Is Skellige ever getting sorted so that it's not a solitaire faction?

[Snake_Foxhounder]

Is Skellige ever getting sorted so that it's not a solitaire faction?

Needless to say, Skellige is my least favorite faction in the game. It's an autopilot, play-and-forget, point spam fest. My dislike for the faction started with the axemen weather spam and every iteration of the faction has had similar broken decks that require no thought whatsoever.

Now it's bear spam or the greatsword long ship combo. If the opponent has no counters, you win. If the opponent has counters, you win because you can resurrect all your engines, making removal useless unless you play NG alchemy and that's not the best of solutions.

Not only that, Skellige is the only faction that relies on strengthening of its units, making resets ineffective. Which leaves them with nice resurrection spam for round 3.

Is there any chance that REDs might look into Skellige and go back to the drawing board? I know Skellige is not the only spam faction but it is the worst.

I'd really like the faction to become something more like NG spies, where you need to put some thought into it. Well, as much as Gwent mechanics allow you to. But I'd like to see the faction move away from being this boring, autoplay faction with idiotic archetypes that certainly don't help the game. Skellige is my favorite Witcher location, too.

P.S.

Yes, I don't like Skellige, in case you weren't sure.

 

[Khreygond]

Needless to say, Skellige is my least favorite faction in the game. It's an autopilot, play-and-forget, point spam fest. My dislike for the faction started with the axemen weather spam and every iteration of the faction has had similar broken decks that require no thought whatsoever.

Now it's bear spam or the greatsword long ship combo. If the opponent has no counters, you win. If the opponent has counters, you win because you can resurrect all your engines, making removal useless unless you play NG alchemy and that's not the best of solutions.

Not only that, Skellige is the only faction that relies on strengthening of its units, making resets ineffective. Which leaves them with nice resurrection spam for round 3.

Is there any chance that REDs might look into Skellige and go back to the drawing board? I know Skellige is not the only spam faction but it is the worst.

I'd really like the faction to become something more like NG spies, where you need to put some thought into it. Well, as much as Gwent mechanics allow you to. But I'd like to see the faction move away from being this boring, autoplay faction with idiotic archetypes that certainly don't help the game. Skellige is my favorite Witcher location, too.

P.S.

Yes, I don't like Skellige, in case you weren't sure.

well some of Skellige is. But Axemen aren't. Id' say that's the only really hard deck to play with and really interactive deck it offers. There's QG and Discard in general but since they are unplayable right now, we are left with Bear spam, Veterans and Greatswords, all of which are pretty automatic. What needs to happen is that these decks need a good power up to be made competitive again

 

[DRK3]

I have always loved Skellige since it came out on 'Blood and Wine', but as much as i would like to refute your arguments, its mostly true - in this meta SK is just a point spam faction, without any interesting mechanics. Well, the Greatswords might be not that bad, but they're too powerful atm.

Note however i disagree when you point out SK's core mechanics as the root of the problem: ressurection and strengthening. I love those, and its been like that even since the beginning, and i hope it remains its identity, as it's always been and it wasnt problematic before this meta - its the beastmasters that are the greatest culprits.

I hope CDPR finds a solution to give SK more interesting mechanics than just point spam. The problem is any engine-based deck in this meta gets wrecked by removal, and i fear that will remain the same even if new cards are added.

 

[Khreygond]

I hope CDPR finds a solution to give SK more interesting mechanics than just point spam. The problem is any engine-based deck in this meta gets wrecked by removal, and i fear that will remain the same even if new cards are added.

Considering that has been the case since before midwinter (Spell'tael. God I remember how much I detested playing against that deck, and now I suddenly find that it is teched against everything I hate Nekkers, Handbuff, Greatswords, Axemen all get slaughtered by Spell'tael) I doubt it will change anytime soon true. Removal has always been really prevalent. in Gwent.

 

[Snake_Foxhounder]

ser2440

When I mentioned axemen, I meant back when it began as the reason I started disliking SK. As far as SK goes, axemen are the most interactive archetype as they can be reset, so you can tech against that.

DRK3

I'm all for keeping faction identities, at least for those factions that still have one. I want resurrects to be a SK only thing, as opposed to every faction having something. It just needs to be looked at. The issue is that resurrect is used with strengthening. You can build up your strengthened units in the first 2 round (which can get pretty big) and resurrect several of them in the last round.

 

[Khreygond]

ser2440

When I mentioned axemen, I meant back when it began as the reason I started disliking SK. As far as SK goes, axemen are the most interactive archetype as they can be reset, so you can tech against that.

That;s true, there was a time in the Closed Beta when everyone played axemen (who worked like Derran functions now if I recall, boosted from all the damage enemies take. Axemen plus Savage Bears which were damaging everything that hit the board. I remember I ran a custom NG deck which had no trouble with SK usually because it had Auckes to lock the Bear and Vicovaro medic to steal the axeman But it was pretty annoying. To be fair so was consume though. Fairly automatic. Still is. It is one of those decks that hasn't really changed ever.) Then Discard came, with its "win round 1, play Birna (gold CA spy), Ermion (worked similar to how he does now, ideal for setting up your hand) and Donar An Hinar (Silver CA spy), enter Round 3 with revivals and a set up graveyard while the opponent is 2 cards down" which was no fun at all.

I feel Discard was interesting pre-midwinter but now it fell behind when everything else got a power up. It had a slow opening, but decent thinning, it took some predicting and setting up to make it work, it was pretty proactive but it wasn't as solitaire as Greatswords are now. So was Cursed, which also fell behind, Bears being an "evolution" of it

 

[devivre]

I'm not a fan of SK either (I loved it in CB though), but I doubt the faction will be reworked. I'd say the main thing we can hope for is new cards that provide at least some variability within each archetype. And maybe small balance changes. Of course, I can only speculate here.

Discard SK might need a lot more than that though...

 

[thirdeye50]

I doubt the faction will be reworked.

After watching the tour clip of CDPR and hearing the amount of DEV's that like and play SK I would be very surprised if they did anything about the OP bulls*** that is SK.

P.S. If you missed any of that I hate SK best.

 

[swasnong]

They pretty much nerfed everything that was playable until the Mivinter and that's pretty much the result.

I played SK since Closed Beta till Midvinter. But now I really dislike them because they became soooooo boring!

 

[iamthedave]

ser2440

When I mentioned axemen, I meant back when it began as the reason I started disliking SK. As far as SK goes, axemen are the most interactive archetype as they can be reset, so you can tech against that.

DRK3

I'm all for keeping faction identities, at least for those factions that still have one. I want resurrects to be a SK only thing, as opposed to every faction having something. It just needs to be looked at. The issue is that resurrect is used with strengthening. You can build up your strengthened units in the first 2 round (which can get pretty big) and resurrect several of them in the last round.

Most factions have had access to resurrects from day one. Monsters had Caretaker, NR had Shani and NG had Vicovaro 'oh, you're playing Skellige? How cute' Medic. They just added a couple more in Midwinter (the extras for SK, plus Paulie and Hattori in ST and Ointment). The problem is not resurrections being prevalent, it's that SK actually doesn't have much interaction with the graveyard anymore. QG and that +3 on resurrect fella always struck me as the archetypal blueprint for SK cards; they're designed around resurrecting, but modern SK has few cards that have a payoff good enough for it to be worthwhile.

I'm still not sure what people mean when they complain about faction identity. They're all pretty distinct to me, with unique mechanics and very different decks.

 

[WipeoutVasusu]

the problem is that they removed every possible deck with SK.

discard gone
queen gone
mork gone
axe gone
veteran gone (and Eist is probably thw worst leader in the game)
cursed heavly nerfed

we are left with bear and longsword, is no worth playing the other decks

 

[devivre]

the problem is that they removed every possible deck with SK.

discard gone
queen gone
mork gone
axe gone
veteran gone (and Eist is probably thw worst leader in the game)
cursed heavly nerfed

we are left with bear and longsword, is no worth playing the other decks

Axeman have one of the highest win rates in higher ranks. It's definitely not gone. You just don't see it much on lower ranks because it's not the easiest deck to play.

Veterans is still doing fine with Crach. I don't see many ways to buff this deck without making it ridiculous.

Cursed IMO had to be nerfed, it was too easy to pilot and providing too many points.

Anyhow, discard SK is the only SK deck I wish would become viable again. If Discard makes a comeback you'll see a lot more Morkvarg's

 

[nathanielprice]

Needless to say, Skellige is my least favorite faction in the game. It's an autopilot, play-and-forget, point spam fest. My dislike for the faction started with the axemen weather spam and every iteration of the faction has had similar broken decks that require no thought whatsoever.

Now it's bear spam or the greatsword long ship combo. If the opponent has no counters, you win. If the opponent has counters, you win because you can resurrect all your engines, making removal useless unless you play NG alchemy and that's not the best of solutions.

Not only that, Skellige is the only faction that relies on strengthening of its units, making resets ineffective. Which leaves them with nice resurrection spam for round 3.

Is there any chance that REDs might look into Skellige and go back to the drawing board? I know Skellige is not the only spam faction but it is the worst.

I'd really like the faction to become something more like NG spies, where you need to put some thought into it. Well, as much as Gwent mechanics allow you to. But I'd like to see the faction move away from being this boring, autoplay faction with idiotic archetypes that certainly don't help the game. Skellige is my favorite Witcher location, too.

P.S.

Yes, I don't like Skellige, in case you weren't sure.

You know, Skellige definitely has autopilot elements to it, but it is by no means an autopilot deck. Picture this scenario.

A) You're playing Skellige in ranked, foolish as you are, and come across a seemingly innocent Nilfgaardian deck with Emhyr as the leader. You're playing Skellige Greatswords, the "autopilot deck" of the faction. He plays a 12 powered Nilfgaardian Knight, and by now, you're screwed. The best you can do, IF by any chance you basically crafted your Skellige Greatswords deck to specifically counter THIS archetype of Nilfgaard is to use Mastercrafted spear to kill it. If that's the case you better have a card with 12 power or higher (ie: Hjalmar an Craite) cause if you don't he's going to use mandrake root and suck that baby right back up into his deck where you'll never again see it. Even if you do manage to kill it, psych, he'll use his spy card or whatever her name is (cat magician) as the basis of his attack. You see, that kills off some of his power though, so you think "Oh well I'll counter that with greatswords cause he doesn't have assassins, it wouldn't fit with his cookie cutter deck." Don't worry, in the end, he'll use Regis or some other Letho combo and destroy all your hard work.

B) Nilfgaard assassins deck, you know it because he leads a spy or Nilfgaard Slavetrader. "Oh, I'll play a skellige greatsword." Nope, you're stupid to think that. "Oh well I'll use Crach to bring a 10 powered one out, they can't kill that." This is also pointless because it loses its main benefit as a card when you play it, and you better hope he only has 9 alchemy cards in his deck because otherwise you're still screwed. "Oh I'll play Wild Boar of the Sea, the use crach to withdraw a greatsword, and strengthen it that way, then use Pirate to get Longship." Congratulations, you have discovered the only way to faithfully play Skellige in ranked, the problem is usually they use an assassin to kill your Greatsword anyways because they have 11 alchemy items, or they kill your light longships when you summon them for thinning purposes.

C) Monster decks aren't that hard to beat if you're strategic while your Greatsword is powering up. But if they have an Imerlith Sabeth deck, by god you better have a mandrake root. Thankfully that usually does the job for that one card deck. Consume decks with the Arachas Queen can be destroyed with mandrake root and Coral at the very last round if they don't have a third copy in there deck, or any spare Lizardmen so that they can use there Slyzards. Otherwise, forfeit and you'll save yourself some time.

D) NR....oh NR...how I so very much hate you. I know every NR deck out there because I've spent many hours trying to devise cunning ranked decks that would be able to counter NR. If any of you can actually counter NR, even with Axemen, good on you because its damn difficult. Skellige Greatswords have no chance against NR, even with Wild Boars. Don't even try, they'll lead with spy and let you win the first round, the second round, you'll have to either drain them, which in this case they'll win and it will be very much a 4:10 chance of winning depending on the card you save for last. If you somehow pull through with an FP, then good on ya, you may have won. Radovid decks are the ultimate kill Greatsword decks out there, and they specialize in destroying Skellige decks. Any Skellige deck will be lucky to win against a Radovid deck, good luck. Henselt is a pretty week when it comes to skellige, however, if you don't play your cards just right, he can battering ram you into nonexistence. That on top of all the "into" chains that NR can pull off, well, let's just say you'll only win if they have less then 3 cards at the very last round, if not just forfeit.

Whatever the case may be, Skellige has autopilot elements but it, at this point in time, is nowhere near being an autopilot deck. It used to be an autopilot deck, I'd say for the very first few days of the New year update, but hell if that's the case now I'm a swan.

 

[Khreygond]

D) NR....oh NR...how I so very much hate you. I know every NR deck out there because I've spent many hours trying to devise cunning ranked decks that would be able to counter NR. If any of you can actually counter NR, even with Axemen, good on you because its damn difficult.

It is very much dependent on whether they draw Scorch, at least, Henselt Machines. Axemen are still the best archetype Skellige has to offer and one of the top 3 decks of the meta currently, due to the lack of answers (which in turn is because of its current lack of popularity, which in turn is because it's notoriously difficult to make and pilot).

However the point here is not that Skellige is OP, I think, because it's not. In fact I don't think anything currently meta could be labelled as such. But that their top 3 out of 4 viable decks are too proactive, with minimal interaction with your opponent (hence the term, solitaire faction). These are Bears, Veterans, Greatswords, with Axemen being the exact opposite: an extremely reactive deck.

 

[nathanielprice]

It is very much dependent on whether they draw Scorch, at least, Henselt Machines. Axemen are still the best archetype Skellige has to offer and one of the top 3 decks of the meta currently, due to the lack of answers (which in turn is because of its current lack of popularity, which in turn is because it's notoriously difficult to make and pilot).

However the point here is not that Skellige is OP, I think, because it's not. In fact, I don't think anything currently meta could be labeled as such. But that their top 3 out of 4 viable decks are too proactive, with minimal interaction with your opponent (hence the term, solitaire faction). These are Bears, Veterans, Greatswords, with Axemen being the exact opposite: an extremely reactive deck.

I agree, but axemen are to easy to counter. I don't understand, the only way to make axemen work is if you have two gold kinds of weather, and as many silver special cards as you can, along with herbalists with cloudy weather and spore.

That leaves you with a few axemen, and a few FP's. Dorrans way to easy a target, and axemen just get slaughtered by assassins or Azur's thunder, and then what do you do huh? You may win the first round but they'll drain whatever's left the next round aaaaand presto they win the third round.

I just think Axemen take to long to set up, and people can identify an axemen deck from just the leader card.



I was working on a Discard Ranked Deck that used whats his name and Johnny as base cards for discarding Turiseach warriors and An Craite Mauraders, as well as Wolfsbane for Johnny, but again, even when the deck is supplemented with veterans and bears it's still not good enough.

 

[Khreygond]

I agree, but axemen are to easy to counter. I don't understand, the only way to make axemen work is if you have two gold kinds of weather, and as many silver special cards as you can, along with herbalists with cloudy weather and spore.

That leaves you with a few axemen, and a few FP's. Dorrans way to easy a target, and axemen just get slaughtered by assassins or Azur's thunder, and then what do you do huh? You may win the first round but they'll drain whatever's left the next round aaaaand presto they win the third round.

I just think Axemen take to long to set up, and people can identify an axemen deck from just the leader card.



I was working on a Discard Ranked Deck that used whats his name and Johnny as base cards for discarding Turiseach warriors and An Craite Mauraders, as well as Wolfsbane for Johnny, but again, even when the deck is supplemented with veterans and bears it's still not good enough.

The key is to not make it all about axemen. Axemen are one part of your deck, weather is the other. Playing with double gold weather and as many Whalers as possible allows you to play reactively against them with weather by spreading their units around. Who needs axemen when weather generates 60+ points per round? let them counter your axemen. They'll still go down

For example Alchemy Nilfgaard is one of the easiest matchups for Axemen. Unless they pull a silver mage, they are in big trouble. Even then, they usually can't match your weather cards. Axemen decks are basically 2 different engines (Axemen and weather) that synergize with each other. I usually leave my axemen for last when I know my opponent is packing control. A single axeman as your last card before you use your leader is worth 18 points (6 + 10 from the leader + 2 from the 2 turns that weather ticks) which is enough for a finisher.

Even if people can identify it, they are very rarely prepared for it, as most people don't run weather clears and just hope to highroll into one through a runestone. If they don't, they are in big trouble. That's why Axemen are the third best deck in the meta currently. It's just that, you need to forego Priestesses of Freya completely. Don't make it all about axemen. Run dimun warships (11 point swing), Pirate captains, Whalers, Dimun Corsairs and Axemen. Restore on a single pirate captain and then that captain into Corsair into Dimun Warship is 22 points, a Ciri: Nova spread in 3 cards which also empowers your engines.

The only 2 top tier decks which are a bad matchup for Axemen are Henselt and Greatswords, the former due to Scorch and the ability to align scorch targets, the latter because it's got a better short round and weather doesn't hurt it. Brouver variants that run Ida might be a bit difficult in the hands of skilled players. But that's it. If you know how to pilot Axemen (no lighthearted statement, this deck is harder to play than anything I've tried in Gwent ever, even my Voorhis spies ), there is little that can stop you.

 

[nathanielprice]

Even if people can identify it, they are very rarely prepared for it, as most people don't run weather clears and just hope to highroll into one through a runestone. If they don't, they are in big trouble. That's why Axemen are the third best deck in the meta currently. It's just that, you need to forego Priestesses of Freya completely. Don't make it all about axemen. Run dimun warships (11 point swing), Pirate captains, Whalers, Dimun Corsairs and Axemen. Restore on a single pirate captain and then that captain into Corsair into Dimun Warship is 22 points, a Ciri: Nova spread in 3 cards which also empowers your engines.

The only 2 top tier decks which are a bad matchup for Axemen are Henselt and Greatswords, the former due to Scorch and the ability to align scorch targets, the latter because it's got a better short round and weather doesn't hurt it. Brouver variants that run Ida might be a bit difficult in the hands of skilled players. But that's it. If you know how to pilot Axemen (no lighthearted statement, this deck is harder to play than anything I've tried in Gwent ever, even my Voorhis spies ), there is little that can stop you.

It gets difficult with northern realms however. They tend to have a bunch of cards that can summon clear skys. You have Valdymekyr or whatever his name is, then you have Kiera and Dethmold, not to mention Kadweni Seargents, and if they really hate you, they have clear skies for summoning bronze units, but now they convert it to clearing your weather. Turiseach axemen get cooked by there superspawns, or if they somehow still want to screw with you, scorch.

Maybe its just my bad experiences, but most of the time, they clear my golden weathers right off the bat. I see people do it constantly with axemen and I at least clear there weather

 

[psysteel]

It's an autopilot, play-and-forget, point spam fest

I sence a Broover player in this one. :hmm:
Do you realize that if you play and forget, you will often get punished really hard?
Probably not, since, i would assume, you are playing not high enough. Forgive me my judjement but i am convinced that top players would not bother to use such a lame accusations.
I will not argue about the fact that some Skellige decks are easier to pilot that the others. But that is all.
There are enough easy top tier decks at the moment. Should we call them all auto-pilot? I disagree.
And a point spam - is a general problem of current game state. So don't blame it on one faction you personally dislike.