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.

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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.

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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...

docs.google.com

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

 

[DRK3]

Deck of the Day is back in business!
However, it shall be in reduced capacity - i am not cutting on the testing and optimization, but i am cutting on the effort put on writing guides and uploading screenshots. Now i will only put some general guidelines, or none at all.

And yes, i am aware that is awkward sharing decks little over 24h away from the new season, but meme decks are timeless!

[DECK OF 06-08-23]
[NEUTRAL UNITY]

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 start my new decks in 2023 with a fully neutral deck. The full neutral deck i did last year (Neutral Perfection) was one of my best creations, it flew under the radar but it had insane winrates (close to 90%) even in high ranks, no bad matchups and was incredibly fun and versatile, hence the 'perfection' part of the title. In fact, i think it may be viable even now... But i wanted to try something different.

This one is 'unity'... because its all units. Yes, its a Renfri deck. But its also a bonded bandit deck, as only now did i get the chance to try them after their reworks, and i know they are not considered competitive (rightfully so), but they're interesting and can still pack a punch.

I've had some success with it (even used it to rank from 1 to 0), the worst matchup is definitely NG and cheap locks, which can usually counter the Free Company, Gaunter and bronze engine setup (against SK or NR, carapace boosts works well for protection).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have plenty of other full neutral decks in store, some ready, others in the making. I cant promise i will share all of them, but here's an idea:
-Neutral Renfri
-Neutral Golden Nekker
-Neutral RNG
-Neutral Carryover
-Neutral Dragons + Ragnaroog

I try to use different cards from each other, so they dont look the same, but there's very few viable bronze units and the best top golds (Heatwave, Oneiro, Muzzle, Rune Mage), so its hard to pull that off.

 

[DRK3]

I said i wasnt going to write a lot anymore. This was not the case this time.
I guess old habits die hard...

[DECK OF 08-08-23] (pre-patch, but should not be affected)
[RAVANEN SOLDIERS]

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 do NOT recommend this deck. This was more of an experimental test, and it failed... or succeeded in proving my hypothesis:
NR soldiers suck. And devotion sucks too.

Siege engines are way stronger than NR soldiers, they got a scenario to back them up, which 4 years almost its release is the most played scenario in Gwent at the moment. And amazing Raffard's Vengeance, and now super broken Demavend (for only a few more hours) with winch (warfare) synergy for siege engines. And broken Onagers. All this makes me believe siege engines are the strongest control engine archetype in Gwent.
But its not just siege engines, NG soldiers are also seriously stronger than NR soldiers right now.

I was drawn to Kimbolt because he is similar to Demavend, much harder to use but has an even higher point ceiling.
Note the deck has performed terribly not because of Kimbolt but because i refused to use Demavend or Temple, which turns out, are the ONLY NR cards that could tutor him. You can use those or ditch devotion and use Oneiro or Maxii.

Also, there is no mutagenerator in the deck, which may seem weird considering it also boosts unit in deck, similar to Kimbolt. Yes, but they are random, and might make Kimbolt sequencing even harder than it already is, where generally you need pairs: units of the same power, one on board, one in deck.

FInally, it must be said this was tested in pro rank, on the last day before season reset, so there might have been more tryharders making my life miserable than usual, and the deck obtained unfair results.

 

[DRK3]

Today i share what is usually called a 'degenerate deck'. So much so that its already downvoted even though im only sharing it now.
Still, its designed as a meme deck and not to be optimized in general, but to optimize a fringe card (in this case, hostage taker), so it has its place in this thread.

[DECK OF 09-08-23]
[ALL THE TRAPS]

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 deck may seem poorly built, but within the set of conditions i established - including all traps and the most ways of playing them even more - i dont think it could be better.
It seems wrong, to not have Vernossiel and Isengrim on a deck that spawns so many deadeyes, but there's only room for two top golds, and Eldain is absolutely essential, and for the other i selected Angus, since it strengthens our R1 rather than our R3 that doesnt need more power.

LACK OF CONSISTENCY
This leaves very little room for differences except on the lower spectrum of provisions. I included Maxii to try and improve consistency, but she doesnt help in getting heist R1, only in getting Eldain by R3, but i lost devotion (for Eldain to convert heist cargos) and that actually cost me a match, that ended up in a draw. So i removed her.
Basically there isnt any room for tutors of 8+ provisions, i guess the only option would be arcane tome at 6 to improve chances of getting Heist on R1, but with only 2 specials in deck, it would be weird (and lose devotion again).

SUGGESTED CHANGES
On the lower spectrum its possible to make changes. I recommend keeping the 2 poison dryads, to pair up with the poison trap, but only for R1/2, mulligan them in R3. The sapper is way too useful for heist targets, so i would include a 2nd. Trapmaker and elven scout could get a ton of value in this deck, but it goes against the general plan of playing uninteractive, same as Hattori. So perhaps change them to that new 4p elf that infuses and moves enemy, as its a good heist backup target.

HOSTAGE TAKER
This deck was actually built before the patch, but with +1pt buff to this bronze it got a bit better. This card saw little play so far, because on decks with only 4/5 traps, or on short rounds, it can brick and be 4 for 5... That's a bad floor, but the ceiling?
For comparison, Muzzle is seize 6, for 10prov, for a max of 12pts. Hostage taker, on a near-perfect round, with, lets say 8 traps (dont forget Iorveth's replays adds to this counter), plays for seize 8, with a body of 4. That's 20pts for 5 prov! Even more, because the seized unit also gets buffed by Angus buffs as its converted into a Deadeye. Which is super useful against NG, as they no longer get value from copying the unit you seized. And of course, this deck has 2 hostage takers and heist so you can replay them with cargos and abuse this ceiling!

(im having some trouble uploading screenshots into the post, so i will attach them instead)

On the 1st screenshot, shows the potential of sticky situation - please notice how many cards i have left in hand compared to my opponents...
I really started to love that trap, as it makes R1 so much stronger, forcing many players to pass early, which is a huge mistake, as i keep playing down to 4 cards to replay Angus as many times as possible, then go for a 10 card R3 and never push R2.

On screenshots 2 and 3, its a mirror match, where i used serpent trap to kill his Angus, while i replayed mine many times, got last say, and got a perfect hand on R3, and you can see the result (his Vernossiel got hit by an incinerating trap that cost him a lot of points with cargo).

On screenshots 4 and 5, its a match against NG poison, i thought i would lose because his thirsty dame got so much value i wasnt able to stop, but in the end it wasnt even close, with a 60+pt last turn with Eldain, Mahakam Horn and remaining leader charges.

 

[Barracuda88]

Today i share what is usually called a 'degenerate deck'. So much so that its already downvoted even though im only sharing it now.
Still, its designed as a meme deck and not to be optimized in general, but to optimize a fringe card (in this case, hostage taker), so it has its place in this thread.

[DECK OF 09-08-23]
[ALL THE TRAPS]

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

The deck may seem poorly built, but within the set of conditions i established - including all traps and the most ways of playing them even more - i dont think it could be better.
It seems wrong, to not have Vernossiel and Isengrim on a deck that spawns so many deadeyes, but there's only room for two top golds, and Eldain is absolutely essential, and for the other i selected Angus, since it strengthens our R1 rather than our R3 that doesnt need more power.

LACK OF CONSISTENCY
This leaves very little room for differences except on the lower spectrum of provisions. I included Maxii to try and improve consistency, but she doesnt help in getting heist R1, only in getting Eldain by R3, but i lost devotion (for Eldain to convert heist cargos) and that actually cost me a match, that ended up in a draw. So i removed her.
Basically there isnt any room for tutors of 8+ provisions, i guess the only option would be arcane tome at 6 to improve chances of getting Heist on R1, but with only 2 specials in deck, it would be weird (and lose devotion again).

SUGGESTED CHANGES
On the lower spectrum its possible to make changes. I recommend keeping the 2 poison dryads, to pair up with the poison trap, but only for R1/2, mulligan them in R3. The sapper is way too useful for heist targets, so i would include a 2nd. Trapmaker and elven scout could get a ton of value in this deck, but it goes against the general plan of playing uninteractive, same as Hattori. So perhaps change them to that new 4p elf that infuses and moves enemy, as its a good heist backup target.

HOSTAGE TAKER
This deck was actually built before the patch, but with +1pt buff to this bronze it got a bit better. This card saw little play so far, because on decks with only 4/5 traps, or on short rounds, it can brick and be 4 for 5... That's a bad floor, but the ceiling?
For comparison, Muzzle is seize 6, for 10prov, for a max of 12pts. Hostage taker, on a near-perfect round, with, lets say 8 traps (dont forget Iorveth's replays adds to this counter), plays for seize 8, with a body of 4. That's 20pts for 5 prov! Even more, because the seized unit also gets buffed by Angus buffs as its converted into a Deadeye. Which is super useful against NG, as they no longer get value from copying the unit you seized. And of course, this deck has 2 hostage takers and heist so you can replay them with cargos and abuse this ceiling!

(im having some trouble uploading screenshots into the post, so i will attach them instead)

On the 1st screenshot, shows the potential of sticky situation - please notice how many cards i have left in hand compared to my opponents...
I really started to love that trap, as it makes R1 so much stronger, forcing many players to pass early, which is a huge mistake, as i keep playing down to 4 cards to replay Angus as many times as possible, then go for a 10 card R3 and never push R2.

On screenshots 2 and 3, its a mirror match, where i used serpent trap to kill his Angus, while i replayed mine many times, got last say, and got a perfect hand on R3, and you can see the result (his Vernossiel got hit by an incinerating trap that cost him a lot of points with cargo).

On screenshots 4 and 5, its a match against NG poison, i thought i would lose because his thirsty dame got so much value i wasnt able to stop, but in the end it wasnt even close, with a 60+pt last turn with Eldain, Mahakam Horn and remaining leader charges.

For consistency, at least switch to Cursed Scroll. The saber is really not that helpful R1 here, anyway.

 

[DRK3]

I finally got to trying Syndicate's new cards (not just of Tide Rises but also of Claw and Dagger).
There's still plenty of interesting SY cards i still need to explore, but here's a start.
Note: this is also my SY Summer Cycle deck, with WotW cards, the self poison package.

[DECK OF 12-08-23]
[FREAKSHOW GOT A GF]

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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CURSE OF CORRUPTION
Including CoC in GN decks is very risky, especially when you include multiple 8pt units. Still, i think its essential in this meta, with giant immune Soves and Tatterwings, Tyr and his bronze targets, King Chrums, Demavends (a bit less now after nerf), R1 Torres and more. And since they killed Yrden and Igni, i think CoC is the next best counter, as it bypasses immunity and defenders.

IXORA + FREAKSHOW COMBO
When the Tide Rises card drop came out, it took more than a week before we started seeing SY decks, as they were considered harder to play, and heard many streamers saying the playerbase in general was just waiting for a pro to come up with a good list for them.
The result was pairing top Vice golds like Ixora and Acherontia with blood-knuckle brawler. Since it got good results, people went along with it. I am now here to tell you that is wrong. Or at least, inefficient.

Both Freakshow and Blood Knuckle brawler have a 1:1 damage-coin ratio. And im aware brawler is cheaper, less likely to get insta-removed and you can get multiple easily. But by using brawler to trigger Ixora's vice you're wasting her potential, with the exception of situations where the enemy units are roughly all the same value (elves).

In most situations, enemy boards have small, mid and tall units, in terms of their points.
With brawler + ixora, brawler damages the tallest, ixora kills the small. With freakshow + ixora, freakshow kills the small, ixora kills the mid, and you require way less coins to wipe out the board and reach a point where its ixora killing the tall units.

Finally, there is also a point to be made about triggering vice through boosts, spread out boosts, with like a candle or oxenfurt guard, so you dont get vulnerable tall units, or something else with a good coin-point ratio.

COMBOS FOR THE FUTURE
Soon, i will do an Acherontia deck. With her vice being nerfed from 10 to 12, it will certainly be trickier, but i welcome the challenge.
I've been thinking and one strong possibility - that ive never seen anyone trying yet - is Acherontia bounty.

This will be a big finisher, as you need a long round so there are many enemy units on board, but also so that you thinned a lot on R1 and 2, so that on R3 whats left in your deck are a ton of cheap bounty givers (specials or units). That way you can bypass the usual cycle of one bounty per turn, or two if you got caleb menge or witchfinder, and with some planning (and probably with the bounty leader), create an infinite cycle of destruction, until your deck is emptied.

 

[DRK3]

I got plenty of decks ready to be shared, yet today i wont put out any.
I am trying to be more selective, quality (or in this case creativity) above quantity.
I will take this chance to write about one of the decks i've been using recently, but i dont want to recommend it:

Its my SK "Discard Lovebirds" deck. It has both versions of Olgierd, Iris and Iris Companions, to explore Iris rework. And of course, i use the Olgierd + Iris cardback

The deck performed decently, around 50% winrate on pro rank. It allowed me to really go deep into funeral boat abuse, with all the discards, so i can play magic compass below 2, sometimes even on R2, and on R3. Usually for something safe like Fucusya into Axel 3-eyes.

The other big play is Kaer Trolde on Olgierd: Immortal, its been surprisingly effective, especially against SK devotion warriors which is one of the most popular decks and they cant do anything about it (very few pack champion's charge).

The reason i dont recommend it is because - unlike my prediction - Iris doesnt give enough value on a discard deck. Even if discarded on turn 1 with iris companions, the buff on discarded units like skirmishers or morkvarg is lost and also the deck has 4/5 specials / artefacts that reduce value from Iris.

I do have another Iris deck - a Renfri DW list - that one may be the best fit for Iris and i might share that soon...

 

[DRK3]

Greetings.
Today i share the deck that to me makes the most sense in using the reworked Iris.

[DECK OF 16-08-23]
[RENFRI AND IRIS BFF]

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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Iris in a Deathwish deck, so you can consume her very early in a match without losing her power or tempo. And in a Renfri deck, so her 'boost all units in deck' ability is maximized.

You should absolutely consume Iris. Why? I found out if you just play Iris and let her go to the GY at the end of the round (i assume she is immune to locks, as locks disappear in GY and her ability only takes place in GY), you draw the cards and do the mulligans for the next round BEFORE her boost effect happens.

CARD CHOICES
I opted for a more midangey list for this, than what you usually find in DW decks. Also i had recently used a Succubus, Arachas queen, Dethlaff HV deck for cycle quests, so i built this one very differently, to be more control focused, and i am satisfied with the value of the DW units used (sadly, my beloved harpy eggs have been powercrept again, and are unviable).

Regarding Geralt... I find that just one tall punishment in the current meta isnt enough, but Yrden is dead and Igni is unreliable, but its very frustating predicting giant immune Erlands or Soves (or less often, Tatterwings) and not being able to do anything about them in Renfri decks.

Triss MS is a bit iffy here. Definitely not a deck where she gets the most value. And Lord Riptide usually "eats" the enemy heatwave, so less Meteor Shower value. But there's two benefits: because of Iris boost (+1) or Triss Butt's (+3), Triss MS gets out of coup de grace range, even without last say, it wont be used against you as long as you play it last.
And Renfri sometimes gives the option of 'copying an enemy unit', which can often help in getting a tall unit for MS value, against SK or MO.

Big units on the melee, red heads on the ranged

 

[DRK3]

Today i bring another fully neutral deck, this time a GN version.
I warn you right away - it's not particularly strong and quite hard to pilot.
Rather than explain its strategies, i will detail why GN isnt a good fit for fully neutral decks.

[DECK OF 17-08-23]
[NEUTRAL NIGHTMARE]

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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WHY GOLDEN NEKKER HAS LIMITED POTENTIAL IN FULLY NEUTRAL DECKS?
I believe GN decks are viable in all 6 factions, some a little better than others, but still viable. That's because all factions have decent bronze units and mid-provision golds. The same cant be said about neutrals. Which gives little room in deckbuilding...

CARD PICKS, ONE BY ONE
1. Golden Nekker. Duh.
2. Ciri Nova. Some competitive GN decks dont even use her, but in neutral decks, where there is a huge lack of good 8/9 provision cards, she is a must.
3 and 4. Unicorn and Chironex. They easily make up the 2nd strongest play of the deck, after GN itself.
5. Alissa Henson. An easy enabler to replay GN. Again, competitive GN decks may not even need to play it twice, but neutral decks do need it.

6 and 7. HG Sword and CoC. I include these in all my GN decks now, even though they make GN more likely to backfire. The former is one of the few reliable ways to steal a powerful unit from your opponent for later rounds, and the latter is essential tall punishment, in a meta where there are even a couple of huge immune tall units running rampant.
8 and 9. Glorious Hunt and Twisted Mirror. OK, this is quite crazy, instead of 1 (CoC), i put 3 of those cards that can backfire, or be 0 pts, in the deck! The biggest setback is Ciri Nova, at 8 base power which can accidentally get killed by Glorious Hunt, the key is to try and play these from hand and not from GN.

10. Triss Butterflies. Usually Royal Decree is more popular in GN decks, but i needed the min units and she can help fix a hand.
11 and 12. Maxii and Fisher King. These two are AMAZING in GN decks, knowing what GN will pull so you set it up, or shuffle if you dont like it, or put the unit or special you need on top (usually artefact is less important, just added value). Without them, i wouldnt dare to put those 3 "backfire" specials in this list.
13. Strays of Spalla. This reworked bronze is awesome, and probably the best value bronze neutral. Putting a gold back in deck isnt bad at all in GN decks where there is less polarization and so you have more (and weaker) golds, this deck has 20 golds and 5 bronzes! He can put a CoC/ GH that would burn an allied unit back in deck, or put an artefact/ special in deck so GN can pull all 3 cards and doesnt waste value.
I would include two of these if i found the room for them.

14. and 15. Arcane Tome and Vial. These two are common in GN decks, as they have the best provision-point ratio for cheap artefacts, and arcane tome is a must in GN decks with Alissa, so its possible to play two GN in the same round, or even the same turn!

16. 17. 18. 19. Cheap techs. A squirrel, usually it would be a pellar, to deal with enemy defenders, but since i got so much tall punishment, i use that instead, and pack a scout for movement (explained later), and bearification, as budget artefact removal (looking at you, mutagenerator), or cheap value since we do have enough artefacts.
And Dorregaray, for a lock. I am using Imprisonment in this list, but you can use others. Having 3 locks may seem too much, but i rarely find a lock goes to waste, and i dont think there are better neutral options to replace him.
20. Cyprian Wiley. This is my flavour pick, works well with fog or leader charges, to deal with units where destroying isnt enough.

21-25. These are the only "open slots" for a GN neutral deck. I picked a weather package to be different - includes an extra artefact and thins better (tempest), plays uninteractive. And scout lets us move units to both rows so weather isnt wasted.
The other semi-viable option would be just control cards, like thunder or offerings, you can do that if you prefer.

WHAT OTHER NEUTRAL OPTIONS ARE THERE?
I considered a few potentially good cards, but discarded them all for one reason or another:

Maraal seems pretty good, but there arent many poison neutral bronzes, you cant protect him behind a defender and he's the ONLY good target for zeal potion in neutrals 4-9prov, so a backup target isnt possible.
Sar'Quan was reworked and seems interesting now, but he works better in a swarm deck, in neutral GN you cant swarm properly, maybe get 6-7 damage out of him sometimes, so he didnt seem worth it.
Bonded bandits (which ive explored in the previous neutral deck) are decent, but you cant include free company, or mushy truffle in GN decks, so they are even less viable. And bombs? When you cant use Madoc? No.
Then there are some RNG cards like Master Mirror or "Desert Treasure Bros". They can give amazing value, but most times they dont, and you are kinda cheating the neutral aspect, as they will provide faction golds.

Very proud of this feat - HG sworded my opponent's chironex on R1, then played 3 ponies, where the 2nd and 3rd both played for 6 points and thinned 2 cards, for a 32pt HG sword, which won me the match.

 

[DRK3]

Another Heist deck. Something i had never seen used before, but its possible some people tried it when Heist came out and put it aside, i wasnt keeping up with the game at that time. What i am referring to is... Heist Dwarves!

[DECK OF 18-08-23]
[DWARVEN HEIST]

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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Basically i clicked Heist, read cargo's description and noticed it can be used on Agents, Bandits and Soldiers.
Agents and Bandits are basically all Elves except Spellatael elves. And ST soldiers is basically all dwarves. So i had to try 'em.

It wasnt hard to make a list, i just included pratically all top dwarves except the resilient ones, the dwarves with soldier tag are the ones you want to replay anyway.

Did the list do well? Not particularly, but i didnt feel it was Heist's fault, i think it got almost as much value as it does in ST elves, but with SK Warriors wiping out your every card in this meta, even with armor, its hard for any engine deck to thrive, unless it cheats the system playing multiple engines in 1 turn, like NR and NG do.

Fortunately i had one amazing match where i was able to explore the max potential of the deck, and the opponent did the same:

Brouver got 6/7 turns of row boosts, Munro had 4 transforms, so not even a 40pt Triss MS was enough. (although my humble artefact compression got almost as much value, on that giant Morvudd).
Cargos were used on Zoltan Warrior, Barclay Els, and on Agitator - the latter is a waste of a cargo charge and he's not even in the final list anymore, replaced by pyrotech.

Forgive me, dwarf fans, for messing up the triptych art, only now i realize my mistake and its Zoltan who is supposed to be in the middle

 

[DRK3]

Really proud of the deck i'll share today.
It's not super strong, its quirky, but the first 5 or 6 matches i've done with it were some of the best fun i've had in Gwent in ages (yes, yes, i know, i was away for 7 months, so this means little, whatever )
Every match is different, every turn is filled with strategy and mindgames for both you and opponent, as you both feel like sailing in uncharted waters. Honestly, it feels like your opponent should thank you for the honour of facing this deck, regardless of win or loss, since its so fundamentally different from existing NG archetypes.

[DECK OF 21-08-23]
[IDENTITY CRISIS]

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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ORIGIN OF THE DECK
Contaminator. That was the card i wanted to build a deck around. "Who?", you may ask...
Exactly! I had never seen anyone playing it, ever. I think NG's Claw and Dagger cards were probably neglected quickly by the playerbase, who preferred to stick with OP flanking soldiers, who will have their "OP anniversary" next month!

This card is 5prov, 5 body, banish a 3pt enemy? I found it hilarious - 3 years ago this card would be completely broken and abused, as Sweers or Toad Prince were 8/9 prov with a similar ability. But now, most bronze engines have been established with a 4pt base power, hence why Contaminator can be tricky to use. And why i chose the other bronzes in this deck to complement it.

F*CK KOLGRIM
I am well aware these NG Claw and Dagger cards are Kolgrim support, like a more "ethical clog", where you dont mess your opponent's deck draws. Since Kolgrim players have 0 ethical integrity, they obviously didnt like this new approach and stuck with the old clog cards.
Fortunately, these cards like Contaminator, Toxicologist and Abduction, can work well without that damned witcher, and be used for control and value strategies.

ACE UP THE SLEEVE
OK, so i did want the deck to be at least mildly competitive. And no, i am not referring to the Stefan Skellen card, but to Battle Stations!
Its a really strong card, and players like to abuse it, with Assire... But why not also abuse it also with Alissa? Just because she costs an extra provision? Nah, she's definitely still worth it, and it all creates a cycle of synergy, since the more you thin, the more likely you are to be able to play Battle Stations! thrice.

But we dont play Battle stations for dumb value (looking at you, Nauzicaa Sergeants). Playing two bronzes in one turn allows crazy combos, like setting up a mangonel and playing an informant to both copy and remove a bronze enemy engine at once. Or damaging a 6pt enemy with infiltrator and banishing it with contaminator, to be an abduction target later.

GOLD SPECIAL REMOVALS
Maybe im a bit too obsessed with countering immune giant units, and including CoC, Yen Invo and Muzzle is crazy. But this deck doesnt go tall, other than a crystal skulled mangonel, an emissary boosted unit, a braathens or an Angouleme who didnt find a target, but those should all be in the 8/9pt range, its common to get much bigger targets.

One advantage in having the top end consisting of mostly specials is that Enslave-6 decks will find little value from their Torres, Coup or Terranova (just be careful to not let Braathens be given spying). They will also find little value in Angouleme, Assire or Alissa.

Note: Menno can often brick, especially in a short R3, but thanks to him and Roderick, its theoretically possible to play all 3 Battle stations in the same round, if you have Alissa and Assire in hand, and you draw enough bronzes.

This deck completely wrecks ogroids (you can replay CoC or Yen Invo rather than Battle stations, if you want).
And it LOVES Incubus, as you can use an informant to copy it, and bring back the 1pt spies you played on earlier rounds, and bring back mangonels.

Hadnt seen this scenario played in a long time, but if you play it, i play it too, but better than you!

You know cultists, when they play their operator to put a bronze cultist on your side, and screw you over? With enough control, you screw them back, as you get the chance to use the order of that bronze cultist and then proceed to annihilate any further bronze cultists that give status before they can use them.

Now this is NR Witcher value.

Who doesnt love an Assimilate mirror? Note - do NOT Muzzle their Terranova, as it instantly gets spying status. I did that mistake and somehow still won.

------------------------------------------------------

Two more decks of the day until the end of the month / Cycle. See you soon...

 

[DRK3]

Today's deck came out really nicely, after a few iterations.
It's a SY Tatterwing deck, that i've already shared its "origin story" in the Dragon chronicles. So here, we can get right down to business.

[DECK OF 26-08-23]
[TATTERSHUPE]

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've had previous experience with combining Shupe with Firesworn, in a "lore-friendly" decklist i shared last year - not enough 'fire' in firesworn so i had to include Scorch and Igni.
When i was picking cards recently for this Tatterwing deck, i gravitated towards firesworn, and eventually ended up adding Shupe.

TATTERWING ANALYSIS

When you build a Tatterwing deck, you win a 25pt immune unit, but at what cost?
Its important to know the value lost on included units, which should definitely be below 25pts. You pick cards with small "bodies" (base power) but powerful abilities. Its even possible to lose 0 or very close to 0, as a recent popular MO list proved it.

This list loses 16pts - it may seem its 18, but scapegoat is a disloyal unit, so losing base power is actually an advantage and its point is subtracted rather than added to to the total. 16 is not amazing, but i think the card choice more than makes up for it, going for wide strategy rather than unitless with only a few huge bodies vulnerable to tall removal (it still has some tall units too, though).

CONSIDERATIONS

There are many, many expensive units with small bodies but powerful deploy abilities one can select for a Tatterwing deck.
Shupe was actually the last, but he's beloved by every dignified meme player, and since he's originally a special, the base power of the version created wont be 1pt but the usual.

I included Hemmelfart, Cleaver and Philippa. The former two are great fits in a Tatterwing deck, as you will probably end up playing many, many specials (in SY, crimes), and they play crimes on deploy themselves. Philippa is more of a taste thing (my main goal is to steal defenders) but you can use other units, like any Geralt version, Living Armor or Vivienne Oriole if you just want pointslam, or Sunset Wanderers if you want the extra thinning.

KoB is another option who doesnt lose value, but it might be hard to find good tribute units that fit a Tatterwing deck, as they tend to have big bodies. Or you can include Ullrich and try to go for a more traditional firesworn strategy, but the engines will be very vulnerable the turn they're played unless revived by Hemmelfart.

This is just a match against AI, but gives an idea of the value the deck can achieve if left to its own devices.

 

[DRK3]

No deck of the day, the final one of the month is almost ready, it will have... dragons. (no surprise for anyone following my 'Dragon Chronicles' on another thread)

Today i will talk about the 3rd fully neutral deck i created this month.
Its the Full-Neutral Max RNG deck. Its fun but way too chaotic and unreliable, i didnt even bother to try test it outside of AI practice, even there it lost a couple of times. So i decided not worth it to share (but it may be easily replicated with what you read here).

Also, i try to keep it neutral in Full-Neutral decks, so its not just having 25 neutral cards, its also not creating or spawning non-neutral units... But that rule was broken for this deck, to be able to achieve maximum RNG!

So, some cards are already famous in these RNG decks.
-RuneMage is a must, as he's probably the only reliable source of good points in the list, but also improves a lot of the other create RNG cards.
-Uma's Curse and Aguara: True Form are there too, of course. I dont know i was lucky, but these two actually provided me with good pools most of the times, maybe with new good cards, the probabilities of getting something good was improved...
-Angouleme, its undeniable she's RNG, although she's way more consistent now with even create options and a "consolation prize" ability if you run into an opponent with no artefacts in deck.
-Master Mirror is there too, a card i use too often even though it hates me and ruins me so many games. Only 25% of the times it gives me something worth it.
-Cosimo is there too! Main target is always Aguara TF, then something else adjacent with a low body.
-Desert Treasure Bros also join the party. Somehow they manage to gimme the worst crap always, even worse than Master Mirror. They're quite cheap so its no big deal, but they would be so much better if you got a choice of 3 (5 w/ Runemage) golds rather than totally random pick.

-The king of the deck... ALZUR. Main reason why i dont bother playing outside of AI matches, he would just get insta-countered 100% of the matches and it would be awful.
The deck has many spells for Alzur like Uma's Curse, but also "random spells" like CoC and Twisted Mirror that can be worthless or negative pts depending on matchups.

-The deck has Troll Porter, he isnt exactly RNG, and actually improves consistency, but there is a degree of RNG in what he draws.
-Another RNG card that absolutely hates me and no one uses - Decoy. A card that would allow broken OP cards to be replayed, but backfire so often that players fear to use it.
-Prince Villem, another RNG card no one but Viy decks use, as it tends to backfire often.
-The "humblest" RNG card - Ofiri Merchant, without any sort of deck setup, so the trade is always 100% RNG.

NOTE: in a small miracle moment, i did manage to get 3 desert treasures in the same round, after getting one extra "runebro" from create cards, decoying another and finding it back with Prince VIllem! It was 1 in 10.000!

 

[DRK3]

Final deck of the month. The promised dragon deck.

[DECK OF 30-08-23]
[SIEGE DRAGONS]

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've been able to test the deck against most factions. It struggles against NG soldiers (cheap locks, Vilgefortz, Yen Invo) and SK Warriors (by R3, their buffed raid specials one-shot our dragons), its a close fight against all different NR metadecks, and its favoured against any "solitaire", harmless deck that doesnt counter our units.

One thing i failed to mention in the guide - siege engines pair up beautifully with Ocvist and Villentretenmerth:

Assuming they are not countered, for the former you want to put as many enemy units as possible at 1pt (0 armor) before the Ocvist timer. And sometimes Ocvist gets more value in R1 than in R3, against certain decks that put more units in early rounds, like SK with discard, or NG if they have blightmakers to thin.

For Villen, you want to setup a multiburn on enemy units, if there's many siege engines on board this should be achievable.
HOWEVER, be careful with both onagers and bombardments, as they produce random pings that might ruin the lining up, so try to avoid random pings on the turns immediately before Villen's timer ends.
Finally, the deck doesnt have any tall units, but if mutagenerator gets a lot of value R1, its possible on later rounds our bronze siege engines will be burned by Villen, especially when you damage or destroy most of the opponent board, so be mindful when Villen is played, if you dont want its effect to take place, play him in the last 2 turns of the round.

I wanted to try this deck against Harmony and got my chance last night.
As predicted, this deck is heavily favoured - in R1, i was able to destroy Saskia: Commander (2 bombardments did the job, but boiling oil on an adjacent unit to remove its immunity also works).
In R3, harmony scenario was played, it was bearified. My scenario was played and not countered (if it was, the battle might have been close). The opponent had 0 removal, was trying to stick engines but eventually the siege + dragon setup was able to remove most of them.

The same result can be assumed for most "harmless" archetypes that focus on engines or pointslam but with little removal, like Symbiosis or Ogroids, perhaps Vampires and Frost too.

 

[Trevorzan]

Really proud of the deck i'll share today.
It's not super strong, its quirky, but the first 5 or 6 matches i've done with it were some of the best fun i've had in Gwent in ages (yes, yes, i know, i was away for 7 months, so this means little, whatever )
Every match is different, every turn is filled with strategy and mindgames for both you and opponent, as you both feel like sailing in uncharted waters. Honestly, it feels like your opponent should thank you for the honour of facing this deck, regardless of win or loss, since its so fundamentally different from existing NG archetypes.

[DECK OF 21-08-23]
[IDENTITY CRISIS]

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

ORIGIN OF THE DECK
Contaminator. That was the card i wanted to build a deck around. "Who?", you may ask...
Exactly! I had never seen anyone playing it, ever. I think NG's Claw and Dagger cards were probably neglected quickly by the playerbase, who preferred to stick with OP flanking soldiers, who will have their "OP anniversary" next month!

This card is 5prov, 5 body, banish a 3pt enemy? I found it hilarious - 3 years ago this card would be completely broken and abused, as Sweers or Toad Prince were 8/9 prov with a similar ability. But now, most bronze engines have been established with a 4pt base power, hence why Contaminator can be tricky to use. And why i chose the other bronzes in this deck to complement it.

F*CK KOLGRIM
I am well aware these NG Claw and Dagger cards are Kolgrim support, like a more "ethical clog", where you dont mess your opponent's deck draws. Since Kolgrim players have 0 ethical integrity, they obviously didnt like this new approach and stuck with the old clog cards.
Fortunately, these cards like Contaminator, Toxicologist and Abduction, can work well without that damned witcher, and be used for control and value strategies.

ACE UP THE SLEEVE
OK, so i did want the deck to be at least mildly competitive. And no, i am not referring to the Stefan Skellen card, but to Battle Stations!
Its a really strong card, and players like to abuse it, with Assire... But why not also abuse it also with Alissa? Just because she costs an extra provision? Nah, she's definitely still worth it, and it all creates a cycle of synergy, since the more you thin, the more likely you are to be able to play Battle Stations! thrice.

But we dont play Battle stations for dumb value (looking at you, Nauzicaa Sergeants). Playing two bronzes in one turn allows crazy combos, like setting up a mangonel and playing an informant to both copy and remove a bronze enemy engine at once. Or damaging a 6pt enemy with infiltrator and banishing it with contaminator, to be an abduction target later.

GOLD SPECIAL REMOVALS
Maybe im a bit too obsessed with countering immune giant units, and including CoC, Yen Invo and Muzzle is crazy. But this deck doesnt go tall, other than a crystal skulled mangonel, an emissary boosted unit, a braathens or an Angouleme who didnt find a target, but those should all be in the 8/9pt range, its common to get much bigger targets.

One advantage in having the top end consisting of mostly specials is that Enslave-6 decks will find little value from their Torres, Coup or Terranova (just be careful to not let Braathens be given spying). They will also find little value in Angouleme, Assire or Alissa.

Note: Menno can often brick, especially in a short R3, but thanks to him and Roderick, its theoretically possible to play all 3 Battle stations in the same round, if you have Alissa and Assire in hand, and you draw enough bronzes.

View attachment 11359897
This deck completely wrecks ogroids (you can replay CoC or Yen Invo rather than Battle stations, if you want).
And it LOVES Incubus, as you can use an informant to copy it, and bring back the 1pt spies you played on earlier rounds, and bring back mangonels.

View attachment 11359900
Hadnt seen this scenario played in a long time, but if you play it, i play it too, but better than you!
View attachment 11359903
You know cultists, when they play their operator to put a bronze cultist on your side, and screw you over? With enough control, you screw them back, as you get the chance to use the order of that bronze cultist and then proceed to annihilate any further bronze cultists that give status before they can use them.

View attachment 11359906
Now this is NR Witcher value.

View attachment 11359909
Who doesnt love an Assimilate mirror? Note - do NOT Muzzle their Terranova, as it instantly gets spying status. I did that mistake and somehow still won.

------------------------------------------------------

Two more decks of the day until the end of the month / Cycle. See you soon...

wait... is that curse of corruption what I see in one of the pictures? ugh!!!

 

[DRK3]

Didnt plan on sharing more decks this season, but this one surprised me in how it is both strong and fun at the same time.
Its a bit..."abusive", by design, as its more of an experiment on how the devs allow certain cards to cheat the provision system.

Yes, its on casual, i am done with pro rank this season. But the only losses you see there, its 2:0s, they arent actual losses, i ragequitted when i saw a deck i didnt bother to face, and the other its one of the forfeits i did after a misplay of two similar-looking cards which crushed my gameplan.

[DECK OF 04-09-23]
[SYSTEMIC ABUSE]

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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This is almost a neutral deck. Its quite similar to one of my favourite decks of all time, that also used the Troll Porter + Snowdrop combo, although this one is a bit trickier to pilot, and the Temple (1st form) + Demavend are key NR cards - the former to add 3 more top cards to the deck, the latter to play 3 of the top cards you missed (usually, not much is missed, though)

Also, its a perfect example of how binary some bronzes can be, easily being 20+pts indirectly in some matches, and as long as you know what's coming, its easy to decide what to keep and what to banish (both snowdrop and temple's order let you pick and put back cards in deck, rearranging it as you see fit)

(i will add screenshots soon, to prove how absurd some of my hands in R3 were, with 80+ provisions in 6/7 cards.)

Philippas are usually a good pick for Temple for extra removal, and if you played Runemage before, its not uncommon to get multiples of the same top card.

Poor NR opponents, his Mutagenerator R1 was bearified (so that Erland got little value), his siege R3 was Shuped, all of his important siege units were removed or locked.

I love Draug, and when you have a long round its easy to stack many humans on a row.
But better than that, its facing NR priestesses, which spend the entire match building up their last play (a vernon roche that plays 2 priestesses, or a priestess + onager/tridam) only for you to transform their last card (unlike Kambi, you dont need to have a card in hand for it to work).

This opponent was careful and kept a leader charge, so he still had access to one of the priestesses, but even with 17 charges it was not enough. But if they have no charges lefts (typical, when its Renfri), it works wonders.