Jayce and Mel appear at MSI as Riftbound’s first official Vendetta spoilers

Craig Robinson, Senior Editor

Last Updated: 29/06/2026

Riot Games has revealed the first two official looks at Riftbound cards for the Vendetta set, featuring the art and base versions of Mel and Jayce. The two cards were revealed during the T1 versus KC matchup in the MSI Play-In stage in game 1, where T1 picked both Jayce in the top lane and Mel in the bot lane mage role.

Jayce and Mel appear as Vendetta spoilers

The cards themselves look particularly interesting. Mel’s epic champion unit is a 4 cost, 1 mind power with 4 might. Her effect is that she’s empowered, meaning if you spend three energy, she gets an additional effect. This allows spells and abilities that choose and minus Might to trigger again for another -1 Might. That’s huge for spells like Eclipse, Smokescreen, Fridig Touch, Stupefy, Blue Ahri. Given the three cost is expensive, it’s likely a more mid-to-late game play. That said, she can slot into Ahri fairly easily by having Sona lock a board down, readying four runes, which can then be spent on empowering Mel for the Blue Ahri champ unit to kick in, or Stupefy since its a 1 cost spell anyway. Some food for thought there. It alos prevents spells from being able to counter your spells, meaning its some decent tech into Green matchups too.

Later in the same game, Jayce appears. It only shows his rare version, alongside his alt art. He is a 4 cost, 1 body energy for 5 might. His effect is that when he’s ready you can give him any of the following this turn: Assault 2, Deflect 2 or Ganking. That feels very strong if you have a way of readying him cheaply. Given he’s orange, there’s Sivir’s On the Hunt, First Mate and whatever else gets revealed in the next set to really abuse that combo. Can’t way for Jayce to assault, take a Battlefield, then get readied again for a gank.

Both cards also got alt arts. Worth noting the previews appeared in a side banner during the actual MSI broadcast, so the graphics were fairly small. If you want a proper look, your best bet is to full screen the videos on a monitor and see what they look like for yourself. We have included them in our feature image. But upscaling can do so much.

It’s also coincidental that T1 played the same champions that were revealed. Whether that’s part of the criteria for new Riftbound card reveals or not is unclear, so there may be more cards coming through the event based on picks or something similar. Either way, official Vendetta previews begin next Monday, so there’s plenty more to come.

MSI continues too, with T1 now in the Upper Bracket Finals, while TLAW and KC battle it out in the Lower Bracket Finals to determine who faces T1 for the final spot in the MSI main stage. We also know Riot will reveal some other T1 unique cards at MSI too, though, it’s likely the finals at this point. If you’re a LoL fan, there’s also the T1 World skins to try out if you’re on the PBE.

Craig Robinson, Senior Editor

Craig began his career with Esports News UK back in 2015/2016, looking to write about a passion while studying at Manchester Metropolitan University. He stayed there for several years before moving on to other websites to begin his career after graduating. Now he's back, covering esports adjacent topics and UK stories.

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