Gwent Tips/Guide
Gwent Guide:
Hey everyone Ghost here with what will hopefully become a helpful Gwent guide to those struggling with certain matches (like with the dreaded Nilfgaardian nobleman at the start). I’m not sure I’d consider this a full-fledged guide more like a serious of tips and tricks I’ve acquired in many matches of Gwent.
I’m just going to quickly preface this with a few words. First I apologize for any spelling, punctuation or formatting errors. This is the very first guide I’ve ever written and my English is not the greatest. Secondly I’m by no means an expert at Gwent and there are many other guides out there with different strategies and tactics which I’m sure are just as viable. These tips I present here are just the way I play the game and have had much success with. I’ve only ever lost about 5-6 matches so far and almost all of those were against Stjepan the Innkeeper at Oxenfurt. Once you face him you’ll see why.
The Basics:
I’m not going to cover too much here just because there are many guides that cover this and the tutorial in game does a pretty decent job of explaining things. The most important things to keep in mind are that you need to have at least 22 unit cards in your deck to be able to use it. I’d also recommend keeping your deck at the bare minimum. This is because anything over 22 units actually hinders your chance at drawing the cards that you want/need.
The one thing I will cover are the unit’s abilities. These abilities are the key to winning matches so knowing them inside and out is fundamental. I will also list a few thoughts on each.
Agile – Means the unit can be used in either ranged or close combat row. This ability is pretty good as you will be able to play around the various weather cards.
Morale – Boosts are cards in a row (excluding itself) by +1. Getting +1 while good is not very essential. This ability makes you want to play a lot into one row to get the benefit out of it. This can backfire if a weather card is played and your without a clear weather.
Hero – Special cards that are immune to all other effects (weather etc). While most people will probably assume these cards are the best that’s not entirely the case. True these cards are very good and can win you games but unlike other cards they cannot be boosted by the Commanders Horn (Double Attack).
Muster – Summons are cards from your deck that have the same name. This will seem very OP when you come up against the monster decks that always use this (and to a lesser extent the Scoia'tael). However this ability can be neutralized with Weather effects, Scorch or with special cards (very rare) that have the Scorch: Close Combat ability.
Scorch Close Combat - Destroy all close combat cards is combined strength is over 10. Not much to say here. Very situational but very good when used properly. It will win you games against monster decks. I only know of one card that possesses this ability at the moment (Villentretenmerth).
Medic – Allows you to bring back a card from your discard pile. This right here will win you games by itself. There are many tricks to playing these cards. Obviously saving them for later rounds to bring back specific cards etc.
Spy – Places the card on your opponent’s side and allows you to draw two cards. Another essential card and will often time win you games if you’re lucky. However it can backfire sometimes if the opponent plays a decoy on it.
Tight Bond – Doubles the attack when placed next to units of the same type. Very good ability especially when paired with the commander’s horn. Also very amusing when you have three of these cards in one deck and draw them all.
Well those are all things to keep in mind when building your deck. In my opinion Medic, Spy and Tight Bond are the best to have. Next I’ll just lay down a few strategies I use personally. This post has already become much longer then I intended so I’m going to make this as short as possible.
Strategy:
You do not have to win the first round. Actually my preferred method of winning games consists of redrawing my opening hand until I have at least one spy card (two is awesome). I then proceed to play those spies and then any cards not essential to my strategy. Mostly any 1 attack or in some cases I will play a weak melee or ranged card if I have only one and more of the other. I do this because playing the spy nets me 2 extra cards and then I play all other cards I don’t need to potentially make the AI play its stronger cards. Which it will frequently do, I’ve won many games because the AI plays its hero cards on the opening hands after I played a +1 attack unit.
Like most other cards games having more cards then your opponent (card advantage) is key to assuring an easy victory. You accomplish this with the spy and medic cards. Ideally you want to play spies the first round (as stated above) and medics the last.
Don’t forget your leader ability! These can mean the difference between winning and losing. I personally use Foltest: The Siegemaster. This basically gives me a free Commanders Horn on my Siege units. Which the Northern Realms deck has a lot of. This plus the two catapults with tight bond and a clear weather card in my hand basically means assured victory.
Don’t be afraid to waste cards to draw/see a card from your opponent. The best example of this is if you have a few units in your hand a weather card that is already currently in effect you can play this weather card to end your turn without playing a unit. This allows you to see what the AI will do next. Sometimes he passes and you can win by using only one card compared to two or three.
Early game when you have less cards the weather effects the medic and Prince Stennis are the ways you will win. Weather effects are key to beating tougher opponents and the only way to beat monster decks in most cases. The Nilfgaardian Noble at the start (Who gives you the Siegemaster leader card) can be beat quite easily using biting frost and and mostly fog (he plays a lot of archers).
Play your weather cards and clear weather card as late as possible. This just gives a better chance that it will be effective. You’ll obviously have to do some math in your head to see if playing either of these can win the game.
Last tip. My recommend deck would definitely be the Northern Realms. Their passive ability allows you to draw an extra card on any round won. Paired with spies this can easily win games. The Nilfgaardian and Scoia'tael passives are pretty lackluster in my opinion. While the monsters passive is very random.
Well I apologize for how long this post became. Setting out I definitely did not intend that. However to anyone who is struggling with Gwent and actually took the time to read all of this I hope it helped. There is a lot more I could say on the subject but seeing as the post is long enough I’ll stop here. If there is any interest in more tips or strategies on other decks I would be happy to provide them.
Now back to this amazing game.
Gwent Guide:
Hey everyone Ghost here with what will hopefully become a helpful Gwent guide to those struggling with certain matches (like with the dreaded Nilfgaardian nobleman at the start). I’m not sure I’d consider this a full-fledged guide more like a serious of tips and tricks I’ve acquired in many matches of Gwent.
I’m just going to quickly preface this with a few words. First I apologize for any spelling, punctuation or formatting errors. This is the very first guide I’ve ever written and my English is not the greatest. Secondly I’m by no means an expert at Gwent and there are many other guides out there with different strategies and tactics which I’m sure are just as viable. These tips I present here are just the way I play the game and have had much success with. I’ve only ever lost about 5-6 matches so far and almost all of those were against Stjepan the Innkeeper at Oxenfurt. Once you face him you’ll see why.
The Basics:
I’m not going to cover too much here just because there are many guides that cover this and the tutorial in game does a pretty decent job of explaining things. The most important things to keep in mind are that you need to have at least 22 unit cards in your deck to be able to use it. I’d also recommend keeping your deck at the bare minimum. This is because anything over 22 units actually hinders your chance at drawing the cards that you want/need.
The one thing I will cover are the unit’s abilities. These abilities are the key to winning matches so knowing them inside and out is fundamental. I will also list a few thoughts on each.
Agile – Means the unit can be used in either ranged or close combat row. This ability is pretty good as you will be able to play around the various weather cards.
Morale – Boosts are cards in a row (excluding itself) by +1. Getting +1 while good is not very essential. This ability makes you want to play a lot into one row to get the benefit out of it. This can backfire if a weather card is played and your without a clear weather.
Hero – Special cards that are immune to all other effects (weather etc). While most people will probably assume these cards are the best that’s not entirely the case. True these cards are very good and can win you games but unlike other cards they cannot be boosted by the Commanders Horn (Double Attack).
Muster – Summons are cards from your deck that have the same name. This will seem very OP when you come up against the monster decks that always use this (and to a lesser extent the Scoia'tael). However this ability can be neutralized with Weather effects, Scorch or with special cards (very rare) that have the Scorch: Close Combat ability.
Scorch Close Combat - Destroy all close combat cards is combined strength is over 10. Not much to say here. Very situational but very good when used properly. It will win you games against monster decks. I only know of one card that possesses this ability at the moment (Villentretenmerth).
Medic – Allows you to bring back a card from your discard pile. This right here will win you games by itself. There are many tricks to playing these cards. Obviously saving them for later rounds to bring back specific cards etc.
Spy – Places the card on your opponent’s side and allows you to draw two cards. Another essential card and will often time win you games if you’re lucky. However it can backfire sometimes if the opponent plays a decoy on it.
Tight Bond – Doubles the attack when placed next to units of the same type. Very good ability especially when paired with the commander’s horn. Also very amusing when you have three of these cards in one deck and draw them all.
Well those are all things to keep in mind when building your deck. In my opinion Medic, Spy and Tight Bond are the best to have. Next I’ll just lay down a few strategies I use personally. This post has already become much longer then I intended so I’m going to make this as short as possible.
Strategy:
You do not have to win the first round. Actually my preferred method of winning games consists of redrawing my opening hand until I have at least one spy card (two is awesome). I then proceed to play those spies and then any cards not essential to my strategy. Mostly any 1 attack or in some cases I will play a weak melee or ranged card if I have only one and more of the other. I do this because playing the spy nets me 2 extra cards and then I play all other cards I don’t need to potentially make the AI play its stronger cards. Which it will frequently do, I’ve won many games because the AI plays its hero cards on the opening hands after I played a +1 attack unit.
Like most other cards games having more cards then your opponent (card advantage) is key to assuring an easy victory. You accomplish this with the spy and medic cards. Ideally you want to play spies the first round (as stated above) and medics the last.
Don’t forget your leader ability! These can mean the difference between winning and losing. I personally use Foltest: The Siegemaster. This basically gives me a free Commanders Horn on my Siege units. Which the Northern Realms deck has a lot of. This plus the two catapults with tight bond and a clear weather card in my hand basically means assured victory.
Don’t be afraid to waste cards to draw/see a card from your opponent. The best example of this is if you have a few units in your hand a weather card that is already currently in effect you can play this weather card to end your turn without playing a unit. This allows you to see what the AI will do next. Sometimes he passes and you can win by using only one card compared to two or three.
Early game when you have less cards the weather effects the medic and Prince Stennis are the ways you will win. Weather effects are key to beating tougher opponents and the only way to beat monster decks in most cases. The Nilfgaardian Noble at the start (Who gives you the Siegemaster leader card) can be beat quite easily using biting frost and and mostly fog (he plays a lot of archers).
Play your weather cards and clear weather card as late as possible. This just gives a better chance that it will be effective. You’ll obviously have to do some math in your head to see if playing either of these can win the game.
Last tip. My recommend deck would definitely be the Northern Realms. Their passive ability allows you to draw an extra card on any round won. Paired with spies this can easily win games. The Nilfgaardian and Scoia'tael passives are pretty lackluster in my opinion. While the monsters passive is very random.
Well I apologize for how long this post became. Setting out I definitely did not intend that. However to anyone who is struggling with Gwent and actually took the time to read all of this I hope it helped. There is a lot more I could say on the subject but seeing as the post is long enough I’ll stop here. If there is any interest in more tips or strategies on other decks I would be happy to provide them.
Now back to this amazing game.