A €54.76 Viktor deck took fifth at the Sacramento Showdown

by Riccardo Emanuele Eustor·Riftbound Zone

At the Sacramento Showdown Series, 755 players and eleven rounds of Swiss, Calvin Jin finished fifth with Viktor, Herald of the Arcane. He was the only Viktor in a Top 8 otherwise owned by Riven. His deck costs €54.76 with the sideboard on the Cardmarket trend price of October 26, 2026, against a Top 8 median of €383.44. It is by far the cheapest list in the cut.

The decklistViktor, Herald of the ArcaneCalvin Jin · 5th place · Sacramento Showdown Series

€54.76with sideboard · €46.67 without sideboardCardmarket trend, October 26, 2026

Legend and Champion 2

×1€0.21×1€2.89

Battlefields 3

×1€0.14×1€0.07×1€0.15

Runes 12

×5€0.10×7€0.09

Main deck 39

×3€3.78×3€0.08×3€0.10×1€0.15×3€0.09×3€0.13×1€0.07×3€0.33×1€2.47×3€0.36×3€3.12×1€0.34×3€0.07×1€0.25×3€0.84×3€0.06×1€11.92

Sideboard 10

×3€0.57×1€0.58×2€2.47×3€0.23×1€0.17

Open in the Deck BuilderStandings on TopDeck.gg

The planSprites that die, Recruits that stay

The deck runs on tokens, meaning units created by cards rather than drawn from the deck. The Legend pays one energy and exhausts herself — turning sideways — to make a Recruit token with 1 Might, Might being a unit's fighting strength. The champion, Viktor, Leader, adds another Recruit every time one of your units dies, as long as it was not already a Recruit.

That is where the Sprites come in. Sprite Burst makes two ready Sprites with 3 Might, Sprite Fountain makes one. They are [Temporary]: they die on their own at the start of your turn, before scoring. This is the heart of the deck. The Sprites attack or defend for a turn, then die and leave a Recruit behind thanks to Viktor. Sprite Fountain is itself a [Temporary] piece of gear with [Deathknell], an effect that triggers when the card dies: when it goes away, it makes a second Sprite. Carrion Dredger does the same job and, when it dies, leaves a bird with [Deflect], which forces the opponent to pay extra to target it.

The second axis is removal. Hidden Blade, Wages of Pain and Blood Money all kill units, and some of them are [Hidden], meaning they can be set face down and played later at no energy cost. Cull the Weak forces every player to sacrifice a unit: you give up a token, your opponent gives up something real. The flashiest combination is Imperial Decree plus Bellows Breath — the first kills every unit that takes damage that turn, the second deals 1 damage to up to three units in the same location.

The priceWhat Calvin Jin's deck costs

Without the sideboard the list costs €46.67; with it, €54.76 (Cardmarket trend, October 26, 2026). The single most expensive card is Thousand-Tailed Watcher at €11.92. Then come three copies of Bellows Breath (€3.78 each, €11.34 in total) and three Sprite Fountain (€3.12 each, €9.36). After that it is Viktor, Leader at €2.89 and Salvage at €2.47.

The number that stands out: of the 56 cards in the maindeck list — Legend, champion, battlefields and runes included — 47 cost less than one euro. For comparison, the rest of the Top 8 ranges from the €230.07 Kennen to the €449.48 Akali that finished second.

The fieldOne Viktor among the Rivens

Calvin Jin came out of the Swiss in fifth place at 9-1-1 over eleven rounds, then lost the quarterfinal to Arnon 2-0: a 9-2-1 final record and fifth place overall. Viktor does not even make the eight most-played Legends of the 723 declared at Sacramento — eighth-placed Mordekaiser sits at 25 decks — which makes him the one Top 8 Legend nobody was running into. Riven, The Exile led the field with 96 decks, ahead of Kennen (56), Akali and Kai'Sa (34 apiece) and Evelynn (33). Four of the eight players in the cut had Riven.

This is not a one-off either: on September 19, 2026, at the 603-player Houston Showdown Series, the same Calvin Jin finished eleventh with the same Legend.

The sideboardThe ten cards in reserve

The sideboard answers specific threats. Decree of Insight takes 5 Might off an enemy Body unit. Decree of Unity kills a Chaos unit or a piece of gear. Pickpocket and the two extra Salvage destroy gear. Safety Inspector repeats the Cull the Weak effect.

Our tournament coverage, with the full bracket: Sacramento Showdown Series.

Source: decklists and standings from TopDeck.gg; prices: Cardmarket trend, October 26, 2026. Each card is priced in its base version. Card images: Riot Games.