Europe's first Regional Qualifier kicks off this Friday in Bologna, Italy. If you're brand new to competitive TCGs, the whole thing can feel overwhelming: 1,600 players, three days, a $25,000 prize pool, broadcast teams, and a convention floor full of vendors selling singles. It's a lot. Here's what's actually going on, broken down for people who haven't done this before.
What is a Regional Qualifier?
A Regional Qualifier is the biggest official Riftbound tournament you can attend. It's the first step on the competitive path that eventually leads to the Riftbound World Championship, which hasn't happened yet but is confirmed for later this year. Players at Bologna are competing for prize money, exclusive promo cards, and invitations to the Regional Championship.
Bologna is Europe's first Regional Qualifier. The Chinese regions already had their run (Fuzhou, Chengdu, Nanjing, Dalian), and those results have been shaping how people build decks and prepare. Vegas follows Bologna the week after, then Lille in April.
You don't need to be a pro to attend. Bologna has separate badges for competitors (Main Event), spectators, and side-event players. Over 1,700 people are registered just for side events and community activities.
The weekend breakdown
Friday is setup and early side events. If you have a Competitor badge, this is when you check in, confirm your decklist, and scope out the venue. The Fiera Bologna convention center is big. Give yourself time to find your way around.
Saturday is the Main Event, Day 1. All 1,600 competitors play 8 rounds of Swiss. Swiss means you play against opponents with a similar record, so after a few rounds, the 5-1 players are facing other 5-1 players and the 2-4 players are facing each other. You don't get eliminated for losing. You play all 8 rounds no matter what.
Sunday is Day 2. The elimination structure has been updated from previous events, so it's no longer straight single elimination. Players who make the cut will have more room to fight back and adapt. The Top 8 is where the big money and the broadcast cameras are. Matches are Best of 3, so you need to win two games to take a round.
Inside the event
The main floor is rows and rows of tables where competitors sit across from each other. Each match has a table number. You find your seat on a pairing board (usually a big screen or printout) that tells you your opponent and table number each round. Rounds have a time limit, and judges walk the floor to answer rules questions and handle disputes.
Off to the side, there's usually a feature match area with cameras and commentary. This is where the broadcast team (Leonard K, Amy Wosley, James O'Leary, and Aaron Chamberlain for Bologna) calls games for the livestream. If you're watching from home, this is what you'll see.
The rest of the venue has vendor booths, a merch store with official Riftbound product (both Origins and Spiritforged packs and boxes available), a prize wall where you redeem tickets from side events, and community gathering areas. Riot is bringing sealed product with per-badge purchase limits so everyone gets a fair shot at buying.
Side events run all weekend. These are smaller tournaments with their own prizes and prize wall tickets. If you don't make the Main Event cut or just want a more casual experience, side events are where most people spend their time. Ikura Ranuka, for instance, flew into Bologna a few days early to play tourist before grinding side events all weekend.
What's on the line
The Main Event prize pool is $25,000. First place takes $6,000, second gets $3,000, third and fourth split $2,000 each, fifth through eighth get $1,000, ninth through sixteenth get $500, and seventeenth through thirty-second get $250. Top performers also earn invitations to a Regional Championship, which feeds into the World Championship.
Beyond cash, there are exclusive cards. The champion gets an alternate-art Blade of the Ruined King and a playmat. Top 8 finishers get a Blade of the Ruined King card. Everyone who competes in the Main Event gets a Boneshiver participation promo. These exclusive cards tend to hold value with collectors since they can't be pulled from packs.
Then there are the "Best of" prizes. The highest-placing player on each champion receives a holographic metal Legend card that's tournament legal. Bologna features the full set of 28 Best-of Legends spanning Origins, Proving Grounds, and Spiritforged. If you're the Annie player with the best finish across the event, you walk away with a metal Annie card you can actually sleeve up and play.
You can also earn Plated Legends at the prize wall. These are heavy, premium versions of the champion cards and are a big draw for collectors.
Following from home
If you're not in Bologna, the official broadcast will be live on Twitch and YouTube. The coverage typically starts Saturday morning and runs through the Top 8 on Sunday. Runes & Rift and Riftbound Report both post live updates, round-by-round standings, and decklist breakdowns on X throughout the weekend.
After the event, full Top 8 decklists usually go up within a day or two. These are worth studying because they show exactly what cards the best players brought and how they built around the current meta.
Even if competitive play isn't your thing, watching the broadcast is a solid way to learn the game. The commentary team explains card interactions, talks through decision-making, and breaks down why players make the choices they do. It's the fastest way to level up your game knowledge without sitting across from someone who's been grinding since Origins.
What to watch for at Bologna specifically
Bologna is happening exactly one week after Spiritforged launched globally on February 13th. That means most players have had seven days to get their hands on Set 2 cards and build new decks. Some people have been preparing for weeks using data from the Chinese regionals, but others are going in with whatever they could pull or buy in the first week. The skill gap between "I've been playtesting for a month" and "I just cracked my first box" will be real.
The big question is whether Draven dominates the way he has everywhere else. At the Runes League Winter League in Bologna last month (339 players), Draven took 10 of the Top 16 spots. A new variant called "Miracle Draven" won the whole thing. If Bologna's Top 8 is five Dravens again, that's the story of the weekend.
The counter-story is whether Annie, Kai'Sa, or one of the dark horses like Sett can break through. Annie won Nanjing outright from just 7 entries in the field, and if enough people bring her to Bologna, we could see a very different Top 8.
I'll be covering the full results after the weekend wraps, so keep an eye out for that. If you're heading to Bologna or just following along from the couch, let me know what legend you're rooting for on X at @shadow618tv, and we'll compare notes once the dust settles.
See you on the rift,
Shadow