Big Changes To Competitive Riftbound and News for Regional Championship Bologna
Big Changes For Tournament Policy
Changes to Deck Language Legality
Let’s start off with one of the biggest changes we’ve seen. It is now legal to have multiple languages of cards in your deck rather than having all cards in a deck be the same language. As long as all of your cards are sleeved properly, you can have Chinese and English cards in the same deck, and I’m sure in the future, should we get French, Spanish, or any other languages, those can be part of the same deck as well. This is much more in line with various other trading card games and allows for flexibility in acquiring singles or playing cards how you prefer to play them. From interactions we’ve had with our locals, and some of the competitive teams we’ve spoken too, this is a largely positive change.
Premier Events And Top Cut
The next biggest change relevant to Regional Qualifier Bologna is the tournament structure itself. Premier-level events will use a full Swiss structure before cutting to elimination rounds. One more addition to this is that the higher seeded player in a top-cut match will also gain the option to choose who goes first in the first game of top cut matches.
This subtly shifts how players approach long events. Strong early performance now carries more weight, and consistent records are rewarded more clearly. Performing well in Swiss is now rewarded, and it may sway players at the top table to continue to give it their all and not intentionally draw their games.
Champion Units, Aesthetics, and Penalties
A definite rite of passage for all Riftbound players is ending game 1 of your match, collecting your cards, selecting your new battlefields, and shuffling your main deck and rune deck. After drawing your opening hand and resolving any mulligans, you look over at your champion zone and realise, “oh no, I forgot to take out my chosen champion”. Prior to the changes, this would result in a game loss. It is now no longer an automatic game loss, unless you are playing at a professional level. To help with this change, players are now permitted to sleeve their champion unit in a different colour sleeve, making setup easier and quicker. This is optional, as champions like Teemo – Scout will probably want to continue to be in the same sleeve for obvious reasons.
This adjustment reduces unnecessary pressure without lowering competitive expectations. Players are still responsible for their decks, but honest mistakes no longer define an entire match at lower tiers of play.
The Endgame and Overtime Rules
This is a more interesting change. When time goes off in a round, the current game goes into overtime. Originally, there were 5 additional turns. The new rules dictate that the game will go into only 3 additional turns, and to emerge the victor you will need a two point lead. From a logistical standpoint this makes sense. Riftbound is a complicated game that has a lot of moving pieces. Long end of round procedures ripple out and cause larger delays in the overall tournament structure. Streamlining this procedure helps keep events running on time and push games towards resolution.
More Logistical Changes To Sudden Death and Limited Play
There are a few more specific changes that may not be relevant in many situations, but are nice to touch on regardless. We’ve seen an update to best-of-one matches to their procedures and how they are conducted. If you are curious about them we will link the full tournament policy with change log at the end.
Probably the most relevant of the minor changes are the alterations to card quantity. When playing with a sideboard, you can now run 0-8 cards as opposed to the old restriction of either exactly 0 or exactly 8 cards. Additionally, in limited play formats, you now have a minimum deck size of 25 cards as opposed to an exact deck size of 25 cards.
The last change comes to Battlefield effects such as Arena’s Greatest or Obelisk of Power, where now you have a full turn to remember the trigger. If you want to see the initial announcement of the changes, you can do so here, and if you want to see the full changelog and anything we missed, you can do so here.
Regional Qualifier Bologna
With solidified and rebuffed tournament rules, and the second set of Riftbound, Spiritforged, on the horizon, we are fully set up for one of the most anticipated events of the year, Regional Qualifier Bologna. Scheduled as a full weekend event, it stands as Riftbound’s first major competitive events in Europe.
Bologna is designed to be more than a single bracket. It brings together structured competition, side events, vendors, and open play in one space. For many players, it will be their first experience with Riftbound at this scale.
The Main Event
The fully sold out main event will be the stage for which many European and global competitors take their first steps onto the Riftbound competitive stage. The main event will run for two full days with an 8 round Swiss on Saturday and anyone with a 6-2 record or better qualifying for day 2. There will be more Swiss rounds on Sunday until it cuts to a single elimination top 8. The top 8 will receive the highly desired Blade of the Ruined King promo card, and there will be cash prizes going all the way down to the top 32 players.
Side Events, Prizes and Goodies
Side events and activities will also run through the entire weekend. There will be a wide array of alternative formats and lower-pressure competition. Free play areas, limited events with the newest product, and everything in between, will ensure that there will always be something to do. Join in on larger scale scheduled events, or pop in for on demand events whenever you have the time. A full side event schedule will be available as we approach the event dates.
What’s an event without its goodies! There are so many exclusive prizes, special cards, and flashy merchandise to bling out your collection. The metal cards are making their return to the prize wall alongside a potentially limitless selection of Riftbound and League of Legends merchandise. Play events, earn tickets, and claim your bounties at the prize wall to go alongside all the amazing goodies you get just for showing up! There is going to be so much to do, you’ll definitely want to make the most of your time in Bologna! While the main event is sold out, as of writing this you can still get admissions badges and join in on side events here!
Spiritforged Early Competitive Picture in China
Spiritforged has been available in China for several weeks, giving that region a head start in competitive testing. So let’s take a look at some of the more recent tournaments that have happened to try and get an idea of what to expect at Regional Qualifier Bologna.
One of the most informative examples is the Regional Open in Dalian, where Kai’Sa continued her dominating run across the tournament scene. The top of the field featured a mix of new Spiritforged tools alongside refined Origins-era strategies, with strong showings from legends like Draven, Irelia, Fiora, Jax, Sivir, and Ezreal.
Across city tournaments and more large scale events, we see tier lists pop up and various strategies emerge. Viktor is taking on a new zero unit approach where it solely focuses on spells and removal. Draven is scoring fast points and playing aggressively, and Ornn has shown that in magical Christmas land it can gain Might into the thousands. It’s still early in the days of the set relative to what we expect to see evolve, and it really looks like it could be anyone’s game.
A Season Finding Its Shape
Between clearer tournament rules, a growing card pool, and major events on the horizon, Riftbound’s competitive scene is beginning to feel defined rather than experimental.
Bologna will be one of the first real tests of that structure. What happens there will help shape how the season unfolds from this point forward. We’re so excited to be taking this first step into Riftbound, and we can’t wait to see you all at Regional Qualifier Bologna.
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