Most (Un)Predictable Faction Leader & Strategy

[l_WHIT3WOLF_l]

Most (Un)Predictable Faction Leader & Strategy

Hello, So what you think which strategy is more predictable & unpredictable with faction leader ?

My vote is for...

Predictable - Sk King Bran as I don't see any other strategy fits for him rather than Discard.
Unpredictable - Nr Radovid as you never know its Control, Buff, Machine or Any other strategy.

 

[4RM3D]

Eh, what? Almost everything is predictable.

Brouver Hoog = Movement or Marauders
Crach an Craite = ???
Dagon = Hybrid Consume (because few a using pure weather)
Eithné = Spells
Emhyr var Emreis = Milling
Eredin = Wild Hunt Frost
Foltest = ???
Francesca = Mulligan
Harald the Cripple = Axemen
Henselt = Armor or Buff
John Calveit = Spies
King Bran = Queensguard or other discard
Morvran Voorhis = Reveal
Radovid = ???
Unseen Elder = Consume

 

[Ildun]

Foltest, he just bluff...I mean buff.

 

[l_WHIT3WOLF_l]

Eh, what? Almost everything is predictable.

yehh true but I find Bran is near to impossible to use with ant other archetype than Discard. I am just saying that with other leaders at least you can try to do something different, now that's going or work or not that's another thing

And I actually want cdpr to change this & add some versatile abilities for leaders.

 

[Draconifors]

Unseen Elder isn't quite as predictable as he used to be, due to the new Deathwish cards that have created an entire archetype. Pretty much all leaders excluding him and (especially) NR ones are highly predictable, from what I've seen.

Except when players experiment with unusual decks, of course.

 

[Jackawobbee]

I actually mix people up with Francesca; everyone assumes its a mulligan deck and switching it to a movement and control deck makes it so much more powerful. Confusion has won me some tight matches. You can tell some people are still getting used to the update as well also carrying two locks can change your enemies plans enough to bring a win.

 

[l_WHIT3WOLF_l]

I actually mix people up with Francesca; everyone assumes its a mulligan deck and switching it to a movement and control deck makes it so much more powerful. Confusion has won me some tight matches. You can tell some people are still getting used to the update as well also carrying two locks can change your enemies plans enough to bring a win.

Yehh.. I even played against Francesca with weather + movement but Whenever I faced Bran all time it's Qg & Riders. Actually in this patch one more Eredin becomes highly predictable for me as I never saw him with different strategy than Wild Hunt Frost & about all other leaders I saw at least more than one strategy.

So for me rank goes like this From predictable to unpredictable...

Bran > Eredin > Harald > Eithné > Calveit > Unseen Elder = Francesca = Emhyr = Brouver = Morvran = Crach = Dagon > Henselt > Foltest > Radovid

 

[Jackawobbee]

Seeing people immediately forfeit against francesca and radovid. Maybe just don't like the threat of versatility. Does anyone feel that there is an overpowered leader after the update? maybe some could use a power change but I don't hate facing any comp no matter I'm a bit off topic. But for your purposes that list is about right although Emhyr and Brouver can be pretty unpredictable they're not as bad as any NR deck. My point is it all depends on the player and if they're experimenting and still unlocking or fully knowledgeable of what they want to do with every unlock they need.

 

[Lyphian92]

i once saw a resilienced Unseen Elder with 25 strength...got my pants full and i didnt have a lock.

 

[GenLiu]

For me personally, the only faction/leader that are completely predictable are Eredin, Eithne, Harald, Morvan Voorhis, King Bran and Unseen Elder (even though you can find some surprises in the two last). The rest, even though most peoples are netdecking, so you're probably see them playing the exact same deck every single time, are open to more variety of tactics.

For example, I'm playing Emyr for spies, Calveit for Soldiers, Dagon for deathwish (with no consume mechanic in it)...but the leader I just mentioned are too specific to allow any other tactics than what they're meant to.
Take Eredin for example, I don't see any point in spawning most of the unit he can spawn if you're not using Wild hunt, it's just like impossible to build something else around that dude (if you plan into making a deck that works a little bit I mean).

 

[Draconifors]

Calveit for Soldiers

Same here. Not a single spy in my deck.

It's fun to use "predictable" leaders in unusual ways. Some leaders (mainly Eredin and I guess Morvran) don't allow for much versatility, but most of them can have creative uses. Maybe even competitively so.

 

[l_WHIT3WOLF_l]

For me personally, the only faction/leader that are completely predictable are Eredin, Eithne, Harald, Morvan Voorhis, King Bran and Unseen Elder (even though you can find some surprises in the two last).

Can you explain how NG Morvran predictable ? Ya I know you said "personally" but still I am curious as I faced him many times with different strategies like reveal / control with gold geralt, spotter & fire scorpion / milf / weather & even some with experimental cards like Nilfgaardian Standard Bearer.

And what other deck you played against King Bran rather than Discard ? (as you said "you can find some surprises in the two last")

 

[l_WHIT3WOLF_l]

Poll added for fun

 

[arubino99]

I voted Bran as well. It's Discard, and it's one of two flavors - GY Buff/Res w/Pirate Captains, or QG. I don't see QG much anymore, so I just expect Pirate Captains. Bran provides tons of consistency with SK decks, and I've noticed that other SK decks are very hit or miss with a different leader. When they work, they work, but if you don't get a good draw, you are screwed.

Dagon for deathwish

I played against a deck like this today. I did tech for more anti-weather on the opening draw, but I simply used Rally instead for more units/thinning. It actually worked out better. Oddly enough, I kept expecting a Cyclops for a 12+ swing and was playing for that possibility, but I never saw one.

 

[GenLiu]

Same here. Not a single spy in my deck.

It's fun to use "predictable" leaders in unusual ways. Some leaders (mainly Eredin and I guess Morvran) don't allow for much versatility, but most of them can have creative uses. Maybe even competitively so.

I'm playing my "exotic" decks in ranked and it always worked out pretty well for me so I would say yes, even competitively it's very viable.
I even saw a player using spies with Emyr in a tournament so, I suppose it's not even that exotic (just more...uncommon I suppose).

Can you explain how NG Morvran predictable ? Ya I know you said "personally" but still I am curious as I faced him many times with different strategies like reveal / control with gold geralt, spotter & fire scorpion / milf / weather & even some with experimental cards like Nilfgaardian Standard Bearer.

And what other deck you played against King Bran rather than Discard ? (as you said "you can find some surprises in the two last")

I can hardly imagine Morvan being all that great outside of a pure reveal deck but again, that's my opinion, I would be pleased to see someone beating me without a reveal based strategy but it seems unlikely considering his ability.
And you mentioned "control reveal" but reveal IS a control deck.
Every reveal player runs either Mangonel or Fire scorpions (sometimes both) as well as cards like Serrit, Leo Bonhart and sometimes even Sweers. So sure, it's not a special based type of control but it's a control deck nonetheless.
Mill? What does Morvan does that Emyr cannot for this strategy? I'm confused.

King Bran can be used for a pure Queensguard deck with very minimum discard and no synergy for discard.
You can also find different level of investement toward discard and resurrection, some decks being pure discard with nothing specifically strong to resurrect (just banking on your Pirate captains) and other being a lot more resurrect based (similarly to the QG deck I just mentioned).

I even faced some damage deck with axeman and stuff, using light longship to deal damage with discard.
I'm not sold for this one to be honest, I find it pretty weak compared to an actual Harald deck but I fought against multiple recently so I guess that's a thing.

I voted Bran as well. It's Discard, and it's one of two flavors - GY Buff/Res w/Pirate Captains, or QG. I don't see QG much anymore, so I just expect Pirate Captains. Bran provides tons of consistency with SK decks, and I've noticed that other SK decks are very hit or miss with a different leader. When they work, they work, but if you don't get a good draw, you are screwed.

I played against a deck like this today. I did tech for more anti-weather on the opening draw, but I simply used Rally instead for more units/thinning. It actually worked out better. Oddly enough, I kept expecting a Cyclops for a 12+ swing and was playing for that possibility, but I never saw one.

I'm not surprised, Weather and deathwish works very well together and quiet frankly, I feel like Unseen Elder doesn't.
Sure he triggers your deathwish but he weakens your board a lot to achieve that goal. Especially considering that the stronger unit with Deathwish are Celeano harpy and Golem (at least imo) which are not unit that provides value in the form of damage.

 

[Mnorojo]

Radovid is most varied. He can be swarm, armor, machine, a control deck, or some hybrid between the three. I personally use him for weather control to good effect. It really throws opponents off because I dont use Stannis, Shani, or DJ extra in my deck.

 

[xDivinity]

A deck with 1 card of each unit is unpredictible.

 

[l_WHIT3WOLF_l]

Radovid is most varied. He can be swarm, armor, machine, a control deck, or some hybrid between the three. I personally use him for weather control to good effect. It really throws opponents off because I dont use Stannis, Shani, or DJ extra in my deck.

Agree... I too saw many decks with him & I am specially getting fooled by machine deck :/ as I am always thinking that it's going to be armor deck :x

 

[l_WHIT3WOLF_l]

A deck with 1 card of each unit is unpredictible.

Yehhh & we can name that deck as a "Unpredictable" but that's it no more use of that deck as I don't think winning is possible with such deck.

 

[l_WHIT3WOLF_l]

After reading some of your posts & some net decks I am now little confuse between who is more predictable? As I found some variety in Bran discard decks like..

Only Qg with Ceyrs, Discard Pirate, Control Discard with Pirate ship, Control Discard with Harpooner & weather & few other experiments with Morkvarg & Olgierd even though all are discards still there are some variety in all decks but I yet to see any different deck with Herald rather than Axeman.

So I am really thinking now Herald is quite easy to predict than Bran.