Deck of the Day

[DRK3]

At the end of September (by a matter of minutes), i want to end the month with something special.
Is it as strong as i wished? No, but its still special.

[DECK OF 30-09-23]
[RODENT RODEO]

POISON MINI-SERIES #1

GWENT: The Witcher Card Game

Join in The Witcher universe’s favorite card game! In GWENT, you clash with your friends in fast-paced duels that combine bluffing, on-the-fly decision making and careful deck construction.

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I love Plague Maiden. She was never a popular card but i felt like she did right by me. I used her to play some flash-swarm decks and reach pro rank for the first couple of times, many years ago, targeting NG and abusing their known lack of wide control.

Even though i am not a big fan of poison in general, this new MO poison quickly became my favourite, and it makes sense lore-wise.
I dont see it becoming meta anytime soon but its a welcome addition to the game.

THE DECK THAT IS AND THE DECK THAT WAS

The deck may seem clunky, but believe me, it was much worse before.
I was trying to force it to be a Eskel Pathfinder deck, with as few primary categories as possible. This obviously means you cant use any humans, as they're the most prevalent category in Gwent, dominating 3 entire factions, plus half of another.
No humans meant no Maxii or Triss Butterflies, which are super helpful in a deck where its so important to find the key pieces R1.

I think i was also forcing the beasts aspect too much. I think i had 12 beasts, the current version only has 6. I had 2 of pratically all bronzes (king cobra, cockatrice, squirrel, noonwraith), but i cut most of those.

Even though i cut it, i had a cheeky play - i had Operator (which is a beast), to play on Noonwraith.
This way i would use rats to poison the enemy noonwaith, which gave me more rats. Also this was supposed to be done R1, and helped a lot with witches sabbath, at 6pt the noonwraith usually came back rather than some engine or threat.

Another crazy aspect - the deck had 0 consumes outside of leader and wererat. Sometimes that was enough, but i thought it was better to include at least one more (Barghest, which is cheap, can do 2 consumes and on different rows).

Also i think movement is important when you have two Plague Maidens on the same row (they need to be protected by defender), they are deathwish units but if both are killed at the same time you get barely any value from them. So Scout can be very helpful defensively, put a plague maiden in each row to swarm a lot - ONLY AT THE END OF ROUND, if they're protected by defender, leave them protected for as long as needed.

(EDIT) I also tried different leaders (Carapace) and the DW Stratagem. But having consumes on demand is more important than Veil (Besides, its not locks i worry about, its heatwaves), and the stratagem felt good, but terrible when you missed plague maidens on R1 and there werent ay good backups.

THE DECK THAT IS AND THE DECK THAT COULD BE

The deck is not any better not because its impossible, but because i set some harsh initial conditions:
I want it to be fully dedicated to poison and plague maiden + rats, which meant no backups, no safety nets such as other reliable deathwish units (Brewess Ritual, Dethlaff HV, Succubus).
The other condition? No Arachas Queen. That is easily the most toxic cheat card MO has, especially paired with Witches Sabbath. Now, i am already using the latter, i couldnt avoid it and make it a 'win 2 rounds deck', but i chose not to use the former.

Is the deck worse for it? Absolutely. With Arachas Queen you get a sh*tton of the unit you want to copy, to the point you can use witches sabbath twice. The opponent deals with it early or later its impossible to have enough enough banish/ seizes to counter it completely.
My version is more fair, and definitely more fragile. Only two plague maidens, if one is countered permanently, it hinders the deck, if twice suffer the same fate, it becomes near impossible to win.

Poor Caranthir, i still remember when he was constantly criticized for creating oppressive decks... Devs nerfed him and created "Caranthir 2.0" AKA Arachas Queen, which is 10x worse than Caranthir ever was, especially since Witches Sabbath also exists...
So now Caranthir is absolutely never played. I wanted to change that, as its another card that ive used so much in the past.

Sadly, this Poison deck is not favoured at all vs my nemesis, NG Poison. Why? The rats and swarming are great against it, as they used to be.
BUT, NG eats defenders for breakfast, and the worst nightmare is them using imposter on our plague maidens, which not only stops our but also lets them use our rats against us with their spawned plague maiden.
Somehow i still managed to win this match, but all NG decks are a nightmare for this deck sadly.

So, i had the pleasure of facing a Viy deck with my plague maidens... He was on blue coin, his ihuarraquax fortunately wasnt disruptive (i had caranthir and plague maiden in hand, and it brought Maraal), his scenario actually gave me rats when i needed, i won R1 on even and proceeded to 2-0 in the screenshot you see above.
Never had i beaten Viy so comfortably as in this match, not even when i built decks specifically to counter Viy when it was all the rage.
Basically this deck annihilates any "solitaire" (or harmless deck, as i like to call them) that plays a single unit every turn, whether its an engine or tall unit. Unless you dont get time to set up the poison duo, or worse, miss them altogether...

 

[DRK3]

Yesterday had a little meltdown because of this deck... Well, not exactly this deck, but a variation of this one.
I was considering sharing both versions, on two different days, but after a really bad losing streak, i ditched the worst one which was also the least interesting, and kept this.

I've grown thick skin for the frustrating aspects of Gwent - most times - so when i build a deck that i suspect is not gonna do well and its constantly gonna get disrupted, im prepared for it. What's nerve-wrecking is when you play a deck and it does well, so you get confident in it, then play it again and its just losses, making you doubt the previous wins, maybe they were just luck and the deck is awful...
Anyway, lets wrap this up and move to the deck:

[DECK OF 02-10-23]
[LA PEQUENA SALAMANDRA]

POISON MINI-SERIES #2

GWENT: The Witcher Card Game

Join in The Witcher universe’s favorite card game! In GWENT, you clash with your friends in fast-paced duels that combine bluffing, on-the-fly decision making and careful deck construction.

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The first version of this deck was actually built last season, with the main purpose of completing two contracts: spawning flaming rose footmen and eliminating 1000 units with poison.
So it obviously was an hybrid of SY's two gangs Firesworn and Salamandra. And i called it 'Fire and Poison'.

Basically, when the mutant killer got reworked on last patch, i was the only one excited (havent seen anyone else using it, or Salamandra which is the obvious combo it works with), i just added two copies of those to the deck and they fit perfectly.

However, the deck was devotion and that wasnt working out for me. The version you find above relies on the same key cards, its a bit harder to pilot, more disruptable if it doesnt get a long round, but has a much higher point ceiling and is way more fun.

AI Training Match where you can see the crazy points i talked about in the guide, if everything goes well. Not only are there 4 giant units on my side, there's a 5th big one - St Gregory - because when you've swarmed too much and Hemmelfart wouldnt be good due to lack of space, its best to go for St Gregory (created by Damnation, so its always his 1st form).

This is a classic example of an opponent who doesnt know when to stop. He was pushing me R2, forcing me to do suboptimal plays, but thought he could 2-0, but in 1 turn - the salamandra turn - i obliterated his two giant fleders and orianna with poison, was able to maintain card advantage and won R3 by one point.

Even Tier 1 SK Warriors (or a variation of it), isnt that scary as long as you get a long round with al the key pieces.
Summoning circle is crucial in protecting Roland (assuming you also play defender at the right time) as virtually no deck can deal with scarabs and Roland on the same turn. (Actually SK warriors can do that, if its blaze of glory, blood eagle or war of clans can kill both scarabs and leader can kill roland).

The advantage of this deck is that mutant killers have an insane point-prov ratio and can carry a round (not on the screenshot above, where i was forced to salamandra very early though) even if Bincy and Roland are tall punished. And of course, you also get tall punish yourself with multiple poisons.

 

[DRK3]

I revisit NR with one my favourite archetypes of the faction: shields.
Supported by the strength of the reworked Temerian Infantry, which can fit several different archetypes and leaders.

[DECK OF 04-10-23]
[KINGS OF SHIELDS]

GWENT: The Witcher Card Game

Join in The Witcher universe’s favorite card game! In GWENT, you clash with your friends in fast-paced duels that combine bluffing, on-the-fly decision making and careful deck construction.

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THE NEW TEMERIAN INFANTRY

This NR bronze that never saw play is now of the most powerful bronzes in the game.
It only works with leaders that have charges, so Stockpile, Shieldwall, Inspired Zeal, Uprising and Pincer Maneuver.
PM only has 2 starting charges, so its not recommended. Uprising is generally weak, and going to a lot of trouble to get more charges that are simply 1 boost isnt appealing, so its also out of the table.
That leaves 3 leaders, where Temerian Infantry works equally well. I chose Shieldwall (although i did try Inspired Zeal before), as i havent seen anyone try it with that leader (streamers usually go for stockpile).

This card plays 9pts for 5prov, if used melee (for zeal) and requires another unit to target the boost, and also to avoid using leader charges for a great part of the match. That is not OP by today's standards.
But paired with Radovid, even without any shenanigans, it goes 13 (10 of which are boost) for 5, which is better than any other instant value bronze that requires little setup.

But that is not enough for memes, so with this deck we try to go for 7 or even 9 leader charges, for crazy boosts.
And since its NR, there is no shortage of ways of replaying this bronze's orders, i didnt even use half of them.

Note: i didnt use Shani because the bronzes she revives dont have zeal, even if they are formation units. Queen Adalia fits better with the shield theme.

STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES

Like many other meme decks, the main factor on how well the deck performs is not the matchup but how well you draw R1.
I used Oneiro and Maxii for consistency but maybe even more tutors or thinning wouldnt hurt.
Because its so important to draw Radovid AND decoy. Without Radovid, its not even worth it playing temerian infantries, and that is almost half of the deck. And with just Radovid, you will only get to 5 charges, which is decent but not enough to overpower opponents.

It takes time, and low tempo moves to play Radovid, decoy him, find him again, play him again, temple Radovid after a round win (sometimes only on R3) and replay him for the 3rd time, and only then you get max value from T infantries. Hence why the deck has a few other solid options, to not rely exclusively on that main combo.

The other aspect is matchups. Zeal givers and defender are included to make life difficult to control decks. If Radovid's order is used, he is no longer considered a threat and is more likely to live so it can be put back in deck.

But this deck goes tall (and super vulnerable to Igni), so i would say the only real bad matchup is NG status/ poison, which sadly is one of the most popular in the meta. Because of their tall removal.
Against damage, SK warriors in particular, this deck does much better, as shields make their life really hard and our boosts are bigger than their damage.

Like i said, this deck does well against SK warriors, but beware of patricidal fury - clogging my melee row makes playing anseis or temerian infantries much riskier, as they wont have zeal.
Also, you do NOT want temple in hand if you lost R1 and are going to be pushed, usually that is doom. In this rare case, it was not, i was forced to play it and...

... my opponent got f***ed by RNG, as i got Boholt and Ravanen to get more Temerian infantries out. Giving shields to everything makes their raids worthless, in this case that was not even needed.

This opponent actually managed to counter one of my temerian infantries before its order was used, because i thought it was protected by defender and shielded, but he moved defender and ate it with toad prince (losing me 14pts), but he still forfeited after this big boi Roegner.

 

[DRK3]

Today's deck is quite possibly the "memeest" of the season.
Dont let the leader ability fool you... this is definitely not NG flanking soldiers...
In fact, its not even NG, its another fully neutral deck, the last of the series.

PS - i do admit i got some cheap wins of opponents insta-forfeiting when they see this leader

[DECK OF 06-10-23]
[RESILIENT EXPERIMENT]

GWENT: The Witcher Card Game

Join in The Witcher universe’s favorite card game! In GWENT, you clash with your friends in fast-paced duels that combine bluffing, on-the-fly decision making and careful deck construction.

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Apart from the staples: squirrel, pellar and Dorregaray, and possibly also CoC and dwimveandra, i would say the deck doesnt have any card even remotely in the meta.
Even though it feels a bit weak, at least for me its a pleasure to play and fundamentally different from every other deck. And it also helps that Caravan vanguard is such a central part of the deck, which is one of my favourite cards, even though its a bit powercrept now.

Cards that are considered really bad - like Phoenix and Ale of the Ancestors - didnt feel so bad (although i think Phoenix should be 1 less provision, to fit GN decks). Playing AotA early R1 or early R2, and opponent doesnt remove it, always leaves opponent in a tough spot.

CONSIDERATIONS - KEEPING NEUTRAL CONDITION

To keep the identity of the deck, i advise keeping the 4 top golds. After that, HG sword, CoC, Summoning Circle and Cyprian Wiley can be replaced, if you wish. But Cyprian WIley rarely fails to find value, HG sword is there for carryover theme (wouldnt make sense to make a carryover deck without any Echo card) but also to counter sneaky opponents who seize or copy our Phoenix, while also banishing theirs.

And CoC can be switched to heatwave, if you're having more trouble with scenarios. Or even better, include Bearification (replace a Wagon maybe). With two resilient artefacts, its almost impossible to brick (i thought of this idea only after i share the deck, but i highly recommend doing that switch).

Honestly, Summoning Circle is the weak link of the deck. I love this card, and used recently with sucess on some other decks. But i checked the ENTIRE neutral unit cardpool and there isnt any good pick. The best one is probably Olgierd Immortal, which originally was part of the deck, but feels wrong to summon him just for points and hope he tanks random damage, without any synergies.
I also considered Caldwell, but seemed awfuly risky, although you could always lock it to make sure he doesnt move.

CONSIDERATIONS - DITCHING NEUTRAL CONDITION

If you dont care about keeping it fully neutral, Summoning Circle becomes instantly amazing: summon Olgierd Immortal and do alchemist shenanigans. Or just go for cheap pointslam with Imperial Golem, 12pts for 6.

You can also include Illusionists, which might do even better in bonded swarming than caravan vanguards, or putting 1pt units like IF troubadors, and also they would get armor from this leader.

This deck can be used with any faction or leader, but if keeping on NG, you can use Tactical decision for more consistency (i didnt use it because it spawns a 7pt Morvran, a NG unit). Or Imprisonment, to get some extra locks + 6dmg, probably worth more than just 8 random points (although moving alied units has helped me a few times with placement for Truffle's golden froth or Cosimo).

And without neutral restrictions, you can go further on the resilience aspect. Go for factions with several resilient units or locations (ST or SK) or keep NG but go bonkers with Wagon spam with the help of operator + informants and create an entire resilient army, similar to NR's meditating mages.

(SCREENSHOTS ADDED)

This was a good example of an oppnent who was very aggressive R1 and was able to win on even, but i was able to setup a lot of carryover.
Of course, an opponent who won on even always pushes R2 hard, but with a much more control-heavy hand, i was able to always keep ahead, while also setting some more carryover for R3 and in the end, won the match by around 20 pts.

This was also another opponent who was very aggressive R1, forcing me to play all 10 cards and leader, but didnt want to commit his last card (or wasnt enough). If the opponent had won, a pass would be better (if i want Phoenix to carry over i still need to click it).

Since i won R1, with incredible carryover - AotA, Phoenix, a wagon and Summoning Circle about to call Marlene - the tables instantly turned and i was the one applying pressure and pushing, and eventually got the 2-0, even without the golden froth, in case my opponent managed to catch up.

BTW in this match, Ale gave me 20+ pts, and i didnt even got any extra value from its infusions. That is more points than some scenarios!

 

[LeticiOrel]

[DECK OF 04-10-23]
[KINGS OF SHIELDS]

GWENT: The Witcher Card Game

Join in The Witcher universe’s favorite card game! In GWENT, you clash with your friends in fast-paced duels that combine bluffing, on-the-fly decision making and careful deck construction.

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Tried this deck yesterday. I'm not a very big fan of NR, the only deck I really enjoyed was siege (and your siege dragons especially), so I felt like trying somethng new. And what a ride it was.

This was an ideal "training" opponent, who apparently didn't know what he was doing, going to 0 cards in r2. Luckily, he didn't forfeit in r3, letting me explore the full potential of this deck. I hope he didn't quit Gwent for good after this.

This was classical "who has the biggest d***" matchup. Unfortunately, the last card mr. opponent was saving, was Spores

Thanks for bringing up this deck, I may consider playing NR again for a while

 

[DRK3]

Last deck of the season.
And after this, we're on the last stretch - the last 4 decks of the day will come at the end of October, marking the 7 years of 'Gwent' milestone (and 7 years of me playing it )

Its not a new deck, ive made it over a month ago but it was kept aside in favour of decks with the new cards. But i know there's always interest in Witchers (mine included), so here's my take on a full Witcher deck:

[DECK OF 10-10-23]
[WITCHER ARMY]

GWENT: The Witcher Card Game

Join in The Witcher universe’s favorite card game! In GWENT, you clash with your friends in fast-paced duels that combine bluffing, on-the-fly decision making and careful deck construction.

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FACTION-EXCLUSIVE WITCHERS

A deck that stays in theme and all units are Witchers will always be handicapped compared to one that simply tries to optimize cards.
But accepting that condition, i believe SK is the home for the best Witcher deck.

4 factions have multiple witchers (released in the WotWitcher expansion): NR, ST, SK and NG.
NG's witchers are a mess of different archetypes, and even though some are very popular, you cant say they belong in witcher decks.
ST's witchers are mostly bad, only one bronze (cat witcher) is very popular and used in several different decks, but they're Movement decks or harmony decks. Cat witcher mentor, Gaetan and Gezras also deserve a mention, but again, they dont form a complete witcher deck.

So only NR and SK have actual witcher decks, where at least most units are witchers. NR witchers have been more popular, they were even meta for some time. But SK has more synergy between the 4 bronze witcher units, and more synergy with neutral witchers such as Vesemir: Mentor, Leo and the reworked Geralt: Axii (found this rework by accident, since i wasnt playing Gwent when it happen earlier this year).

With the exception of Keldar (who is disruptable and a late-game play due to its adrenaline), NR has no way to put more than a single witcher per turn, but these neutral cards require more, and SK has that, with bear witcher quartermaster and armor up, very cheap and each puts 3 witchers on board.

DIFFERENT GERALTS

I love Geralt. In the past, i even made a crazy deck with all 7 Geralt cards. Lets review Geralt cards as they are now:

-Geralt Aard was recently buffed, the 1st Geralt card to ever be below 10 provisions... still awful, 0 play.
-Geralt Yrden used to be a gamechanger, then it became a perfect example of 'nerfed into oblivion'. RIP
-Geralt Quen is quite expensive and usually not worth it. (although maybe it makes sense in this deck instead of royal decree...)
-Geralt Igni is probably the most popular, for good reason. Its dangerous and can brick in short rounds or certain matchups but its the best tool to deal with giant units, especially immune ones. And the deck should have some form of ping to set up perfectly lined Ignis.
-Geralt 'vanilla' is simple and reliable. Very good and deserved more use, IMO.

Then we arrive at the 2 Geralts i used on this deck. They are pretty good, but only make sense in certain decks. Like this one...
-Geralt Professional was also buffed earlier this year. The extra damage to multiple units is very welcome, but it can be awkward when the opponent opens up with a unit that is multiple of 3 and you cant use Professional because its damage will ruin the order's destroy ability.
-Geralt Axii is now perfect lore-wise, but only makes sense in full witcher decks, probably not even justified in NR witcher decks, so only in SK witchers will you reliably get great value from it.

REPLACEMENT SUGGESTIONS

The list is super tight on unit choice. It has the minimum of 13 units, because there arent enough good witchers.
On the special/ artefact selection you have a lot more room to change according to your taste, though.

Units - The witchers i didnt include are 2x bear witchers and Gerd. Strange, since bear witchers are the most popular of the bronze bunch, but their adrenaline kills it for me, i dont want to be playing 8pts in the last turns of a round. And Gerd doesnt bring anything relevant, especially when the meta is armored or low units.

Honestly, the weak links of the deck are Arnachad and Haern Caduch, which were kept mostly to keep in-theme. Arnie can be great, but without defender and/or Sukrus to back him up he's countered almost always. At first i was using Battle Trance leader, but its not a Mardroeme that makes Arnie better, makes heatwaving him even better, especially when the deck lacks other HW targets.
The SK witcher location may also not be worth it if its order isnt bring enough value, although the choice of bronze witcher is nice.

You can also replace Royal Decree with Geralt Quen. And in specials (definitely keep the armor ups and trial of the grasses), the tempest + 2 fogs and last wish can be switched, but you lose the few forms of consistency the deck has. But you can go the Madoc (replace Arnachad) + 4 bombs route.

AI Training Match (before i switched leader abilities, the rest is the same).
Leo can be massive, Vesemir Mentor can be massive, Geralt Axii can be massive.

Battle Rush match, that went really smoothly. Won R1 (this deck can kill Saskia commanders easily, with leader, decoction or fog), pushed R2 to get the scenario out and controled R3.
Usually this deck has a weak short round, but in this case, the pieces i got were perfect for the situation.

 

[DRK3]

New season, new deck.
1st of the last 4 decks of the day ever.
I wasnt expecting any reworks or significant buffs, so i want these last decks to focus on some of my favourite cards and memes of all time.

[DECK OF 17-10-23]
[MEMES ARE IMMORTAL]

GWENT: The Witcher Card Game

Join in The Witcher universe’s favorite card game! In GWENT, you clash with your friends in fast-paced duels that combine bluffing, on-the-fly decision making and careful deck construction.

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REVISITING OLD CLASSICS

I am sorry to disappoint anyone expecting brand new memes at this point.
I did this in 2021 (30th June - True Alchemy) and again in 2022 (13th July - Old Skool Alchemists). And im doing it again now, in a new fashion.

The principle is the same - use alchemists to swap values with a tall unit that doesnt actually change its power (the original was Living Armour, now its Olgierd Immortal that is best suited).
The major difference is that old versions focused on doing that swap as many times as possible, in 2/3 rounds, while this one goes bigger, with handbuffing Olgierd Immortal as much as possible with Renfri's stratagems, before he's played and Alchemist shenanigans start.

MATCHUPS

I went all-in on this meme combo, so this time i didnt even include a single control tool or tech.
Because of this fact alone, i would probably say the deck is not competitive, although it has significant pointslam.
The big wincondition is Olgierd Immortal surviving and going for a final round long enough to setup the combo, even engines cant catch up when you're getting 20-30pts out of 4p alchemists.

This deck actually has a 100% winrate in Pro Rank
(i used it once, had the perfect match, where everything went according to plan, got the perfect screenshot and my job was done!)

I was actually really dumb - my opponent played Unseen Elder on a previous round, and so i could see they had devotion restrictions. Yet, i played most of R3 terrified of heatwave and trying to play around Igni, or even a sneaky lock, which were obviously impossible with devotion...

This is pretty much the most value you will get out of Olgierd Immortals + Alchemist spam.

 

[DRK3]

With today's deck i want to try something a little different...
The deck itself is not out of the ordinary, but i built it with 2 purposes:

1) to make players who avoid SY because its supposedly too complicated, to try it out and learn through their mistakes.,
2) a deck to be used in training vs AI - so its lesser pressure, and can even be done offline - through imposed challenges rather than victory (which is too easy in AI training mode).

[DECK OF 20-10-23]
[BOUNTIFUL SHIP]

GWENT: The Witcher Card Game

Join in The Witcher universe’s favorite card game! In GWENT, you clash with your friends in fast-paced duels that combine bluffing, on-the-fly decision making and careful deck construction.

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DECK'S ORIGIN STORY

I actually built the initial version of the deck back in August, when i returned to Gwent.
Acherontia, and also Ixora, are the driving force of SY for the past few months. And i hadnt used Acherontia in any deck of the day yet, and its a very interesting card, perfect for the type of challenges im about to set.

The original concept was how to maximize Acherontia. Not in a long round, but in a single turn.
Having good spenders is essential, so is coin generation. So open sesame spam is the obvious first step (i hate it, but its unavoidable).
The meta decks dont go far beyond this - they dont need to, they just play candle and defender and dont need to worry with getting as much value from Acherontia in a single turn, they do it over the course of a round.

But what about Bounty? Its an archetype that is not as simple, but in theory it has the highest potential to create an infinite cycle of coin generation and spending (yes, even more than Firesworn Lonely champions), as long as there's enough enemy units on board, with enough base power, ideally already damaged, then Acherontia pulls cheap bounty givers and you use them to wipe the board, wasting as few coins as possible and maximizing value.
THAT'S what this deck tries to do!

CHALLENGES

I highly recommend using this deck a few times in training vs AI, i've done over 20 matches in such way.
I already mentioned the main challenge in the guide: thin to 0 through Acherontia, which is impossible in a short round and tough if you play that ship late, as is intended.

Extra challenges are:
- waste as little coins as possible. 0 is perfect, but 1-3 wasted coins is still a success, and 4-5 also good, more than that is failure.
Wasted coins are what you dont spend at the end of final round, but also overprofiting.
- dont waste a single bounty. This happens when you have an active bounty and Acherontia pulls another bounty or you play Scoundrel which switches bounty to a new unit.
- play this in standard mode, against real opponents. Despite being a combo deck, this is still hyper control, and is favoured against most "solitaire" decks, and winning then isnt too tough, but doing the thin to 0 challenge, i havent even been able to do it against real players.
Also because in training AI, you dont have a timer, and you can take all the time you need, which is a lot when there's so many elements to manage.

MORE HINTS AND INFO

1. This deck is not really suited for beginners.
There's 2/3 decks that could be easily built for beginners to learn SY, but this is more for intermediate players, who have access to most, if not all, of these cards but havent taken the step to try SY. Trial through fire.
Blood Money is quite possibly the hardest SY leader to use, and without candle and defender, things are much tougher.

2. Part of the difficulty is the lack of a rigid structure, a specific order the cards should be played.
I want you guys to find out what works best for yourself (but i will still share some pointers here). Try different methods, eventide plunder and shady vendor open so many doors.

3. Since this is a bounty deck, most spenders are damage-based, but still they're very different.
Freakshow is not included, tunnel drill is cheaper and more unique. I hate brawler so much so it isnt included, but still accessible through plunder or vendor (and RNG).
Executioners are your best infinite spenders (scoundrel cant be used without a bounty), but if there arent many enemy units, it may be best to get a boost spender to use so many coins (i like oxenfurt guard or naturalist).

4. Casimir is another very interesting card i hadnt used in decks of the day, and will make coin management even more complex.
He's best played very early in a long round, and you want to spend his explosives when they're free (o fee), and go to 0 coins many turns, to spawn more explosives.

5. When you have 1 coin, and use it to kill a 1pt bounty, it counts as going to 0 before your purse is filled (important for Casimir and Open Sesame triggers).

6. This is also the first time using this leader since it was reworked, so it can be used multiple times, as long as you put many bounties.
You should generally use it on bountied enemies (its probably the most instant countering this deck can do). If you save it and use it very late, when its damage is super high, its likely you will overprofit and waste many coins, which also isnt desirable.

7. Cale Menge and Witchfinder are the two main sources of bounties. On matchups with little control, use one in each round, otherwise its overkill. On matchups where you face a lot of control, its probably better to save both for final rounds, hope at least one will survive (remember Kurt can purify too).

8. If you are brave enough to try this in standard modes, you might face big immune units in the meta, like Sove and Erland...
You can actually kill them, with carefully timed Witchfinder / Purge (5p crime card, from Shady vendor) + Graden.

9. Squirrel will probably be the only card that is nearly useless in training vs AI, but essential in standard modes. I decided to keep it, as there's no reason to make the AI training matches easier, not even the imposed challenge.

10. Ixora is actually a trap, anti-synergistic with the concept of the deck. Dont get me wrong, shes really strong, but in AI training, in long R3s, she will delete the enemy boards too soon and you wont be able to spend enough coins for Acherontia to trigger more times. That's why i prefer to use her on R1 in this situation.

11. One of the most important aspects of coin management is to plan ahead. Especially when Acherontia is on board and you dont know what it will pull. If your coins are too high, you might overprofit, if you go to 0 you might not have another way to "keep the train going" (sometimes Casimir's explosives or leader can save you in this case).

12. Training AI is not always the same, there's 4 different faction decks. They always use full leader on opening R1 (for MO and ST, this isnt as stupid). SK and ST AI pack a bit of control and might remove some of your key engines.
SK will put few units and highly armored (due to pirate leader), so its a nightmare for this deck's challenge. NR can be tough due to shields and boosted units (remember bounties are based on base power), ST and MO are ideal for this challenge, with many units (although a lot are boosted).

Training match, challenge successful!
Gives you an idea of the cards i want in R3 to be able to thin to 0.

 

[DRK3]

So close to the finish line...
This Balance Council threw me off a bit, i was expecting it only next year, but its here and its natural that is the playerbase's main focus now and all discussion and attention will be in that regard.

Today's deck is another 'full meme', that came out really quick but it surprised me how well it worked.

[DECK OF 25-10-23]
[SCHOLARLY DESIGN]

GWENT: The Witcher Card Game

Join in The Witcher universe’s favorite card game! In GWENT, you clash with your friends in fast-paced duels that combine bluffing, on-the-fly decision making and careful deck construction.

www.playgwent.com

SCHOLAR HISTORY

The hero(es) of the deck are obviously the Oxenfurt Scholars.
I ramped up their use - started with a SY 10pt Scholars (6x 11p cards), which i even showed some screenshots on another thread.
Then i went to SK for a 11pt Scholars deck (7x 11p), but it was too awkward and i felt it could be better.
Finally i decided to try a 12pt Scholars deck... I didnt want to go the obvious NG route, and i think i saw Myamon pulling off a ST Renfri dragons deck, so i chose MO, and im really happy with that choice.

The only adjustment i had to do was switch Lara Dorren with Tugo (it was very hard to trigger her without frost, and i had no way to get her the 2nd time), and i added a 4th bronze consume and a spores.

SCHOLAR MATH

The deck was going to be called 'Super Polarized' originally, which is less cheeky but more clear on what it is.
In general, i dont like polarizing decks too much, i like to highlight 6-9p cards. BUT, i also like pushing boundaries, and doing crazy, ridiculous decks, especially when its making bronzes stronger than golds.

Oxenfurt scholars rework rewards polarization, by only counting 11+ provision cards.
By going 'scholar-12' - like this deck - you are committing 88p minimum to just 8 cards, more than half of your provisions.
Since you need a min of 25 cards, and the min provision of a card is 4p, 17 x 4 = 68 provisions.
All leaders are 162-167 provisions, if im correct, so that leaves only 6-11 extra provisions, in this case i used them all to put cards higher than 11p and left all bronzes at 4p.

This amount of polarization is insane, only remotely viable because of Brewess ritual's added consistency and the inclusion of oneiromancy (basically, its one less powerplay).
In my opinion, if your scholar is 6-7pt, its not worth it. At 8pt is decent. 9-10pt is the sweet spot. 11-13 is amazing value but the deck suffers for it.
Because when you do this type of decks, you miss on 10p cards, which includes some of the most important staples in Gwent (Heatwave, Geralt, Igni, Magic Compass, Anseis, Calveit, and so many more)

BEYOND "SCHOLAR-12"

Yes, it is possible to go even further, at Scholar-13! That is so restrictive that you cant even do it with all leaders.
9x11= 99p, 16x4= 64p, so 163p is the bare minimum, if you only include 11p and 4p cards.
I doubt its possible to make such a deck minimally viable, but i would love to be proven wrong. You need a faction with really 4p cards, which there are, but you also need really good 11p ones, not 10, 12, exactly 11p, and that is probably the hard spot for such a deck.

SCREENSHOTS

(Training Match) Where there's no heatwaves or tall punishment.
In case you still doubt the deck dishes out many points...
(That Dagon is the 2nd, the 1st was consumed by Harpy when it reached timer 5)

This brave player did a 'hero pass' as i bled him out on R2. I play quite fast, and usually players who play fast make reckless mistakes, like not doing the math... but im always several turns ahead and i did have Morvudd to cover the gap and win.

Did this ranked match just an hour ago, after the guide was written.
An offensive Triss MS plus a very valuable Tugo (the Gernichora was hit by Eskel) made me get CA on R1, was still pushed R2 but kept my CA, and ultimately won the match.

 

[DRK3]

Took me a bit longer than expected, but here it is...
THE VERY LAST DECK OF THE DAY.
200 decks over the past 2 years and a half - with a few hiatuses inbetween - since i started this thread to share my creations.

Hope i helped players try something new, wacky and different from the norm, or at least inspired some to create their own decks and make some adjustments according to their style.

[DECK OF 28-10-13]
[FEEL THE HEAL]

GWENT: The Witcher Card Game

Join in The Witcher universe’s favorite card game! In GWENT, you clash with your friends in fast-paced duels that combine bluffing, on-the-fly decision making and careful deck construction.

www.playgwent.com

DECK'S HISTORY

Apparently i am a beast of patterns... Only recently, when i was looking at the names of my old SK decks of the day (to avoid repetition) did i notice all final 'decks of the day' of each year (2021, 22, 23) were SK, were all self-wound and all included Cerys Fearless (its not a card i use often) and Heymaey Flaminica (less surprising, its my favourite card art in Gwent and use her very often).

I was sure i wanted Self-wound, but as always i wanted to avoid the obvious - no Svalblod + Svalblod Totem (featured in last year's deck), no Sigvald + Knut, no Olgierd Immortal (already the hero of one of my recent decks) + Kaer Trolde.
The obvious leader choice would be Ursine Ritual, but i wanted something different, and Battle Trance is perfect due to its healing identity and synergy (although i still dont like Mardroeme).

I think Havfrue singers are underrated, this is just one way to make them work. Flaminica, also underrated, would work wonders in all svalblod decks. Cerys Fearless less so, i think she should get a buff, perhaps now through the Council.

ORIGINAL (FAILED) VERSION

The first idea was a similar deck called 'Golden Goodbye'. It would also feature Flaminica's golden hair, but also Kambi's golden feathers.
Kambi is the embodiment of a meme / troll card, i love the concept, but if it was weak and too expensive before, nowadays its even worse. Nobody saves the big play for last, there's big plays everywhere, and even though i got to do the last say discard many times, i was rarely ahead and those 8pts (if you discard a skirmisher) would not be enough. Didnt even find any Erland player to troll...

Basically, the deck had no points, only Fucusya + Axel 3 eyes at best, but that usually wasnt enough. I seriously hope Kambi will be buffed, even if im not here to play it.
I added Geralt, 2 BW quartermasters, Trial of the Grasses and Arnvald, which may seem weird but made the deck way more competitive and usable to climb the ladder, as it got more swarmy, more pointslammy and more resistant to SK warriors and NG.

Sadly i had to ditch Kambi, but i recommend watching MisterHabbla's Kambi video, he did that meme rooster justice on that one!

CONSIDERATIONS

The deck can be adapted to be even better. I know what to change, i didnt do it because i wanted to keep the meme elements.
Naval supremacy, but especially offering to the sea and giant boar were the weak links, especially when the meta decks play so few units and some are armored.

Replacing 2/3 of these still keeps the healing identity of the deck, and opens 13-21 provisions, which is a lot of margin for many different options like a purify, Maxii for extra consistency (although i didnt feel like i was missing my top golds), Sigvald or Knut, or svalblod totem which also works wonders with tuirseach veterans.

As you can see, this version of the deck has a chance against meta SK. CoC for Sove, Geralt or Dorregaray for Tyr.
Their raid specials do absurd amounts of damage, so veterans, singers or flaminica will instantly die, its better to go wide, and since i had last say, i saved trial of the grasses, leader and Cerys fearless popping out for the final turn.
(And their Igni bricked considering they did so much removal, so they lost )

I wanted to go do training mode vs AI to see the potential of giant boar in an ideal situation.
Its hard to get much value from opponents side if they dont swarm much, but on your side its very easy to fill the board when there isnt much control from opponent (boar could be a bit bigger if i didnt have flaminica on the ranged, though).

Post automatically merged: Oct 28, 2023

The index was updated with the final decks and all of the information:

Deck of the Day Index

2021 KEY,LINK TO THREAD NG,Nilfgaard,<a href="https://forums.cdprojektred.com/index.php?threads/deck-of-the-day.11087713/">https://forums.cdprojektred.com/index.php?threads/deck-of-the-day.11087713/</a> SK,Skellige SY,Syndicate,Note: all decks are designed to use all provisions according to its...

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There are a lot of decks that are outdated and powercrept, but some of the best concepts and meme strategies live on and can still be pulled off, with some minor adjustments and upgrades.

Some of my favourite decks i shared this year were 'Unleash the Kraken' (although not very viable lately, sadly), 'Construction Site' (Lippy Constructs), 'End of the World' (Arachas swarm Lara Dorren, still have it in deck collection) and 'La Pequena Salamandra' (made me like the poison mechanic, or at least hate it a bit less).