Any tips on dealing with Nilfgaard? Particularly the Tibor Eggebracht/Golem boosting deck

[goodninja3]

Struggling to get to Rank 4 because I'm battling nothing but Nilfgaard decks. I play Northern Realms and to me they seem completely useless against Nilfgaard.

There's this deck keep seeing over and over again (Besides the usual Poison decks)

I'm trying to figure a counter to this strategy which is basically:

1. Leader Ability Seize Units = Up to 6 Power and Lock Strategem

2. Completely based on pure tactics cards. Base Units are minimum

3. First Round Use Unit Scorpion or Menno Coehoorn and constantly barrage the enemy with tactics so things like Treason, Assassination, maybe Vilgefortz (Yes he's basically a special card). Then use Artorius Vigo to spawn copy units. Completely dominate with Venedel Elite as well since you get a free boost of 7-8 tactic cards. Refills the Scorpion when you use tactics cards too.

4. Second Round...if you won the first round, play until your opponent expends most of their cards, use your leader ability here if you have too. Make them work for the round make sure to keep the main few cards of Tibor/Golem safely NOT in your hand...but in your deck.

5. The Final Round is where it all comes down to. Xarthisius reveals a "random card" and boosts himself by it's power. IT ALWAYS IS EITHER TIBOR OR GOLEM....and opponents have no way of shutting it down besides a Geralt.

6. But that's not all... Yennefer: Divination reveals another "random card" from the deck and IT ALWAYS IS EITHER TIBER OR GOLEM and boosts an ally by its power...and opponents have no way of shutting it down!

7. But that's still not all...Triss Merigold reveals another "random card" from the deck and IT ALWAYS IS EITHER TIBER OR GOLEM...and you can damage your opponent...and your opponents still has no way of shutting it down!

With anything there has to be a counter to a strategy... but I cant reach into the opponents deck and kill units like NG can...but that seems to be my only option here...any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Bleach25]

Forget about engines if you're playing against this deck. It just packs too much removal. Best strategy I can think of is Bleeding during round 2 (but you have to be successful, or you have good chances of losing round 3)
Tech tall punishment. Xarthisius and Boosting Yen are optimal targets. Also one lock for Hefty Helge, as it can be devastating in a loung round. To wrap up:
Play a wide point-slam deck with tall removal. Or NG mill.

 

[DRK3]

@goodninja3 That deck that you're struggling against and that you described in detail, it's called 'NG Hyperthin', its not new, it actually was very popular in the summer of last year.

Your description, it gave me the impression you already understood their strategy - they push R1 and R2 really hard, not afraid of losing CA because their last 3/4 plays are usually +15 pts each, enough to beat most opponents even if they have an extra card.

Im assuming you want to stick to NR and still beat these Hyperthins. It maybe easier with other factions, but its still doable with NR.

- I recommend using Vincent and Bloody Baron. These are amazing cards that do well against tall units (Vincent vs the actual TIbors/Golems, Baron vs the boosted Xarthisius/Yen). Even against other decks, they usually provide really good value, specially against MO or SK.

- like the other user said, you dont want to run engine decks, the enslave deck will ruin that with all those cheap removal tactics, plus the actual enslave leader ability to turn your cards against you. You may want to try something like caravan vanguards + Draug to generate revenants, that usually provides good value and too many units for enslave to deal with.

 

[goodninja3]

@goodninja3 That deck that you're struggling against and that you described in detail, it's called 'NG Hyperthin', its not new, it actually was very popular in the summer of last year.

Your description, it gave me the impression you already understood their strategy - they push R1 and R2 really hard, not afraid of losing CA because their last 3/4 plays are usually +15 pts each, enough to beat most opponents even if they have an extra card.

Im assuming you want to stick to NR and still beat these Hyperthins. It maybe easier with other factions, but its still doable with NR.

- I recommend using Vincent and Bloody Baron. These are amazing cards that do well against tall units (Vincent vs the actual TIbors/Golems, Baron vs the boosted Xarthisius/Yen). Even against other decks, they usually provide really good value, specially against MO or SK.

- like the other user said, you dont want to run engine decks, the enslave deck will ruin that with all those cheap removal tactics, plus the actual enslave leader ability to turn your cards against you. You may want to try something like caravan vanguards + Draug to generate revenants, that usually provides good value and too many units for enslave to deal with.

Unfortunately I am running the revenants build; but how do i counter when they either lock or assassinate my revenants?

Post automatically merged: Mar 27, 2020

Baron is an interesting pick...not sure if bleed is actually good against them however.
I use Geralt Yrden for my resets. That's how I was able to get to Rank 5

 

[Weatherdragon21]

Unfortunately I am running the revenants build; but how do i counter when they either lock or assassinate my revenants?

Post automatically merged: Mar 27, 2020

Baron is an interesting pick...not sure if bleed is actually good against them however.
I use Geralt Yrden for my resets. That's how I was able to get to Rank 5

all decks have rock-paper-scissors type weakness. Hyperthin is probably the paper to your rock.
Adding in more tall removal if you're running into it a lot isn't bad. At this rank, no one expects geralt.
Baron wasn't suggested because of the bleed ability, just the big-body reset. If the opponet doesn't put xar and the unit yenn boosts on the same row, baron is better than yrden. And hyperthin /should/ play around yrden.
A suggestion: ofiri merchant. Hyperthins biggest weakness is its really draw dependent. It needs thinning cards, and it needs to keep big boys in deck, otherwise it can't win. merchant swaps your deck's top card with theirs. It's a bit RNG i'll admit with the more special cards you have, but it adds a unit to their pool, and in R3 makes all their big plays not 100% guaranteed, since you traded a unit. Plus merchant is human, so you can still draug him. Just remember if you add 2, don't use them the same turn. But you should only need 1.

 

[goodninja3]

all decks have rock-paper-scissors type weakness. Hyperthin is probably the paper to your rock.
Adding in more tall removal if you're running into it a lot isn't bad. At this rank, no one expects geralt.
Baron wasn't suggested because of the bleed ability, just the big-body reset. If the opponet doesn't put xar and the unit yenn boosts on the same row, baron is better than yrden. And hyperthin /should/ play around yrden.
A suggestion: ofiri merchant. Hyperthins biggest weakness is its really draw dependent. It needs thinning cards, and it needs to keep big boys in deck, otherwise it can't win. merchant swaps your deck's top card with theirs. It's a bit RNG i'll admit with the more special cards you have, but it adds a unit to their pool, and in R3 makes all their big plays not 100% guaranteed, since you traded a unit. Plus merchant is human, so you can still draug him. Just remember if you add 2, don't use them the same turn. But you should only need 1.

I'll try it but the odds seem waaay out of my favor

 

[DRK3]

Unfortunately I am running the revenants build; but how do i counter when they either lock or assassinate my revenants?

Post automatically merged: Mar 27, 2020

Baron is an interesting pick...not sure if bleed is actually good against them however.
I use Geralt Yrden for my resets. That's how I was able to get to Rank 5

You're using revenants from hand/ special, or are you using Draug? Dont use them from hand, against enslave they have no chance to survive. If you're using Draug correctly, and specially against Enslave, you need 4/5 humans on a row, so when you play Draug, the opponent cant deal with that many revenants in 1 turn (unless they use Auckes with Serrit on hand, but that's highly unlikely, specially on a Hyperthin deck).

Regarding resets, when i suggested Bloody Baron i didnt know you had Yrden. Having both is a little too much.
Baron is less risky and better in most situations.
But on a few situations, like 2 units boosted by Tibor's value, or a monster consume deck with many units +10pt on a row, Yrden is better. Also, if your opponent is above decent, he will spread these huge units on different rows, so to have a mega yrden you would have to have row movement.

P.S. - the offieri merchant the other user suggested, its similar to Yrden or Bomb Heaver, in the sense it can be game-winning (in this case, against NG Hyperthin), but in most situations it will be near worthless.