Cards And Zones
How Do Units, Gear, Spells and Runes Differ?
Units fight, gear stays in play, spells carry out instructions, and runes provide resources. Their types determine how they enter and what can affect them.
RiftPal explanation · Answer first
The short answer
Units and gear stay on the board after you play them. A unit normally enters exhausted; non-unit gear normally enters ready at your Base. Spells carry out their instructions and then go to their owner's TrashA player's off-board zone for cards that are killed or discarded and spells that finish resolving, unless an effect changes their destination. Its cards are public information and their order does not matter.View in Glossary .
Runes provide resources. You channel them from the Rune DeckYour separate deck of exactly 12 runes. Shuffle it separately from your Main Deck. Channeling takes runes from this deck and puts them on the board.View in Glossary rather than play them as Main Deck cards; they normally enter ready.
RiftPal explanation
How it works
Card reference
Vanguard Sergeant
Units have MightMight represents both how much Combat Damage a unit can contribute and how much marked Damage it can normally take before being killed.View in Glossary , take damage and can use Standard MoveA Standard Move is the normal way a unit moves between its Base and a Battlefield.View in Glossary . They can be killed by sufficient damage or effects that kill them.
Unit
Vanguard Sergeant
Card reference
Doran's Blade
GearA permanent type normally played to Base. Non-unit gear normally enters ready and does not have Standard Move. Equipment is gear with the Equipment tag. Gear that is also a unit follows the specific combined-type rules.View in Glossary can be killed by effects, but non-unit gear has no Standard MoveA Standard Move is the normal way a unit moves between its Base and a Battlefield.View in Glossary . It is normally played to your Base. Effects or attachment can put it at a battlefield; unattached non-unit gear without Deploy there is recalled to its controller's Base during cleanup. Equipment is gear with the Equipment tag.
Gear
Doran's Blade
[Equip] [Body] ([Body]: Attach this to a unit you control.)
Card reference
Hextech Ray
A spell resolves on the ChainAn off-board zone that holds cards and abilities during the process of playing them. Cards and abilities on it are public information.View in Glossary : follow its instructions, then put it in its owner's TrashA player's off-board zone for cards that are killed or discarded and spells that finish resolving, unless an effect changes their destination. Its cards are public information and their order does not matter.View in Glossary unless an effect says otherwise.
Spell
Hextech Ray
[Action] (Play on your turn or in showdowns.) Deal 3 to a unit at a battlefield.
Card reference
Fury Rune
Runes provide Energy and Power. Recycling a rune returns it to the Rune DeckYour separate deck of exactly 12 runes. Shuffle it separately from your Main Deck. Channeling takes runes from this deck and puts them on the board.View in Glossary . A channel instruction can change its usual ready entry.
Rune
Fury Rune
Unit and GearA permanent type normally played to Base. Non-unit gear normally enters ready and does not have Standard Move. Equipment is gear with the Equipment tag. Gear that is also a unit follows the specific combined-type rules.View in Glossary are PermanentA Main Deck game object that remains on the board after being played. Unit and Gear are permanent types. Runes, battlefields and legends are not permanents simply because they stay on the board.View in Glossary types: Main Deck game objects that stay on the board after being played. Runes, battlefields and your Champion LegendYour deck's legend card. Its domains set your deck's Domain Identity. It starts in the Legend Zone and stays there; it is separate from the champion unit you choose to play.View in Glossary are not permanents. Legends and starting battlefields are set up before play and cannot normally be killed or moved.
A unit in the TrashA player's off-board zone for cards that are killed or discarded and spells that finish resolving, unless an effect changes their destination. Its cards are public information and their order does not matter.View in Glossary is still a unit card, but an effect limited to units on the board cannot affect it there. A card with multiple types follows the combined-type rules; a unit that is also gear enters exhausted.
Gear with Deploy must be played or created to a battlefield and its non-unit form is exempt from the usual battlefield recall. Additional legends created by an effect, such as Neeko’s, are separate from the starting Champion Legend and can disappear when their stated duration ends.
In practice
Example
You play an ordinary unit and ordinary non-unit gear to your Base. The unit enters sideways, exhausted; the gear enters ready. A spell you resolve goes to your Trash afterward. A rune you channel stays at your Base, ready unless the channel instruction says otherwise.