Skellige is still ridiculously strong

[Slizzl]

Am I the only one who feels this way?
Despite the numerous balancing attempts they still throw out absolutely ridiculous value while removing at the same time. I simply can't keep up with them.
Boat, Blood Eagle, Bronze Veterans all of these are still such high value for their provisions. I'd even argue Harald is still the strongest evolve card.

 

[ya1]

I don't know... I haven't tried the Rain leader and the new GS shenanigans (I think meh) but the midrange SK warriors on PF actually got a solid 2 provision nerf. It means 2 good 5p go for very mediocre now 4p or one of the quite essential 7p go for a 5p (probably the latter will be "meta" because SK 5p are supergood, and Shieldwall probably won't be reasonably fixed so you need at least one pingy boat, too). Anyway, it's a solid nerf.

I think Viraxis is now undoubtetly the strongest evolver because devs were too busy breaking the game and forgot to nerf it, and with Shieldwall Viraxis is like 30 value or what lol.

 

[DRK3]

I've built 4 SK decks this patch - all Rage of the Sea - and i agree.

- Comparing the new abilities: i really dont like Battle Trance, as it can only be used to go extremely tall on a Drakkar or Draco Turtle, and i tend to avoid going tall, its not my style. Also, the passive ability of healing 1 with every alchemy just sucks, it would be much better if it boosted.
On the other hand, Rage of the Sea provides more value overall (12pts if it doesnt hit armor/shields, or 18 if combined with a GS), separate charges so you can distribute them on different rounds, but also amazing versatility - you can use it for beast decks, pirate decks or warrior decks and any mix inbetween, and it synergizes well.

- The cardpool: its still super strong indeed. SK bronzes just feel stronger than most other factions. Also the CHANGE to greatswords, stopped a lot of greedy versions (although you can still use Dagur), but made them more consistent - pop a GS and a rage of the sea charge and he usually goes to 7, outside of removal range of virtually anything.

- Dont know if there's any meta reports since the patch, but i think Shieldwall is widely considered the top deck. I would say a good SK deck can put up a fight, i've played a bit of ranked and i think i won every single match with my SK pirate deck. When i was facing Shieldwall it was a tough matchup, but i felt like my deck was strong enough to compete, so the skill level actually mattered, a feeling i hadnt felt in a long time.

 

[lor1keet]

Am I the only one who feels this way?
Despite the numerous balancing attempts they still throw out absolutely ridiculous value while removing at the same time. I simply can't keep up with them.
Boat, Blood Eagle, Bronze Veterans all of these are still such high value for their provisions. I'd even argue Harald is still the strongest evolve card.

100% agree with you on this. However, it is currently overshadowed by how ridiculously strong NR is right now.

 

[Bellatrix_]

Shieldwall Viraxis is like 30 value or what lol.

What a huge exaggeration

 

[4RM3D]

For further discussion about Shieldwall, please use the existing thread: Shieldwall Hotfix Waiting Room.

 

[Dant3s15]

Blood eagle into harald in round 3 is a fcking joke

 

[Hegemonkey]

The only SK card that really annoys me is Hemdall. Point slam and row punish!? How do you even play around it lol

 

[_Shavi_]

SK is just a shadow of its former self

 

[Slizzl]

Ok, maybe I just play wrong against them. The Veterans will always destroy me R3 so should I push R2? That tends to backfire as well when their big dumb boat plays for 20+ points which leaves me at card disadvantage.
What's the strat?

 

[StanislavOZZO]

Yes, Skellige is still very strong. Greatswords are capped but they get their value twofold nonetheless. Now there is also the synergies with spawning a 10 strong unit or hitting with 10 strong unit from the deck. Both are great options.

 

[Bellatrix_]

Honestly the GS Change hardly turned out to be a nerf at all, it has incredible synergy with blaze of glory and hjalmar. I would argue for the average midrange SK list it was a buff actually. SK is still insanely strong but not unbeatable

 

[DRK3]

SK was already pretty strong and versatile before MM, with both wide and tall punish, two powerful archetypes (damage and self damage), pointslam, thinning... But it wasnt OP, not like a whole different level from other factions.

Master Mirror just brought a ton of great cards for SK, whether its powerful golds like Harald or the Drummond veteran dude, or cheap bronzes that outclass other bronzes, like an craite raider or berserker. They are so good, because all of their cards in the deck are good, they can afford to miss a powerful gold on the mulligans.

So if SK is to be nerfed, i would start by taking a look at the provisions of SK MM cards.

 

[Bellatrix_]

SK was already pretty strong and versatile before MM, with both wide and tall punish, two powerful archetypes (damage and self damage), pointslam, thinning... But it wasnt OP, not like a whole different level from other factions.

Master Mirror just brought a ton of great cards for SK, whether its powerful golds like Harald or the Drummond veteran dude, or cheap bronzes that outclass other bronzes, like an craite raider or berserker. They are so good, because all of their cards in the deck are good, they can afford to miss a powerful gold on the mulligans.

So if SK is to be nerfed, i would start by taking a look at the provisions of SK MM cards.

Funny mentioning raider since its objectively not an overtuned card imo. Its 8 for 5 in round 3 but also 6for 5 in round one and it has an order effect so it can be countered pretty hard in earlier rounds, especially since its mostly used as one of the few proactive plays the deck has. What makes SK so strong is that it has such a big pool of good cards that actually synergyze with the theme whereas most other decks have to use the same filler cards every deck in the faction uses (for example larvas, magne division...) because the rest is objectively bad

 

[DRK3]

Funny mentioning raider since its objectively not an overtuned card imo. Its 8 for 5 in round 3 but also 6for 5 in round one and it has an order effect so it can be countered pretty hard in earlier rounds, especially since its mostly used as one of the few proactive plays the deck has. What makes SK so strong is that it has such a big pool of good cards that actually synergyze with the theme whereas most other decks have to use the same filler cards every deck in the faction uses (for example larvas, magne division...) because the rest is objectively bad

True, on paper Raider is an 8 for 5 on R3, which doesnt seem OP at all. But, like you said, being a proactive play, and also being 6pt so outside of most cheap removal range, plus providing some damage which combined with other SK cards can remove anything, it makes it extremely good.

The devs still havent learned removal/control is more valuable than boosting, so it should cost more provisions. I wonder how long will that take...

 

[irrrregular]

Its still strong, but NR and ST are also strong.
I see no problem.

 

[ShinAkira00]

Its still strong, but NR and ST are also strong.
I see no problem.

There's a problem when that strength is situational. NG is strong against NR but loses to ST. NR is in turn strong against everyone except SK and NG.

You either have the right match up or may as well forfeit. That's not "no problem". If that's the type of game it's going to be then they may as well just add a match filter or its back to auto forfeiting. You should have a chance to win no matter who you're paired against and that's not the case right now. Hasn't been the case for the past two expansions and it keeps getting worse

 

[lor1keet]

Looks like CDPR really likes SK being the #1 faction.

Its win-rate has been above the other 5 factions season after season after season.

This season will be no different.

They have 2 extremely strong decks to choose from; SK warriors and Lippy.

 

[quintivarium]

Looks like CDPR really likes SK being the #1 faction.

Its win-rate has been above the other 5 factions season after season after season.

This season will be no different.

They have 2 extremely strong decks to choose from; SK warriors and Lippy.

And neither of these decks benefit a lot from the expansion. I do not expect SK to remain as powerful. I certainly have seen much less of it lately.

 

[Messyr]

They have 2 extremely strong decks to choose from; SK warriors and Lippy.

...which is a very good thing. The fact that they were overpowered for several months does not mean that now they should suffer from weak deck options. On the contrary, Gwent (and any proper CCG) is at it's best when all factions have multiple strong, viable options at their disposal. And that is exactly what we have in WotW.
My only concern is SY actually - probably the only faction where this expansion wasn't successful in bringing new archetypes or expanding on the existing ones - unfortunately the self-poison package is a bit underwhelming so far, leaving SY players with the previous Passiflora and Fireswarm options.