Treasured Trash: Mechanized Heralds — a Viktor Rumble Deck Guide
Djmarcus takes the Glorious Evolution to the arena in this trash-powered edition of Treasured Trash!
I am Djmarcus, a semi-competitive Masters player that likes Rumble and mono-PnZ decks. I have reached seasonal tournaments through the Gauntlet, but I have been too busy to participate in most of them. I started playing this game around the time Vi was released. My Discord name is 4F|WHAW|DJMARCUS #7475.
You can find the deck's code here!
The Calculated Creation
Rumble and Viktor have always been two of my favorite Champions, but I didn't think they would work together until TippyTipz made his Rumble Viktor deck. I made my own version (since I had issues with his list), and started playing this current list after Viktor's buff. I have a 59% winrate over 200 games and have climbed to Masters with this deck in previous seasons.
While Rumble and Viktor use created cards in different ways, there is plenty of card creation in the list for both Champions to take advantage of. While you don't want both Champions together in the mulligan, both are able to finish games, and the Augment package is explosive enough to make up for awkward curves. Rumble benefits from discard fodder which Viktor can provide, and Viktor benefits from the tempo and created cards which Rumble can provide. The region pairing also allows you to play some of the best cards for both Champions in the game while using Elusive and Challenger in a very efficient and synergistic way.
I posted a deck guide to Reddit a few days after the nerf to Ballistic Bot. The matchups in the original guide aren't as relevant now, but it goes into more detail about how the cards work in this list. You can see the guide here and here.
Since the Viktor buff in Patch 3.4, the deck list has not changed. I considered replacing Sumpworks Map with Scavenged Camocloaker, but Sumpworks has been better in testing. This deck gets passively buffed whenever good cards are added to the manifest pools.
General Gameplan
Rumble Viktor is an aggro/combo deck that looks to beat the opponent with wide boards or big Elusive threats. In the early game, you want to curve out with your fodder generators to play Rumble easily and have created cards in hand for Viktor. You want to trade early units on the board often in order to open up damage opportunities for bigger units later. You also want to play around the opponent's removal to maximize damage.
In general, Mecha-Yordle generators are best used in the midgame (Round 4 or later) in order to possibly play the Mecha-Yordle in the same Round. Most of the time, the best Mecha-Yordle to choose is the one that allows you to set up a kill or complete your curve:
Earthshaker combos very well with Elusive-granting spells.
Geode Mechaforcer is great for powering up and protecting Elusive units.
Lil Dipper is an incredibly rare pick for this deck, but Flame Chompers is a good discard target since you get to summon the unit immediately and again if Lil Dipper is killed.
Salty Spinner is only good the turn after you discard three for Rumble.
Dunehopper Mech is usually the best choice when you have four units or less.
Professor Von Mech is also a pretty common pick for extra value that can allow you to go wide.
This deck makes great use of Boom Baboon. It is pretty common to get 8+ damage from Flame Chompers moving blockers out of the way. Ferros Financier can manifest some powerful wincons like Give It All or Treasured Trash that can lead to explosive blowouts.
Mulligan
Keep early fodder generators and one Champion. Sumpworks Map should be kept if you have a good early curve. If you are choosing between Rumble and Viktor, pick Rumble if you have a good curve and pick Viktor if you have to mulligan away a lot of cards.
You can keep removal to destroy key units, but you should mulligan removal away in most cases. Mecha-Yordle generators are not great to keep in the mulligan for Rumble decks since you want to keep fodder in hand for Rumble.
This deck runs a lot of fodder generators, so bricking is rare, but you do want to find Sumpworks Map and Champions to end games.
Conclusion
Rumble Viktor is a strong and fun deck. It's been nerfed by two balance patches in a row and can still beat meta contenders. The deck has a very low curve for great consistency in the early game. There are plenty of ways to win with this list, and the manifest cards provide versatility. Since most of the deck produces at least two cards for the price of one, it's hard to run out of value. While I think the deck has tier-1 upside when played properly, this list will most likely continue to be a hidden gem.
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