Beginner Guide: Starter Origin Viktor Deck
Heya everyone! If you’re just getting started with Riftbound and want to pick up the pre-constructed Origin Viktor deck, this is the guide for you! We’ll go over the cards you get from the Starter Viktor deck, how the cards synergize with each other, and card upgrades you can consider to improve the deck!
This is a beginner’s guide to give you an idea of what to expect with this starter deck and how to improve it if you later want to play competitively.
Viktor, Herald of the Arcane
1
0
Mind Rune
6
0
Order Rune
6
0
Altar to Unity
1
0
The Grand Plaza
1
0
Trifarian War Camp
1
0
Orb of Regret
2
1
Stupefy
2
1
Cull the Weak
3
2
Hidden Blade
2
2
Mushroom Pouch
2
2
Ravenbloom Student
3
2
Smoke Screen
2
2
Soaring Scout
3
2
Back to Back
2
3
Eager Apprentice
3
3
Heimerdinger, Inventor
1
3
Noxian Drummer
3
3
Sprite Call
2
3
Consult the Past
2
4
Cruel Patron
3
4
Viktor, Innovator
1
4
Jeweled Colossus
2
5
Grand Strategem
1
6
Wraith of Echoes
1
6
How to Play
The Mind Order Viktor deck heavily relies on Recruits as part of its strategy. They are low-might units that can help you conquer or defend a battlefield. However, many of the cards in this deck synergize with these recruits, allowing you to turn them into higher-might units to pose a bigger threat, or you can use them to activate certain card abilities.
Legend
By paying 1 Energy and tapping your Legend, Viktor Herald of the Arcane gets to play 1 Recruit on your base or a battlefield you’ve conquered. This is helping you develop more units on the board. If you’re planning to use the Recruit as a defender, then we’re going to play it on the battlefield, making it harder for the opposing player to conquer it, especially if we have a Might boost to back up the Recruit.
Champion
Viktor Leader adds to our Recruit strategy spam. Whenever a non-Recruit unit is killed, Viktor Leader lets you play 1 Recruit unit into your base. We want to keep Viktor Leader in play for as long as possible, getting value out of his effect to make sure we don’t lose board pressure.
Battlefields
We get 3 Battlefields in the Starter Viktor deck, all synergizing with our strategy!
Trifarian War Camp gives a +1 Might boost to each unit on the battlefield. This means the more units we have on Trifarian War Camp, the more Might we’re getting to make things harder on the opponent. This aligns with our Recruit swarm strategy as each Recruit will become a 2 Might unit.
You get to win the game if you have 7 or more units in The Grand Plaza and hold it. With our ability to playout Recruits, it’s a plausible win the game through Grand Plaza.
When you hold Altar to Unity, it gives you a Recruit, complementing your Recruit swarm game plan.
Recruit Support
Noxian Drummer can play a Recruit on the battlefield she moved to. This means if we’re trying to conquer a battlefield, she’s offering 4 Might as an attack. If we have a Battlefield like Trifarian War Camp, we’re gaining +2 Might rather than 1, enabling a more aggressive turn.
Might Reduction
These Might reduction cards can help us win a trade, ensuring we conquer or defend a battlefield. Orb of Regret is a Gear we get to have on the board, and once per turn, we can tap it to reduce a unit’s Might by 1. Orb of Regret can only be activated during your turn, which you’ll use to weaken an opponent’s unit at a Battlefield before going for the attack.
As for Supefy, it’s a Reaction spell, which means we get to play it on the chain reactively to an opponent’s play. It reduces one of the Might of an opponent’s unit by 1 and draws you a card. So you’re not losing resources when playing it.
Lastly, Smoke Screen is our strongest combat trick, giving an opponent’s unit a -4 Might reduction, which can shift the showdown in your favor.
Might Boost
Back to Back gives two of your units a +2 Might boost for the turn. It allows you to win a trade, turning your units into a bigger threat that can be more challenging for the opposing player to deal with. We could use the Might boost on our Recruit to become more problematic when they attack or defend.
Grand Strategem is your strongest spell that shines the most depending on the number of units you have in play. Each one of your units will gain +5 Might for the turn, which means your Recruits will turn into win conditions, capable of securing kills and shifting the game in your favor. This is an expensive spell with a Power cost of 3 Order Rune, so you’re usually holding off on playing it until the late game.
Removal Spells
You can only play Cull the Weak during your turn, forcing each player to kill a unit. This is as strong as the board state; if your opponent has 1 or 2 strong units only, they’ll be forced to kill a valuable unit. On the other hand, you can sacrifice one of your Recruits to keep your strong units in play, making sure your opponent is losing more on the board from Cull the Weak. However, if they have a weak unit they can sacrifice, Cull the Weak finds less value, and probably is not worth playing.
Hidden Blade is our strongest removal, with both Hidden and Reaction keywords. Hidden Blade can kill a unit regardless of its cost or Might, perfect for removing an opponent’s win condition. However, for a strong effect and being a low-cost spell, it has to have a drawback. When you kill a unit through Hidden Blade, your opponent gets to draw 2 cards, adding more resources to their hand.
Card Draw
Mushroom Pouch can work in this list since we have a couple of cards with the Hidden keyword, triggering Mushroom Pouch’s draw effect.
We want to play Consult the Past through its Hidden keyword to draw 2 cards. Paying 4 Energy for 2 draws is expensive and you’re losing on board development.
Upgrade your Deck
Faithful Manufacturer and Vanguard Captain are two must-include cards in your deck, pushing your Recruit Token strategy a step forward.
Convergent Mutation can buff your Recruit’s Might to match one of your friendly units, enabling the Recruit to take better trades. Sprite Mother is too good to pass as the Ready 3 Might Sprite with the Temperory keyword can back up your attack to make sure your opponent doesn’t get to defend a battlefield. The Sprite is lasting only one turn, so we’ll want to take advantage of its 3 Might immediately.
These are all strong damage cards that help you kill units and control the board. Singularity is the strongest out of the three, allowing you to deal 6 damage to two of the opponent’s units. It’s also not restricted to units on a battlefield and can target units at the opponent’s base.
Cards we’d want to cut out are stuff like Orb of Regret, Jeweled Colossus, Heimerdinger, Eager Apprentice, and Wraith of Echoes.
