How to Create Your Own Riftbound TCG Playmat

If you're looking for a Riftbound playmat in Australia, there's a pretty good chance you don't want the same mass-produced mat everyone else has. That's where custom comes in.

At Tako Mats, we make custom TCG playmats right here in Australia. You bring the artwork, choose how you want your mat set up, and we'll turn it into a playmat made just for you. And for Riftbound players, we've built dedicated Riftbound card zone overlays that can be added straight over your design.

Creating your custom Riftbound playmat is pretty simple. Start with your artwork, choose between our Slim 2mm and Plush 5mm mats, then decide whether you want Riftbound card zones added to your design.

If you do want card zones, you can have them with or without headings.

So your mat can be as clean or as structured as you want it.

Build Your Mat Around Your Favourite League Champion

Sometimes you already know exactly what you want.

Maybe you're hunting for the perfect Jinx playmat, you've got a particular Ahri skin you've loved for years, or you want artwork that matches the Legend you're currently playing.

Going custom means you don't have to wait for somebody to make that exact mat.

League of Legends gives you a ridiculous number of Champions to work with. Jinx, Akali, Kennen, Kai'Sa, Lux, Miss Fortune, Teemo, Master Yi, Viktor, Annie, Lee Sin, Sett and plenty of others can all make incredible Riftbound playmats.

But the Champion is really only the starting point.

A lot of League Champions have years of skins and artwork behind them, which means two people can choose exactly the same Champion and end up creating completely different mats.

If there's a particular version of a Champion that feels like your version, that's probably the one you should build your mat around.

Or Match Your Playmat to Your Riftbound Deck

If you're building your mat around Riftbound rather than simply your favourite League Champion, another option is matching the artwork to the Legend or deck you're actually playing.

That might mean using artwork of your Legend, matching the colours and feel of your deck, or choosing a particular Champion or skin that fits what you've built.

Add our optional Riftbound card zones over the top and you end up with something that feels like it was designed specifically for your deck rather than pulled off a shelf.

And as your decks change, there's always an excuse to make another one.

League Players Have a Huge Head Start With Artwork

One of the best things about creating a Riftbound playmat is just how much League of Legends artwork already exists.

League has been around for years, and Champions haven't just had one piece of artwork made for them. Many have accumulated different skins, splash art, promotional artwork and completely different visual interpretations over the life of the game.

That gives you a lot more freedom when you're deciding what your Riftbound playmat should actually look like.

You might love Jinx but not want the classic Jinx artwork. Maybe it's the Arcane version you have in mind. Maybe you've played a particular Ahri skin for years and that's the version of the character that feels like your Ahri.

That's where we'd start.

Pick the Champion first, then have a look through their different skins and artwork before deciding on the image.

Think About the Whole Mat, Not Just the Character

The other thing to keep in mind is that a great picture of a Champion isn't automatically a great playmat.

Playmats are wide.

An image with the Champion standing vertically in the middle might look incredible as a poster or phone wallpaper, but once we try to turn it into a 600 × 350 mm playmat, we may have to crop away a huge amount of the image.

League splash art can work particularly well because a lot of it already gives the character some environment around them. That extra space gives us room to position the Champion properly while still filling the entire mat.

It's also worth thinking about where the important parts of the artwork sit.

If you're planning to add our Riftbound card zones, an image with the Champion slightly off-centre can sometimes work even better because we're not putting your deck, cards and zone markings straight over their face.

You don't need to work all of this out yourself — that's part of what we're looking at when we prepare your artwork.

Find the Biggest Version You Can

Resolution matters.

An image can look absolutely perfect on your phone and still be tiny when we try to spread it across an entire playmat.

If you've found the artwork you want, try to find the largest, highest-resolution version available rather than saving a small preview or thumbnail.

The more image information you give us, the more room we have to crop, reposition and clean up the artwork when we're preparing your mat.

Don't Stress if the Image Isn't Perfect

You don't need to be a graphic designer to order a custom mat from us.

Our Image Cleanup Promise means we'll check your artwork and, where possible, help prepare and improve it for production.

A picture looking great on your phone doesn't necessarily mean it's going to look great stretched across an entire playmat. That's why we don't just blindly print whatever gets uploaded.

If we spot something that's clearly going to cause a problem, we'd much rather deal with it before making your mat than print something we know isn't going to look right.

Slim 2mm or Plush 5mm?

Once you've got your artwork sorted, your first real product choice is how you want your Riftbound playmat to feel.

Slim 2mm

Our Slim 2mm gives you the classic lower-profile TCG playmat feel.

It's lightweight, easy to roll up and a great option if you prefer a thinner mat on the table.

Plush 5mm

Then there's our Plush 5mm.

It's noticeably thicker, softer and more substantial. The extra cushioning gives the mat a more premium feel and also makes cards easier to pick up from the playing surface.

The Plush 5mm has been becoming an increasingly popular choice with our customers, and if you're already going to the effort of creating your own custom Riftbound mat, the Plush is the more premium option.

Add Riftbound Card Zones (Or Don't)

Next comes the fun bit.

You can leave your custom playmat completely clean with no card zones at all, allowing the artwork to take over the entire surface, or you can add our Riftbound card zone overlay.

The overlay adds dedicated areas for organising your Riftbound setup while still allowing the artwork underneath to remain a major part of the design.

This way you can create a Riftbound playmat with zones designed around the artwork you've actually chosen.

Riftbound does have quite a bit happening on the table, so zones can be particularly useful if you like keeping everything organised.

But that doesn't automatically mean more boxes make a better mat.

Every zone takes up some of the artwork underneath it, so there's a balance between creating a structured playing surface and still letting the design be the star of the mat.

Custom Sanji One Piece playmat without card zones

Custom Sanji One Piece playmat with card zones

Riftbound Card Zones With Headings or Without?

If you choose to add card zones, there's one more decision.

Choose card zones with headings if you want the full structured Riftbound layout.

The different areas are clearly labelled, giving you an immediately recognisable playing surface and making it easy to see where everything belongs.

If you prefer something cleaner, choose card zones without headings.

You still get the visual structure and positioning of the zones, but without the additional text competing with your artwork.

There's no right answer here.

Some artwork looks fantastic with the full labelled layout. Other designs work better when the overlay is kept as minimal as possible.

And if you've found an image you absolutely love and don't want anything covering it?

Skip the zones altogether.

Riftbound Playmats Made by Our Customers

This is probably our favourite part.

Seeing what people come up with is half the fun.

Some people go straight for Jinx or Ahri. Some want a playmat built around a particular League skin they've loved for years. Others choose Yasuo, Kai'Sa, Lux, Miss Fortune or whichever Champion they're currently obsessed with.

Then there are people who build the whole design around their Riftbound deck or Legend rather than simply choosing their favourite Champion.

And because you've got the choice between no zones, a cleaner overlay without headings or the full labelled layout, the same piece of artwork can end up producing three very different looking mats.

That's really the point of custom.

You're not choosing your favourite design from somebody else's catalogue. You're building yours.