Birdie’s Hero Breakdown – Victor Heartstriker

[Preybird]

Intro

Victor did have his day in the sun, though you may find that hard to believe based on his current state. In the early days of Season 5 both A1 Busti and A1 Cwhittastic used him to achieve top 20 spots, and for a time Victor was common as many people attempted to emulate their feat. However he’s not seen very often anymore, and many people cite his ability and the comparatively weak Hunter pool as the reasons for his obscurity.

However he’s a strong and versatile hero who can take the fight to almost anyone. He’s just very difficult to master.

Overview

Victor’s ability seems odd at first glance (why not just kill the ally outright?), but there is a lot of power in it. By reducing an ally to 1 health it allows you to use cards like Soul Seeker, Pride of the Mountain and Bounty Hunter to benefit from the allies death. I also find the second part of his ability to be just as powerful as the first, providing pseudo-draw to help supplement his admittedly weak draw potential.

In the hunter pool there’s really not a lot that has real synergy with Victor (odd considering his ability). Basically the one card that all Victors will run is Poison Arrow, however Flaming Arrow can deal with some of the more nasty threats like Armored Sandworm. That being said Victor has access to some excellent weapons for the kill shot (Soul Seeker, Grundler’s Double), traps for control (Snare, Death, Net Trap), and resource acceleration (Bounty Hunter). Many of the Hunter cards are very niche however, so tend to only fit in certain builds (Survivalist in a trap based build for example).

Allies

Victor has access to the very good human ally pool and the early game power that it represents. The problem here is that many human allies (particularly from CotC) are quite weak and do not survive long enough to combine with his ability. Dark Prophecies gave him a lot of new options, and some excellent ally choices.

Call of the Crystals

• Tainted Oracle: Oracle provides draw, something Victor so desperately needs. I truly feel Victor needs a full set of these guys, regardless of any other draw you may have.

• Jasmine Rosecult: The Lady Rosecult is still very useful in a Victor deck, but not as much as she is in most others. I find her low health of 4 to be a real liability, preventing her from surviving long enough to make an impact with Victor’s ability, and forcing you to be more reliant on instant damage effects (and thus draining your hand). In fact I successfully run Victor without her entirely.

• Aldon the Brave: His attack buff is very useful, especially against Shadow and the omnipresent Karash.

• Armored Sandworm: Victor loves this guy. Loves him far more than a man should love a worm. With his insane survivability he is almost always around to combine with Victor’s ability, and due to this his low attack means little.

• Aeon Stormcaller: Aeon is the closest thing to a win condition Victor has. The idea being that he sticks and you slowly build a hero-killing force behind him. Staple in all Victor decks.

Dark Prophecies

• Spirit Warden: This guy is my go to 3 drop for Victor. Not only is he tough, he’s got Steadfast which is so useful in the early game. He also shuts down Shadow Knight loops which is very powerful as they can really drain you of answers quickly. Good going first or second. His low attack is less relevant given Victor’s ability and reliance on Poison Arrow.

• Layarian Seductress: A great rush breaker, she can really give Victor the breathing room he needs to set up. In addition her disable effect helps her survivability, taking an ally out of the fight and making it harder for your opponent to kill her before she’s ready to attack.

• Braxnorian Soldier: This guy is here for one reason, to shut down haste. Haste is very problematic for Victor because it means that your opponent’s allies will still get their shots in and renders his ability ineffective in many ways. Brax stops that from happening. Dropping him T5 vs a Lance when going first is so much fun (or right after Majiya drops a Portal)

• Champion of Irum: Keeping with the theme of tough allies, Champ has a lot of staying power, particularly when coupled with all the disabling and stalling power at Victor’s disposal.

• Mystic of the Vale: She is Warrior/Wulven tech and she excels in this role. Also her high health means she can survive quite handily as well.

• Artful Squire: Squire is gold vs hunters, wiping their Wrath of the Forest and shutting down their draw. Also really good vs Rogues for the same reason. He can slow down Amber as well but if you’re facing a lot of her I would prefer Mystic.

• Fleet Foot Messenger: High health and haste, FFM is very good for Victor. In addition the ability to help sort your hand is very useful in the wake of Victor’s weak draw potential.

[Preybird]

Abilities and Items

Victor has a wide range of abilities, however a lot of them are quite niche due to the nature of the Hunter pool. In addition he lacks a board wipe which really hurts him if he can’t keep the board under wraps. Thankfully he’s a better controller than most.

Call of the Crystals

• Poison Arrow: Staple. Every Victor will run four of these. With his ability you can get immense value out of PA, and it’s recommended to get one into your graveyard as soon as possible.

• Flaming Arrow: The Poison Arrow substitute, this is for hardened targets like Sandworm. Unfortunately it tends to pollute your graveyard, and makes it difficult to get back the Poison Arrow that you so desperately need.

• Death Trap: A nice instant kill trap, this is a core card of the stall Victor archetype. Basically he uses his ability + cards like Lily to cycle these all day long. Unfortunately doing so is very resource intensive so you can run out of steam quickly. Also it’s another card that pollutes your graveyard somewhat.

• Soul Seeker: Victor’s first weapon choice. The life gain from Soul Seeker allows him to stick around longer than he has any right to plus it’s a handly 8 damage in a pinch.

• Wrath of the Forest: The most commonly seen draw option for Hunters, I find that it’s less than effective in a Victor deck. The reason being is that you can’t defend it as well as Banebow or Baduruu can which means it gets beaten down before you can get real value out of it. Having a deck full of survivable allies hurts it’s effectiveness as well.

• Retreat: The ubiquitous stall card for humans, this keeps Victor alive until his ability is ready to kill the ally outright.

• Spelleater Bands: Anti mage tech, this really gives Victor the opportunity to come back. Most mages will Nova their own allies against hunters (to prevent Soul Seeker healing) then switch to burn only. This puts the kaibosh on that strategy and forces them to deploy allies, which puts the ball back in your court

• Honored Dead: Heal and draw, two very good things for Victor. It’s that simple.

Dark Prophecies

• Grundler’s Double: Another draw option, this bow gives you an interesting choice. Do you use it over Soul Seeker and gain some more draw power, or do you stick with the heal to help come back from your weaker early game?

• Treasured Heirloom: Tainted Oracle in attachment form. The extra attack is very useful too. Slap this on the ally closest to death (or Aeon) and go for it. Remember that this will trigger if your ally is retreated as well.

• Snare Trap: Snare Trap is really good for Victor, though you wouldn’t think so. The reason is that as it is exiled it doesn’t pollute your graveyard, so it’s the one Hunter card you can reliably run in addition to Poison Arrow and still trust you’ll get your PA when you need it.

• Survivalist: As this triggers when items are destroyed this is the primary draw engine for stall/mill Victors (which are almost always trap based). It can help you get through your deck but isn’t reliable enough in a regular allied Victor.

• Pride of the Mountain: Of the two draw armors for Victor (the other being Wrath), I think this one is better, but still not very reliable as Victor does like to kill allies off with abilities quite a bit. Still, can be useful to drop once you’ve established board control to help power your end game.

• Bounty Hunter: This card was really designed for Victor and his Poison arrow synergy. It also acts as pseudo-draw because you the resource gain which means you don’t have to sacrifice as often. While it is awesome on paper it is underwhelming in reality, as you are dedicating a full 4 slots in your deck to reliably get it, which means you are losing 4 slots for other cards (like a draw engine).

[Preybird]

Playstyles

• Aggro: Also what I refer to as beatdown. You’re the aggressor, the proactive player aiming to force responses from your opponent. You hit fast and often. This sort of playstyle generally uses a lot of allies and/or weapons/direct damage. Aggro is a style of play that relies heavily on maintaining tempo. Mess that up and chances are you can overrun an aggro deck.

• Control: The flip side to aggro, control aims to win by being reactive, constantly having the right answer until it’s ready to produce threats of its own. Control doesn’t so much rely on the tempo play, it’s more reliant on card advantage for the majority of the game.

• Stall/Mill: The ultimate slowdown. We all know the main culprit here (Millstalker), though there are other stall decks around of varying levels of effectiveness. While these decks claim to win by decking you out (milling) they’re actually stalling you, milling is just a by-product of that.

Victor is a heavy control hero, he likes to slowly grind himself into a favourable position with card advantage then put the clamps on the board and close the match. He is vulnerable to rush and really aggressive decks, but with the right ally and tech choices he can take the fight to most.

• Aggro: Kris, 4 2cc allies, 8-12 3cc allies, Tainted Oracle, Aeon Stormcaller, Bad Santa, Poison Arrow, Soul Seeker. Treasured Heirloom

• Control: 4 2cc allies, 8-12 3cc allies, Tainted Oracle, Snare Trap, Armored Sandworm, Aeon Stormcaller, Treasured Heirloom, Poison Arrow, Soul Seeker

• Stall/Mill: Traps, Lily Rosecult, Poison Arrow, Flaming Arrow, Survivalist, Tainted Oracle, Soul Seeker, Grundlers Double, A Perfect Shot, Spelleater Bands.

Matchups

This is the deck I’ll be using for the next section, it’s my Techhead deck:

Victor

3 x Champion of Irum
4 x Spirit Warden
3 x Aldon the Brave
3 x Layarian Seductress
4 x Tainted Oracle
2 x Artful Squire
2 x Braxnorian Soldier
2 x Armored Sandworm
2 x Aeon Stormcaller

4 x Poison Arrow
2 x Honored Dead
3 x Treasured Heirloom
2 x Ley Line Nexus

4 x Soul Seeker

41 including Hero

Note: All of these ratings take into account the difficulty of actually using Victor. He is probably one of the hardest heroes in the game to master, and these difficulties reflect that.

Boris Skullcrusher
Matchup Quality: Medium/Hard
Tactics: Like all warriors, that insane draw power can give you trouble. You really need to make every move count. Try and get into the position where you have multiple allies out, so you can either tag team his allies or be able to apply pressure enough to go for the throat. But as Boris likes high health allies your ability is exceptionally useful in this matchup.

Amber Rain
Matchup Quality: Very Hard
Tactics: Amber is probably number one on my hate list. She’s super fast and her obsession with cheap spammable allies really upsets your ability. You basically need to get so much out that she has to go the control path, and that’s difficult to achieve with Crippling Blow and her high powered weapons upsetting your plans. If facing stacks of Amber use Mystic of the Vale over Artful Squire. It will help immensely.

Victor Heartstriker
Matchup Quality: Medium
Tactics: The goal here is to get lots of allies out. Also avoid using your ability for as long as possible, so that you can fire it twice in a row if needs be. Spirit Warden is your VIP (like it is with all hunters) as it removes Snare Trap without dying to it (Still love doing this!).

Gwenneth Truesight
Matchup Quality: Medium/Hard
Tactics: This is hard because if Gwen fires with an ITF chain you’re done for. However you have stacks of high health allies which means she generally has to double tap them to actually kill them (which negates the advantages of her ability). Keep the pressure up and keep a weapon on hand at all times to reduce the health differential (as you will deal retaliation damage).

Nishaven
Matchup Quality: Hard
Tactics: The mages are a pain. With plentiful burn they can get through your tough allies, though they may have to expend a few cards to do it. This is your saving grace, that they have to invest considerable time to kill off some of your tougher threats. Use Soul Seeker wherever possible to heal, because smart mage players will stop dropping allies after the initial rush and switch to burn only.

Eladwen Frostmire
Matchup Quality: Very Hard
Tactics: Eladwen is worse than Nish because her ability shuts down your big threats for long periods of time. If facing lots of Eladwen I HIGHLY recommend subbing in Spelleater Bands. Having them out will force her to swap to an ally based strategy (unless she has LLN), which puts the initiative in your court and allows you to heal back up with Soul Seeker.

Jericho Spellbane
Matchup Quality: Medium
Tactics: Save your ability for as long as possible. That’s the best advice I can give against Priests. By doing so you can easily recover from 2 or even 3 Tidal Waves, and if you can manage that you’ve got the game. Grind yourself into a good position but don’t begin to horde until you’ve seen at least 3 Waves. Also ALWAYS keep allies in the hand.

Zhanna Mist
Matchup Quality: Medium/Hard
Tactics: Much the same advice as Jericho, except her heal adds a layer of difficulty. Not too much mind you because your ability ensures nothing tends to sit around wounded.

Lance Shadowstalker
Matchup Quality: Easy/Medium
Tactics: Braxnorian Soldier makes this matchup much easier. He is gold, especially going first as it prevents the Lance player from regaining the tempo they lost with their IGG on turn 4. Going second be sure to clear out his hasted ally before dropping Brax. Artful Squire for IGG and then you’re home free. By the time Lance recovers you’ll own the board.

Serena Thoughtripper
Matchup Quality: Medium
Tactics: Serena calls for much the same strategy as Lance, but drop Sandworm over Brax. Brax is still one hell of a tank though, and allies like Nightshade can’t ping him down due to his passive ability (which mind you is SO underrated).

[Preybird]

Ter Adun
Matchup Quality: Easy/Medium
Tactics: You only have Soul Seeker in the deck, so Ter’s ability isn’t that useful to him. Simply keep the board under wraps and you’ll take this.

Logan Stonebreaker
Matchup Quality: Easy/Medium
Tactics: Logan’s ability is annoying, so prioritise Sandworm. He’ll have to rely on specialist weapons (read: not Jeweler’s Dream) in order to kill him off, which makes life difficult for him. Follow up heavy allies with more heavy allies and you’ll do fine.

Banebow
Matchup Quality: Medium
Tactics: Artful Squire is your VIP here. Focus on killing his draw and you’ll be fine. It’ll still be a long battle however, but your high health allies will stretch him to the brink, and before long you’ll take over on card advantage.

Baduruu
Matchup Quality: Medium/Hard
Tactics: Baduruu is actually harder than Banebow because he makes massive tempo gains. I would keep LLN ready if at all possible, but don’t kill his first weapon, save it for the second or third, when you can really capitalise. Once again grind your way into a favourable position. Sandworm and Brax Soldier with their high health will help immensely. Drop Aeon only after the Baduruu player is drained of responses.

Majiya
Matchup Quality: Hard/Very Hard
Tactics: Even with all your anti-Majiya tech (Spirit Warden, Brax Soldier) this is a difficult fight. You really need to hit the ground running and always use Soul Seeker if at all possible. Try and keep Spirit Warden in play (or in your hand) at all times because if Majiya gets an SK loop going it’s all over.

Gravebone
Matchup Quality: Hard/Very Hard
Tactics: Spirit Warden doesn’t do much for you here, his ability only prevents allies to hand, not to play. Try and kill allies off without your ability first, so when GB revives them you are one step ahead and can take them down. This is the most important thing, to ensure your ability usages fall out of sync.

Elementalis
Matchup Quality: Easy/Medium
Tactics: Victor really gives Elementalis a hard time, particularly once he gets rolling. Ele’s monsters are no match for Victor’s ability. And with Poison Arrow and Seductress shutting down everything in sight he’s in for a tough fight.

Zaladar
Matchup Quality: Hard
Tactics: Zaladar is much harder than his brother because he can really bring the hurt without allies. You need to use Sandworm here, he is almost immune to Zal’s ability and he can beat down on Zal’s favourite weapon Shadowvein without triggering it (also does this for Dimension Ripper). Still this is a tough fight. Spelleater Bands helps here too if you’ve subbed it in.

Darkclaw
Matchup Quality: Hard/Very Hard
Tactics: As Darkclaw is primarily a solo hero he’s a real pain in the proverbial. You need to get lots of allies out and hope that he doesn’t get all his stall. Artful Squire will shut down his Teeth a couple of times, but that’s about it. Like Amber, if facing lots of Darkclaw swap Artful (or even Brax Soldier) for Mystic of the Vale.

Moonstalker
Matchup Quality: Medium/Very Hard
Tactics: Allystalker isn’t super hard, your ability and supporting cast will go through his stealth like it wasn’t there. As far as Millstalker goes, you are in real trouble. Artful Squire on his Evil Ascendant and/or Arthyle’s Crypt and build up. Get yourself into the best position possible then swing in once his stall runs dry.


Conclusion

Victor is a really underrated hero, but it is understandable considering how difficult he is to use properly. I find myself thinking a lot more when using him than I do with most heroes because every move HAS to count. You cannot falter and you cannot stumble otherwise you will find yourself in real trouble.

But when mastered he is dangerous and perfectly capable of managing in high level play. He is a hero that rewards accurate and flawless play like no other.

[Shadows R Us]

Excellent as always.

Thanks.

[ReignTheConquer]

Uhave some good points and advice so no offense but i dont think u have mastered Victor yourself. Hes my favorite hero and my original hero selection. Id also like to say no card is a must or "stalpe" for any hero. I also strongly disagree with your hero challenge difficulty sheet. Since iv been playing him, no matter the build( just want to say i never buid "anit decks to counter a certain hero) his toughest match ups are against other hunters. I also myself prefer FA over PA. Currently i have a strong vic deck with a impressive win rate without a single 5cc ally. No worm no aeon no problem. You also forgot a draw of excessive to him wich is Gravediggers Cloak. Now while this is normally a terrible draw for him its still an option so he has 3 draw armors. I once used it just experimenting and having fun. I ran 4 of them along with 4 beetle deamon bow and the perfect shot. Im not trying to destroy your well written breakdown. You did an awesome job made made some very good points and offered great advice. Im better at listening and learning then i am at talking an teaching but i feel the point of breakdowns is to better your crafting and gameplay skills anyway you can so figured id put in my opinion. Excuse me for that comment about u not being a master vic player. I know u are a strong player probably better then me but with some of the things u have stated i feel you have room for plenty improvement. But also theres two aspects of tcgs, crafting and building. Supposedly for a player to be a master in both is rare. Wich type of player do u consider urself to be? Jw.

[Preybird]

Uhave some good points and advice so no offense but i dont think u have mastered Victor yourself. Hes my favorite hero and my original hero selection. Id also like to say no card is a must or "stalpe" for any hero. I also strongly disagree with your hero challenge difficulty sheet. Since iv been playing him, no matter the build( just want to say i never buid "anit decks to counter a certain hero) his toughest match ups are against other hunters. I also myself prefer FA over PA. Currently i have a strong vic deck with a impressive win rate without a single 5cc ally. No worm no aeon no problem. You also forgot a draw of excessive to him wich is Gravediggers Cloak. Now while this is normally a terrible draw for him its still an option so he has 3 draw armors. I once used it just experimenting and having fun. I ran 4 of them along with 4 beetle deamon bow and the perfect shot. Im not trying to destroy your well written breakdown. You did an awesome job made made some very good points and offered great advice. Im better at listening and learning then i am at talking an teaching but i feel the point of breakdowns is to better your crafting and gameplay skills anyway you can so figured id put in my opinion. Excuse me for that comment about u not being a master vic player. I know u are a strong player probably better then me but with some of the things u have stated i feel you have room for plenty improvement. But also theres two aspects of tcgs, crafting and building. Supposedly for a player to be a master in both is rare. Wich type of player do u consider urself to be? Jw.

Fair enough, I guess I should explain why I've said some of the things I have. My Victor reasoning is based around about 60-80 games with him in the last couple of weeks over two accounts, which have landed me at a touch over 300 on both of them (going from 0 on one account). I don't see a lot of him in the current meta so this is very much about my playstyle, and what I see as the most efficient way to play him (plus paying attention to notable Victor players in my guild and wider community).

Personally I don't see Gravediggers as a very efficient way to draw because:

a) It's totally dependent on what your opponent plays (and what you've managed to kill)
b) It's expensive as hell.
c) It shuts down your ability.

I don't like Beetle Demon Bow for reasons b) and c) above as well. As to the Poison Arrow vs Fire Arrow debate, PA is control and FA is aggro. And Victor likes to control. PA also gives you a free turn to beat on an ally after your ability is used up. It's also cheaper and more flexible.

For the build idea with weenies, that does work with Victor. You can run an early rush and pack haste allies like Kris and FFM and you'll do ok. You will need WotF in that instance to help feed your draw. I chose to go down the card advantage path and build a heavy control Victor because that's how I feel he's most effective.

As to an aggro style weenie rush deck, I did make mention of a build that would be similar to your idea here:

• Aggro: Kris, 4 2cc allies, 8-12 3cc allies, Tainted Oracle, Aeon Stormcaller, Bad Santa, Poison Arrow, Soul Seeker. Treasured Heirloom, Wrath of the Forest

Once again I must reinforce that these ideas around playstyle (especially for underused heroes) are based more heavily on my own preferences and experience. For someone like Eladwen there's an established way to play her and that's that. For Victor (and other forgotten heroes like Logan) that isn't really there.

As to your question around what sort of player I am, really in this game currently you CAN be both a good crafter and player (many of our top players also build their own decks). This isn't so much like Magic where teams will have a theorycrafter, tuner, tester, scout and a group of players. The card pool in SE (and the playstyles) is limited so far and scouting the meta is easy, which means one person can fit multiple roles. That's not to say these decks are solely my ideas. I have a guild and I take advantage of their thoughts and ideas, past and present when crafting.

In the truest sense I am a jack of all trades. I'm a good player and a good deckbuilder but I'm not great at either one.

[Berdugo]

Uhave some good points and advice so no offense but i dont think u have mastered Victor yourself...I know u are a strong player probably better then me but with some of the things u have stated i feel you have room for plenty improvement. But also theres two aspects of tcgs, crafting and building. Supposedly for a player to be a master in both is rare. Wich type of player do u consider urself to be? Jw.

Wow...just wow...( I will refrain further comments. I think Preybird pretty much answered it.)

[Super Grover]

In the truest sense I am a jack of all trades. I'm a good player and a good deckbuilder but I'm not great at either one.

Hey PB your full of shit! :P
You are a Great Player and Great Deck Builder!!

Tbh I always play with your builds and they are always great and fun to play too. And your breakdowns are very helpful.

Thanks for all the work you put into them!!!

[Pat Jay]

Hey PB your full of shit! :P
You are a Great Player and Great Deck Builder!!

Tbh I always play with your builds and they are always great and fun to play too. And your breakdowns are very helpful.

Thanks for all the work you put into them!!!

+1

To say that you reached 300 with Victor in the current meta and then to say that your "not that great"...

...is an oxymoron

Great write up PB!

Keep up the good work mate!