Melbourne top 10 after six rounds: Riven is the only Radiance Legend
The first major official tournament played with Radiance legal is winding down in Melbourne, and the first verdict is in. After Saturday’s six rounds four players are still unbeaten, but the top 10 holds a single Legend from the new set: Riven, The Exile, in the hands of two players out of ten. Everyone else stayed on Vendetta and Unleashed. Three more rounds follow on Sunday, then the cut to Top 8.
The eventWhere things stand
The Melbourne Showdown Series runs from 23 to 25 October at Arrow on Swanston, in the middle of the city, and is run by Let’s Play Games. The main event sold out weeks ago: 256 seats at AU$70 entry. Six rounds in, the official standings still list 251 players.
The format is nine rounds of Swiss across two days — six on Saturday, three on Sunday — followed by a single-elimination Top 8. Swiss means nobody is knocked out along the way: each round you face someone on your own score, and the best eight make the cut at the end. A win is worth three points, so 6-0 means 18 points. There is no livestream: the official standings page is the only way to follow it.
Nine rounds, then Top 8
Six rounds Saturday, three Sunday, a cut to the best eight and single elimination. Radiance is legal.
AU$5,000 on the line
The winner takes AU$1,200, two booster displays and a Regional Championship invite. The Top 4 each earn a Regional Qualifier Competitor Pass.
Top 10Saturday night standings
These are the top ten on the official standings at the end of round six, with the Legend each one is playing. The Legend is the card that defines a deck: it sits on the table from start to finish and sets which colours you are allowed to play.
| # | Player | Legend | Set | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Slickk | Akali, Rogue Assassin | Vendetta | 6-0 |
| 2 | his sion | Riven, The Exile | Radiance | 6-0 |
| 3 | Nathan | Diana, Scorn of the Moon | Unleashed | 6-0 |
| 4 | deb | Kennen, Heart of the Tempest | Vendetta | 6-0 |
| 5 | Soul | Diana, Scorn of the Moon | Unleashed | 5-1 |
| 6 | Templar | Jayce, Defender of Tomorrow | Vendetta | 5-1 |
| 7 | Fel Peon U | Kennen, Heart of the Tempest | Vendetta | 5-1 |
| 8 | dunkMATTic | Riven, The Exile | Radiance | 5-1 |
| 9 | Mimikyu | Lillia, Bashful Bloom | Unleashed | 5-1 |
| 10 | Sparrows | Vex, Gloomist | Unleashed | 5-1 |
The set-by-set count is unkind to the brand new one: two of the top ten on Radiance, four on Vendetta and four on Unleashed.
The cardWhat Riven, The Exile does
Riven, The Exile (RAD 149/167) is a hybrid Calm and Chaos Legend, which means a deck built around her can run cards from both of those colours. Her text is a single line: units you play to battlefields you control enter ready.
In plain terms: battlefields are the three places players fight over, and a unit played onto one normally arrives “exhausted”, meaning it has to wait before it can do anything. Not with Riven. It lands on its feet and can defend or contest the battlefield that same turn. That is a tempo advantage, and it is why the deck appeals to players who want to close games quickly.
The metaWhy the older Legends are holding
Radiance has been on shelves for exactly one day: Melbourne’s Saturday was the first serious tournament where it could be played at all. Players who showed up with a tuned Vendetta or Unleashed deck had months of practice behind them; anyone who brought Radiance built it in a few hours. Eight familiar Legends out of ten says more about preparation time, for now, than about the strength of the new cards.
The telling detail is elsewhere: of the nine Radiance Legends, only Riven has made it this far. No sign near the top of Seraphine, Evelynn, Orianna, K’Sante, Mordekaiser, Jarvan IV, Ekko or Ziggs.
Why it matters to us. Thirteen days from now Stuttgart hosts the European Regional Championship (6-8 November), the biggest European event of the autumn, and Radiance is legal there too. Melbourne is the first real read on what works with the new set in hand: anyone testing decks for Germany just got their first sample of data, and it says the proven Legends have not budged an inch.
The short version
- At Melbourne, the first big official tournament with Radiance legal, four players sit on a perfect score (18 points) after six rounds.
- Only one Radiance Legend is in the top 10 — Riven, The Exile, played by two people. The other eight come from Vendetta and Unleashed.
- Sunday brings three more Swiss rounds and then the Top 8, with AU$5,000 and a Regional Championship invite on the line.
- The next official tournament with Radiance legal is Stuttgart, 6-8 November.
Source: Riftbound Event Locator (UVS Games) and Let’s Play Games. Images: Riot Games.
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