RVG1926;n10851061 said:
As Riven already mentioned, in May we will release update with new approach to Create.
Stay strong!
As Riven already mentioned, in May we will release update with new approach to Create.
Stay strong!
GWENT Masters Hall of Fame: 5 Memorable Moments So Far
By Alex Sprackling
Collectors of Gwenty-cards, lend me your ears. GWENT Challenger #3 is officially only two weeks away. That’s right, it won’t be much longer before eight of the best players battle it out in the Wieliczka Salt Mine. Now is the perfect time to look back at some memorable moments from the GWENT Masters series. We’re excluding the first Challenger as it occurred way back in Closed Beta. Still, there’s no way we’re forgetting the devastating Geralt: Igni that Noxious sent Lifecoach’s way! Prepare for some nostalgia as we look back at five iconic moments that defined competitive GWENT.
1: Shaggy the Wildcard
We can’t begin this list without mentioning one of my personal favourite players, Shaggy. This young Austrian first stormed onto the GWENT scene after qualifying through the Wild Card qualifier for GWENT Open #1. A new face to the community, Shaggy’s victory in the Wild Card tournament proved his worth as a player. The very next day, he sat down to compete in the actual tournament and managed to advance to the semi-finals. It was here that his reputation for making clutch passes was born, as every game – win or lose – saw him finding the most opportune moments to get out the round.
Shaggy went on to win GWENT Open #1, defeating J0rah in the final. If you count the Wild Card qualifier and the laddering required to qualify, this was a hat trick performance for the rising star. He would go on to qualify for various GWENT Slams as well as Challenger #2. While we haven’t seen him much this year, this player is always one to watch out for. After all, there’s no denying the tendency for qualifier winners to be some of the most consistent players – just look at Freddybabes, whose GWENT Masters journey began through winning a Slam satellite.
2: GameKing the Mill Slayer
Mill was an archetype that divided the GWENT community for a long time. Rising to fame after MegaMogwai used it to win GWENTogether, the ranked ladder experienced a surge of Mill Mania. Opinions aside, there is no denying how the archetype exploits some of the more fragile mechanics of GWENT, namely card advantage and deck efficiency. It was this that left in its wake a cloud more toxic than a Dragon’s Dream bomb.
Therefore, a hero had to rise. Enter GameKing, the man, the myth, the – okay, I’ll stop. At the first official GWENT Slam, many players were aware of how likely Mill was to make an appearance. GameKing even said, in front of fellow competitor and Miller ImpetuousPanda, that he was ready to face Mill. And ready he was. In an upside down set of games, GameKing was able to consistently defeat Panda’s Mill deck. But the highlight was surely his Spell Scoia’tael game, where he played his deck inside out to advance to the finals. GameKing, what are you doing? you might ask.
“Killing monsters.”
Unfortunately, his luck ran out in the finals and Freddybabes was able to efficiently mill him. But his sacrifice will be remembered.
3: Kolemoen Sends TailBot to the Burn Unit
This hot moment occurred in Challenger #2, most games of which could compile their own list. Kolemoen, after earning a place through the Pro Ladder qualifier, was a fresh face on the GWENT scene. He was looking to prove his worth and that’s exactly what he did. In a Skellige vs Nilfgaard matchup, the German player was able to line up a 30+ point Scorch. TailBot, the knowledgeable player that he is, saw this and was forced to play his Rainfarn/Joachim combo to block it. Despite his best efforts, Kolemoen would utilise his Whale Harpooner to reopen the Scorch, leaving the sharp witted Polish player incapable of any smack talk.
Kolemoen would go on to face Freddybabes in the final. Despite falling short of the title, he has been a regular face in the scene ever since. Not surprising, because his Challenger appearance more than proved his worth among the top players.
4: SuperJJ’s 4 Million IQ Play
What is it about Scorch that creates so many memorable moments? This list wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the man with the 4 million IQ himself, SuperJJ. The German player earned this nickname when defeating GameKing in a nail-biting set of games in GWENT Open #2. It was the final round where it happened. SuperJJ, with a Villentretenmerth on the board, was seeking out maximum value from his impending Scorch. Unfortunately for GameKing, he was left with his own dead Scorch in hand so was already at a disadvantage.
This enabled SuperJJ to set up a Scorch hotter than the Eternal Fire. He used his Keira Metz to Thunderbolt Potion GameKing’s siege row, which lined up a game winning quadruple Scorch. Not only did this bamboozle the casters and chat but we’re pretty sure even Geralt himself would have had to utilise his Witcher senses to have determine that outcome.
5: GWENT Challenger #2 – Freddybabes vs Lifecoach
Finally, was there any doubt? We all remember this moment. After a break from competitive GWENT, taken to organise his own tournament series, Lifecoach made his triumphant return to defend his Challenger title. After a 3-0 performance on day one against GameKing, the returning champion proved he wasn’t rusty and was able to win a Skellige mirror on the wrong side of the coin. He advanced to day two, where he would clash with Freddybabes.
This was when the Conjunction of the Spheres occurred, changing competitive GWENT as we know it. The young Brit appeared to have struck a deal with the Man of Glass himself. Not only was he able to defeat Lifecoach, but Freddybabes made short work of him, too. After Lifecoach chose to mulligan Rainfarn over Iris – which empowered Freddy’s Yennefer/Unicorn – Freddybabes punished this mistake with a dominant 3-0 performance. This victory against one of GWENT’s oldest and familiar faces made him the favourite, and he went on to win the tournament.
What memorable moments will Challenger #3 bring?
SrdjanB;n10846421 said:
Your point is crystal clear, but 2 players competing in this Challenger actually qualified by winning Online qualifiers for top 200. So while Pro ladder still plays an important role, it's fair to say that there are, in fact, different ways now for new stars to emerge.
TrustyMcTrust;n10846921 said:
Thursday is little Friday
SynVolka;n10819281 said:
Hi! First of all, thank you for the kind words and your faith, means a lot! The idea was brewing since the beginning of the year, the project itself is being worked on as I write this, with new gameplay prototypes already being tested, our focus is now split between implementing the changes to multiplayer (Homecoming) and working on Thronebreaker.
Cheers!
Premium Keg Weekend is back!
Premium Keg Weekend is back! Until Monday (April 23rd, 12 PM CEST), all 5th cards in the opened kegs will be Premium. Get a guaranteed animated card in every keg you open during the event!
Meet the Challenger #3 participants — Part 1
by Sean "Swim" Huguenard
Challenger is getting closer and closer, and while we’ve already talked about what decks you can expect to see, the time has come to talk about the players! The most important thing to any GWENT event are the people competing. Even though most of them should be fairly known by now, there are still a few names you might not be familiar with. Today, I’m presenting you with a very brief rundown of where our players come from and what they’ve done to get here!
You may remember the first contestant from our recent interview. It’s the Polish Tailgod himself! TailBot is best known for his cocky attitude — a running joke people are compelled to watch. He saw some success in the last Open by making sure to soft target some of the more meta decks, and he may very well do it again. His favorite card in the game is, of course, Scoia’tael’s Wardancer.
Next, we have an absolute Closed Beta veteran from Russia. Cmel, known for creating a concept of drypassing very early in the game’s lifespan, was the single person to go for Skellige in many of the Closed Beta’s metas and often held top spots on the ladder.
Third, Hanachan — the master of meta calls. Bringing decks that would soon become staples such as Alchemy and Greatswords, Hanachan was the winner of GWENT Open 4, and runner-up in the second Challenger, after getting reverse swept by a very confident TailBot. This event, Hanachan is looking to bring victory to China and his Chinese sponsor, Huya.
You probably wouldn’t paint Freddybabes, the winner of the second GWENT Open, second Challenger, and first Gwentslam, as someone who always attempts to play, what he considers, joke decks. This English player has halted his University studies in order to play GWENT, so expect him to be performing his best!
That’s all for now, stay on the lookout for Part 2 where we cover Adzikov, SuperJJ, I_aPOROgize, and Kolemoen!
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Ic3Purple;n10832901 said:
The update is now live
Maxim_Nazarenko;n10833171 said:
It's coming this weeknd
Gentnovic;n10740271 said:
This works as intended.
thirdeye50;n10752721 said:
Therealmorkvarg;n10757551 said:
In ranked play players are mathed based on their MMR. Deck configuration doesn't influence matchmaking.
TheNotoriousThree;n10791861 said:
It's hard to say at the moment, please wait until after project Homecoming is finished. Thank you for your kind words!
Hydrahead;n10801111 said:
We're not planning one at the moment But we'll think about it
Snake_Foxhounder;n10820021 said:
We want to make it possible to obtain special rewards from past events in future events.
Nerys;n10828941 said:
At the moment we're concentrating on the Homecoming project, but we'll keep this suggestion in mind
RedSpotSylphina;n10806211 said:Now that the voting has started, may I submit my entry to the ArtStation and DeviantArt as well?
Of course you can! Rules aren't forbidding posting arts on other websites
TheShift;n10811261 said:
Once we’re ready we will have both closed and open PTRs for project Homecoming.
Clxmj;n10811041 said:
No wipes are planned.
Faction board skins and missing premiums are here!
The new update for GWENT: The Witcher Card Game is now available on PC, Xbox One and PS4!
With this update, our main focus was to fix major issues experienced by the players, especially on Xbox One platform whereby turn progression would get blocked, as well as improving mulligan phase - the chances of redrawing the same card that had already been put back in the deck, are decreased.
Additionally, we’re introducing the second Arena mode! Starting today, you will be able to choose whether you want to play with Classic or Special: Mimic ruleset, in which you will swap decks with your opponent. This event ends at noon (CEST) on April 24th.
Also, we've redesigned boards - you can see your faction’s color and character spill onto battlefield now!
Full list of changes:
New features:
- Second Arena mode added!
- New board designs!
- Added 30+ premium cards!
Game fixes:
- Fixed an issue whereby turn progression would get blocked on Xbox One.
- Fixed an issue whereby users erroneously joined Arena matchmaking after selecting Casual or Ranked play.
- Fixed the Titles displayed in Season End rewards for the top 10,000 rankings.
- Fixed Geralt: Yrden's premium card sword animation.
- Fixed an issue whereby An Craite Raider's ability would trigger when Consumed from deck or hand.
- Fixed an issue whereby Stefan Skellen would not boost Geralt: Professional after moving it to the top of the deck.
- Fixed several issues with Summoning Circle
- Fixed an issue whereby cards would get stuck after canceling their abilities.
- Added notification about GOG Galaxy overlay requirement for real currency transactions to get Mirror Shards.
- Fixed the Transmute button on previews of unowned premium cards.
- Fixed an issue whereby Cerys an Craite's counter would trigger only once when Discarded by Bran Tuirseach before 2 other units that are immediately Resurrected.
- Improved redraw algorithms to decrease the chances of redrawing a card that had already been put back in the deck once.
- Fixed an issue whereby Geralt: Professional could be played on the opponent's side.
- Several tooltip fixes and improvements.
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Swim's Meta Breakdown before Challenger
by Sean "Swim" Huguenard
GWENT Challenger is coming and participants are already making the necessary preparations to compete for glory and hefty prize pool.
In preparation, the most daunting task before competitors is choosing four decks to bring to the tournament. With the playfield of equal skill, a lineup can be a deciding factor in the outcome, where one wrong guess could cost them their entire run. This preparation of a perfect line up is what will separate the true professionals from simply good players.
With that said, let’s try and predict for ourselves how the tournament meta of the third Challenger will look, and which decks are guaranteed to make an appearance or are still up for debate.
Building the Foundation: the Ladder Meta
The main difference between the tournament and ladder meta is that decks on ladder have to be strong and versatile, as there’s no way of knowing what your opponent is going to play. In tournaments, it is quite different. A player can ban decks they don’t really want to face. However, there are still parallels between the two environments, as some decks are just that potent.
Henselt Machines — There’s absolutely no doubt that Henselt will return for this bout, as it has several advantages that make it even stronger in tournaments.
- A lack of heavily unfavored matchups: The majority of tier one decks have matchups that could be annoying for the player. Henselt lacks this sort of weakness. While some matchups can feel hard for the player, there’s no deck in the meta that Henselt can’t realistically beat.
- Incredible power when going first: In an official tournament environment, deciding who goes first or second is controlled, which means that players are aware if they’ll be going second in the next match. The power of Henselt when going second is supplemented by Dun Banners, so both outcomes are good for the Henselt player.
Greatswords Skellige — Initially, players were hesitant to use this deck in the removal-heavy meta. Perhaps due to Huyahanachan’s decision to feature it in his line up in GWENT Open, where it performed spectacularly, the deck got the recognition it deserved.
- A large number of engines, and easy access to them: Many engine decks suffer from the fact that it’s hard to pull them out of the deck, on top of them being easily removed. Greatswords and Longship are both harder to remove and can be resurrected with ease, making it difficult for a majority of decks to effectively shut them down.
- Difficulty of tuning decks for the matchup: Of all the competition, only Alchemy Nilfgaard has a natural way of countering Greatsword’s strategy without sacrificing too much value in other matchups. Every other deck not only needs to put specific cards to shut down everything that Greatswords have, but these cards can also lower their chances against non-Greatsword matchups.
Alchemy Nilfgaard — The playerbase’s favorite for the last few months, Alchemy has experienced a certain drop in popularity. With how prevalent both Greatswords Skellige and Henselt Machines are however, it’s more than likely that this deck makes an appearance.
- Unparalleled amount of removal: The majority of tier one decks at the moment rely on specific cards remaining on the board. Alchemy disrupts that like no other, as Viper Witchers in combination with an arsenal of silver alchemies like Mandrake, remove any important threats from the board.
- Its reputation working for the benefit of the player: Even if Alchemy gets banned, this can be used to that player’s advantage. With so many players being afraid of its removal potential, Alchemy can be used as a ban bait, perhaps giving a would-be Alchemy player exactly what they want and protecting all other decks from being banned.
Expecting the Unexpected: Niche Tournament Strategies
These above mentioned decks are staples, both in tournaments and on ladder, but because of their popularity people are aware of how to play against them. Tournament metagames always allow the inventive deck builders to shine however, as they can bring decks that are not very popular, giving them a certain surprise factor and edge.
There are of course, other decks worth mentioning, but not quite deserving of their own sections. Deathwish Dagon and Cursed Skellige are two decks that fit this category and that will likely serve a very similar function. These two decks can be important to include as they can target Alchemy Nilfgaard to an extent without losing too hard to other decks. Cursed decks have also picked up a bit of steam lately, and are likely to be seen due to Deathwish having a weaker matchup with Greatswords Skellige.
Another deck easily worth mentioning is Brouver Nova Swap — an elf swarm deck that uses Ciri: Nova as a powerful round three finisher. The deck is powerful in both long and short rounds, and its ability to retain card advantage is on par with other popular meta decks. Due to its lack of engines, the deck is also heavily favored against Alchemy, making it a prime suspect to show up.
We always hope to see some of these styles of decks at live events, as they add a lot of uniqueness and can catch people off guard, while still being very competitive. At the very least, we can expect to see a good mix of both tournament staples and some slightly less common decks in this month’s GWENT Challenger. Watching how things play out will definitely be intense and fun!
Paradosi;n10810341 said:
It's 8 rows:
hand
3rd row
2nd row
1st row
----
1st row
2nd row
3rd row
hand
Goro123;n10808991 said:
Card abilities will change totally, if you have a card which you don't like you can mill it and craft a card of the same rarity for free.
Art Contest - Community Vote is now open!
Community Vote is now open! ☑
Pick your favourite artworks at https://www.playgwent.com/art-contest
Community Vote is now open! ☑
Pick your favourite artworks at https://www.playgwent.com/art-contest
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GWENT Homecoming — see what's next for GWENT
I love GWENT — especially when I am winning. At times, I hate it — it’s when I get my ass kicked. GWENT is one of the very few games I play almost every day (I clocked close to 350 hours). Why am I telling you this? It’s because I want you to know that I’m invested and treat GWENT very personally.
GWENT HOMECOMING — an Open Letter from Marcin Iwiński and the development team
I love GWENT — especially when I am winning. At times, I hate it — it’s when I get my ass kicked. GWENT is one of the very few games I play almost every day (I clocked close to 350 hours). Why am I telling you this? It’s because I want you to know that I’m invested and treat GWENT very personally.
I still remember the excitement of E3 2016 when we announced GWENT on PC and consoles. It was a blast! Well received by both you — gamers — and the media, I think we couldn't have had a better opening. And boy..., were we naive. Compared to the single player RPGs we had been creating so far, we didn’t realize how different it was to operate and develop a live game at the same time.
A year later, we took GWENT to Public Beta and — again — tons of gamers jumped in and checked it out. We still had a lot to learn. But, as always, we adapted. What we didn’t realize back then was that we also started slowly drifting away from our original vision for standalone GWENT. While fighting with the everyday reality of regular updates and content drops, we lost sight of what was unique and fun about the game. And you played a big role in making us realize that. Thank you for your sincere feedback!
We have never accepted ‘good enough’ at our company. We have always taken risks and made bold decisions if we believed they would result in a better game. And, you’ve guessed it, we’ve just made one now.
We call this project GWENT Homecoming.
We want GWENT to kick some serious ass and reignite your passion for our beloved CCG. We would like to ask you for your trust and patience. We need 6 months of fully-focused development to deliver what we’ve planned. Aside from standard season transitions and events like Faction Challenges or Warped Arena rulesets, we will release only two updates during this time. One in April — it will introduce the missing Premium Cards as well as faction specific board skins — and one in May, which will balance out the game (Wardancer included) with a new approach to “Create”. Six months is a long time, however, on the flip side, after Homecoming concludes, we will go out of beta and release Thronebreaker at the same time. Don’t worry about your progress, once Homecoming is complete, for a limited time, you will have the ability to mill all of your cards for their full value. Regarding our esports activities, for now, our calendar is not changing.
As for details on Homecoming, Kasia and Rafał, GWENT’s leads, have broken down the project into the following key pillars:
- Turning GWENT into a battlefield
When you play GWENT, you are a leader of an army from the world of The Witcher. We want to put more effort into reflecting that in in-game mechanics and visuals. As an example, we would like to introduce a preferred row for some cards that would grant them additional benefits when put on that row. Also, rows in the front and back would always grant a different buff when a unit is placed there.
- Upgrading the board
Currently, rows don’t have direct impact on gameplay. If we count the hands of both players, we are looking at 8 rows in total. Our greatest visual assets — card art and premium versions of cards — are too small to shine in the current view. What we’re aiming for is a complete overhaul of the visual experience. The redesign will leave no stone unturned. We are even considering cutting one of the rows and leaving only melee and range. It’s still something that requires extensive testing, but we’re that serious about making things work.
- Fixing the coin mechanic
Currently, going second can give players a significant advantage. We heard you — we will ‘fix the coin flip’ and are already testing possible solutions.
- Revamping player progression
We have a lot of things planned for new and returning players. We will be offering a proper tutorial to ease first time players into playing GWENT. There will also be a new leveling system, achievements and a revised ranked mode — all with suitable rewards.
- Focusing on skill and player agency
We heard you discussing the “Create” mechanic. At first, we thought it would be an interesting addition to the game, but — as time passed — we realized that this form of wide RNG is not something that fits our focus on player skill. We will be extra careful with these types of mechanics in the redesign process. That said, if we manage to find some cards interesting enough to include, but ‘too crazy for Ranked’, they will still have their place in Arena and Casual Mode.
- Re-focusing on core gamers
We want GWENT to remain a deep game, where each faction has its identity and offers distinctive gameplay archetypes. We want rows to really matter in terms of gameplay, and gameplay itself needs to be engaging and rewarding.
- Bringing back The Witcher
Homecoming will bring back a darker aesthetic and mood, more in sync with the original Witcher lore. We’ll change the main menus and in-game shop, as well as work on a consistent UI and UX throughout the entire game.
- Thronebreaker
We saved the best for last. After Homecoming concludes, we will launch GWENT along with Thronebreaker — our single player campaign. A dedicated team has been hard at work to deliver you a great new story from the Witcher universe. Expect goodness!
Best regards,
Marcin Iwiński, co-founder / joint CEO
Katarzyna Redesiuk, Game Director
Rafał Jaki, Product Director
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This Week in GWENT 13.04.2018
Don’t miss out on our latest 12th episode of TWIG, where something ends and something begins.
Don’t miss out on our latest 12th episode of TWIG, where something ends and something begins.
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