I've gone numb in the fingers from repeating this over and over again. The rows DID matter even after agility, because you were paying attention where you put your cards - at least it was so in every game I played. I can link you countless tournament and non-tournament battles, where players were consciously arranging their units on the three different rows, for various reasons. There were countless cards and mechanics which worked better on three rows and were subsequently scrapped, changed into something else, or nerfed into uselessness (like weather). The game was better BALANCED on three rows. It was more fun to evade your adversary's attempts at removal (pure removal was considered reactionary and second-tier compared to building points), you had more space to play...Gwent is made to be played on three rows. It's better in every way.
Just because units weren't row locked anymore, or because they didn't do ability A or ability B or C depending on which row you played them (IMPORTANT REMINDER: which most cards STILL don't do today with two rows), that doesn't mean that rows didn't matter. It was just a popular PR catchphrase promoted by CDPR to justify their switching to two rows, which had ZERO to do with gameplay, and EVERYTHING to do with card art and marketing. I wish CDPR would deign to sacrifice 1/3 of their card size on the "battlefield", make some of the extra stuff smaller (such as the player's hands - especially the opponent's - the graveyard and deck), and squeeze in that 3d row again.
For me personally, and I am not alone in this, 3 rows is a must. And if we're talking about ideas, and what CDPR *should* be doing to give rows more meaning, instead of chopping rows, I direct you to my following thread:
https://forums.cdprojektred.com/ind...maximum-reach-3-for-non-siege-units.10991725/
Hmm, in order to point out why I think they stopped mattering post agility patch it's necessary to take a step back and look at Gwent before said patch. Once upon a time we had row locked units. Lots of them. This had broad effects all the way from deck building to card play choices.
As an example, you had to split up your rows in the deck builder. Otherwise you ran all melee and got ripped by weather or row targeted cards. It gave the deck builder, shall we say, structure. There were also agile units where, even if they had less power, you might consider running them. Agility was a unique card trait. Unique card traits offer utility.
You also had to think about when you played cards far more. If you played a melee card with 3-4 melee units already out you were giving value to cards like, say, Lacerate. Or you might be opening yourself up to a Gigni. Or you might be vulnerable to weather. There were all sorts of decisions going into a card play before you even placed it on the board. You could actually block cards from being played because of it. Not only did you need to balance rows in the deck builder but often in the rounds as well.
Fast forward to post agility. Everything is now agile. All those pre-thought out decisions went poof. Opponent might be running Gigni? No problem, put a card in another row. All those deck builder decisions went poof. No need to balance rows if you can put anything anywhere. Want to run a weather deck and carry different row locked weathers so you can hit more than 1 row? No need, weather is now agile. Just load up on frost or fog.
Yes, decisions about when to put units in a given row were still important, even up until the "end". The difference is they were simplified greatly. I'm not sure why they opted to go this route. If memory serves some units were agile, more units were given agility and all of a sudden, bam, everything is agile. I don't know if it was to simplify the game play, design process, both or to open up deck building. In any case, the decision making going into row choices went from a huge deal to kind of just there in the back of your head.
All of this is irrelevant at this point. We don't have 3 rows anymore. We have HC. As much as I'd like to see a return to 3 rows with expansion of the "preferred row" system I doubt it will happen. By all means ask for it
. Demand it if you want. I'm not trying to get in your way. Just being realistic.
As for the synergies, I'm sorry but the fun is just not the same when your deck is a mish-mash of mini-combos, and everything is only loosely related. There are big archetypes which still exist (NG reveal immediately comes to mind although it's oppressive for other reasons), but the new abilities coupled with the provision system make it very hard to build decks in which every cog supports the war machine. Also, while I don't like point-slamming any more than you do, you cannot tell me that pulling off a 6-card combo is not fun. It doesn't have to give crazy points. But just making it work is mad fun, as opposed to pulling out every card one by one. And the game DOES need at least some thinning. I'm not advocating for a return to Mill-era or Craitesword-era or Consume-era super predictable gameplay, but some degree of tutoring, thinning and card combos...cannot be the enemy here. Not sure what your stance is exactly, but surely we must agree that some more consistency and less draw-dependence is good here.
Well, I don't think they are a mish-mash of mini-combos. If I play big Woodlands it makes sense through and through. Big units synergize with thrive units, thrive units + big units gives you a nice mix of... big units and slowly growing units. The GY interaction to re-play the big units has synergy. Even the Forktails had synergy with the thrive units. Synergy abound.
Reveal is another example. The funny thing about Reveal is you don't actually need to run all Reveal units. It can be paired with weather/movement, soldier related concepts, Unicorn/Chiro/utility golds and more. This type of flexibility wouldn't have been a thing in old Gwent. It wouldn't have fit with the "archetype". I'd call this an improvement. Not necessarily only because it's flexible either. It's because the other player cannot know, with absolute certainty, what you have based on a glance at your leader. He/she has to see the game unfold. He/she also has to understand the NG faction quite well to piece together what you're trying to accomplish, and what you're likely running to do it, as the game unfolds. He/she can end up shit creek right quick if they don't piece it together correctly or quickly enough.
Not sure what your stance is exactly, but surely we must agree that some more consistency and less draw-dependence is good here.
Honestly, this mulligan system sucks. I'm just going to flat out say it. It was given more than enough of a chance. It sucks
. I'll start with that.
In terms of thinning/tutors.... I'm not sure how it could be fixed. The problem is the 25 card deck with the 6 card draws for R2-R3. You're guaranteed to at least see 16 cards. More off every... reasonable mulligan. That makes it a fine line between too many tutors/thin tools and not enough. Case and point, SK. So they could add single card pull options but then you need to run several of them. They could add more trio options but then you're risking going too far the other way. Case and point, SK.
If they "fix" the mulligan system it may not be needed. Even then an extra thin/tutor tool for each faction probably wouldn't hurt. Except for SK (seeing if it will set in, sorry)... By fix I mean pull out the shackles, call in the priest and round up the executioner. Explaining why cards tossed via mulligans still always seem to come back would be cool too. Always kind of took "shuffle back into your deck" to mean shuffle back into your deck. Not put it on top
. Or put it in the top third. Or give it back because the mulligan gods woke up on the wrong side of bed....