Thank you to everyone who showed up to our first Riftbound: Vendetta Summoner Skirmish of the season this past weekend on September 5. It was a ton of fun hosting everyone!
As many of you might have noticed, Ryan Taylor was walking around taking pictures of the event. He's been helping us capture the excitement of our tournaments, and you'll notice the photo quality of the pictures in this post is much nicer that when I do it myself.
Tournament Recap
This tournament saw a diverse meta game filled with a variety of players both veteran and beginner. At the end of the swiss rounds we were left with four different decks for the Top 4: Vex, Hook Kennen, Rek’sai and Lux Combo.Â
Congratulations to Kyle for taking down the event with Kennen!Â
A round of applause, too, to the top four:
- Kyle - Kennen
- Jason - Vex
- Moe - Lux
- James - Rek'Sai
Below, we'll highlight some especially good moments from the event.
Semifinals
Our semifinal between Moe (Lux) and Jason (Vex) came down to game three where Ahri Alluring’s powerful hold ability applied enough pressure to beat Lux’s looming infinite combo.
The other semifinal saw Kyle (Kennen) going tall and wide, utilizing cars like Illaoi Prophet of the Great Kraken and Up From the Deep, to stave off James’s (Rek’sai) swarm of units.Â
And with that, the stage for our final was set: the less popular but still powerful variant of Kennen, utilizing powerful token generating cards alongside Baited Hook to generate an army of units, versus Vex, generating advantage through unbreakable holds backed by potent purple interaction.
Finals
Game one started with Jason creating a small lead and putting some units on both battlefields to start developing the powerful holds Vex is known for. After a small exchange earlier on turn three, Kyle recognized a window to play an aggressive Grand Stratagem utilizing his remaining four units to try and take the battlefields.
Kyle was unsure whether this next play would win or lose him the game, but seized the window and played the card with the +5 might making his units strong enough not only to clear, but conquer both battlefields. Having all of his early development reset to zero was too much for Vex to overcome and it would be enough for Kyle to secure game one.
Game two saw Jason get off to an early lead utilizing his legend to gain significant card advantage. An early Lightning Rush played by Kyle ended up putting Grand Stratagem into the trash with both players chuckling about the card that ultimately decided game one not being a factor. Through careful development and some timely interaction Jason was able to secure a victory and force a third and final game.
Game three had both players employing their plans smoothly. Jason carefully built up a formidable hold on their battlefield while Kyle started amassing an army trying to find an opportunity to attack the defenses on each battlefield.
Entering the final turns of the game, Jason was threatening the win through a significant hold while Kyle's base had what seemed to be a million units. Recognizing that there would be no other time to strike, Grand Stratagem was again played and suddenly Kyle’s small units had grown to an insurmountable size.
Jason played all the interaction that they had to try and fend off Kyle’s bolstered units, but ultimately didn’t have enough to defend the massive attack.
What is a powerful, but sometimes unassuming card (Grand Stratagem) ended up being the defining factor for the final and after a tense match and skilled play from both players our Skirmish champion was crowned.
Image Gallery
Here's how it looks to attend one of our Riftbound events!
*All image credit goes to Ryan Taylor.
