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Over this last weekend, the first Riftlab Trials was held, a virtual Riftbound Tournament that gathered over 100 players to battle their way through and see to glory. These larger tournaments in the pre-Origins release phase are incredibly valuable, as we can understand what makes up the meta long before the game's Western release in September.
Hosted by Jakub in collaboration with Piltover Archive, the tournament was held over two days, with 108 players taking part in 7 rounds of Swiss on August 8th, and the Top 8 cut on August 9th. The tournament was streamed live on YouTube and Twitch and hosted on Tabletop Simulator.
In this report, we'll be taking a close look at the overall metagame of the tournament, and analysing the most popular decks and conversion rates into the Top 8. We'll also be taking a look at each Top 8 Legend and their decklist, how they performed over the weekend, and what this means for the Meta moving forward.
Tournament Metagame
Total Players: 108*
Kai'Sa: 25 - 18.9%
Master Yi: 17 - 12.8%
Jinx: 13 - 9.8%
Ahri: 11 - 8.3%
Sett: 10 - 7.5%
Viktor: 10 - 7.5%
Volibear: 8 - 6.0%
Lee Sin: 8 - 6.0%
Darius: 7 - 5.3%
Leona: 5 - 3.8%
Teemo: 5 - 3.8%
Lux: 4 - 3.0%
Yasuo: 4 - 3.0%
Annie: 3 - 2.3%
Miss Fortune: 2 - 1.5%
* These numbers are slightly inaccurate, as the Riftlab team had an issue with tracking during the event. This list is made up of all 132 registered decks, rather than the 108 players, with 24 players being dropped before the tournament began.
For this Tournament, the metagame is quite diverse, with only two legends taking up over 10% of the share. Some popular picks outside of the dominating meta are Jinx at 9.8% and Ahri at 8.3%, both of who have seen high results before, but aren't as consistent into the current top decks, and Lee Sin at 6.0% and 8 representing players, despite seeing no high tournament results since the MaxTapera Tournament over a month ago.
As for our S-Tier ranked Legends, Kai'Sa is once again the most popular legend in this tournament, with an 18.9% meta share, and Viktor sits comfortably in the middle with 7.5% of decks; but despite their strengths, not a single Kai'Sa or Viktor player made it into the Top 8 of this tournament, an unusual sight after their recent reigns over the game's meta.
Master Yi did very well this week, with four entrances into the Top 8 and a 12.8% meta share, making him a very strong contender for a slot in our S-tier ranking. Yet that slot currently goes to Sett, who holds it strong as the winning legend of the tournament. Without any Viktors to block his path in the Top 8, Sett has a great chance to dominate and push forward through his opponents; and with 2 out of just 10 players making it into this Top 8, this perfectly demonstrates why Sett remains as one of our S-tier heroes.
To find out more about our Legend rankings, check out our Metagame Tier List, updated weekly!
Darius once again made it into 2nd place, despite only 5.3% of the meta share, settling his place as an underdog in the game's meta. However he may have competition; Volibear finally made a Top 8 appearance, after early estimates and rumours of this legend dominating the meta, and we may see more of him in high ranks moving forward.
Top 8
In the second day of the tournament, we saw four Master Yi, two Sett, a Darius and a Volibear battle their way for the winning title. With a surprising lack of Kai'Sa* and Viktor, who are usually bad match-ups into these legends, we saw an interesting metagame of Body and Fury heroes battling their way to the top.
*Update: Importantly, there was a 7-0 Kai'Sa going into Top 8 with first seeding, but had to drop. With this the Kai'Sa representation in the top 8 is zero, but she had a very strong showing in the swiss at the very least.
1st: Sett by Vendorty
Player Vendorty is no stranger to Sett, piloting him to 4th Place in the July 26th Riftbound Meta Weekly. As of this week, they also had another Top 8 Tournament placement, getting to the semifinals of the August 9th Riftbound Meta Weekly on Kai'Sa. Congratulations! Check out our guide to find out more about this deck.
First place in this tournament goes to The Boss himself, for his first tournament win since July; with Vendorty achieving an 8-2 score. This Sett deck-list isn't entirely Mono-Body, but certainly prioritizes it to enhance his units and brawl his way to victory.
As many of Sett's cards are low cost & high reward, there are no cards within the deck that require Order Runes to play (other than Showstopper, which can take either Body or Order runes). Yet, the deck is not Mono-Body, as there are a few Order cards that work perfectly towards the deck's buff plan, such as Call to Glory, Trifarian Gloryseeker and Daring Poro.
Overall, Sett is shaping up to be a difficult match-up for a lot of legends, and this win proves that once Viktor is out of the picture, anything is possible.
2nd: Darius by Prismaticism
Congratulations to player Prismaticism, who also saw two Top 4 standings in the same weekend, piloting Miss Fortune to her first tournament appearance in the August 9th Riftbound Meta Weekly!
In second place, once again, is Darius, with player Prismaticism conquering their way up the leaderboard before meeting their fate against Sett at an 8-2 record.
With a pretty consistent second place win-rate, Darius is definitely a legend to look out for in tournament play, especially with his great performance into Master Yi and Viktor. However with an unfortunate matchup into both Kai'Sa and Sett, this legend often falls just short of the finish line.
3-4th: Master Yi by Kuvira
Our first of four Master Yi players Kuvira lands in the Semi-finalist bracket, with a 7-2 record. This Wuju Bladesman list is split between Calm and Body, using the defensive capabilities of the Calm domain to push back the opponent, then respond with strong and valuable Body units to take the control and push to victory.
This legend has soared in popularity over the last few weeks due to his defensive capabilities letting him hold his own into a lot of meta decks, with a favorable matchup into both Kai'Sa and Viktor. Yet favorable doesn't always mean consistent. With a less-than-average winrate into Sett, and a 50/50 into Darius, it was bound to be difficult for any of the four Master Yi players to see their way into the finals.
Nonetheless, this deck is certainly one that needs practice; and I think once dedicated players put in some reps we'll be seeing a lot more from this bladed master.
3-4th: Volibear by Migan
Our second Semi-finalist is a welcomed one, with Volibear making his first entrance into a Top 8 ranking after a long-awaited arrival. Played by Migan to a 6-3 finish, this Aggro deck truly is a Relentless Storm to prepare for.
As a Fury/Body deck, Volibear uses his Body cards to speed up his game plan, such as Mobilize channeling extra runes, and Carnivorous Snapvine to break down the enemies defenses; before his Mighty Fury units such as Darius Trifarian and Kadregrin The Infernal overrun the battlefields and claim victory.
As this is the legend's first appearance in a big tournament, there's still a lot to see from him; especially how he fares into a wider metagame moving forward. Yet this win not to be understated, and we expect to see more Volibear in tournament placings in the near future.
5-8th: Sett by tog
In our 2nd Sett Deck of the tournament piloted by Player tog, we see a slightly more Order oriented deck, with the inclusion of Sett Kingpin as the preferred Champion unit, and an Order-focused sideboard with Leona Determined and Hidden Blade to play slightly more defensively.
This deck actually lost in the mirror to it's 1st place counterpart after three very close games, but player tog got unlucky after player Vendorty took back the match and claimed his final 2 points to advance.
5-8th: Master Yi by KnightinGale
This Master Yi decklist by the persistent KnightinGale, who we've seen piloting the Wuju Bladesman in a few Top 8's prior to this, is quite similar to Kuvira's Semi-finalist list; instead of running full defensive, this list has a few changes to put it on the offense, choosing to run Rune Prison over Zhonya's Hourglass in the main-board, moving it to the sideboard instead, alongside three Anivia Primal to bring in against difficult Aggro matchups.
5-8th: Master Yi by SSG_Ghosty
Our 3rd Master Yi decklist by SSG_Ghosty has a unique take on the hero, opting for a more Midrange tempo by using Counterspells like Wind Wall to disrupt the opponent, and taking advantage of Champion units Miss Fortune Captain and Blitzcrank Impassive to attack or defend between battlefields freely.
5-8th: Master Yi by NoHeroes_Jey
Our final decklist and 4th Master Yi player in the Top 8 is NoHeroes_Jey, who's decklist seems quite similar to the Semi-finalist list, until you notice they're running slightly more Body runes than Calm. This is likely due to the deck's sideboard being more Body focused, including fight spells such as Challenge over buffing spells such as Spirit's Refuge or Mask of Foresight.
Closing Time
Due to the large turnout and popularity of Riftlab Trials, this tournament will now be hosted Once Per Set-release, with entries granted to those who compete and win in their smaller weekly tournaments, Riftlab Clash. Moving forward, we'll be reporting on the weekly Clash results in preparation for the next Trials tournament.
If you want to keep up to date with the latest Riftbound news and content, keep an eye out on Riftbound.gg. We've got you covered, from tournament reports to deck guides and everything in between. As we head into the Origins release worldwide, you won't want to miss out on the latest news and decks!
In any case, thank you for your time, and I'll see you on the rift.
