Nation Clash: at Stuttgart you also play for your country
Riftbound Organized Play has published the side event schedule for the Regional Championship Europe in Stuttgart and announced Nation Clash, something the game has never run before: every match you win scores points for the country printed on your badge, and one nation is crowned at the end of the weekend. It runs Saturday, November 7 from 9:00 AM, costs €50, and Day 2 main event players feed into it too. Tickets for every side event go on sale Friday, October 30 at 9:00 AM.
The new ideaWhat Nation Clash actually is
Until now a side event was a private affair: you enter, you play, you walk away with Prize Wall tickets. Nation Clash stacks a second layer on top. When you bought your badge for the Stuttgart weekend you had to pick a country, and that is the country you represent — selections cannot be changed on site. From there, every result you post lands in two standings at once: yours and your nation's.
And it is not only the Nation Clash field that contributes. Every Day 2 competitor in the Regional Championship — anyone who survives the Friday cut — also banks points for their country. If you are qualified, you do not have to choose: play the main event and you are already scoring for your flag.
The eventTimes, format and entry fee
Nation Clash is a competitive event starting Saturday, November 7 at 9:00 AM and running roughly twelve hours. It is 1v1 Constructed, eight rounds of Swiss (nobody is eliminated: each round pairs you against someone on your record), best of three, 60 minutes per round, with a decklist submission required. The cap is 2,048 players and entry is €50. After round eight the field cuts to a Top 8, which returns Sunday at 10:00 AM for single elimination.
Nation Clash
From 9:00 AM, 8 rounds of Swiss, Bo3, €50, 2,048 player cap. Cut to Top 8.
Top 8
From 10:00 AM, single elimination. Promo cards and nation medals on the line.
The mathsHow points are scored
A match is worth a different amount depending on which event you play it in. Regional Championship matches count for more than Nation Clash matches, and the playoff rounds count for more than Swiss.
| Result | Nation Clash | Regional Championship (Day 2) |
|---|---|---|
| Swiss win | 3 | 4 |
| Swiss draw | 1 | 1.33 |
| Loss | 0 | 0 |
| Quarterfinal win | 4 | 6 |
| Semifinal win | 8 | 12 |
| Final win | 16 | 24 |
The champion nation is not the one with the biggest pile of points — that would simply hand the trophy to the largest delegation. Riot divides a country's total by the number of its players who completed at least one match, and the highest average wins. To be eligible at all, a country needs at least five players with a match played. Country standings will be posted online during Saturday and Sunday; where to follow them is still to be announced.
The haulTwo promo cards and the medals
Individual prizes come as Prize Wall tickets, the currency you spend at the prize wall across the weekend: 20 tickets at 5 wins, 30 at 6, 40 at 7. The Top 8 take 60 tickets each plus a copy of Orianna, Exquisite in its alternate art (RAD 042a/167) carrying a "TOP 8" stamp. The winner takes 60 tickets and an exclusive-art Ekko, Revolutionary (RAD 021b/167) with a "CHAMPION" stamp — the same champion we spotted in the Radiance trailer, in a printing that did not exist until now.
Then there is the country prize, and it reaches players who never entered Nation Clash at all: the three biggest point scorers for each country receive a Nation Clash medal. The winning nation gets "a special token of recognition" that Riot has not detailed yet.
Why it matters for us. This is the first Riftbound event where Italy shows up as a team. You do not need to be qualified for the main event: turn up, enter Nation Clash, win matches, and the result lands in a table with our country's name on it. Because the standing uses an average rather than a total, a small but sharp Italian group can beat far larger delegations — as long as we get at least five players with a match played, the threshold to be ranked at all. And watch the date: tickets open October 30 and Nation Clash holds 2,048 seats; the Radiance Draft Challenge on the same Saturday has 1,024. Every other tournament of the weekend is in the side event schedule.
Diary noteWhen tickets go on sale
Side event sales open on Friday, October 30. Riot writes "9AM CEST", but Europe falls back to standard time on October 25, so to be safe be at your screen an hour early and wait. Weekend badges are a separate purchase and have been on sale since September; anyone holding a side event voucher enters it in the "promo code" box at checkout, and if the transaction is not completed the code unlocks itself again after ten minutes.
The short version
- Nation Clash debuts in Stuttgart on Saturday, November 7 at 9:00 AM: 8 rounds of Swiss, Bo3, €50, 2,048 seats, Top 8 on Sunday at 10:00 AM.
- Both Nation Clash entrants and every Day 2 Regional Championship player score points for their country.
- The nation with the highest average wins, with a minimum of five ranked players.
- Prizes: "TOP 8" stamped Orianna, Exquisite, exclusive-art Ekko, Revolutionary for the winner, medals for each country's top three.
- Side event tickets go on sale October 30, 9:00 AM German time.
Source: Riftbound Organized Play – Nation Clash and the Regional Championship Europe schedule. Images: Riot Games / UVS Games.
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