Crimson Cup: the prize pool revealed, two more qualifiers and seven locations out of the tournament

The prize pool

The pool, in the team's words, "consists of a split between prize money, collectibles and exclusive promo cards". Everyone who reaches the top 256 is eligible for the first batch of prizes; promo cards start from the top 32. The rewards graphic attached to the post gives the breakdown:

The promo card on the graphic is a gold Dracula labelled "Tournament Winner", Myths & Legends #209, shown in a graded slab. The "Prizes worth $10,000" line of the September announcement is still on the new calendar graphic. The playoffs have 256 spots, so by Koin's own numbers whoever gets through a qualifier or enters with a wild card already takes home at least two packs.

Two more qualifiers

"Due to popular demand", Koin adds two qualifiers during Steam Next Fest, one for the Americas and one for EMEA time zones:

1. AMER, Monday 19 October at 7pm EST.
2. EMEA, Thursday 22 October at 7pm CEST, which closes the qualifiers.

Each sends 32 players to the playoffs, like the other three. The team's request is the same as in September: sign up only for the tournaments you can actually attend, and leave the spots to other players. Sign-ups are on the official Discord. Check-in works as before: it opens two hours before each qualifier and closes five minutes before the start, together with deck submission (the rules).

What changes in the schedule

The post only talks about the two new qualifiers, but the calendar graphic attached to it changes other numbers too. The five qualifiers, 512 spots each and 32 advancing from each:

• AMER, 19 October at 7pm EST (new);
• EMEA, 20 October at 7pm CEST;
• AMER, 21 October at 9pm EST: the September graphic said 7pm EST and 64 advancing, now struck out;
• APAC, 22 October at 7pm SGT;
• EMEA, 22 October at 7pm CEST (new).

The wild cards drop from 128 to 96: five times 32 plus 96 makes 256, the playoff field. Playoffs and finals don't move: playoffs on 24 October at 10am EST (4pm CEST, 10pm SGT), four players through to the finals on 25 October at 10am EST. The tournament now starts on 19 October, the first day of Steam Next Fest, instead of the 20th. Dates and times, as always on this site, are those of the official graphic, without conversions of ours.

Seven locations out of the tournament

"There are a select few locations in Origins which are very RNG heavy", the post says, so seven are disabled for the tournament: Junkyard, Cloning Lab, Reflecting Pool, Amplifying Amphitheatre, Giant's Beacon, The Colosseum and Nostradamus' Call. What each one does is on our Locations page.

This tournament pool is already live in the demo when you play room battles (Create/Join Room Battle): that is where to practise with the Crimson Cup locations. The pool was introduced by the playtest update of 1 October, which had not yet said which locations were out.

Practice tournaments

Since most demo matches are against bots, Koin is hosting weekly practice tournaments: no stakes, just a place to play against real people and test your decks. The next one is this week; the day and time will be announced soon, and the sign-up is on the same Discord. If you want to run your own with the Crimson Cup rules, the tournament organizer of OriginsMeta supports check-in, hidden decklists and best-of-three matches.

What it means for players

• More spots and more time slots. Five qualifiers instead of three, two in European time slots and two in American ones: pick the one you will really play.
• Everyone in the playoffs gets something. Two packs from the top 256, a Finalist card from the top 32, cash from the top 8.
• Build your decks without the seven locations in mind. The copies of Cloning Lab and Reflecting Pool won't be there at the Crimson Cup. Our Conquest guide and the deck builder help with the three decks.

What we don't know yet

• The day and time of this week's practice tournament.
• Whether the Top 8 line of the prize graphic means places 5 to 8, one set of prizes each: that is how we read it.
• Why the AMER qualifier of 21 October is at 9pm EST on the new graphic and at 7pm EST on the September one: the post doesn't say.
• How the unique cards between two decks are counted, still open since the rules of 24 September.

Where this comes from

• The official Steam post of 5 October 2026, "Prizepool announcement & key update to our biggest tournament ever", with its two graphics: the rewards and the updated calendar.
• The announcement of 9 September and the rules of 24 September, for the numbers that have changed.