Melbourne Showdown Series opens on Radiance release day
Let’s Play Games has put up the event page for a Showdown Series in Melbourne, October 23–25, 2026. The main event is Competitive Standard Constructed, entry costs AU$70, and the advertised prize pool is AU$5,000 in cash on top of sealed product. The organiser frames the stop as Tier III, the 128–255 player band: the winner takes a Regional Championship invite, the Top 4 take a Regional Qualifier Competitor Pass. The weekend opens on the same day as Radiance’s street date.
The scheduleEight rounds of Swiss across two days
The event page sets the doors at 9am on Friday, October 23, at the Arrow On Swanston – Champions Room, on Swanston Street in Carlton, Melbourne’s university quarter. The main event itself starts the following morning: six rounds of Swiss from 10am on Saturday, two more from 10am on Sunday, for eight rounds in total before the Top 8 cut and single elimination.
There is no intermediate cut — the organiser states that every player plays every scheduled round of Swiss. On-demand side events run alongside the main event from Friday through Sunday, with product put up by the store, and the tournament follows the official Riftbound Tournament Rules in force on the day.
The prizesFive thousand dollars and passes up the ladder
The prize structure is published in full and pays down to 32nd place, which is not a given at Tier III. Alongside the cash and the sealed product, the organiser is advertising metal “Best Of” cards, awarded to the highest finisher among players running a deck that features a current-season Legend.
| Place | Cash | Product |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | $1,200 | 2 booster displays + Regional Championship invite |
| 2nd | $600 | 2 booster displays |
| 3rd–4th | $400 | 2 booster displays |
| 5th–8th | $200 | 1 booster display |
| 9th–16th | $100 | 12 packs |
| 17th–32nd | $50 | 12 packs |
The open questionIs Radiance legal in Melbourne?
The tip came from r/riftboundtcg, where u/nihhtwing posted the artwork and pointed out that the date lines up with the Radiance launch, reasoning that the new set will therefore be legal and that the Spiritforged “Best Of” cards will rotate out. That is the poster’s inference, not a statement from the organiser: the event page only names the Competitive Standard Constructed format and defers to the rules in force, without listing legal sets. Riot has published nothing about Radiance’s tournament legality either.
The same caution applies to tickets. The thread says sales open the following evening, but the organiser’s page currently shows neither an on-sale time nor an active checkout: anyone planning to attend should watch the Let’s Play Games site rather than trust a second-hand time.
What is on the page
Dates, venue, AU$70 entry, eight rounds of Swiss with a Top 8 cut, an AU$5,000 prize pool and Tier III status with a Regional Championship invite for the winner.
What is missing
Radiance legality, any rotation of the Spiritforged “Best Of” cards, and the exact time ticket sales open.
Why it matters to us. Melbourne is on the other side of the world, but the Showdown Series is a single circuit and one stop’s numbers are a yardstick for the European dates to come: a Tier III event in the 128–255 band pays AU$5,000, opens exactly one Regional Championship invite and four Regional Qualifier Competitor Passes. Anyone who played Lucca in September already knows the tier decides everything. And above all: if a sanctioned tournament is booked right on the October 23 street date, the question of when Radiance becomes tournament legal matters just as much to Italian organisers planning late-October events.
The short version
- Showdown Series in Melbourne, October 23–25, 2026, run by Let’s Play Games at the Arrow On Swanston in Carlton.
- AU$70 entry, eight rounds of Swiss across Saturday and Sunday, Top 8 cut, AU$5,000 prize pool.
- Tier III stop in the 128–255 player band: Regional Championship invite for first, Regional Qualifier Competitor Pass for the Top 4.
- The overlap with the Radiance launch comes with no official word on whether the set is legal.
Source: Let’s Play Games Events. Spotted via r/riftboundtcg. Images: Let’s Play Games / Riot Games.
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