Updated for Vendetta

Viktor

Herald of the Arcane

Mind

OrderIntermediate

Viktor makes expendable Recruits, turns small bodies into cards, and clears larger units with efficient sacrifice and damage effects. Ready attackers turn those exchanges into points.

Should you play Viktor?

Pick Viktor if you like control decks that keep a board after trading resources. A Recruit does not need to win a fight by itself to be worth making, but it should have a job.

Best for: Players who enjoy deciding which body to sacrifice, when to convert it into cards, and how to leave a useful attacker after clearing the opposing field.
Think twice if: You want every removal spell to be one-sided. Several of Viktor's strongest exchanges also cost a friendly unit, and careless timing can leave you with cards but no points.

Key Cards

Leader replaces other non-Recruit units that die while he remains on the board. Sprite Fountain provides two ready attackers over its life, and their deaths can feed Leader too. These are the cards that let the deck spend bodies on an exchange without starting over from nothing each turn.

Viktor’s Field Guide

Herald of the Arcane pays one Energy and exhausts to play a one-Might Recruit. You can place that token at base or at a battlefield you already control, unless the field prevents unit plays. The ability has ordinary Main-Phase timing, so you cannot wait for an opposing attack and then make a surprise defender. The token can hold, help a group fight, take your side of a symmetrical sacrifice, or become cards. Decide which of those jobs is worth the Energy before making it.

How Viktor wins

Viktor tries to make the same exchange cost the opponent more than it costs him. Cull the Weak can trade your Recruit for their real unit, but they choose what to kill, so first account for their disposable bodies. Shadow's Call can draw two from a unit that has finished its job. Leader leaves a Recruit at base when another friendly non-Recruit unit dies, including a Bird or Sprite token. He must survive the event: if Leader and the other unit die together, his ability does not replace it. Use the board you keep to earn points rather than endlessly rebuilding a pile of tokens at base.

Key interactions

Draw from the unit before spending it

Shadow's Call · Carrion Dredger · Cull the Weak

Call gives a friendly unit without Temporary that keyword and draws two. Dredger is a good target when its current job is finished: it can still be used for Cull afterward, and its death leaves a Bird at base. With Leader present and surviving, that death also makes a Recruit. An existing Temporary Sprite is not a legal Call target. A unit you leave with Temporary dies before your next Hold, so do not count it as the lone defender that will score next turn.

One point of damage can be enough, but pay for the setup

Imperial Decree · Bellows Breath · Wages of Pain

Decree makes a unit die when it takes damage that turn. Bellows then deals one to up to three units at the same location, potentially clearing units much larger than the spell normally answers. The basic pair costs six Energy, two Order Power, and one Mind Power. Repeating Bellows adds another Energy and Mind Power. Decree applies to your units too, and damage must actually be dealt. Stupefy reducing Might does not trigger it. Use the combination when the number and quality of the opposing units justify that payment; Wages or a normal combat may already solve the smaller problem.

Fountain's second Sprite arrives after the first expires

Sprite Fountain · Viktor, Leader · Xin Zhao, Vigilant

Fountain plays a ready three-Might Temporary Sprite at base. At your next Beginning, the first Sprite and Fountain die before scoring; Fountain's Deathknell then plays another ready Sprite. That new Sprite arrived after the start-of-Beginning trigger event, so it does not immediately die too. Leader can replace the first Sprite with a Recruit if he is still present. Those base bodies also help Xin enter ready, but he needs two other units actually at your base when he enters. Units already sent to a field do not count.

Strengths

The Legend creates a useful sacrifice or supporting body without spending a card from hand.
Dredger, Fountain, and Leader can leave another body after a kill trade instead of requiring a full rebuild.
Decree and Bellows give small damage effects a way to answer several much larger units at once.

Weaknesses

Cull is much less selective when the opponent also has a disposable unit to give up.
Temporary attackers do not automatically turn into Hold points, and Leader cannot replace everything if he dies alongside it.
The expensive removal combinations need both Energy and domain-specific Power. A fresh exhausted Gold cannot fund the turn that created it.

Shadow's Pick

Viktor tournament list by Jаisа99

9th place · Secretlab Regional Rebound - RQ Barcelona Sunday 11am, 2026-08-23

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Deck total $60.69

Legend (1)

1x$0.29 ea.

Runes (12)

6x$0.16 ea.
6x$0.10 ea.

Battlefields (3)

1x$0.24 ea.
1x$0.15 ea.
1x$0.08 ea.

Spells (24)

3x$0.23 ea.
Energy
1
3x$0.30 ea.
Power
1
Energy
2
3x$0.88 ea.
Power
1
Energy
2
3x$0.67 ea.
Power
2
Energy
5
3x$0.15 ea.
Energy
3
3x$3.23 ea.
Power
1
Energy
1
3x$0.38 ea.
Energy
2
1x$0.89 ea.
Power
2
Energy
6
1x$4.21 ea.
Power
1
Energy
2
1x$0.14 ea.
Energy
2

Gear (3)

3x$2.59 ea.
Power
1
Energy
2

Units (13)

1xChosen$2.61 ea.
Might
4
Power
1
Energy
4
3x$0.08 ea.
Might
1
Energy
2
2x$0.28 ea.
Might
3
Energy
3
3x$0.55 ea.
Might
4
Power
1
Energy
3
3x$4.21 ea.
Might
5
Power
1
Energy
5
1x$0.23 ea.
Might
2
Energy
3

Sideboard (10)

3x$0.16 ea.
Might
3
Energy
3
3x$0.24 ea.
Energy
1
2x$4.21 ea.
Power
1
Energy
2
2x$0.15 ea.
Might
3
Power
1
Energy
5

Shadow's take

This version gives me a better reason to care about all the bodies accumulating at base. The three Xin Zhaos can enter ready once two other units are there, and Fountain provides an immediate Sprite followed by another when the gear dies. That means a good removal turn can end with a conquest, not just an empty enemy field. I would still be careful about moving everything out before playing Xin. The two units at base are a real requirement, not a count of the whole board. Dredger is the cleanest piece to use for the card-and-sacrifice sequence: Call draws two, Cull can spend it, and the Bird remains available afterward. Leader adds a Recruit if he survives. Decree and Bellows handle the boards that a fair sacrifice will not, but I would not make every turn wait for that combination. Wages, Blood Money, and the stuns from Vi or Kennen often give a ready Xin or Sprite enough room to get the point sooner. The Gold left behind by the removal is for future Power. None of those fresh exhausted tokens fixes a payment you cannot afford right now.

The Game Plan

Early gameLook for Dredger or Fountain and interaction that matches the board you expect. Fountain's ready Sprite can move immediately; a Recruit or Dredger normally enters exhausted. Keep Stupefy for a relevant Might breakpoint or the card draw that keeps the turn moving. It reduces Might by one to a minimum of one, so it is not a one-Energy kill by itself. When making a Recruit, decide whether you need another body at base for Xin or a second defender at a controlled battlefield. Those are different jobs, and Rockfall Path does not permit the latter.
MidgamePut Leader in a safe position before the planned sacrifices. With him established at one field and Dredger at base, a Recruit can make the second base body Xin needs. Call can draw from Dredger before Xin enters ready, then Cull can exchange Dredger for the opponent's only unit. Bird and Leader's Recruit remain at base while Xin takes the cleared field. The full Recruit, Call, Xin, and Cull turn costs eight Energy and two Order Power. Do not force it when a shorter sequence earns the same point. Hidden Wages or Blade can save Energy on a later turn, but their earlier hiding payment and location still matter.
Late gameMatch the clear to the actual board. Bellows after Decree handles several units at one location; Repeat can cover a second chosen group, but both sets of targets are committed when the spell is played. Singularity deals six to each of up to two units, including targets at different locations, and has normal Main-Phase timing. Vi can Ambush into an existing friendly battlefield and stuns when she joins as an attacker, not when she defends. Kennen's play or attack stun needs two Energy each time you choose to use it. Leave a non-Temporary body on the field you want to hold, and keep Leader out of an exchange that would kill him alongside the units you wanted him to replace.

Battlefields

Blind

Forbidding Waste · Herald of the Arcane · Blood Money

A unit defending here alone loses two Might. During your Main Phase, the Legend can place a Recruit directly onto your controlled Waste so your important defender is no longer alone. You cannot activate the Legend as a Reaction once the enemy attack starts. On offense, a lone four-Might defender drops into Blood Money's two-Might range during combat. If the opponent adds another unit before Blood Money resolves, that target may regain its Might and become invalid. Count the units, not just the number currently printed beside the defender.

Going First

Rockfall Path · Sprite Fountain · Xin Zhao, Vigilant

Rockfall forbids unit plays here, including Ambush, Hidden units, and the Legend's Recruit. Your ready Sprites and an enabled Xin can enter at base and move here normally. That gives the deck a way to take the field without relying on an in-combat unit play. It also means Vi cannot rescue your defense by Ambushing here, and a facedown Kennen cannot be played here. Keep the restriction in your own plan instead of treating it only as something that inconveniences the opponent.

Going Second

Void Gate · Bellows Breath · Wages of Pain

Spells and abilities deal one Bonus Damage to units here. Bellows deals two per hit, or four across both executions when repeated onto the same surviving target; Wages deals four. Those breakpoints can save you from paying for Decree at all. The bonus applies to the opponent's damage too and does not increase combat damage or Stupefy's Might reduction. If Singularity chooses one unit here and another elsewhere, only the target at Gate takes the extra point.

Sideboard

Choose the gear answer by its printed cost

Pickpocket · Salvage · Singularity

Pickpocket can kill a gear with printed Energy cost one or less, then plays an exhausted Gold if it does. Seals and ordinary Gold tokens qualify; a two-Energy Sprite Fountain does not. Bring the three Pickpockets when those small gears matter and a three-Might unit remains useful. The two extra Salvages answer larger gears and draw a card. I would trim Singularity or a slow Decree when the opposing engine is gear rather than large units. Salvage can also kill your own Fountain to get its second ready Sprite early, but that spends the gear's future Deathknell rather than creating an endless supply.

Reduce the Body threat without paying Deflect

Decree of Insight · Blood Money · Wages of Pain

Insight is a one-Energy Reaction that gives an enemy Body unit -5 Might for the turn and ignores Deflect while paying its own cost. Bring all three when the actual opposing units have Body, replacing a slower removal spell or Stupefy that does not reach the needed breakpoint. The reduction is not damage and does not trigger Imperial Decree. It can make a unit small enough for Blood Money or Wages, but those follow-up spells must still pay their own Deflect costs. A healthy unit reduced to zero Might is not automatically killed just for reaching zero.

Make the sacrifice leave a unit behind

Safety Inspector · Cull the Weak · Hidden Blade

Inspector puts a three-Might body on the board and then makes each player kill one of their units. The optional three-XP payment would spare your side, but this deck has no XP engine to assume that payment is available. Bring the two copies against a few important opposing units when sacrificing a Recruit is better than giving them two cards with Hidden Blade. I would exchange a Blade and an expensive damage spell when those trades line up. Inspector costs five Energy and one Order Power, so it is not an early Cull replacement, and the opponent still chooses their own sacrifice.