Deck of the Day

[DRK3]

DRK3, I would appreciate your feedback . (And anyone else's who cares to give it.)

I have found, as I try to craft my own original decks that are competitive and fun, that I almost have to resort to a high percentage of "meta-content": either currently popular cards, or archetypes, or both -- and often my successful decks are what I would consider almost a variation on some meta deck. I completed the Christmas event almost entirely on the back of one deck -- an ST Harmony deck that differed from meta only in that I replaced Saskia: Commander with Water of Brokilon, included a few more Harmony cards, and relied on locks and very limited poison for control.

Today, I found myself with a surprising amount of time to try a variety of decks, but the only ones I have any interest in playing further are a pair of NR decks, both of which rely heavily on currently popular cards like Reavers and Immortals/Damned Sorceress combinations. With other factions (although I haven't really given SY a fair shot) I can't even deviate from meta concepts without disaster.

I believe the problem lies with the small number of exceptionally good cards that just can't be out-pointed by anything else.

Have you observed similar things?

Greetings quinti.

Yes, unfortunately to achieve some degree of competitiveness, you often need to include either meta packages with very good point-provision ratios, or a good amount of control.

Long gone is the time where you had a wholesome idea for a deck, built it without thinking of the meta and then be able to have some wins with it.

I have also been involved in some NR decks... i recently found Misterhabbla has returned to Gwent and his video on double Melitele is my recommendation, it made me understand how the card works and sparked an interest in the card.
Also, tomorrow i will be posting my NR temple of melitele deck here, which is one of the hardest decks to use ive ever shared

And on the 30th, it will be the very last deck, Svalblods deck, which is also ready just need to have some time to write the guides.

 

[Trevorzan]

This game is fun, but it needs a major revision on those "exceptionally good cards" that in my opinion break the game.

 

[DRK3]

Northern Realms was the last faction i tackled in this card drop, and im glad i did, as i feel its the most complex (regarding the new cards).
Unfortunately, very few seem to be using these and i didnt really learn anything from my opponents, so i had to explore their potential myself, or by watching other creators.

[DECK OF 28-12-22]
[TEMPLE OF RNGFRI]

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

Yes, its a Renfri deck. I know she still garners a lot of hate. But she's undeniably a meme dream, as she's both really strong but also opens up a lot of crazy possibilities, like this deck demonstrates (by transforming our faction into Neutral).

There is a lot i didnt write in the guide, as writing about Temple alone already made a guide longer than my average!
I will share a couple more hints here, but i wont bother to explain the basics, like how to use these bronzes engines or locks.

EXTRA HINTS
-Most of the bronze core are siege engines. This was mostly to support thinning through siege masters, but also works if you get lucky and get siege scenario through temple's 1st form. There are only 2 grace knights though, so knight scenario is not as recommmended.

-Vincent Meis pairs up nicely with reinforced ballista to deal with unboosted threats. Vincent is also a great choice in a Patricidal Fury (13pt Arnjolf's or 9pt Tyr's meta)

-Its generally a good idea to hide the fact this deck runs Renfri until as late as possible, to let opponents underestimate the reach we have, and possibly punish with a R2 value bleed.

-Not a single time have i missed Renfri with this deck in 3 round matches. Also not a single time have they killed my Renfri, even though it takes 2 turns to purify her, then to put her back in deck with temple (players are unaware of this strategy).

-The biggest threats for this deck are defenders and scenarios. Against scenarios we have no counter except trying to bleed it out in R1/2.
Against defenders, there is no offensive purify, but there is Renfri's "destroy 8pt" unit ability, temple's (2nd form) deploy (although it requires a 7pt unit on our side, maybe finding a way to boost Renfri?), or a trusty movement from kerack city guard at the right time, so the dangerous unit protected by defender becomes exposed.

-Squirrel is great here, to banish SK's warrior echo card, oneiro or aerondight's, and if the little bugger isnt needed, he can simply be mulligan'ed away with a leader charge.

-The most reliable options i found for Renfri are the "2 stratagem + boost lowest to 10", which are usually worth 17/18pts.
However, sometimes you need the 'destroy 8pt unit', 'damage 6pt' if you desperately need control, or the 'play a bronze and pick 1 from top 3 in deck' in case you missed an important card.

Shields are invaluable against SK warriors, and in this case, a shield stratagem against an infused beast summoned by Sove was (almost) gamechanging.

This was a very interesting match, if you look closely, you may notice some irregularities that point that out...
There are 2 bronze units not in my deck, the NG viper witcher mentor, obtained from runemage, but also a mauler.
How did i get that mauler? This deck doesnt run Melitele herself, but i got her in R1 through MM and played the deck around her, after all she is definitely meant to be used with PM leader anway.
So there were wideboosts from my Melitele, and wide damages, from a (deceased) Svalblod.

Yes, i got a random, last turn Igni from MM, against this deck... Talk about luck

This deck is basically like Casino Lippy... except its NR, and its Renfri.
I even considered calling it 'Casino Temple' to play on that riff, but ultimately chose another name, that also referenced the high RNG nature of it.

 

[DRK3]

Greetings, fellow Gwent players.
Today i share the last 'deck of the day' of the year, possibly the last ever too.
Hope you like it, and have a happy New Year!

[DECK OF 30-12-22]
[BEAR DEITY SKELLI MAIDEN (BDSM)]

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

STORYTIME
"Something Ends, Something Begins" is a famous Witcher quote, that i find very appropriate for this moment.
As such, i decided to go full circle, and end my Gwent guides precisely with the cards that got me hooked in Gwent, back in beta in 2017: QUEENSGUARD.
(Sidenote: i started in 2016, but the first few months i was exploring tactics and still didnt have any favourite decks).

The deck title is both a reference to SK's self damage archetype, which has always been one of my favourites; and to my behaviour, as you definitely need to be a tad bit of a masochist to endure playing meme decks for many years, in a playerbase of meta tryharders who always go for 2-0 and dont appreciate creative strategies and decks...

I also adopted the (awesome) title structure of the movie 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon'. If you need everything spelled out for you, the 'Bear Deity' is Svalblod, a brutal deity worshipped by many Skelligan cults, and the 'Skelli Maiden' is Cerys, the Queen of Skellige (in my TW3 run, at least) and leader of the Queensguard and Shieldmaidens.

DECKBUILDING GOALS
I know i wanted to make a deck around the "new" Svalblod, and there's a few cards that are pratically mandatory in such decks, but it still leaves room for different paths with the remaining cards.
A very strong option would be tuirseach veterans, which i love, but i already did a deck with them, totem, knut and idarran quite recently, so i chose another iconic bronze which synergizes with those cards: Queensguards.
To complement them, bear witcher quartermasters and mentors, another two underrated bronzes i love and can get so much value.
(Yes, you can go the Arnachad way too, but that typically demands the inclusion of defender and purifies, while Svalblod's value is more instant.)

Another of my goal was not to include any of the discard package, and no revives - another two aspects of SK's identity, i love both, but they're like a safety net i personally rely too often (you can notice this in my SK decks), and i wanted to demonstrate they're not essential for a deck to work well.
Finally, i wanted to do a deck with very little control, which is another of my crutches, so this deck pratically only has a lock, but know that such choice definitely makes any deck less competitive, but its possible to adapt the deck to be more aggressive, if you wish.

This is what a typical R1 looks like for me, with this deck. It would be even better with 2/3 bear witcher mentors, especially against decks that swarm a lot and dont have much armor.

And this is what a R3 looks like (although its missing Knut). Play totem, fanatics, stall a little if needed for your opponent to play many units, then smash that big boi Svalblod and trigger the bear abominations, then flaminica for massive heals (she's basically an underestimated Gezras, 1 more power, no adrenaline and at half the cost!), and BW mentors before anyone is fully healed.

Here, some bear witcher mentor value in R1, even without their adrenaline (if they're played as finishers, they're even stronger).

BEFORE...

And AFTER. This was very close.
I have definitely not mastered Svalblod, and in this match's R3, i triggered Svalblod too much and pratically did a board wipeout that lost me more value than to my opponent, so you definitely need to plan exactly when and how to play him so this doesnt happen.

 

[DRK3]

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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Last reminder of the index containing all the decks in this thread, which itself took a lot of work to do and keep updated.
Certainly a lot of decks are obsolete by now, especially the older ones, but conceptually, most can resist the test of time, in case you're looking for something new to try.

There won't be anymore decks of the day in the future, if i do return to Gwent and want to share a deck, i might do it in the meme decks thread, but without guide or long texts.

Thank you all for the support and engagement throughout this Journey