Riven, Zhonya's Hourglass and eight more banned in Riftbound

Riot has announced the first ban list update of the Radiance season. Eight cards and two battlefields join the Standard and 2v2 Constructed ban list, effective Monday, November 23, 2026. The announcement comes from Dave Guskin, Riftbound's Game Director, and follows the European Regional Championship in Stuttgart, which we covered in Kennen wins Stuttgart, and Riftbound weighs bans.

#What is banned

Cards:

• Riven, Broken Blade
• Zhonya's Hourglass
• Stellacorn Herder
• Nocturne, Horrifying
• Rhasa the Sunderer
• Brynhir Thundersong
• Dazzling Aurora
• Baited Hook

Battlefields:

• Emperor's Dais
• Star Spring

The bans apply to Standard and 2v2 Constructed. The announcement gives a date, not a time of day.

#Why Riven went

Riven is the headline. Riot says Riven, Broken Blade accounted for 43% of registered decks at the European Regional Championship, took 3 of the top 4 slots and 8 of the top 16, and has a win rate of roughly 60% or more against the field in high-level play, excluding the mirror. The stated problem is that the four-cost champion works as a near-guaranteed turn-two play with little counterplay.

#The rest of the list

Riot's reasons for the others, in brief:

• Zhonya's Hourglass protects strong units from removal, and works well with Astral Heron.
• Stellacorn Herder rewards movement effects without limit and replaces itself easily. It also adds draw to Calm decks.
• Emperor's Dais and Star Spring let players conquer with no risk, the same problem that got Reaver's Row banned earlier.
• Nocturne, Horrifying is a zero-energy early play that costs no card when it is found. Riot expects that pattern to get worse as more cards that look at the top of the deck are printed.
• Rhasa the Sunderer is a cheap, recursive payoff for filling the trash, which Riot notes Kennen does well.
• Brynhir Thundersong can lock an opponent out of playing cards on their own turn, and combines with blink effects into strong removal.
• Dazzling Aurora fetches large threats for free, which Riot says pushes Body decks toward a single way to win.
• Baited Hook cheats out high-cost units based on Might rather than Energy cost. Riot is banning it ahead of January's World Showcase because upcoming Legacy cards may pair badly with it.

#Kennen stays

Kennen itself is not banned. Riot says Kennen kept its place at the top of the metagame and won the whole Stuttgart event despite how much Riven was played, with about 15% of players registering it. Losing Rhasa and Nocturne takes pieces from trash and top-of-deck strategies, but the legend itself remains legal.

#2v2 and Yasuo

There are no extra 2v2-specific bans. Riot says player sentiment and results show Yasuo is strong in the format, and that it is testing format changes to share early next year rather than banning now.

#Timing and regional lists

The November 23 date is set to keep bans out of the two weeks before a premier event, so players have time to prepare. Riot points to the North America Regional Championship (December 11 to 13) and the China Regional Championship (January 2 to 3) as the next events.

Two policy changes come with this update:

• Separate ban lists by competitive circuit. Regions that are not in step with the global card pool get their own lists. Korea and the Traditional Chinese regions are not affected by these bans until Radiance releases there.
• Ban windows next year. Riot says any bans will be announced on the Friday two weeks before each Continental, and on the Friday two weeks after. Each set's season will start from the ban list as it stood at the end of the previous one, and Riot says its tolerance for unhealthy cards will be stricter.

Riot also acknowledges that bans take cards away from players who invested in them, and says it hopes to support a future format where banned cards can be played again.

#Sources

• Radiance Ban List Updates (Effective November 23, 2026), Riftbound
• Riftbound news, Riftbound