Riftbound Deck Tech - China's Viktor, With Almost No Units

Today, we'll show you how to play Viktor Herald of the Arcane (Mind & Order). This list won the Fuzhou City Challenge in China. It is "classic" but modern, and, unlike other trendy versions of this archetype, it does play a few units.

It is also one of the most complicated lists to pilot because it is midrange but leans more towards control. In particular, however, this version plays a few aggressive units that allow you to fight for battlefields without necessarily only playing spells to control the opponent.

Before we begin, however, let me introduce myself. My name is Total, and I used to cast Legends of Runeterra tournaments professionally. I covered all the official tournaments, including Worlds, and I am known for creating deck guides for LoR as well. Now, I am a part of the Riftbound community!

What makes this deck stand out are the 3 copies of Xin Zhao - Vigilant. This unit is not that popular in the West, but he really fits this deck's game style.

Because this is a token list, Xin Zhao - Vigilant can go "ready" into a battlefield whenever needed, as you'll always have token units in your base.

He is explosive and can fight for battlefields which your tokens can't conquer.

Another unit in this list is Jayce - Man of Progress, who allows you to play Vanguard Armory on the board as soon as turn 2 or 3.

Jayce has always been removed from versions of this archetype that don't play any units because he was considered too situational. However, he is back in this archetype now, which shows that both ways to play it can be competitive.

Viktor Herald of the Arcane is great with set 2 and considered one of the best control Legends nowadays. This is incredible, considering he was thought to be relatively weak with set 1.

The reason behind this is that he is in great colors when it comes to removing units and keeping a consistent pace, drawing lots of cards.

And, because he is a very popular Legend, he often pops up in tournaments. You can bet he'll show up in many competitions in the future.

Your main champion is Viktor - Innovator, a solid unit that works as an early game engine and keeps your base full at all times.

He is great when you start off a little bit slower and need something to kickstart your game plan and start creating value.

However, you shouldn't prioritize him if you start with a hand that can play Xin Zhao - Vigilant or Vanguard Armory with Jayce - Man of Progress early on.

Viktor - Innovator is an escape valve that comes into play when you can't play anything aggressive.

Targon’s Peak makes this deck more aggressive. With this battlefield, you can spend more runes during your turn without worrying about having resources to answer your opponent on their turn. It is great against other slow decks, but, against Kai'Sa and Annie, its effect could benefit your opponent as well.

Ravenbloom Conservatory will be your main battlefield. Because of the cheap removals this list plays, you can defend this battlefield very easily early on and activate its effect. And, as this list plays lots of spells, you'll nearly always draw a card after you defend in Ravenbloom Conservatory.

Vilemaw's Lair can lock down Draven or Kai'Sa lists and fits this list really well, as it rarely returns units to base. As 90% of your units will be tokens, you don't care about saving them that much by returning them to base.

Early Game

Bellows Breath will help you win showdowns early on or tie them. Think of this card as a "1 or 3 tokens in spell-form". I don't really recommend you pay for its cost again when you're playing it on a single target or when you haven't played your Vanguard Armory on the board yet.

Stupefy, like Bellows Breath, will help you win showdowns early on. The difference is that this card doesn't have the reach Bellows Breath has, but, in exchange, it also draws a card for you.

Blood Money is great against Poros or Ravenbloom Students and enables Jayce - Man of Progress's effect.

Chemtech Cask is a relatively unusual addition to this list. It enables Jayce - Man of Progress's effect all by itself. However, it is a bit of a slow Gear, even though it pays itself throughout the match. You can destroy it directly, without activating its effect, to enable Jayce - Man of Progress's effect.

Mid Game

Xin Zhao - Vigilant is an explosive unit that comes into play ready if you have two units in your base. You'll always have units in your base, so he'll nearly always come into play ready. However, you won't usually play him on curve. He usually goes into play on turn 4 or 5 to answer an average or above average enemy unit that is taking over a battlefield.

Jayce - Man of Progress + Vanguard Armory is your main combo and main win condition. To play this combo, you need to have a Gear in play. If you do, you can play Vanguard Armory on turn 2.

If you don't have an aggressive hand with this combo, consider playing Viktor - Innovator + any of your Hidden cards to stack tokens in your base.

However, keep in mind that Hidden Blade is only strong in the mid to late game. Early on, it'll just give your opponent too big of an advantage.

Late Game

This deck doesn't play the typical finishers blue lists do, like Thousand-Tailed Watcher, Time Warp, and even Dr. Mundo. Instead, it centers around exhausting the opponent's resources, removing their units whenever possible. So, at the end of the match, you should have a way to put tokens like Vanguard Armory in play, and many spells to remove enemy units.

Like Singularity, Imperial Decree, and Drag Under.

This list is great against Aurora lists because it plays removals that kill units directly, without dealing damage to them.

The Kai'Sa matchup is rather decent. The Kai'Sa player will often have to spend their removals on tokens, and most of your removals can deal with all the aggressive units in Kai'Sa lists.

As for the Annie matchup, it is a bit more complicated. This deck has ways to answer your removals and strong early game units that can beat your tokens.

Draven lists play nearly the same finishers as Kai'Sa lists, but it will still be a difficult matchup because purple can defend its units well and protect them from your removals.

Both Viktor lists and Ezreal lists will struggle to get their 8th point, but you'll have an advantage at the end of the match. Ezreal draws lots of cards because he can target multiple units on your board, and you'll have many bricked cards in hand at first. This means you'll be behind as soon as the game starts.

However, at the end of the match, Ezreal can hardly finish the game, once you can remove all of their units. Eventually, they'll run out of resources to deal with your tokens every turn.

The worst matchup is the Sett matchup, as they can save their units from dying constantly.

Overall, matchups against green and purple decks are quite terrible. Against Irelia, Yasuo, and even Ahri, you won't be able to remove units easily, and they tend to get a huge advantage quite early on.

The player that brought this list to the tournament didn't present their sideboard, but we'll still give you a few ideas of what to use. Many players use the cards below in sideboards of similar decks.

Salvage is one of these cards. This spell ends Aurora lists completely, but you can also use it to destroy your own Gears, your Gold Gear Tokens, to draw cards.

King's Edict is an interesting way to checkmate the opponent when you're winning - a typical Win-More card. If you build a board that creates lots of tokens every turn, this card will simply end the game on the spot.

Renata Glasc - Industrialist is another common card in Viktor's sideboards. She'll complement your win conditions, but is quite slow in a vacuum. You usually need her to face aggressive lists, when you want to attack with your tokens and not only remove units with spells.

Rally the Troops is also great in aggressive matchups, but, in a vacuum, doesn't do much. You'll need a particular setup to make it work and get 100% out of its effect.

Divine Judgment, like King's Edict, will checkmate the opponent. However, it only works if you're already winning and have 1 or more Vanguard Armory in play.

If you read this far, thank you! I hope you had fun and enjoyed reading this article.

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See you next time!