Your Favorite Gwent Card Set, Cards & Strategy

[Balthazars]

Northern Realms is the most OP deck of the lot, and currently by far the best with the right setup.

Leader: clear weather - the most versatile by far because it firstly means that you're not reliant on pulling your own weather cards, and that you don't need to keep any clear weather cards in your deck, reducing your total and improving your draw ability.

Best Basic: any of the bond sets, but Blue Stripes Commando and the Dragon Hunters are the two best, as they can have 3 cards each, which improves your odds of getting at least 2 when you need them. Both also contain significant power and flexibility when played correctly. After that, I'd say Dandelion is the best - this allows you to have one less commander's horn in your deck, as it is a guaranteed horn on your melee row, which also fits well with a properly constructed Northern Realms deck (where most of the power is either in melee or siege).

Best Hero: hero cards are only useful if they either have a useful power, or if they have significant strength. As such, hero cards such as Triss are pretty much useless for only being 7 strength with no power. In contrast, Yen is powerful for the medic power. Otherwise, the best hero cards are the 15 strength Geralt and Ciri cards. Standard 10 strength hero cards are a decent way to round out a deck, but not that useful as a core (as they are overrun very quickly by standard cards that utilise decent abilities such as muster or bond).

Special Card: decoy is stupidly overpowered with any card that has a special ability, such as the dragon with melee scorch, medic or spy cards for the simple reason that you get to use that power again, often exactly when you want (i.e. by returning it to your hand, not only to you get the second use, but you get control over when that use happens, unlike the medic power, which forces that card to play straight away). As such, it wins hands down as long as your deck is built to take advantage of its power. After that, Scorch is very useful if you know how to make use of its power by protecting your cards from it and drawing high strength cards of the same value from your opponents deck.

 

[HexerDa]

Northern Realms is the most OP deck of the lot, and currently by far the best with the right setup.

Leader: clear weather - the most versatile by far because it firstly means that you're not reliant on pulling your own weather cards, and that you don't need to keep any clear weather cards in your deck, reducing your total and improving your draw ability.

Too bad I missed that card... I heard it's patched so you can buy it from the vendor you saved at the beginning of the game but I don't want to patch my game for various reasons

I actually would've liked the clear weather ability for Nilfgaard - their 'golden sun'

 

[dukeandearl]

@TH3WITCH3R dude Northern Realms with Foltest siege master (double the strenght of all yours siege units) all the way! Double catapults, kaedweni siege master, Phillpa Eilheart, Decoy

THIS. Foltest siege master is the answer to your Gwent collecting needs.

 

[GW3NTLORD]

Northern Realms is the most OP deck of the lot, and currently by far the best with the right setup.

I don't know what I am going to get further in this deck but seems like currently my strategies are same like you

---------- Updated at 03:00 AM ----------

THIS. Foltest siege master is the answer to your Gwent collecting needs.

'

Yehh its a good card too but still currently Foltest with Clear weather looks good to me

 

[shanersimms]

5 medics (counting neutral cards, but why wouldn't you lol). 0, 1, 1, Yen, and Menno. That + 4 spies and Emhyr Relentless crushes all other factions. @shanersimms, NR is a very good faction, but Nilfgaard's card advantage mill is definitely the superior strategy. Weather is completely irrelevant when your deck doesn't rely on Tight Bond or even most normal troops at all (ultimate Nilf deck is only gonna have Young Emms, Fire Scorps, Black Archers as their weather susceptible units, and those just won't really matter). Card advantage is king and NR loses the card race very quickly since it has, at best, 2 medics and the worst commander options in the late game (foltest LCOTN is superb early/mid game but is pretty much not needed later). Nilfgaard is just absolutely godlike with its spy/medic powered card-mill. All the Tight Bonds the NR can muster are utterly meaningless when you have double the amount of cards in your hand as the enemy.

Hmm, I do think those are interesting points however I'd have to respectfully disagree. Yen is a medic that can be used with any faction and the NR also has the Dun Banner Medic (Str: 5) So comparatively, although Nilf certainly wins out when it comes to exclusive medics (Menno - 1 - 1 - 0) as opposed to NR's lone medic Dun Banner (5), as mentioned in my previous post NR has the advantage over Nilf in the spy dept.

That being said I think it's also prudent to consider that the DB Medic has a str of 5 which is more attack power than the 3 Nilf "lesser Medics" power combined (1-1-0). It is also (when played properly) nearly always alongside your two catapults in the round you use a commander's horn on your siege row. This maneuver brings your DB Medic's attack power to 10 rivaling's Menno's attack power since Menno cannot be affected by buffs. Now sure the Nilf lesser medics do their job of letting you re-use a dead card, they themselves don't bring any substantial added attack power to the table. When you consider this point along with the point I was trying make in my previous post that NR excels in its versatile attack power stacking I find it easier to build bigger damage numbers even when using less cards with my NR deck over my Nilf.

Just an interesting hypothetical, if you are able to drop a commander's horn on all three rows, and have your 3 Commandos (72 power) + 3 Crinfrid Reavers Archers (90 power) + 2 catapults (64) that's a total of 226 attack power. Considering this is achieved with only 11 cards you are averaging 20.5 attack power per card in this scenario. Even by maximizing my use of Nilf medics to bring back Black Infantry Archers and Heavy Scorpions and other heavy hitters in my Nilf deck I cannot nearly as consistently push towards these big numbers like I can with my NR deck, even if I can pull a few extra cards re-using medics.

 

[Balthazars]

Yehh its a good card too but still currently Foltest with Clear weather looks good to me

While the Siege Master power is decent, it's not as versatile as the Clear Weather power. Here's my reasoning:
1) Only affects one row: obviously for this power to be useful, you'll need to have sufficient strength in your siege row to make it work. This can occasionally be tricky, even with the many options that NR gets for this row.

2) Siege is very vulnerable to Scorch: the biggest weakness of heavy reliance on siege for NR is that all the cards are the same strength (6 strength, with the exceptions being 8 for the bond pair catapults, 5 for the medic, and 1 for the engineers). Cards over 5 strength are prime targets for Scorch, especially if there are several of them all with the same strength (as Scorch kills all cards of the highest strength on the board, on both sides). Hence, if you use the power and double all your siege items to 12 strength, there is a very good chance that they will be Scorched. It's hard to protect them as well, because few other cards will be greater than 12 strength in your NR deck that can be targeted by Scorch (basically only your catapults, x3 bond pairings, or x2 bond pairs plus a horn).

3) Clear weather means the enemy playing a weather card is to your advantage: I love it when the enemy plays a weather card when I use the clear weather power. Why? Because it allows me to play high strength cards onto the field knowing that they are protected from Scorch, while also ensuring that I can reveal their full power only when it suits me. Consider an example: you plonk a 6-strength unit in your siege row to test the waters. The enemy plays a torrential rain card in response, reducing it to 1 strength. If you have the double siege power, you're basically screwed if you don't have a clear weather in your hand (which by the way, is a not a great card to have drawn because it's actually reducing your total strength - all weather cards have their problem, as they are zero strength but do not guarantee utility, unlike Scorch, Horn and Decoy). If you don't have the clear weather card, then you'll need to avoid that row entirely (better hope your hand has decent strength spread). You could, if you had enough siege engineers, still get some useful strength out of the row, but it won't be very efficient.

However, with the clear weather power, the fact all those units are now only worth 1 is actually a benefit to you. Why? Because they're now protected from Scorch. You can then dump all your siege units with impunity, knowing that if the opponent has any kind of strength on the field that he can't touch you with Scorch. He's then forced into a battle of attrition - either clear weather himself, or keep playing cards in the hope he forces you to clear weather first, opening you up for the Scorch or by attempting to put as much strength on the board to overcome your total when you eventually clear weather. Either scenario has the potential to bleed your opponent of cards with relatively minimal investment, which is probably enough to secure the win.

4) Finally, clear weather is a great defensive 'get out of jail' ability: because clear weather clears all weather cards, it means it is extremely adaptive to enemy tactics. It doesn't matter what row the enemy targets with weather cards, you're protected. This can be really useful if your hand was a bit too stacked towards one particular row. Without that ability, you're hoping on drawing the clear weather to keep safe, otherwise, you're completely vulnerable, and as noted, having to draw clear weather means you've missed out on drawing something that would be more useful if the enemy doesn't have any weather cards in their hand. While doubling one row can also be a good clutch power, it's entirely dependent on you having enough strength in the row for it to be decisive. In that sense, the clear weather power is extremely powerful as a defensive, reactive ability, and allows you to execute pretty much any strategy with impunity, knowing that weather cards from the enemy are basically a non-issue.

 

[GW3NTLORD]

@Balthazars - Yehh I too find it very useful card as I can always play safe without worring that Ai going to use special weather cards to make me weak as well I don't need to keep clear weather card so that I can use other good card.

No matter how powerful your siege row is If AI use rain card & If you don't have clear weather then its a waste & most of the times Ai is using weather cards at end so its really good to have clear weather power till end with Foltest

 

[HenryBukowski]

Anyone think this aspect of the game could be modded to add more cards?
For example if Sheldon Skeggs has a Gwent Card, what about Eskel, Lambert, Coen? Vilgefortz?
...and KALKSTEIN!

Also, just to be a little lame, some of the ratings need adjusting. E.g Toruviel is only a 2 with no special ability. Sile de tansarville only a 6, whilst Philippa Eilhart is a 10!

 

[eineingarp]

Am I the only one who thinks Regis looks kinda lame? Like a grumpy old man.

 

[HexerDa]

Yesterday I fought the merchant at the King of Beggar's place where you have to knock at the door. He uses monsters and he had a score of over 100, holy christ.
Does the monster deck tend to be that powerful in general?

 

[GW3NTLORD]

Does the monster deck tend to be that powerful in general?

Not sure but I think you also can cross the 100 with proper cards like decoy, medic, spy to get more cards & I think there is a horn ability which doubles the point of selected row.

I hope more Gwent experienced gamer going to help you in this soon.

 

[PrincessMassacre]

starting+white orchard deck, you can win 98% of games with it (2nd playthru, havent lost a game yet)... lol gwent...

buying foltest - lord commander of the north off the innkeep in white orchard helps. then just pack 2 decoys, commander's horn and 3 weather cards (technically you want 2 decoy, 2 horns, 1 scorch, 1 weather, but those aren't in the starting deck).

for northern realms/nilfgaard deck, keep it at 22 unit cards, +6 special. scoia'tael requires a few extra 24-26 unit (but use medics/muster instead of spies), and i think my monsters deck was 28-30 unit? (no medics/spies, more muster)

best card tho: mysterious elf / insert spoiler here ;p

 

[Goodmongo]

The best deck is NR for 85% of the game because it takes lot's of playing to build up the other decks. So for most of the game you are almost forced to just play NR.

My tactics are different for Foltest. I think clear weather is actually weaker than the siege capability. The reason i say this is because I usually include a weather card against close combat and/or range. Clear weather removes the option of me using a weather card. And weather cards against the other facts are very strong as all those monster cards that would be 4 each are now just one each.

In reality a Foltest clear weather is identical to the clear weather card while the Foltest commander is identical to a horn except you can only use it on the siege row. In my play style I hardly ever take the clear weather card as I instead love to much up the close or ranged combat lines of the AI.

I always save my siege cards and Foltest till the last round (or second round if I'm going for the kill). Yes a scorch can hurt but this is in how you play it. Try to stay at or under his card. Don't use horns or doubling till you must. I can't count how many games I win with a first round score of 5-4 or something like that. I then force the AI to run crazy in round two (must win for them) while lying in wait for round three with Foltest and 1-2 siege units. Just three cards can net me 22-28 points in that last round.

So a key point is to win round one. This forces the AI to keep playing round two till you pass. Decoys are great here.

 

[bundito]

Yesterday I fought the merchant at the King of Beggar's place where you have to knock at the door. He uses monsters and he had a score of over 100, holy christ.
Does the monster deck tend to be that powerful in general?

I think the Monsters deck has the most cards with the "muster" ability - where playing a card from your hand automatically pulls matched cards from your deck.

If your Monsters deck is full enough and set up properly, you've got a great chance of playing far more than your original 10 cards. My Monsters deck has something like 30 or 32 unit cards; all the others are around 22 - 25. I want all those matchable "muster" cards in my deck, even if I don't get them with my initial draw. If I get more than one matchable of any set in my initial draw, I try to redraw it.

There's nothing quite as impressive as playing one Arachas card and getting two or three more pulled from your deck. That can be a single play of 20 or more points. Even better if you've got a Commander's Horn somewhere.

(ps: That same guy kicked me in the face with a 100+ run as well. I went back a few quests and card wins later and ran the table on him. That felt gooood.)

 

[PrincessMassacre]

Clear weather removes the option of me using a weather card.

it actually doesn't ;p you usually only hold 1 weather card, that of your weakest unit type in your deck. and you don't usually play it, or play it on a turn other than when you play cards of that type. ai is usually loaded with weather cards, so clear weather helps. also, you can use a weather card to temporarily weaken one of your rows (then clear them later), allowing you to place high value cards without fear of scorch (sometimes the ai keeps one until the end). this can even fool the ai into passing the round, kinda like spies, lol... ai also plays their weather cards last, usually if they have nothing else. with NR, siege is tricky, bcs your siege cards with the tight bond ability, all have the same strength - 8 - and are more easily scorched. the lower value ones, all have str 6, same deal. i prefer crinfrid reavers, and commandos as tight bond cards, but i'll use artillery too if that's what i draw. can't always draw artillery tho. and can end up badly if ai pulls a buncha rain/scorch cards. (the lower value makes them less of a target, and can be covered temporarily with a single higher value card until enemy draws most of their deck). mixed deck pretty much, i think weakest row is archers, but not by much.

 

[Goodmongo]

In playing against a monster opponent clear weather is bad in my opinion. I love it when on the first round they play their mustering cards. I drop a weather card and those 5 cards at 4 (20 points) are now just worth 5 total points. A simple archer at 6 wins the round if they passed.

What I've found is that the AI doesn't use weather effect cards that much anyway. Monster and Sciotel decks are mainly close/ranged so they shy away from those weather cards. They will keep and play one that impact siege rows IF they pull it. Nilf decks go for scorch, decoy and horns way more often.

The hardest opponents are other NR decks or Nilf decks with all their spies and medics. A weather card is countered by just not even placing cards there. I can't recall how many times the AI plays their weather card even if I have no cards on that row. And if I do it's just a single card. It's a throwaway card to the AI. A wait and see card.

The way I view it is this. A clear weather Foltest hardly ever results in more than 5 points saved. A commander Foltest is always worth at least 6 points even if applying it to one siege card.

If I suspect the AI has a scorch card I'll get them to play it on a 5 or 6 with horn. I never bring out those double eight siege cards till very late game. You can always entice the AI to use that scorch on a 10-12 point total if need be.

 

[HexerDa]

I'm looking for the Dandelion card, I've already done the A matter of life and death quest... Isn't there any other way to get him?

 

[GhostofAnakin]

My favorite decks are either the Northern Realms or Nilfgaardian ones. I like Emyhr's ability to view 3 random cards, but I also like getting a random card at the start after winning a round from the NR.

Favorite card is either the spy cards, or one of the hero cards that also allows you to draw a card from your discarded pile. Ciri and Geralt have the highest ranked cards, at a value of 15, but I like the other cards with special powers more.

Also, playing against the monster deck is a piece of cake as long as you have some sort of defense against melee cards. Either biting frost, scorch (if all the melee cards have the same high value), or that one card (forget its name) that is a value 7 but also has the ability to destroy the highest melee card in your opponent's board.

 

[GW3NTLORD]

but I also like getting a random card at the start after winning a round from the NR.

Ohhh yes you are totally right...I missed to mention but that's one of the best feature of NR set.

 

[J314]

I just posted in another thread but I basically never used weather cards at all. The winner is usually the guy who has more cards. Weather wastes a slot. I went with the Foltest weather clearing ability (but still, not used that often). Spies, spies, spies, decoys, decoys, medics, medics. It was kind of boring to never play a single game using a different faction's deck but getting a free card is pretty powerful. My NR deck at the end was 156 or something like that. No weather cards, 3 decoys, I think 2 horns and one scorch (plus Vill). The rest were all 10+ heroes and sets of bonded cards. I would always redraw the 4 or 5 point cards if they didn't have any brothers with them. For a while I wondered if I should drop some of the heroes but it never turned out to be necessary. Usually I was able to sidestep or scorch enough points in the first or second round and then finish the deck with more than enough point cards to win. I definitely skipped a few monster opponents early on though.