(Victor Goldmane | Art by Billy Christian)

Welcome back to CnC! Through this series, we’ll break down just what each hero brings to the table, from abilities, to playable cards and equipment, and interactions with other heroes. Looking at Blitz, CC, and UPF, we’ll see which heroes are winners, playable, fun, or need more support.

Ever since Bravo started swinging his hammer, Guardian heroes have been known to be dangerous. With Oldhim stepping off into retirement and Bravo on the same path, it was time for somebody new. Heavy Hitters gave us two new Guardian heroes. We already talked about Betsy, so today we’ll look at the golden son himself, Victor.

What Does Victor Do?

Young Victor Goldmane has four intellect and 20 life, while Victor Goldmane, High and Mighty, has 40 life. He’s a Guardian hero, which means he can play generic and Guardian cards. He has two passive effects which both revolve around Gold. One lets you draw a card the first time you would create a Gold. The second ability lets you destroy Gold to get a second chance at a clash you lost.

Weapon and Equipment

A Guardian’s favorite weapon, the hammer, is a favorite of Victor as well. You can swing with basically any hammer, but the one you really want is Miller’s Grindstone. Not only does it let you clash with other heroes, destroy their card and gain counters, but legend has it that this very hammer crafted all of Victor’s equipment.

Speaking of equipment – this Guardian wants to bling. He isn’t afraid to spend a pretty penny to look good, and you shouldn’t be either. Let’s start with your most expensive pieces. Balance of Justice or Crown of Providence for the headpiece. Tectonic Plating or Fyendal’s Spring Tunic for your chest. Gauntlets of Iron Will for your arm piece. And your choice of budget feet, with Civic Steps being your best choice.

Some items were custom made for the golden son. Aurum Aegis is Victor’s shield (which is literally made of gold and thus counts as Gold), and Golden Glare his headpiece. The other shield you could use is Rampart of the Ram’s Head, but Aurum Aegis is a fan favorite.

Core Cards for Victor

Two words – attack actions. Forget your defensive cards, forget your instants and reactions. You just need to crush and clash as much as you can and revealing a Sink Below off the top of your deck just isn’t gonna cut it. Include equal parts red and blue cards in your deck. You gotta pay for your attacks and Gold doesn’t have a pitch value (yet). You’ll want all of the good ones – Macho Grande blue, Thunder Quake blue, Disable blue and other Guardian staples like Spinal Crush and Cranial Crush.

Remember that you also wanna clash as much as possible, and just swinging with your hammer won’t be enough. Clash of Vigor blue and Clash of Might blue will help you there. One more card that you absolutely must have in your deck is Victor’s final specialization – The Golden Son. It’s good in your hand, it’s good on the top of your deck, it’s a potential 10 overpower. It’s simply a game changer.

Let’s take a look at the formats he can be played in and see if he’s playable, fun, a winner, or needs more support.

Blitz

If you haven’t noticed, Victor wants to clash by any means necessary. Clashing gives you two things: the things you clashed for (e.g., a Might token) and a revealed card from your opponent’s deck as well as your own. Another lovely mechanic to keep in mind is your card drawing engine – Victor himself. It doesn’t matter if you create Gold on your turn or the enemy’s, you still get to draw a card. So cards such as Test of Strength might come in handy.

If everything goes well, you should be doing more damage than what the enemy is threatening. Big attacks will require big blocks, but against certain matchups, you’ll just want to win faster. Dominated attacks will be your friends in that situation.

CC

Big cards with big attacks and the occasional block. Just like any heavy hitter, Victor has all the time in the world. Blocking with equipment, shield, or even cards (like blocks that clash) if it comes down to it, isn’t a problem. He just needs enough resources to make that punch at the start of his turn and, of course, throw in that needed clash. You should be safe when you clash unless you’re playing a Guardian mirror. Don’t forget that you have probably the strongest base power attacks in the game at this moment, so don’t fret when put in a situation that lets you clash.

Unlike Blitz, one way that you can play Victor in Classic Constructed is the Guardian favorite fatigue method. You have enough blues in your deck and enough ways to gain cards. At the same time, if you don’t dominate your attacks and just threaten a lot of damage, your opponents might be inclined to just give up their entire hand. This works best if you threaten a juicy crush effect.

UPF

As one of the heroes in the Deathmatch Arena, you can bet he’ll have some tricks up his sleeve. One thing we haven’t talked about are Guardian auras, which are a fun way to pretend you’re not a threat while being the biggest one at the table. Just putting down an aura and passing your turn with promises of peace is a very charismatic approach to an otherwise sleezy character. Of course, when your turn comes around and those auras pop, all eyes will be on you with the look of sheer betrayal.

Overall Score: Fun to Play/Winner

If you like feeling like royalty without the fear of Regicide, Victor is the one for you. He’s climbing fast on the Living Legend scoreboard in both Blitz and CC and his performance in the Deathmatch is pretty ok.

Further Reading:

How to Play Victor Goldmane in Classic Constructed

How to Upgrade the Victor Goldmane Blitz Precon

Mind Games And Variability In Heavy Hitters

Valera

Valera tried Magic in highschool then forgot about it. Some years later, she fell in love with broken FaB heroes (like Data Doll MKII) and tribal commander MTG decks. A shapeshifter, collector, traveller, writer... Who needs free time?