Pakaa Cub is one of those cards you underestimate—right until it eats your wincon.
Revealed late in the Riftbound Preview Season, this Ixtal Cat unit slots neatly into reactive midrange decks that want surprise presence without overcommitting.
Don’t let the statline fool you. A 3-cost 3/3 with Hidden is already clean value, but the real spice is in how and when you play it.
With 377 cards in Riftbound’s set, we’re seeing an explosion of tempo-flipping reactions. Pakaa Cub thrives in that zone.
It punishes greedy open attacks, stalls control turns, and gives sneaky board advantage for literally zero if timed right.
Gameplay / Cool Mechanics
Pakaa Cub uses the Hidden mechanic—meaning you pay a small upfront cost to stash it in the shadows and then spring it out later for 0.
This turns it into a 3/3 ambush body that appears mid-combat or during spell chains. That alone gives it strong synergy with decks running bluff-based mind games or protection spells.
It’s especially effective against single-target removal bait. Opponent blows their big removal on your visible threat? Cool. React with Pakaa Cub, now suddenly they’re staring at another body they weren’t ready to answer.
Or maybe it’s late game and you just need a cheap blocker with surprise stats.
Either way, it gives you agency. That’s huge in Riftbound’s momentum-heavy boardplay.
The best part? It’s not flashy. It just works. You don’t need synergy or setup. Pakaa Cub enters when you need it and leaves behind teeth marks.
Visuals
The artwork matches the misdirection of the card perfectly. At first glance, the cub lounging on the tree branch looks harmless—wide-eyed, innocent, almost cartoonish.
The explorer below? Oblivious. But follow the eye-line and you’ll spot a shadowy predator in the distance. There’s danger in this jungle, and the cub knows.
The art sells the mislead: this isn’t a pet, it’s bait. The framing tells a full story of hubris and trap-laying in a single snapshot.
Pull Rate & Value Speculation
Pakaa Cub is listed as card 135/298, suggesting it falls into the mid-range of the main set.
We don’t have confirmed rarity yet, but based on its powerful flexibility and highly stylized art, we’re probably looking at an Uncommon or Rare slot.
There’s no alt art or overnumbered version revealed yet, but this is prime foil territory—especially for collectors who lean toward cute-but-lethal aesthetics.
Read more – Mask of Foresight from Riftbound TCG
