While the Gwent game mechanics are fresh and very strategic, most card abilities are pretty blah — damage opponents in a variety of ways, amounts, and circumstances, boost self a bunch of different ways, summon, copy, or steal units by a variety of mechanisms, or prevent your opponent from doing the above. It seems to me that more creative cards would lead to more creative decks and game play. Creative cards don’t need to be powerful — just by being different, they will encourage new synergies. True creativity may not be easy, and balancing it could be tricky, but I, for one would far rather have a handful of truly unique new cards than a hundred new variants of existing cards. Below are some suggestions where I believe creativity is possible, and some corresponding examples. These examples may be horrible cards; I am trying to convey ideas rather than specific proposals.
Row effects. Surely it is possible to have more than “damage unit x for y amount each turn”, and blood moon as an afterthought. What about effects like, “whenever an effect targets a unit in this row, it instead affects a random unit in the row”, or “no units may be deployed, summoned, or moved to this row for 2 enemy turns”? Why not have units interact with row effects, such as “boost unit by one every turn it is in a row receiving a row effect”, or “move a row effect to the opposite row on the same side of the board”?
Traps. To be viable, traps must be numerous enough to be unpredictable, impactful enough to either alter opponent behavior or provide sufficient value for thier cost in provisions and turns, and provide competitive synergy with other cards. Why not traps like “steal into your hand the next card summoned, created, or played from deck or graveyard”? Why no traps like, “The next special card played has no effect?”, or “the next damage inflicted upon this row or a unit therein is instead reflected to the opposing row or a random unit therein”? Why no better synergies with other cards, like a special card, “play a trap of your choice?” or a unit, “boost self by one every round an unsprung trap is on the board”?
Special card / artifact interaction. Presently, nothing can counter special cards (although defender can limit some special cards), and artifacts are either ignored or destroyed (no intermediate interactions). Why no units with abilities like “convert damage into bleeding”, or “banish a special card from your opponent’s deck”? Why no cards that steal (and reactivate) artifacts? Why no cards like “damage all units in a row containing an artifact”? Why no artifacts with row dependent effects and units able to move them? Why no artifacts with powers like “absorb the first point of damage when units in this row are targeted”?
Powers that impact opponent’s hands. This might be dangerous territory, but something that turned a random card in the opponent’s hand into a brick would certainly change how round 3 is played. But powers wouldn’t have to be so dramatic, e. g. “Lock a random card in the opponent’s hand.”
Powers that mildly change game rules. Again, this could be dangerous territory, but could be interesting if done judiciously. For example, “both players draw two rather than three cards at the start of next round”, or “mulligans now go directly to the graveyard rather than being shuffled back into a player’s deck”.
Movement. Presently, movement is not very interesting. Except for row locked cards, or lining cards up for row damage/reset, or rarely moving defenders from targets, or a very few cards like Svalblod priests or treason, positioning in Gwent is not important. Powers like “do two extra damage if this is the leftmost unit in its row” could also make powers like “exchange positions of two enemy targets” interesting.
This is surely not a complete list of potential areas where interesting cards could be developed. What are your thoughts?
Row effects. Surely it is possible to have more than “damage unit x for y amount each turn”, and blood moon as an afterthought. What about effects like, “whenever an effect targets a unit in this row, it instead affects a random unit in the row”, or “no units may be deployed, summoned, or moved to this row for 2 enemy turns”? Why not have units interact with row effects, such as “boost unit by one every turn it is in a row receiving a row effect”, or “move a row effect to the opposite row on the same side of the board”?
Traps. To be viable, traps must be numerous enough to be unpredictable, impactful enough to either alter opponent behavior or provide sufficient value for thier cost in provisions and turns, and provide competitive synergy with other cards. Why not traps like “steal into your hand the next card summoned, created, or played from deck or graveyard”? Why no traps like, “The next special card played has no effect?”, or “the next damage inflicted upon this row or a unit therein is instead reflected to the opposing row or a random unit therein”? Why no better synergies with other cards, like a special card, “play a trap of your choice?” or a unit, “boost self by one every round an unsprung trap is on the board”?
Special card / artifact interaction. Presently, nothing can counter special cards (although defender can limit some special cards), and artifacts are either ignored or destroyed (no intermediate interactions). Why no units with abilities like “convert damage into bleeding”, or “banish a special card from your opponent’s deck”? Why no cards that steal (and reactivate) artifacts? Why no cards like “damage all units in a row containing an artifact”? Why no artifacts with row dependent effects and units able to move them? Why no artifacts with powers like “absorb the first point of damage when units in this row are targeted”?
Powers that impact opponent’s hands. This might be dangerous territory, but something that turned a random card in the opponent’s hand into a brick would certainly change how round 3 is played. But powers wouldn’t have to be so dramatic, e. g. “Lock a random card in the opponent’s hand.”
Powers that mildly change game rules. Again, this could be dangerous territory, but could be interesting if done judiciously. For example, “both players draw two rather than three cards at the start of next round”, or “mulligans now go directly to the graveyard rather than being shuffled back into a player’s deck”.
Movement. Presently, movement is not very interesting. Except for row locked cards, or lining cards up for row damage/reset, or rarely moving defenders from targets, or a very few cards like Svalblod priests or treason, positioning in Gwent is not important. Powers like “do two extra damage if this is the leftmost unit in its row” could also make powers like “exchange positions of two enemy targets” interesting.
This is surely not a complete list of potential areas where interesting cards could be developed. What are your thoughts?
