A morale system in Gwent
Here is a system I was thinking about which could be interesting to implement to the game because right now there is only one way of winning a game of Gwent (and please don't tell me about mill, this deck kills the opponent by getting card advantage which translate into more point in the long game so at the end of the day, you kill your opponent because you have more point than he/she does. It's a different way of achieveing that goal, I give you that but it's not even close to be a new way of winning the game).
I also feel like it could help to solve some recurring issues the game has and it's basically very fitting to the battlefield/army fighting each other theme imo.
So let's begin and of course, feel free to tell me what you think about it. If you think it's garbage, awesome, if it would help or in fact be negative for the game. Give me your feedback.
MORALE SYSTEM
Each player start the round with 2O points of morale (which...well, represent the morale of your troops). This morale counts toward your points total just as if it was strenght from units. Additionaly the player who reach O morale loses the current round.
Morale resets at the beginning of each round and the player who goes first after losing the coin flip could start the first round with 25 morale instead (but only for the first round). That would be a possible way of fixing the coin flip issue or at least make it more bearable (which is not the point of this system to begin with but why not).
Every time a player plays a card, he/she gain 1 morale. This bonus only applies for the first card played each turn, not the other he/she could play due to chain res, Dikstra like effects ect. I know it might sound like a weird idea but I think the system would be advantaging long rounds by a significant amount if that was not the case.
Some ideas of game mechanics for this system (please notice that it would cause a rework on the weather effects. The reason being Weather is the most fitting effect for morale and I can't imagine this system without having weather being involved) :
WEATHER :
Bitting frost : Reduce the power of any unit on this row and appearing on this row by 3 (to a minimum of 1) until the frost effect is removed.
Deathwish : Damage every unit on this row by 2.
Impenetrable fog : For every unit affected by fog, their controller loses 2 morale until the effect is removed. The same happens when a unit appears on the row (to a maximum loss of 10 morale).
Deathwish : For every unit on this row, their controller loses 1 morale (to a maximum loss of 5 morale).
Torrential rain : Reduce the power of any unit on this row and appearing on this row by 2 (to a minimum of 1) until the rain effect is removed.
Deathwish : For every unit on this row, their controller loses 2 morale (to a maximum loss of 10 morale).
Please notice that the deathwish triggers after the weather effect is removed from the row and therefore all penalty it caused are reversed (otherwise it would be bash insane lol).
Also, the reason for a deathwish is because 1/ I found it tactically very interesting and 2/ It allows weather to get some value even if the effect is removed from the row (which was the issue of the old weather effect). This way even if your opponent clear skies you will get some value out of your weather. A smaller one of course but some value nonetheless.
SPY :
Right now I feel like spies has the same issue as decoy back at the time it was broken as hell. Meaning that you can play them during one round and get their value in another, allowing you to dodge the drawback they're suppose to force upon you.
In my opinion it would be interesting to change their rule a little bit so that it feels more balanced and somehow more fair for the player who is supposed to receive some value to outweight the card disadvantage.
Each spy could be marked with the "opportunist" tag.
Opportunist : At the begining of the next round, if this unit is still alive and its controller won the previous round, convert half the spy's strenght (rounded up) into morale. (So for example if a player plays Cantarella and then pass the turn without dealing with her, his/her opponent will start the next round with 26 morale instead of 20).
And if you wonder why only half their value carries over, it's because morale is not a body, it's not as easily dealt with as a unit and I think converting the entire spies value into morale would be too big of an advantage.
UNITS :
Further down some ideas of how this system could influence the game with different factions. Of course, those are just some example but I think it's important to give some so that you see exactly what I have in mind with this concept.
This part also includes a few rework on cards that are very rarely played because they're usually considered too weak.
MONSTER
Specter 14 str (melee) loyal - Bronze
When you play this unit, your opponent may choose to make it enter the battlefield as a 7 str unit or counter it.
Choosing the first option causes a loss of 3 morale, choosing the second reduces his/her morale by 5.
Wraith 6 str (agile) loyal - Bronze
Deploy : Put a "fear" token on a unit (can put it on itself).
(Fear token : Your opponent loses 2 morale (even if a unit he/she controls has the token). If this unit is removed or locked, that player gain 2 morale).
Siren 3 str (agile) loyal - Bronze
Deploy : Bound a unit. Every effect that affects the Siren (tokens, damage, lock...) will also affect the bounded unit.
(Not directly linked to the morale system but an idea I wanted to suggest which helps with this mechanic).
Anabelle 8 str (agile) loyal - Gold
Deploy : Spawn 3 rats on a random row on the opposing side. Whenever a unit you control dies, spawn a rat on a random row on the opposing side.
(Rat - bronze, spy) 1 str bronze token - Reduces its controller's morale by 1. When removed or locked, that player gain 1 morale.
SKELLIGE
White Whale 12 str (Ranged) loyal - Silver
Whenever this unit is in your graveyard, if an opponent targets a unit in it, he loses morale equal to its strenght.
NORTHEN REALM
Aretuza adept 3 str (siege) loyal - Bronze (rework)
Deploy : Cast a torrential rain from your deck or remove a weather effect from any row on your opponent's side of the board.
Siege tower 7 str (agile) loyal - Bronze (rework)
Machine
Your opponent loses 1 morale every time a Northem realm machine ally is played.
Fresh crew : Boost self by 3.
Bell of the Eternal fire 4 str (Siege) loyal - Silver
Machine, doomed, stubborn
Deploy : Destroy a friendly mage or dopler, your opponent loses morale equal to its base strenght.
SCOIA'TAEL
Guardian of Brokilon 6 str (agile) loyal - Bronze
Dryad, soldier
Whenever a dryad appears on your side, boost self by 1
Whenever you gain morale (except for playing a card), streghten self by 1
Deploy : Gain 2 armor.
Polymorphist 10 str (agile) loyal - Bronze
Dryad
Deploy : Replace any race tag of a unit (vampire, dwarf, elf...) by "dryad".
Daughter of the forest 5 str (agile) loyal - Bronze
Dryad
Whenever a friendly dryad appears on your side, you gain 2 morale.
NILFGAARD
Alba armored knight 7 str (agile) loyal - Bronze
Every turn at the beginning of your turn, if there is more or as many units on the opposing row, spawn a squire.
(squire : 2 str loyal token with no ability and the "soldier" tag. They would spawn next to the Alba knight)
Nilfgaadian musician 8 str (agile) loyal - Bronze
Soldier
Every turn at the beginning of your turn, if there is less units on the opposing row, you gain 2 morale.
That's it. Again, feel free to give me your though...
EDIT : I just realized it's quiet the post I just wrote. Sorry about that but I just felt very inspired today.
Here is a system I was thinking about which could be interesting to implement to the game because right now there is only one way of winning a game of Gwent (and please don't tell me about mill, this deck kills the opponent by getting card advantage which translate into more point in the long game so at the end of the day, you kill your opponent because you have more point than he/she does. It's a different way of achieveing that goal, I give you that but it's not even close to be a new way of winning the game).
I also feel like it could help to solve some recurring issues the game has and it's basically very fitting to the battlefield/army fighting each other theme imo.
So let's begin and of course, feel free to tell me what you think about it. If you think it's garbage, awesome, if it would help or in fact be negative for the game. Give me your feedback.
MORALE SYSTEM
Each player start the round with 2O points of morale (which...well, represent the morale of your troops). This morale counts toward your points total just as if it was strenght from units. Additionaly the player who reach O morale loses the current round.
Morale resets at the beginning of each round and the player who goes first after losing the coin flip could start the first round with 25 morale instead (but only for the first round). That would be a possible way of fixing the coin flip issue or at least make it more bearable (which is not the point of this system to begin with but why not).
Every time a player plays a card, he/she gain 1 morale. This bonus only applies for the first card played each turn, not the other he/she could play due to chain res, Dikstra like effects ect. I know it might sound like a weird idea but I think the system would be advantaging long rounds by a significant amount if that was not the case.
Some ideas of game mechanics for this system (please notice that it would cause a rework on the weather effects. The reason being Weather is the most fitting effect for morale and I can't imagine this system without having weather being involved) :
WEATHER :
Bitting frost : Reduce the power of any unit on this row and appearing on this row by 3 (to a minimum of 1) until the frost effect is removed.
Deathwish : Damage every unit on this row by 2.
Impenetrable fog : For every unit affected by fog, their controller loses 2 morale until the effect is removed. The same happens when a unit appears on the row (to a maximum loss of 10 morale).
Deathwish : For every unit on this row, their controller loses 1 morale (to a maximum loss of 5 morale).
Torrential rain : Reduce the power of any unit on this row and appearing on this row by 2 (to a minimum of 1) until the rain effect is removed.
Deathwish : For every unit on this row, their controller loses 2 morale (to a maximum loss of 10 morale).
Please notice that the deathwish triggers after the weather effect is removed from the row and therefore all penalty it caused are reversed (otherwise it would be bash insane lol).
Also, the reason for a deathwish is because 1/ I found it tactically very interesting and 2/ It allows weather to get some value even if the effect is removed from the row (which was the issue of the old weather effect). This way even if your opponent clear skies you will get some value out of your weather. A smaller one of course but some value nonetheless.
SPY :
Right now I feel like spies has the same issue as decoy back at the time it was broken as hell. Meaning that you can play them during one round and get their value in another, allowing you to dodge the drawback they're suppose to force upon you.
In my opinion it would be interesting to change their rule a little bit so that it feels more balanced and somehow more fair for the player who is supposed to receive some value to outweight the card disadvantage.
Each spy could be marked with the "opportunist" tag.
Opportunist : At the begining of the next round, if this unit is still alive and its controller won the previous round, convert half the spy's strenght (rounded up) into morale. (So for example if a player plays Cantarella and then pass the turn without dealing with her, his/her opponent will start the next round with 26 morale instead of 20).
And if you wonder why only half their value carries over, it's because morale is not a body, it's not as easily dealt with as a unit and I think converting the entire spies value into morale would be too big of an advantage.
UNITS :
Further down some ideas of how this system could influence the game with different factions. Of course, those are just some example but I think it's important to give some so that you see exactly what I have in mind with this concept.
This part also includes a few rework on cards that are very rarely played because they're usually considered too weak.
MONSTER
Specter 14 str (melee) loyal - Bronze
When you play this unit, your opponent may choose to make it enter the battlefield as a 7 str unit or counter it.
Choosing the first option causes a loss of 3 morale, choosing the second reduces his/her morale by 5.
Wraith 6 str (agile) loyal - Bronze
Deploy : Put a "fear" token on a unit (can put it on itself).
(Fear token : Your opponent loses 2 morale (even if a unit he/she controls has the token). If this unit is removed or locked, that player gain 2 morale).
Siren 3 str (agile) loyal - Bronze
Deploy : Bound a unit. Every effect that affects the Siren (tokens, damage, lock...) will also affect the bounded unit.
(Not directly linked to the morale system but an idea I wanted to suggest which helps with this mechanic).
Anabelle 8 str (agile) loyal - Gold
Deploy : Spawn 3 rats on a random row on the opposing side. Whenever a unit you control dies, spawn a rat on a random row on the opposing side.
(Rat - bronze, spy) 1 str bronze token - Reduces its controller's morale by 1. When removed or locked, that player gain 1 morale.
SKELLIGE
White Whale 12 str (Ranged) loyal - Silver
Whenever this unit is in your graveyard, if an opponent targets a unit in it, he loses morale equal to its strenght.
NORTHEN REALM
Aretuza adept 3 str (siege) loyal - Bronze (rework)
Deploy : Cast a torrential rain from your deck or remove a weather effect from any row on your opponent's side of the board.
Siege tower 7 str (agile) loyal - Bronze (rework)
Machine
Your opponent loses 1 morale every time a Northem realm machine ally is played.
Fresh crew : Boost self by 3.
Bell of the Eternal fire 4 str (Siege) loyal - Silver
Machine, doomed, stubborn
Deploy : Destroy a friendly mage or dopler, your opponent loses morale equal to its base strenght.
SCOIA'TAEL
Guardian of Brokilon 6 str (agile) loyal - Bronze
Dryad, soldier
Whenever a dryad appears on your side, boost self by 1
Whenever you gain morale (except for playing a card), streghten self by 1
Deploy : Gain 2 armor.
Polymorphist 10 str (agile) loyal - Bronze
Dryad
Deploy : Replace any race tag of a unit (vampire, dwarf, elf...) by "dryad".
Daughter of the forest 5 str (agile) loyal - Bronze
Dryad
Whenever a friendly dryad appears on your side, you gain 2 morale.
NILFGAARD
Alba armored knight 7 str (agile) loyal - Bronze
Every turn at the beginning of your turn, if there is more or as many units on the opposing row, spawn a squire.
(squire : 2 str loyal token with no ability and the "soldier" tag. They would spawn next to the Alba knight)
Nilfgaadian musician 8 str (agile) loyal - Bronze
Soldier
Every turn at the beginning of your turn, if there is less units on the opposing row, you gain 2 morale.
That's it. Again, feel free to give me your though...
EDIT : I just realized it's quiet the post I just wrote. Sorry about that but I just felt very inspired today.
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