happens in odd sequences. If you are playing for a battlefield, learn this chunk early.
11. "If I have no units there, I immediately lose control even if it is contested." - That instinct makes sense coming from other games. Riftbound specifically addresses this, and it matters a lot in tight maps where you are fighting over who owns abilities and future scoring.
12. "Surprise defense is not a thing." - It is a thing (and it is why sloppy movement gets punished). There are clarifications about moving into a battlefield that someone else moved to and opened a showdown for, and how that can end one showdown and begin another alongside combat starting. If you have ever said "wait, can you do that?" this is probably what happened.
13. "Attack and defend triggers keep firing every time." - The rules updates call out that some common trigger shapes (including attack and defend) have tighter definitions than players assume. If you are counting on repeated triggers, confirm the exact wording and the updated rule framing.
14. "Triggered abilities with costs are mandatory." - Not always. The patch notes get into cases like deflect costs incurred by triggered abilities and how refusing a cost can stop something from finalizing. That is a weird sentence until you see it in a real game, then it is suddenly the whole match.
15. "Competitive play is just casual play with prizes." - The tournament doc is very explicit about responsibilities, consistency, and what takes precedence at events. Get used to clean communication, clear shortcuts, and calling a judge early instead of arguing. It is not about being a rules lawyer, it is about keeping the game moving and fair.

What does this look like in an actual game?

Here is a super common early sequence.

You move to contest, a showdown opens, and you immediately try to fire off your big "setup" spell like it is your action phase. Your opponent reacts, the chain stacks, and suddenly your "safe" line is either illegal, mistimed, or resolves in a different order than you pictured. That is Riftbound in a nutshell.

If you take nothing else: track the state (open vs closed, neutral vs showdown), then decide what you are allowed to do.

What now?

And if you are learning right now, keep your head up. Riftbound is complicated, but once chains and showdowns click, you are going to feel your win rate jump fast.

If you run into a "wait, are we allowed to do that?" moment this week, write it down and test it again after you look up the exact timing rule. Tag me on X at @_EmeraldWeapon_ with your most confusing showdown story (good or painful).