What actually won in Barcelona: Kennen took the field, Ornn took the title
Riot has published the Top Decks from the Barcelona Regional Qualifier, the first major event of the Vendetta era: 37 lists out of 2,387 entrants. The picture is sharp, and slightly ironic. Kennen was the deck of the tournament — 270 pilots, one in eight players in the room, three published lists, three players in the top five — but the trophy went to Ornn, who had 42 pilots. The eight Legends that arrived with Vendetta already account for more than a quarter of the metagame after three weeks of legality.
Method at the bottom. In short: Riot's Top Decks publish one list per Legend, the best finisher's, and next to each list sits its Legend Rank in the form “#1/270” — the second number is how many players brought that Legend. That is where the field share comes from. Comparison against RQ Hartford (June 20-21), the last Regional before Vendetta. All data free to cite with a link.
The top 8Who went deep, and with what
The tournament’s top eight Legends, in finishing order. Under each champion are the deck’s domains, derived from the runes each player registered in their list.
Two things stand out. First: three Kennens in the top five, all on Chaos/Order, the exact same domain pair. Second: the event is won by the only Calm/Mind deck in the group.
The listsThe three decks to know
The fieldBarcelona’s Legends, one by one
The 37 lists cover 34 different Legends and 1,999 pilots: 83.7% of the entrants. Kennen appears three times (its three best finishers), Master Yi twice. The “share” column is the slice of those 1,999 counted players; the Hartford comparison uses the same basis (1,508 counted pilots there).
| Legend | Pilots | Share BCN | Share Hartford | Delta (points) | Best finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kennen, Heart of the Tempest VEN | 270 | 13.5% | — | +13.5 | #2 CTCG Koko Lopez |
| Master Yi, Wuju Bladesman | 199 | 10.0% | 1.6% | +8.4 | #7 Shaßßat Shalom |
| Irelia, Blade Dancer | 164 | 8.2% | 6.2% | +2.0 | #11 asiptofu |
| Rek'sai, Void Burrower | 109 | 5.5% | 2.3% | +3.2 | #50 Kevplayer |
| Nasus, Curator of the Sands VEN | 103 | 5.2% | — | +5.2 | #80 drinkmaker888 |
| Draven, Glorious Executioner | 89 | 4.5% | 2.7% | +1.8 | #33 V0LKATA2 |
| Kha'Zix, Voidreaver | 79 | 4.0% | 2.3% | +1.7 | #28 ASC JUN |
| Azir, Emperor of the Sands | 79 | 4.0% | 4.6% | −0.7 | #3 MICE Squirtle |
| Diana, Scorn of the Moon | 78 | 3.9% | 8.9% | −5.0 | #27 Dhawally |
| Jayce, Defender of Tomorrow VEN | 72 | 3.6% | — | +3.6 | #39 Cramo |
| LeBlanc, Deceiver | 70 | 3.5% | 5.2% | −1.7 | #78 Sam |
| Akali, Rogue Assassin | 65 | 3.3% | — | +3.3 | #10 ASC HaruKaze |
| Ezreal, Prodigal Explorer | 59 | 3.0% | 2.8% | +0.2 | #23 PoW SpaghetiCode |
| Lillia, Bashful Bloom | 47 | 2.4% | 2.4% | −0.0 | #152 AA SwiTHoR |
| Fiora, Grand Duelist | 45 | 2.3% | 1.6% | +0.7 | #12 Ricemaster |
| Ornn, Fire Below the Mountain | 42 | 2.1% | 1.7% | +0.4 | #1 MICE TheManland |
| Rumble, Mechanized Menace | 41 | 2.1% | 0.7% | +1.4 | #178 ZNT Agazapado |
| Vi, Piltover Enforcer | 34 | 1.7% | 1.3% | +0.4 | #546 CC ImboSlice |
| Ambessa, Matriarch of War VEN | 34 | 1.7% | — | +1.7 | #345 Kyouya |
| Vex, Gloomist | 29 | 1.5% | 2.6% | −1.1 | #150 Boxingringxd |
| Mel, Soul's Reflection VEN | 28 | 1.4% | — | +1.4 | #19 CTG Alanzq |
| Lucian, Purifier | 27 | 1.4% | 1.9% | −0.6 | #25 BANRATE DEMON |
| Rengar, Pridestalker | 26 | 1.3% | 3.1% | −1.7 | #6 DSG Prismaticism |
| Master Yi, Wuju Master | 25 | 1.3% | 1.6% | −0.3 | #431 Shouks17 |
| Zed, Master of Shadows VEN | 25 | 1.3% | — | +1.3 | #164 Ghosterdriver |
| Pyke, Bloodharbor Ripper | 24 | 1.2% | 3.1% | −1.8 | #394 JSTR Fase |
| Ivern, Green Father | 24 | 1.2% | 1.1% | +0.1 | #277 Aserty |
| Jhin, Virtuoso | 20 | 1.0% | 2.7% | −1.7 | #255 Jibbs |
| Jax, Grandmaster At Arms | 19 | 1.0% | 1.6% | −0.6 | #337 I MARTINEZ 88 |
| Sivir, Battle Mistress | 18 | 0.9% | 3.3% | −2.4 | #79 Swagyolo420yea |
| Renekton, Butcher of the Sands VEN | 16 | 0.8% | — | +0.8 | #251 MaskofMomentum |
| Renata Glasc, Chem-Baroness | 15 | 0.8% | 1.5% | −0.7 | #420 Jasonj115 |
| Shen, Eye of Twilight VEN | 14 | 0.7% | — | +0.7 | #513 Qilby |
| Poppy, Keeper of the Hammer | 10 | 0.5% | 1.1% | −0.6 | #655 GiammyAsr |
The numberVendetta takes 28% of the metagame in three weeks
The set released on July 31. Twenty-two days later, its eight Legends account for 562 pilots out of 1,999 counted — 28.1%, and nearly a quarter (23.5%) of everyone who entered. That is not a taste test: it is half of the ten most played Legends.
| Vendetta Legend | Pilots | Share | Best finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kennen, Heart of the Tempest | 270 | 13.5% | #2 — CTCG Koko Lopez |
| Nasus, Curator of the Sands | 103 | 5.2% | #80 — drinkmaker888 |
| Jayce, Defender of Tomorrow | 72 | 3.6% | #39 — Cramo |
| Ambessa, Matriarch of War | 34 | 1.7% | #345 — Kyouya |
| Mel, Soul’s Reflection | 28 | 1.4% | #19 — CTG Alanzq |
| Zed, Master of Shadows | 25 | 1.3% | #164 — Ghosterdriver |
| Renekton, Butcher of the Sands | 16 | 0.8% | #251 — MaskofMomentum |
| Shen, Eye of Twilight | 14 | 0.7% | #513 — Qilby |
The rest of the set has not convinced the field: Shen, Renekton and Zed together do not reach Jayce’s pilot count, and none of the three finished above 160th. Barcelona’s verdict on Vendetta, for now, is two names: Kennen and Nasus.
Most playedKennen: one in eight players, three in the top five
With 270 pilots, Kennen is by far the most played Legend (Master Yi, second, stops at 199) and the only one with three separate lists in the Top Decks: CTCG Koko Lopez (#2), HXN Gonkra (#4) and Italy’s ECL Mosik (#5). Three of the top five finishers at a nearly 2,400-player event, on the same Legend.
The three lists are near-identical: 9 Chaos Rune and 3 Order Rune, then the same core in three copies each. This is Koko Lopez’s version, runner-up:
| Legend | Kennen, Heart of the Tempest |
|---|---|
| Champion | Kennen, Storm of Shuriken |
| Battlefield | Zaun Warrens · Minefield · Sandswept Tomb |
| Rune | 9× Chaos Rune · 3× Order Rune |
| Main deck | 3× Ride The Wind · 3× Stacked Deck · 3× Traveling Merchant · 3× Nocturne, Horrifying · 3× Rhasa the Sunderer · 3× Seal of Discord · 3× Treasure Hunter · 3× Lightning Rush · 2× Fizz, Trickster · 2× Switcheroo · 2× Last Rites · 2× Up from the Deep · 1× The Harrowing · 1× Tideturner · 1× Flash · 1× Hard Bargain · 1× Star-Crossed · 1× Baron Nashor · 1× Shadow Order Disciple |
The winnerOrnn: 42 pilots and a trophy
MICE TheManLand topped the swiss (14-1-1, 43 points) and won all three of his cut matches, final included, against Koko Lopez’s Kennen. His Legend, Ornn, Fire Below the Mountain, was in the hands of 42 players out of 2,387: 2.1% of the counted field, eleventh by adoption. Hartford had 25. And by our nationality data — derived from the local store events each player attends — TheManLand is Spanish: he won at home.
| Legend | Ornn, Fire Below the Mountain |
|---|---|
| Champion | Ornn, Blacksmith |
| Battlefield | Ornn's Forge · Seat of Power · Veiled Temple |
| Rune | 8× Calm Rune · 4× Mind Rune |
| Main deck | 3× Clockwork Keeper · 3× Defy · 3× Seal of Focus · 3× Pit Crew · 3× Patched Porobot · 3× Brutalizer · 3× Poro Snax · 3× Sterak's Gage · 3× Scuttle Crab · 3× Sprite Fountain · 2× Charm · 2× Aspiring Engineer · 1× Mask of Foresight · 1× Lecturing Yordle · 1× Guardian Angel · 1× Cloth Armor · 1× Helm of Suppression |
It is a Calm/Mind gear deck: Brutalizer, Sterak’s Gage and Guardian Angel strapped onto units that defend themselves, with Ornn’s Forge as the engine. The only Vendetta card in the list is a single Helm of Suppression: the champion of Barcelona won the first Vendetta-era event with a deck from the previous set.
The surpriseMaster Yi: from 24 pilots to 199
The biggest jump of the tournament does not belong to a new card. Master Yi, Wuju Bladesman — the Organized Play promo Legend — goes from 24 pilots at Hartford to 199 in Barcelona: 1.6% to 10.0% of the field, +8.4 points. It put two lists in the Top Decks, Shaßßat Shalom (#7) and Italy’s Hisoka (#8), both quarter-finalists.
| Legend | Master Yi, Wuju Bladesman |
|---|---|
| Champion | Master Yi, Tempered |
| Battlefield | Grove of the God-Willow · Emperor's Dais · Abandoned Hall |
| Rune | 7× Body Rune · 5× Calm Rune |
| Main deck | 3× Charm · 3× Defy · 3× En Garde · 3× Discipline · 3× Rengar, Trophy Hunter · 3× Lonely Poro · 3× Punch First · 3× Scuttle Crab · 2× First Mate · 2× Pit Rookie · 2× Irelia, Fervent · 1× Zhonya's Hourglass · 1× Sabotage · 1× Not So Fast · 1× Ruin Runner · 1× Back Off · 1× Grim Resolve · 1× Alpha Strike · 1× Steel Paws · 1× Rampage |
Who lost their seatJune’s metagame is half gone
The Hartford comparison is brutal. Diana, Scorn of the Moon was the event’s second Legend there (134 pilots, 8.9%) and drops to 3.9% in Barcelona: −5.0 points, the heaviest fall. Also losing ground: Sivir (−2.4), Pyke and Jhin (−1.8 and −1.7), Rengar and LeBlanc (−1.7).
But the larger number is elsewhere: fifteen Legends present in Hartford’s Top Decks do not appear at all in Barcelona’s. Among them Viktor (65 pilots in June), Ahri (53), Kai’Sa (44), Miss Fortune (40), Annie (38), Leona (36), Jinx (33). Together they were 492 pilots, a third of Hartford’s counted field: two months on, not one of them placed a list.
How to read this. Riot’s Top Decks are not a full census of the event: they publish the best list per Legend, so a missing Legend means nobody piloted it high enough to make the published cut — not necessarily that nobody played it. The pilot counts, on the other hand, come straight from the official Legend Rank and are exact.
ItalyItalians in the published lists
Barcelona was the most Italian Regional ever: 302 entrants from Italy, as covered in our event report. Italians appear three times in Riot’s Top Decks: ECL Mosik fifth with Kennen, Hisoka eighth with Master Yi, and GiammyAsr, whose Poppy, Keeper of the Hammer is the best list among the ten players who brought her.
Next stopSingapore, September 4-6
The penultimate Regional Qualifier of the 2026 season runs at the Singapore EXPO from September 4 to 6, with a $25,000 prize pool. It is the second read on the Vendetta metagame, and the first with three more weeks of preparation: the question is whether Kennen holds up with a target on its back, or whether the field has already built to beat it.
- Kennen is the deck to beat: 270 pilots, three published lists, three players in the top five.
- Vendetta is already 28% of the metagame, but almost all of it sits on Kennen and Nasus.
- A previous-set deck won: MICE TheManLand’s Ornn, 42 pilots in the whole event.
- June’s meta is gone: fifteen Hartford Legends, a third of that field, placed nothing.
Every number on this page updates itself after each Regional: the full picture, event by event, lives on Meta statistics. For prices of the cards cited here, see Riftbound card prices.
Source and method. Lists and finishes: “Barcelona’s Top Decks” by Riot Games (August 26, 2026), imported into our archive on August 27. Entrant counts, records and final standings: public UVS Games standings for event 857452. The pilot count per Legend is the denominator of the Legend Rank Riot publishes next to each list. Shares are computed on counted pilots (1,999 in Barcelona, 1,508 at Hartford) rather than total entrants, because Legends without a published list have no known denominator. Images: Riot Games.
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