Tldr; at bottom of post.

Hello fellow Riftbound enjoyers! I attended the Sydney regional qualifier last weekend, and this is a “guide” on how I earned 40+ Prize Wall tickets post-nerfs throughout the weekend. I ended up getting: Viktor - Herald Of The Arcane, as I began my Riftbound journey with his preconstructed deck so he holds a special place in my heart.

Viktoooor

​​Disclaimer:

The aim of this post is to give you a guideline on how your weekend should look like to earn a metal card fairly without help from anyone else. I will not go into discussions on what is morally “right or wrong” in terms of methods certain individuals or groups used to attain cards, and what those methods may be. 

Background:

Heading into regionals, I felt like there wasn’t much information online on how you could earn your own metal card and saw vague posts about how the only viable ways were to: game the system by rigging and spamming 8 man pods, buy/trade for PW tickets, pool tickets with friends etc. 

Because of all the doomposting about it being “impossible” to earn enough PW (Prize Wall) tickets by yourself to redeem a metal card, I went into the Sydney Regionals with the mindset of: oh maybe if I play a lot I can earn enough PW tickets to get an origins box and that would be very cool! I am in no way an amazingly skilled player, so this should be achievable by most people.

Side events I played in:

• On-Demand Constructed BO1s
• Super Nexus Night
• Sealed Deck Challenge

This means: 

• You don’t need anyone else but yourself
• You don’t need to enter the big side event tournaments where people are skilled and competitive
• You don’t need to play in competitive BO3s
• You don’t need to play in 2v2s or 1v1v1v1s
• You don’t need to play in top-end heavy prizing events and waste multiple hours to win 0 PW tickets
• Being average or above average in terms of skill level is good enough ( I have never won or come close to winning a skirmish before )

 

Side Event Overviews:

On Demand Constructed:

• Entry fee: $15 AUD / $10 USD / €10 EURO
• BO1
• 30 Minute rounds
• 3 rounds
• 1 PW ticket per win
• 2hr:15m
• Assuming you win 2-3 rounds, you will earn on average 1.1 PW tickets per hour

Yes, you don’t get an amazing amount of tickets for playing in this, but I value the consistency. I personally do not wish to play in random formats ( 2v2, FFA etc. ), and I do not want to risk wasting hours of my time to be left with 0 PW tickets ( On Demand Competitive Constructed is 4 hours and only the winner receives 12 PW tickets while everyone else gets 0 ) I recommend bringing your best/comfort deck, as it can get tiring spamming this for multiple hours. 

Super Nexus Night:

• Entry fee: $35 AUD / $25 USD / €20 EURO
• BO1
• 30 Minute rounds
• 4 rounds
• 2 PW tickets per win
• 3hr:00m
• Assuming you win 3-4 rounds, you will earn on average 2.3 PW tickets per hour

Definitely recommend playing in this, the vibes were nice and you have a chance to win free door prizes ( merch ). My experience was most people are very tired from playing all day so if you just lock in for 4 BO1s it is not difficult to go 4-0 and you’re 1/5th of the way to get a metal card!

Sealed Deck Challenge:

• Entry fee: $70 AUD / $50 USD / €40 EURO
• BO1
• 30 Minute rounds
• 3 rounds
• 2 PW tickets per win + 2 PW tickets for participation
• 3hr:00m
• Assuming you win 2-3 rounds, you will earn on average 2.3 PW tickets per hour

It’s basically a pre-rift ( make a deck with 6 UNL booster packs ), but without the mini preconstructed legend deck. Watch this video by SouL, it is a guide for doing well in pre-rifts but it also applies here. It has a cheat sheet on best cards by-color at the end, which is very helpful. My fundamentals are not the greatest, but with some preparation on how to build + pilot your sealed decks you will win most games as the majority will not be prepared. Please study a little bit, it will go a long way!

My schedule for the weekend:

Every day, I started playing immediately after doors open, and stopped playing when all side events were closed for the day.

----------------------------

DAY 1:

12pm -> 4pm

On Demand Constructed
2-1 = 2 PW Tickets
2-1 = 2 PW Tickets

4pm -> 8pm

Sealed Deck Challenge
2-1 = 6 PW Tickets

8pm -> 11pm

Super Nexus Night
4-0 = 8 PW Tickets

Total = 18 PW Tickets 

----------------------------

Day 2:

9am -> 12pm

On Demand Constructed
2-1 = 2 PW Tickets
3-0 = 3 PW Tickets

12pm -> 3pm

Sealed Deck Challenge
1-2 = 4 PW Tickets

5pm -> 8pm

Sealed Deck Challenge
2-1 = 6 PW Tickets

Total = 33 PW Tickets

----------------------------

Day 3:

9am -> 2pm

On Demand Constructed
2-1 = 2 PW Tickets 
3-0 = 3 PW Tickets

2pm -> 5pm

Sealed Deck Challenge
2-1 = 6 PW Tickets

Total: 44 PW Tickets

----------------------------

Stats:

- Money spent registering for side events: $405 AUD / $290 USD / €250 EURO

- Hours played: 30

- Hours of sleep: 4 on days where I was lucky ( You can afford to sleep more guys - i am just irresponsible 😂 )

Personal tips & tricks:

• For on-demand events if you are signing up by yourself and not as a group of 8, you will have to wait for the pod to fill up which wastes valuable time ( however you could use this time to take a break and eat some food ) This is where it’s nice to make some friends so you can start running pods back to back without any downtime of waiting for the pod to fill up.
• Have a big breakfast and pack some protein bars. I’m ngl with my schedule I didn’t have time for lunch or dinner so a big breakfast is important. 
• Less relevant for if you’re planning on earning all 40 tickets by yourself, but if you’re trying to redeem a desirable metal legend, then keep an eye on what time the big side events such as: Super Saturday Standard Challenge end. There will be thousands of tickets put into circulation at the end of those events, and you bet all those will be immediately used to redeem the most desirable metals. My advice is that if you ( or your group if you’re pooling tickets ) are almost at the 40 ticket threshold and a big event is about to end, I recommend you to acquire the rest of the tickets BEFORE the event ends by “trading” for them. 
• Have some friends, and if you don’t have any - then make some. If you’ve set your sights on a more desirable metal card e.g. Irelia - a completely fair strategy is to borrow the remaining PW tickets you need from friends so you can secure it, then pay them back by continuing to grind out side events.
• Practice and get better at sealed. More than half of my PW tickets were from sealed events, and If you can consistently win at least 2/3 of your games then it’s just so much value.
• Be prepared for the grind. Yes it is possible to earn 40 by yourself without any help or needing to play in the big tournaments, but I am telling you right now you will need to play all day every day 3 days in a row. It is not easy. “Waaaa they nerfed PW tickets so now you have to play Riftbound all day every day to even get a chance of a metal card” I apologize for being a bit mean here, but yeah, they’re special and expensive for a reason - They are not easy to get. The unfortunate truth is: if you’re not willing to put the work in or just outright buy them, you will have to deal with the fact that you won’t own one.
• Familiarize yourself with the schedule of your regional qualifier. Basically look at the options and decide for yourself what events are the best EV, how many u can fit into the day etc.
• Try your best to have fun. Yeah it’s easier said than done when you’re playing 12+ hours a day nonstop 3 days in a row but I’m going to take a wild guess that very likely you love this game if you’ve set your sights on a metal card, have fun it’ll make the grind easier.
• Buy/upgrade to a premium pass. The extra benefits such as getting to enter the venue 30mins before everyone else and having dedicated shorter lines for you is a HUGE DEAL, ESPECIALLY if you’re farming for metals. Idk how it is in other countries but all the extra goodies you get from upgrading to premium you can sell to receive most of if not all of your money back. Do it. 
• The “side event vouchers” you receive from purchasing your admission badge for entry into the regional qualifier are ONLY USABLE FOR PRE-BOOKED SCHEDULED SIDE EVENTS - YOU CANNOT USE THEM FOR ON-DEMAND EVENTS. This means that Super Nexus Night and Sealed Deck Challenge must be pre-booked ideally the day before the event is held, and is where you are eligible to use your side event vouchers. Do not try to use side event vouchers for on-demand events - you will be turned away.

When particular legends went out of stock:

This may differ for your own regional qualifiers, and I didn’t check exactly when each legend was sold out so this is a general guideline on what legends will be out of stock when. Also legends are somewhat listed in order of which they ran out first.

• End of Day 1: Ahri, Kaisa.
• End of Day 2: Leblanc, Miss Fortune, Irelia, Diana, Jinx.
• End of Day 3: Teemo, Annie, Master Yi, Lux, Vex, Lillia.

Tldr; You have to play all day every day in side events, but if you’re at least an above average player in terms of skill level, you can most likely reach 40 PW Tickets to get a metal card - even if you get no help from anyone else.

If you have any questions at all about prize wall tickets or just regionals in general, leave a comment! I will try my best to give you an in-depth answer :P

FAQ:

- PW Ticket pricing information is updated at the bottom of FAQ!

- Why did you only sleep 4 hours? I can't function on that little sleep!

You can definitely sleep more! I just personally had a few reasons why I didn't get much sleep ->

I live about an hour away from the venue via public transport, so total travel time was 2 hours every day. I ended up sleeping over at my friends house on one of the nights to save time.

The reason I didn't get much sleep is because I would spend hours with my friends after the event talking about our experiences. I spent 12+ hours nonstop playing and a lot of my friends were competing so there was a lot to talk about!

I also showed up to the venue 30-60mins before premium doors opened every day ( if you have a premium badge you are allowed to enter the venue 30mins before everyone else ) for various reasons:

- Coming early to be able to buy an origins box from the merch wall as they would sell out very fast.
- Getting breakfast at a restaurant as it would be the only proper meal I'd have all day.
- A friend had pooled 40 PW tickets overnight after the venue closed for the day and he really wanted Miss Fortune but only had a standard pass. I was worried that MF might sell out in the morning before he got the chance to get there (because staff said MF was running low in supply at the end of the previous day), so I went in super early and made sure I was the first one to the prize wall to secure the MF!

- What are the perks you get from buying entry to the RQ? And can I buy origins booster boxes for MSRP?

The 6 perks you get from buying entry to the RQ ( specifically for your badge ) is:

- Ability to purchase 1x Unleashed box at MSRP ( this is only available sometime during Day 3 )
- Premium perk of receiving 2x booster boxes of most recent set (Unleashed) + 1x promo playmat for free when you pick up your badge
- 10% off for a single item purchased from the merch wall ( this includes booster boxes )
- Ability to exchange 40 Prize wall tickets for a Metal Plated Legend
- Ability to purchase 1x of any set booster box at MSRP
- Premium perk of being able to purchase an additional 1x of any set booster box at MSRP

So for me, I only wanted to buy origins booster boxes. I purchased 1x origins booster box for MSRP, and a second origins booster box for MSRP -10% ( the merch discount perk )

Be warned, there is a limited supply of origins booster boxes for sale at the merch wall and it is highly desirable so they will sell out very fast, especially on Day 1. They do restock a limited supply on Day 2 & 3, so you can try again another day if they're sold out. Go first thing in the morning otherwise they'll most likely be sold out.

- What deck did I play in constructed?

I played Midrange Kha'Zix ( This is just what I went with, I do not think it is the "solved best version of the deck"). I was sick of playing Viktor into 3x ferrous forerunners in every deck near the end of spiritforged, and wanted to try something new. It was 1 week post UNL release and seemed like basically no one was playing Kha so as a result, no one knew what he did either. The deck abuses opponents who don’t know / respect his tricks, which I think played a factor in me being able to win many games.

But the burning question is: what deck should YOU play?

Wholesome answer: Play whatever you want and are most comfortable with! 😇

Real answer - Bro just put the fries in the bag and play the most braindead broken decks in the meta e.g aurora, midrange yi ( yes you can argue otherwise but for simplicity’s sake I will say those two decks ) As you will be playing for hours on end, it will make it easier for you to last through the weekend if it doesn’t require much brain power to pilot the deck. Also I hate aurora as much as everyone else but you’re here to farm tickets and win, sometimes u gotta do what u gotta do…

- Price of Prize Wall Tickets????

As far as I know, this is a rough estimate of the general trend of the prices of PW tickets. Keep in mind every RQ is different, and I wasn’t involved in the buying or selling of PW tickets so all of this information is anecdotal:

Price is for 1x PW Ticket:

• Day 1 before Ahri/Kaisa was sold out: $60 AUD
• Day 1 after Ahri/Kaisa was sold out: $50 AUD
• Day 2 gradually dropping in price as the day went on: ~$40->$20 AUD
• Day 3 start of day: $20 AUD
• Day 3 immediately after Regional Rebound + 2v2 Champions of The Rift PW tickets were awarded to players: $35 AUD
• Day 3 after everyone from Regional Rebound + 2v2 Champions of The Rift redeemed their PW tickets: $15 AUD

From what I’ve read online, at other RQs they were more expensive so be prepared for my numbers to vary from your experience. The general trend is: Chase metals gone = drop in price. So every time a big breakpoint like: Ahri, Kaisa, Irelia etc. sold out - there would be a drop in price. 

A price of a PW ticket will never fall below MSRP of an origins booster pack. As you can redeem 1x PW ticket = 1x booster pack, if anyone offered the ticket holder a price lower than MSRP of a booster, they would rather just redeem the ticket for a booster instead.

IMPORTANT - PRICES OF TICKETS WILL SPIKE UP AGAIN AFTER BIG EVENTS.

Let me explain. After big events like: Regional Rebound, 2v2 Champions of The Rift, Super Saturday Challenge end, there will be thousands of tickets put into circulation. This means that a large number of the most desirable metals will get wiped clean from the prize wall from this influx of tickets, and the massive lines for the prize wall gives people FOMO that the legend they want might get sold out. In addition, many people at this point in time would be at an awkward number of ~35 or ~45 PW tickets either from their winnings or from grinding throughout the weekend, so they are much more likely to sell or buy tickets to reach the magic number 40. This means that although supply of PW tickets increase considerably, the demand for these tickets spikes way higher than the supply -> Expect a big spike in the price of PW tickets after big events end.

Also, the buying/selling of PW tickets is against the rules - and if you get caught you may be kicked out from the venue.