If Riftbound’s red spells are all about pressure, Hextech Ray might be the cleanest expression of that design so far.
No setup, no trigger, no math—just a crisp, one-cost burn spell that hits like a sledgehammer from orbit.
This is the kind of card you throw in a deck and never regret. It’s not flashy. It’s efficient. And in a game where tempo swings matter deeply, Hextech Ray will win you showdowns you didn’t even think you could contest.
Gameplay / Cool Mechanics
Hextech Ray costs just one and deals 3 to any unit at a battlefield. That’s it. No restrictions on targeting, no elemental gating, no momentum requirement.
If your opponent thought they were getting away with a greedy early drop or were trying to sneak tempo with a 3-health threat, this spell deletes the plan instantly.
And that “Action” timing clause? Hextech Ray can be played either during your turn or in showdowns. Which means it can cleanly interrupt enemy aggression or finish off a trade that went just shy of lethal.
It gives red decks a level of reactive control that makes them scarier to face. Normally, you’d expect that kind of removal in blue or black cards. Red getting it this direct and flexible? That’s a shake-up.
This is the kind of spell that plays like a tempo tool in aggro, a stabilizer in midrange, or even just an efficient include in red splash decks. It’s going to be in a lot of decks.
Visuals
The art on Hextech Ray doesn’t hide what it’s about. We see a jagged, stylized energy blast searing downward from a flying drone or cannon—pure Hextech brutality.
There’s motion in the arc, but it’s not wild. It’s focused, mechanical. The bright blues of the beam slice the deep red sky in half, hinting at something calculated rather than chaotic.
It’s Viktor’s precision, not Jinx’s chaos.
The quote says it all: “Destroy. Then Improve.”
Pull Rate & Value Speculation
Collector number 009/298 confirms this is an early red spell in the Riftbound: League of Legends TCG set. So far, there’s no alt-art or foil version revealed, but it’s exactly the kind of low-cost staple that ends up as a foil chase just because of how playable it is.
It’s not legendary, it’s not overnumbered, and it doesn’t need to be. What’s going to drive value here is meta relevance.
If early removal continues to shape battlefield tempo (and it likely will), Hextech Ray becomes one of the most-played commons in the set.
And if a foil version does appear in later drops or collector boxes, you’ll want it for both bling and power.
Hextech Ray is the kind of card that’s never exciting to draw—but always right to play.
It rewards precision, punishes greed, and sits neatly in every deck that wants red to mean business.
Whether you’re burning down blockers or denying battlefield setups, this card just works.
Read more – The Dreaming Tree from Riftbound TCG
