Nexus Cup and Challenge Series: store play in 2027
Alongside the competitive plan, Riot published the 2027 store programme today. Summoner Skirmish is being retired and two separate things take its place: the Nexus Cup, to crown your store's champion, and the Challenge Series, the only store tournament that will award Ladder Points and tokens for Regionals. There is also the answer many were waiting for: unused Summoner Skirmish byes are not lost — spend them at a 2027 Regional, or trade them for a promo.
Two tracksCompetitive and "fun-petitive"
Riot's stated logic is to split tournaments by what the people playing them actually want. On one side the competitive path, with its points ladder; on the other a structure Riot calls "fun-petitive", built to reward players who come to the store to play and socialise rather than to climb. These are not sealed groups — the same person can sit on both tracks — and Pre-Rift events, the prerelease weekends that open every set, remain the point where the two paths meet.
The Pre-Rifts for the next set, Legacy, run January 22 to 28. One note: the official page writes "2026" for those dates, evidently a typo for 2027, since the rest of the article is about Legacy launching in January 2027.
The byesWhat to do with your Summoner Skirmish byes
This is the urgent part for anyone who won a Summoner Skirmish this year and never got to spend the bye — the free first-round pass at a Regional Qualifier. Riot offers two routes, and they are alternatives.
At a 2027 Regional
Unused byes can be redeemed at any 2027 Regional. After registering for the event, email OP@uvsgames.com and the UVS support team will apply it ahead of the tournament. The email must arrive no later than 14 days before the event starts. Alternatively you can have the bye applied on site at badge pick-up, before the main event begins.
For a Reckoning promo
If you cannot or do not want to use a bye, you trade it for a Set 7 The Reckoning promo, available only through this programme. The trade is one for one: two byes, two promos. Redemptions close on December 31, 2027 at 11:59:59pm Pacific. Riot will open the redemption channel next year and explain how.
Riot's reason for the shutdown: Summoner Skirmish held two incompatible incentives together — promos and playmats that drew social players, and byes that pushed competitive players to grind store nights to stockpile them. Hence the decision to split the programmes.
Nexus CupWho is the store champion
The Nexus Cup runs once per set at each store and exists to crown the best player in the room. It leads nowhere competitively: no Ladder Points, no feed into the ladder. It is local prestige, and the prizing looks a lot like Summoner Skirmish.
| Winner and Top 8 | The same promo card, with a different stamp to mark the winner from the Top 8. |
| Winner | A playmat as well. |
| Participation | A dedicated promo for everyone who plays. |
The Legacy promos were not shown today: Riot only revealed The Reckoning one, the card used for the bye trade.
Challenge SeriesThe first rung of the ladder
The Challenge Series is the other half: also once per set, but only at selected stores. Not every Riftbound Gaming Network shop will be allowed to run it — UVS is identifying which ones worldwide meet the bar — precisely because these events feed straight into the competitive circuit.
This is where Ladder Points come in, the new ranked currency we break down in full in our piece on the 2027 Premier Play programme. You earn them by finishing in the Top 32.
| Placement | Prizes | Ladder Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Winner promo + Top 8 promo + Regional token | 20 |
| 2nd | Top 8 promo | 18 |
| Top 4 | Top 8 promo | 15 |
| Top 8 | Top 8 promo | 10 |
| Top 16 | — | 5 |
| Top 32 | — | 3 |
The prize that changes things is the Regional token for the winner: not an object but a digital invitation worth a free competitor badge at one of the next six Regionals, spendable whenever it suits. Where Summoner Skirmish handed out a bye, the Challenge Series hands out the door.
Here too the promos are one card with different stamps for winner and Top 8, and here too the art has not been shown. Riot says to watch the Riftbound Gaming Network in the coming weeks: stores will start listing these events for the Legacy launch.
Why it matters for us. Two very concrete things. The first is a deadline: if you are holding a Summoner Skirmish bye, it is not waste paper, but you have to move — the email to UVS must go out at least 14 days before the Regional where you want to use it, and the promo trade closes on December 31, 2027. The second is geography. In Italy the competitive path has always started with a flight, and the Challenge Series is the first chance to earn points, and even a free badge, without leaving your own store. But it only runs at stores UVS selects, and today we do not know which those are: that is the question to ask your shop over the coming weeks, because if no Italian store makes the list, the first rung of the ladder still costs us a plane ticket.
The short version
- Summoner Skirmish is retiring, replaced by the Nexus Cup (local, no points) and the Challenge Series (competitive, with Ladder Points).
- Unused byes work at any 2027 Regional: email OP@uvsgames.com at least 14 days ahead, or have it applied on site at badge pick-up.
- Otherwise trade them one for one for a The Reckoning promo, by December 31, 2027.
- The Challenge Series pays Ladder Points from Top 32 and gives the winner a Regional token: a free badge at one of the next six Regionals.
- Legacy Pre-Rifts run January 22 to 28; neither programme's promo has been revealed yet.
Source: Riftbound 2027 Local Play — Riot Games. Images: Riot Games.
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