I Think Professional Gwent Would Be Much Improved By Allowing Deck Editing Between Rounds

[jiffyb333]

EDIT#2: So good ideas were discussed but I want the debate to come to some form of community consensus as to what we think would be the best/most practical option for CDPR to use so I made a video compiling the major points I saw:

EDIT: I now realize that my use of the word "round" was misleading. I made a video to try and clarify what I meant:

So I love the first round of professional Gwent tournaments but not the second or third rounds and only recently discovered why that is the case. I'm not the first one to notice this problem and I would cite those who brought it up first if I could remember them. The main problem is that in the current system a winner can almost be determined before any matches if they guess what everyone else is going to be running. For example let's say in the next Gwent Open kolemoen thinks that everyone is going to be running 'Commander's Horn' decks so he runs 'Geralt: Yrden' in all of his decks, if he's right he will crush his way to the top but if he's wrong he's likely going to flop due to putting a mostly dead card in his decks. Now this is what is so exciting about the first round of professional Gwent tournaments, seeing who guessed the meta correctly and adapted for it but also what makes later rounds boring and predictable.

Now if deck editing was introduced between rounds everything suddenly becomes more exciting. Now if kolemoen guesses correctly with his 'Geralt: Yrden' and dominates the first round going into round two he is faced with a tough choice. His next opponent, let's say it's Freddybabes, knows he was running 'Geralt: Yrden' in all of his decks so he might switch up his strategy to counter him, but kolemoen knows that Freddybabes loves 'Commander's Horn' so he thinks Freddy might run it anyway hoping that kolemoen swaps off 'Geralt: Yrden,' so now there is a lot of tension where before there was a sense of inevitability. There is still room for good play to triumph but so much of playing Gwent is trying to predict the meta and account for it when deck building so I would love to see it more heavily incorporated into a professional scene I want to love from start to finish.

TLDR: Add deck editing/switching between tournament rounds to make rounds 2 and 3 more tension filled and less predictable.

 

[Sleeperko]

You mean implementing side deck?

 

[Draconifors]

It's not possible to just pause a match to edit decks, though. They would have to implement a way to do that -- and while I know nothing about game programming, I suspect it might not be doable.

Besides, IIRC participants need to submit their decks before the tournaments actually take place.

 

[Sleeperko]

Ah, I thought that he meant between the games in BO 3/5/7. That would make much more sense, if each player can use cards from the side deck (unique side deck for each deck), and it will not be revealed to his opponent which cards were interchanged.
Changing cards during single game does not look like good and executable idea...

 

[Draconifors]

Ah, I thought that he meant between the games in BO 3/5/7.

Re-reading the OP, I think you're right.
My bad.

But regardless, decks need to be submitted beforehand (9.1.b. here), so this still wouldn't work.

 

[Sleeperko]

But regardless, decks need to be submitted beforehand (9.1.b. here), so this still wouldn't work.

Indeed, I understand that. I was just thinking that side decks would be submitted together with the complete deck lists. The existence of side decks (maybe only 3-5 cards - possibly limited to swap only 1/2 cards between each game) would allow little flexibility for each faction deck. From the other point of view, the opponent can easily (more or less) predict which cards will be replaced based on the faction deck he will be currently using and also to fit into provision value since it cannot go higher, only lower.

Maybe wrong thread and I should mind my own business... but it is just a minor suggestion

Also the referenced page with rules should be updated:
"All Participants must prepare four (4) different decks from the in-game factions (i.e. ‘Northern Realms’, ‘Nilfgaard’, ‘Skellige’, ‘Scoia’tael’ and ‘Monsters’, with only one (1) deck per faction) with a minimum of 25 cards per deck with a total provision cost of 165 or less"

 

[jiffyb333]

Re-reading the OP, I think you're right.
My bad.

But regardless, decks need to be submitted beforehand (9.1.b. here), so this still wouldn't work.

I suppose if the technology isn't in place to allow for a sideboard or deck editing of any sort then competitors could submit multiple decks per faction and choose to select a different one when going into a round. This would be less graceful but accomplish a similar goal. Thank you for bringing up the deck editing as a potential technical issue.

 

[rrc]

IIRC, some of the top players lost because they could not secure a win with their ST deck (Eithnè spelltel deck?) Consistently more than one players lost the game because they couldn't win with their ST deck. I remember one guy who was 2-0 in lead lost the next three games because his ST deck was pathetic. No one had teched against it, and yet he couldn't win and eventually losing the tournament.

Why should not players create a deck and issue a challenge before every round? Let the 1-deck-per-faction rule be there, but which deck/leader, let players build before the rounds start.

 

[Kelbob]

It's a matter of the time it would take. Tournaments would take WAY too long if all the players had to build decks before each game. It would also make it very difficult to broadcast the tournaments live. ( Not to mention trying to watch it )

 

[jiffyb333]

It's a matter of the time it would take. Tournaments would take WAY too long if all the players had to build decks before each game. It would also make it very difficult to broadcast the tournaments live. ( Not to mention trying to watch it )

Well it wouldn't be before every game but every set of games. There is already a break from the first day of games to the 2nd, and the final round also has a break before it begins. So I don't think any time would be added. Here's a video clarifying what I was trying to say, I hope this makes it more clear.

Post automatically merged: Jan 15, 2019

IIRC, some of the top players lost because they could not secure a win with their ST deck (Eithnè spelltel deck?) Consistently more than one players lost the game because they couldn't win with their ST deck. I remember one guy who was 2-0 in lead lost the next three games because his ST deck was pathetic. No one had teched against it, and yet he couldn't win and eventually losing the tournament.

Why should not players create a deck and issue a challenge before every round? Let the 1-deck-per-faction rule be there, but which deck/leader, let players build before the rounds start.

And under my system a weak deck would still be punished, I'm more so want to avoid predictable outcomes in the final day of play. I made a video to try and clarify what I meant.

 

[4RM3D]

A sideboard is already an established concept. I mean, you didn't have to make a video out of it. Nonetheless, thank you for showing us your hungry cat.

 

[jiffyb333]

A sideboard is already an established concept. I mean, you didn't have to make a video out of it. Nonetheless, thank you for showing us your hungry cat.

Good point, so I made another video compiling good talking points in the hope that a deeper discussion can be had. I would love to know your thoughts.