Riftbound Top 8 Decks from Houston Regional Qualifier 2025

The Houston Regional Qualifier for Riftbound took place on December 6-7, 2025, bringing together over 1000 players for one of the largest tournaments since the game's launch. After nine rounds of best-of-three Swiss matches, the field was cut to a top 64 single-elimination bracket. Annie emerged as the breakout legend of the event, taking three of the top four spots and ultimately winning the tournament. Here's a complete breakdown of the top 8 decklists and what they tell us about the evolving Riftbound meta.

Note: Some decklists are still under construction as we're actively searching for missing deck lists from players. We'll update this article as soon as we obtain the complete information.

Top Riftbound Decks from Houston Regional Qualifier 2025

Rank 1: Annie, Dark Child by Shawn Dhaliwal

Rank 2: Master Yi, Wuju Bladesman by Challenger TCG

Top 4 - Annie, Dark Child (by Zent)

• Under Construction

Top 4 - Annie, Dark Child (by Prymor)

Top 8 - Master Yi, Wuju Bladesman by ClydeTCG

Top 8 - Kai'Sa, Daughter of the Void by Mateusz Jasiński

Under Construction

Top 8 - Kai'Sa, Daughter of the Void by George G

Under Construction

Top 8 - Annie, Dark Child by Diego Rodriguez

Meta breakdown at Houston

Out of 1,123 players, the legend distribution was:

• Kai'Sa, Daughter of the Void: 372 players (33%)
• Master Yi, Wuju Bladesman: 166 players (15%)
• Annie, Dark Child: 122 players (11%)
• Teemo, Swift Scout: 64 players (6%)
• Ahri, Nine-Tailed Fox: 63 players (6%)
• Miss Fortune, Bounty Hunter: 59 players (5%)
• Sett, The Boss: 56 players (5%)
• Viktor, Herald of the Arcane: 43 players (4%)
• Other legends: 178 players (16%)

While Kai'Sa remained the most popular legend overall at 33% of the field, her dominance has decreased significantly from the 38% showing at SCGCon. Annie's 11% representation in the overall field translated to impressive conversion rates, with four Annie pilots making top 8.

Top 64 day 2 distribution

The day 2 top 64 showed even more dramatic shifts in the meta:

• Kai'Sa, Daughter of the Void: 27 decks (42.2%)
• Master Yi, Wuju Bladesman: 11 decks (17.2%)
• Annie, Dark Child: 11 decks (17.2%)
• Miss Fortune, Bounty Hunter: 7 decks (10.9%)
• Teemo, Swift Scout: 3 decks (4.7%)
• Volibear, Relentless Storm: 1 deck (1.6%)
• Yasuo, Unforgiven: 1 deck (1.6%)
• Darius, Hand of Noxus: 1 deck (1.6%)
• Viktor, Herald of the Arcane: 1 deck (1.6%)
• Lee Sin, Blind Monk: 1 deck (1.6%)

Kai'Sa's 42.2% representation in the top 64 shows strong conversion from day 1, but Annie and Master Yi both punched above their weight with equal 17.2% representation despite Annie having only 11% of the overall field.

What this tournament tells us about the meta

Houston represents a major shift in the Riftbound competitive landscape. Annie has proven she can not only compete with Kai'Sa but actually outperform her in skilled hands. Three Annie decks in the top 4 and four in the top 8 is a statement that aggressive strategies are viable at the highest level.

Kai'Sa remains the most popular legend overall, but her conversion rate from day 1 to top 8 was much worse than Annie's. Despite making up 33% of the field, Kai'Sa only secured two top 8 spots. This suggests that while Kai'Sa is still strong, the meta has adapted, and players have learned how to beat Kai'Sa builds.

Master Yi continues to be the second most popular legend with solid top 8 representation, but he still hasn't won a major tournament. The legend performs well but struggles to close out finals, losing to both Annie and Kai'Sa in previous events.

We'll continue updating this article as we obtain the missing decklists from the top 8. Check back regularly for the complete information.