Red Viktor

(Postscript at the end explains why I ultimately went with red splash over mono yellow.) ***This deck, in my opinion, has the strongest Turn 2 opener in the entire game, hands down.*** On the play: Turn 1: Seal ➡️ Tap Darius ➡️ Play Vanguard Captain Turn 2: Attack with a token and Captain ➡️ Play Baited Hook ➡️ Kill Captain ➡️ Fetch Spectral Matron ➡️ Play Vanguard Captain again At this point, you've got a massive board of Might units (4/3/1/1/1/1), and your opponent has only had one turn. From here, the snowball begins. Every chance you get to sack Vanguard Captain with Baited Hook, you take it. ***Core Strategy:*** The list leans hard into tempo and energy efficiency to rush into the late game. Once you’re there, Grand Stratagem and Draven deliver the finisher. In my 5-1 run during the 7/25 Riftbound meta tournament, I only drew Baited Hook in about half my wins, but when I did land a Turn 2 hook, the game felt nearly unwinnable for my opponent. It’s that explosive. ***Potential Future Changes:*** Back to Back saved my units from spells *sometimes*. It was mediocre at best. Probably the most replaceable maindeck card. Sideboard: with master yi falling out of popularity, balistas are probably going to get removed. I like Brynir against Ahri and green in general, so may just go 3x. _____________________________________________________ ***Why Red Splash Over Mono Yellow:*** Darius’ chosen partner here is red, and that decision came down to one thing: efficiency. Both red and yellow Darius cheat themselves into play and trade up before dying. But red Darius does it better. It’s cheaper by 1 energy and hits harder by 1 Might. Yellow Darius sounds good in theory (+1 Might to your whole board), but in practice? It just never pulled its weight. I also cut Noxian Guillotine. It often got countered or was too difficult to use defensively. It’s rarely worth the slot. it was a dead draw more often than not. Yes, this build has a slightly higher risk of clunky openers (Draven, I’m looking at you), but the red splash solves more problems than it causes especially in games where you don’t open with Hook. Mono yellow maximizes Hook’s power, but this version gives you a stronger floor when you don’t find it early. That makes the deck more consistent overall. ***A Quick History:*** I’ve been playing Hook Darius since Baited Hook was released, originally in a mono yellow shell with Viktor and Evangel. But after going 2-7 against some brutal Ahri lists on 7/25 (just a day before the tournament), I made a hard pivot. This version of Darius is a blatant netdeck by “Targon’s Peak - FREY” from the Riftbound Discord. What finally sold me was my personal motto: “Green always has it.” Whether it’s countering Guillotine or Stratagem, I just expect my spells to get blown up. That’s why I turned to the red splash. Vayne’s Accelerate and Draven’s pressure helped a ton during last-minute testing and gave me just enough edge to hold my own.