Vex just broke the Riven run, at least in Portugal

Vex won VersusCon 2026 in Portugal on October 31. XÍZZY's Vex, Gloomist finished 6-1-0 in a 73-player Radiance Constructed field, according to RiftDecks. After a week of Riven headlines, that is the first fresh break in the story, and it is worth saying plainly before anyone overstates it.

Riven did not go away. On the same day, Riven won the much larger online field, Convergence IV, where Wojciech Cetner took a 272-player event. So the honest headline is narrower than the hype, and more useful, Vex can win a real room, while Riven still owns the biggest rooms. Both things are true at once.

What the Portugal top table looked like

VersusCon's final table tells the story better than the winner's name alone. JONYM95 finished second with Master Yi, also at 6-1-0. NOKARA finished third with Riven, at 5-1-1. Sett and Kennen filled out the rest of the top eight, and Riven still took five of the top ten spots. Vex won the room, but the room was still full of Riven.

The winning Vex list ran 66 cards and was priced at $316.57 on RiftDecks. That is not a budget deck, and nobody should pretend otherwise. It is a control deck that holds battlefields and grinds, and in Portugal it ground through a field that knew exactly what Riven does. That is a different kind of proof than a cheap list, it is proof the format has more than one answer.

Vex showed up online too, just not on top. A Vex list finished ninth at Convergence IV. That keeps the Portugal win from reading like a one-room fluke, without turning it into a takeover that the results do not support.

The online field still belonged to Riven

Convergence IV drew 272 players, nearly four times the VersusCon field. Cetner won it with Riven, the Exile. Arito finished second with Irelia, Blade Dancer. Dan Bridges finished third with Kai'Sa. That podium is a reminder that the online meta and the in-person meta do not always move together, and the bigger sample still points at Riven.

So what should a Tuesday player actually do with this? First, stop treating Riven as the only serious pick, because a Vex list just beat a Riven-heavy room. Second, stop treating one Vex trophy as a format flip, because the largest event of the day went to Riven anyway. The smart read sits between those two mistakes, and it is a good one for a league night, bring the deck you know, and respect the control deck across the table.

Tuesday Nexus Night at Drum Island runs at 7 PM, and this is the week to bring either side of the argument to the tables. The next Summoner Skirmish window lands November 9, with Graves as the participation promo. A second window follows on December 14, with Lulu. If Vex is going to make a real run at Riven, Tuesday nights like this one are where players will find out first.

Taylor joins Car on today's Trade Post to break down the VersusCon upset, the Convergence counterpoint, and what Tuesday night should build.