Vancouver Regional Qualifier Breakdown — Hextech Analytics

Riftbound has its first two-time champion. Two weeks after Sydney crowned Irelia, Alanzq1 went 14-0-2 through the 1,833-player Vancouver Regional Qualifier on Mind/Chaos Diana and did not lose a single match on his way to the title, and the broadcast call gave the moment its full weight: he “has won the Vancouver Riftbound Regional Championship. The first ever second time winner of a regional championship.” The player who won Bologna on Ezreal just won an entirely different format on an entirely different legend, and at this point the argument about the best player in the West is over until somebody takes it back from him.

1,833

Players

14-0-2

Champion's record

1st

Two-time champion ever

Past champions in Top 8

Alanzq1

Diana, Scorn of the Moon

Vancouver Regional Qualifier champion

MindChaos14-0-2

Riftbound Legend: Scorn of the Moon. [Reaction][>] [T]: [Add] [1]. Spend this Energy only during showdowns. (Abilities that add resources can't be reacted to.)

Riftbound Unit: Diana, Lunari. When a showdown begins here, you may pay [1]. If you do, [Predict], then reveal the top card of your Main Deck. If it's a spell, draw it. (To Predict, look at the top card of your Main Deck. You may recycle it.)

The Unleashed meta numbers

Eight players entered Day 2 at 8-0, and the percentage of each Champion's Day 1 players who advanced produced some surprises. Kha'Zix led at 41%, the best result the desk called out all weekend. Sett reached 25%, Sivir 17%, and Lux 9.7%. The Champions the room respected on the way in and the Champions the results respected on the way out turned out to be different lists, which seems to be the recurring lesson of this young format.

Percentage of Day 1 players who reached Day 2

Kha'Zix41%

Sett25%

Sivir17%

Lux9.7%

The desk's Day 1 read on Diana, by contrast, aged perfectly: one caster praised how “high agency she is” in long Swiss events where you want to avoid “leaving things down to variance,” and the two players who best embodied that thesis finished the Swiss undefeated on her. A read that clean, delivered before the results existed to back it up, deserves to be quoted back with the credit attached.

Underneath the numbers, the deckbuilding conversation kept circling back to two ideas: building around Dazzling Aurora and using Vex, Apathetic to stop cheap acceleration. The desk treated both as cards every deck had to prepare for because Vex shuts down the acceleration used by Darius and Kai'Sa decks. That is part of why Fury nearly vanished from the top tables and why answers to Gear cards have moved from sideboards into main decks. For all the Aurora talk, exactly one Aurora deck reached the Top 8, and only 17% of Sivir players reached Day 2. The field had learned from Sydney.

The cards warping the format

Vex, Apathetic

The desk put her right alongside Aurora as a card every deck had to prepare for.

Dazzling Aurora

All that talk, and exactly one Aurora deck reached the Top 8.

A Top 8 full of champions

Nobody could quite get over the bracket, least of all the desk, who said they could not believe “we have three of our returning regional qualifier champions in the same bracket,” with none of them paired in the first round. Alanzq1, Houston champion Dhawally, and Vegas champion SAMDSHERMAN all made the cut, which might be the clearest evidence yet that these events reward the players who prepare for them, and the bracket eventually forced two of them into each other.

1st

Alanzq1

DianaMindChaos

2nd

SAMDSHERMAN

RengarBodyFury

3rd

TSS Houses Are Big

Master YiBodyCalm

4th

Dhawally

DianaMindChaos

5th

Rocklho

AzirCalmOrder

6th

Arito

IreliaCalmChaos

7th

Swag Yolo 420

SivirBodyChaos

8th

BaoBaoaz

IreliaCalmChaos

Placements and decklists from the official Vancouver's Top Decks article; the run and bracket detail come from the official broadcast.

The run, and the revenge

The story of the Swiss was two Diana players refusing to lose. Alanzq1 and Dhawally were the last undefeated players in the room, the desk noting they were “both undefeated currently” when the pair “actually decided to ID with each other” rather than play it out, and the bracket then handed them the semifinal everyone wanted anyway. Alanzq1 won the game between Diana decks, and his interview afterward needed exactly one line: this was, in his words, “revenge for Houston.” They are two testing partners with two Regional Qualifier titles between them, the rivalry now has a scoreboard, and I doubt this is the last bracket that puts them across from each other.

Revenge for Houston.
Alanzq1, after winning the semifinal between Diana decks

The finals gave the weekend its second story, because SAMDSHERMAN did not bring the Draven he won Vegas with. He brought Body/Fury Rengar on a lopsided 8/4 rune split, and the desk admitted before the quarterfinals that “I don't think anyone expected a Rengar to do well today, much less making it” into the Top 8. The deck kept finding “just enough might all the time to get over the Master Yi” holds, which is how it dismantled the 12-1 first seed in the semifinals, and Alanzq1 himself said Sam played better than he did in the finals before the matchup math swung it back his way.

Look at the winning list and the composure starts to make sense: seven different cards sit at the full three copies, with Gust, Stupefy, Stacked Deck, Ride the Wind, Ravenbloom Student, Tideturner, and Hwei, Brooding Painter anchoring the main deck over a dead-even 6/6 Chaos/Mind rune base. Both copies of Vex, Apathetic live in the main deck rather than the sideboard, so the card the desk put right alongside Aurora as one every deck had to prepare for was in his forty every single round, and the sideboard leans the same way with extra copies of Moonfall, Star-Crossed, Turn to Dust, and Vex, Cheerless sitting next to paired Baron Nashor and Singularity. A 14-0-2 record on top of that construction reads less like variance and more like a plan working exactly as drawn.

1st

Winning list · Alanzq1's Diana, Scorn of the Moon

1st place · 14-0-2 · Beat SAMDSHERMAN's Rengar in the finals

Main deck (40 incl. chosen champion)

Riftbound Unit: Ravenbloom Student. When you play a spell, give me +1 [S] this turn. — Ravenbloom Student

Riftbound Unit: Tideturner. [Hidden] (Hide now for [A] to react with later for [0].)
When you play me, you may choose a unit you control at another location. Move me to its location and it to my original location. — Tideturner

Riftbound Unit: Traveling Merchant. When I move, discard 1, then draw 1. — Traveling Merchant

Riftbound Unit: Fizz, Trickster. When you play me, you may play a spell from your trash with Energy cost no more than [3], ignoring its Energy cost. Recycle that spell after you play it. (You must still pay its Power cost.) — Fizz, Trickster

Riftbound Unit: Hwei, Brooding Painter. When I move, draw 1, then discard 1. Then, do the following based on the discarded card's type:
* Spell — Draw 1.
* Gear — Ready up to 2 runes.
* Unit — Give me +3 [S] this turn. — Hwei, Brooding Painter

Riftbound Unit: Vex, Cheerless. While I'm in combat, friendly spells cost [1][A] less to a minimum of [1], and enemy spells cost [1][A] more. — Vex, Cheerless

Riftbound Spell: Stupefy. [Reaction] (Play any time, even before spells and abilities resolve.)
Give a unit -1 [S] this turn, to a minimum of 1 [S]. Draw 1. — Stupefy

Riftbound Spell: Acceptable Losses. [Action] (Play on your turn or in showdowns.)
Each player kills one of their gear. — Acceptable Losses

Riftbound Spell: Gust. [Reaction] (Play any time, even before spells and abilities resolve.)
Return a unit at a battlefield with 3 [S] or less to its owner's hand. — Gust

Riftbound Spell: Stacked Deck. [Action] (Play on your turn or in showdowns.)
Look at the top 3 cards of your Main Deck. Put 1 into your hand and recycle the rest. — Stacked Deck

Riftbound Spell: Turn to Dust. Give a gear [Temporary]. (Kill it at the start of its controller's Beginning Phase, before scoring.) — Turn to Dust

Riftbound Spell: Flash. [Reaction] (Play any time, even before spells and abilities resolve.)
Move up to 2 friendly units to base. — Flash

Riftbound Spell: Hard Bargain. [Reaction] (Play any time, even before spells and abilities resolve.)
[Repeat] [2] (You may pay the additional cost to repeat this spell's effect.)
Counter a spell unless its controller pays [2]. — Hard Bargain

Riftbound Spell: Smoke Screen. [Reaction] (Play any time, even before spells and abilities resolve.)
Give a unit -4 [S] this turn, to a minimum of 1 [S]. — Smoke Screen

Riftbound Spell: Ride the Wind. [Action] (Play on your turn or in showdowns.)
Move a friendly unit and ready it. — Ride the Wind

Riftbound Spell: Moonfall. [Action] (Play on your turn or in showdowns.)
Choose a battlefield where you have units. You may move up to one enemy unit to that battlefield. Then give enemy units there -2 [S] this turn. — Moonfall

Riftbound Spell: Star-Crossed. [Reaction] (Play any time, even before spells and abilities resolve.)
Return a friendly unit and an enemy unit to their owners' hands. — Star-Crossed

Runes (12)

Riftbound Rune: Chaos Rune. — Chaos Rune

Battlefields (3)

Riftbound Battlefield: Abandoned Hall. When a player plays a spell, they may give a unit they control here +1 [S] this turn. — Abandoned Hall

Riftbound Battlefield: Ravenbloom Conservatory. When you defend here, reveal the top card of your Main Deck. If it's a spell, put it in your hand. Otherwise, recycle it. — Ravenbloom Conservatory

Riftbound Battlefield: Targon's Peak. When you conquer here, ready up to 2 runes at the end of this turn. — Targon's Peak

Sideboard (8)

Riftbound Unit: Baron Nashor. As you play me, add the Baron Pit battlefield token to the board if it's not there already. If you do, I enter there. (It has "Units can move here from anywhere.")
I can't be chosen by enemy spells and abilities.
Other friendly units have +2 [S]. — Baron Nashor

Riftbound Spell: Singularity. Deal 6 to each of up to two units. — Singularity

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Notable decks from the Top 8

SAMDSHERMAN's Rengar (2nd)

The Vegas champion's Rengar runs a deliberately lopsided 8/4 Body/Fury rune base, and the list explains the desk's line about the deck always finding just enough might: three copies each of Determined Sentry, Kinkou Initiate, Pit Rookie, and Inferna keep sturdy units flowing, Nidalee, Cat Form and Kai'Sa, Survivor supply the overstatted turns, and Punch First plus Challenge let the deck pick every fight on its own terms. Nothing in it is flashy, which is exactly why nobody built for the matchup, and a player of Sam's caliber playing an unrespected pile of might checks is how first seeds die in semifinals.

2ndSAMDSHERMAN's Rengar, PridestalkerView decklist

2nd place

Main deck (40 incl. chosen champion)

Riftbound Unit: Determined Sentry. I can't move to base. — Determined Sentry

Riftbound Unit: Inferna. [Ambush] (You may play me as a [Reaction] to a battlefield where you have units.)
[Assault 2] (+2 [S] while I'm an attacker.) — Inferna

Riftbound Unit: Irresistible Faefolk. When I move to a battlefield, you may move an enemy unit to that battlefield. — Irresistible Faefolk

Riftbound Unit: Pit Rookie. When you play me, buff another friendly unit. (If it doesn't have a buff, it gets a +1 [S] buff.) — Pit Rookie

Riftbound Unit: Grim Apothecary. [Ambush] (You may play me as a [Reaction] to a battlefield where you have units.)
When you play me, you may return a friendly unit at a battlefield to its owner's hand. — Grim Apothecary

Riftbound Unit: Pyke, Dockside Butcher. [Hidden] (Hide now for [A] to react with later for [0].)
[Ganking] (I can move from battlefield to battlefield.)
You may pay [C] as an additional cost to play me.
When you play me, if you paid the additional cost, ready me and give me +2 [S] this turn. — Pyke, Dockside Butcher

Riftbound Unit: Kinkou Initiate. When you play me, draw 1 if your other units have total Might 5 or more. — Kinkou Initiate

Riftbound Unit: Nidalee, Cat Form. [Ambush] (You may play me as a [Reaction] to a battlefield where you have units.)
When I win a combat, draw 1. (I win if I remain after combat.) — Nidalee, Cat Form

Riftbound Unit: Kai'Sa, Survivor. [Accelerate] (You may pay [1][C] as an additional cost to have me enter ready.)
When I conquer, draw 1. — Kai'Sa, Survivor

Riftbound Unit: Darius, Trifarian. When you play your second card in a turn, give me +2 [S] this turn and ready me. — Darius, Trifarian

Riftbound Unit: Rengar, Trophy Hunter. [Ambush] (You may play me as a [Reaction] to a battlefield where you have units.)
I can be played to a battlefield where there are enemy units (even if you don't have units there). — Rengar, Trophy Hunter

Riftbound Spell: Sabotage. Choose an opponent. They reveal their hand. Choose a non-unit card from it, and recycle that card. — Sabotage

Riftbound Spell: Punch First. [Action] (Play on your turn or in showdowns.)
Give a unit +5 [S] this turn. — Punch First

Riftbound Spell: Thrill of the Hunt. [Reaction] (Play any time, even before spells and abilities resolve.)
Banish a friendly unit, then its owner plays it to any battlefield, ignoring its cost. — Thrill of the Hunt

Riftbound Spell: Challenge. [Action] (Play on your turn or in showdowns.)
Choose a friendly unit and an enemy unit. They deal damage equal to their Mights to each other. — Challenge

Runes (12)

Battlefields (3)

Riftbound Battlefield: Emperor's Dais. When you conquer here, you may pay [1] and return a unit you control here to its owner's hand. If you do, play a 2 [S] Sand Soldier unit token here. — Emperor's Dais

Riftbound Battlefield: Star Spring. The first time a player plays a non-token unit here each turn, they may move another unit they control here to its base. — Star Spring

Riftbound Battlefield: The Arena's Greatest. At the start of each player's first Beginning Phase, that player gains 1 point. — The Arena's Greatest

Sideboard (8)

Riftbound Unit: Akshan, Mischievous. [Weaponmaster]
You may pay [C][C] as an additional cost to play me.
When you play me, if you paid the additional cost, move an enemy gear to your base. You control it until I leave the board. If it's an Equipment, attach it to me. — Akshan, Mischievous

Riftbound Unit: Brynhir Thundersong. When you play me, opponents can't play cards this turn. — Brynhir Thundersong

Riftbound Spell: Unyielding Spirit. [Reaction] (Play any time, even before spells and abilities resolve.)
Prevent all spell and ability damage this turn. — Unyielding Spirit

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TSS Houses Are Big's Master Yi (3rd)

Vancouver's best Swiss record, 12-1 and the first seed, belonged to the Body/Calm plan that finished second in Lille. Charm, Discipline, and Lonely Poro is intact, but Rengar, Trophy Hunter and Scuttle Crab each appear three times, Akshan, Mischievous appears twice, and Zhonya's Hourglass covers the late game. A deck that was a curiosity in April posting the best Swiss record in the room in May tells you slower, unit-focused Master Yi is not a one-event fluke, and the desk calling the top-seed run “the secret sauce” might turn out to have undersold where this deck is headed.

3rdTSS Houses Are Big's Master Yi, Wuju BladesmanView decklist

3rd place · 12-1 first seed

Main deck (40 incl. chosen champion)

Riftbound Unit: Lonely Poro. [Deathknell] — If I died alone, draw 1. (When I die, get the effect. I'm alone if there are no other friendly units here.) — Lonely Poro

Riftbound Unit: Scuttle Crab. (Units with 0 [S] can conquer and hold.)
When you play me, draw 1.
[Deathknell][>] Choose an opponent. They reveal their hand. You can look at their facedown cards this turn. Gain 1 XP. (When I die, get the effects.) — Scuttle Crab

Riftbound Unit: First Mate. When you play me, ready another unit. — First Mate

Riftbound Unit: Master Yi, Tempered. [Hunt 2] (When I conquer or hold, gain 2 XP.)
[Level 6][>] I have [Deflect] and [Ganking]. (While you have 6+ XP, opponents must pay [A] to choose me with a spell or ability and I can move from battlefield to battlefield.) — Master Yi, Tempered

Riftbound Unit: Ruin Runner. I can't be chosen by enemy spells and abilities. — Ruin Runner

Riftbound Gear: Zhonya's Hourglass. [Hidden] (Hide now for [A] to react with later for [0].)
If a friendly unit would die, kill this instead. Heal that unit, exhaust it, and recall it. (Send it to base. This isn't a move.) — Zhonya's Hourglass

Riftbound Spell: En Garde. [Reaction] (Play any time, even before spells and abilities resolve.)
Give a friendly unit +1 [S] this turn, then an additional +1 [S] this turn if it is the only unit you control there. — En Garde

Riftbound Spell: Charm. Move an enemy unit. — Charm

Riftbound Spell: Defy. [Reaction] (Play any time, even before spells and abilities resolve.)
Counter a spell that costs no more than [4] and no more than [A]. — Defy

Riftbound Spell: Discipline. [Reaction] (Play any time, even before spells and abilities resolve.)
Give a unit +2 [S] this turn. Draw 1. — Discipline

Riftbound Spell: Grim Resolve. [Action] (Play on your turn or in showdowns.)
Give a friendly unit +3 [S] this turn. When it wins a combat this turn, gain 2 XP. — Grim Resolve

Riftbound Spell: Primal Strength. [Action] (Play on your turn or in showdowns.)
Give a unit +7 [S] this turn. — Primal Strength

Runes (12)

Battlefields (3)

Riftbound Battlefield: Seat of Power. When you conquer here, draw 1 for each other battlefield you or allies control. — Seat of Power

Sideboard (8)

Riftbound Unit: Disarming Rake. When you play me, you may kill a gear. — Disarming Rake

Riftbound Spell: Disposal Order. [Reaction] (Play any time, even before spells and abilities resolve.)
Choose one —
- Choose up to 3 cards from opponents' trashes. Their owners recycle them.
- Draw 1. — Disposal Order

Riftbound Spell: Alpha Strike. [Action] (Play on your turn or in showdowns.)
Choose a friendly unit. It deals damage equal to its Might split among enemy units at battlefields. Then for each unit this kills, do this: Gain 1 XP. — Alpha Strike

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Swag Yolo 420's Sivir (7th)

Only one Aurora deck survived into the Top 8, and it is worth reading as the current best version of that plan: Body/Chaos on an even split, the full Dazzling Aurora and Catalyst of Aeons plan, with Elder Dragon and Lunar Boon as late threats, and Flurry of Blades doing the combat work Sydney made famous. Only 17% of Sivir players reached Day 2, and one Sivir made the Top 8. That is the fairest summary of where Aurora stands: strong enough to demand answers, no longer strong enough to ignore them.

7thSwag Yolo 420's Sivir, Battle MistressView decklist

7th place

Main deck (40 incl. chosen champion)

Riftbound Unit: Sivir, Mercenary. [Accelerate] (You may pay [1][C] as an additional cost to have me enter ready.)
If you've spent at least [A][A] this turn, I have +2 [S] and [Ganking]. (I can move from battlefield to battlefield.) — Sivir, Mercenary

Riftbound Unit: Mindsplitter. When you play me, choose an opponent. They reveal their hand. Choose a card from it, and they discard that card. — Mindsplitter

Riftbound Unit: Elder Dragon. Any amount of your damage is enough to kill enemy units.
When you play me, choose up to one enemy unit at each location. Deal 1 to them. — Elder Dragon

Riftbound Gear: Scryer's Bloom. This enters exhausted.
Kill this, [1], [T]: [Predict 2], then draw 1. Gain 1 XP. (To Predict 2, look at the top two cards of your Main Deck. Recycle any of them and put the rest back in any order.) — Scryer's Bloom

Riftbound Gear: Pack of Wonders. [E]: Return another friendly gear, unit, or facedown card to its owner's hand. — Pack of Wonders

Riftbound Gear: Treasure Trove. When this leaves the board, draw 1 and channel 1 rune exhausted.
[C], [T]: Kill this. — Treasure Trove

Riftbound Gear: Last Rites. [Equip] — [C], Recycle 2 cards from your trash (Pay the cost: Attach this to a unit you control.) — Last Rites

Riftbound Spell: Flurry of Blades. [Reaction] (Play any time, even before spells and abilities resolve.)
Deal 1 to all units at battlefields. — Flurry of Blades

Riftbound Spell: Mobilize. Channel 1 rune exhausted. If you can't, draw 1. — Mobilize

Riftbound Spell: Lunar Boon. [Reaction] (Play any time, even before spells and abilities resolve.)
Discard 1, then draw 2. — Lunar Boon

Riftbound Spell: Catalyst of Aeons. Channel 2 runes exhausted. If you couldn't channel 2 runes this way, draw 1. — Catalyst of Aeons

Riftbound Spell: Fading Memories. Give a unit at a battlefield or a gear [Temporary]. (Kill it at the start of its controller's Beginning Phase, before scoring.) — Fading Memories

Riftbound Spell: The Harrowing. Play a unit from your trash, ignoring its Energy cost. (You must still pay its Power cost.) — The Harrowing

Runes (12)

Battlefields (3)

Riftbound Battlefield: Aspirant's Climb. Increase the points needed to win the game by 1. — Aspirant's Climb

Riftbound Battlefield: Forgotten Monument. Players can't score here until their third turn. — Forgotten Monument

Riftbound Battlefield: Sigil of the Storm. When you conquer here, you must recycle one of your runes. (This doesn’t choose anything.) — Sigil of the Storm

Sideboard (8)

Riftbound Unit: Annie, Stubborn. When you play me, return a spell from your trash to your hand. — Annie, Stubborn

Riftbound Spell: Heedless Resurrection. [Reaction] (Play any time, even before spells and abilities resolve.)
As an additional cost to play this, kill a friendly unit.
Play a unit from your trash that costs no more Energy and no more Power than the killed unit, ignoring its cost. — Heedless Resurrection

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What we learned

Diana is the real deal, and Sydney was the warning shot. Two events into the Unleashed season she has a title, a second undefeated Swiss run, and the two most decorated players in the West playing her, so the question is no longer whether Diana is good but whether anything punishes her before the next set.

Rengar entering the conversation matters beyond one result: Body/Fury was supposed to be the identity the format left behind, and a finals run built on raw might checks says the pool is deeper than the tier lists suggest. The champion's own praise for his finals opponent is the kind of respect you do not fake.

Also worth a line from the desk's MVP segment: Seymour the Scuttle Crab, of all cards, got the weekend's nod because “hand information is so big right now.” When a one-drop crab is the most talked-about card of a Regional Qualifier, the format is doing something right.

Scuttle Crab

The desk's MVP of the weekend, on hand information alone.

Looking ahead

The circuit swings back to Europe next, with Utrecht on the calendar for June 12 to 14 as the continent's first Unleashed Regional Qualifier, and the question writes itself: Europe's last major went to Squirtle's Azir in a post-ban Spiritforged field, while the two Unleashed titles so far belong to Irelia in Sydney and Diana here, so somebody's read on this format is incomplete. Between now and then I want to see whether Diana's numbers survive a field that just watched her win, and whether anyone takes the Rengar blueprint seriously enough to iterate on it. Hit me up on X at @shadow618tv with your Utrecht picks.

See you on the rift,
Shadow