ST lacks solid cards 5&6 provisions (too) and probably has the most "least played 5&6 provision cards in all factions" (because they are genuinely bad and not because 'we have plenty of other cards which are far superior'. Most of these cards when they were released were good and then subsequently nerfed harshly. But with CC expansion, when every card is supposed to give at least +2 Provisions-To-Point (PTP), these cards lack the tempo or control to help winning a game. It is (Gwent) universally known and acknowledged that an all-elf deck is laughably bad and is not competitive. Even all Dwarf decks are OK at the best. So, with these in mind, here are the changes ST desperately needs to be fun to build deck and play the game.
Dol Blathana Bomber: I have never seen her getting played for.. like ever. Extremely restrictive, has RNG, least proactive and on top of that, at best, she can only break even. She should have 2 point body to be half-decent.
Dol Blathana Bow(wo)man: When a card can do 3 damage based on a condition, it usually gets +1 PTP advantage. There are plenty of cards I can give example of, but it is the fact. Bowman has a condition, easier than other conditions involved, I agree, but nether less, a condition. So, she should have 3 point body.
Forest Whisperers: When the devs explained this new ability they told as though this is a great boost to this card, but in fact, it is just as junk as it was before. Giving Poison on deploy or Giving Shield on Order takes -1 PTP. This is the case for even neutral cards. But for her, she has -2 PTP for both and she needs a leader's 1/3 of his charge to really be useful. It is like actually insulting ST players with Deploy and Order when every Poison-on-Deploy has -1 PTP and every Shield-on-Order is -1 PTP. Remove her Melee rowlock for Deploy. Or if you have to have that, make her have 4 point body. In her current state (and the current state of Poison as a mechanics), she is a pathetic card and her recent change is an just insult to ST players at best (more like, lets just add one bullet point as a buff for ST, when in fact, it is insignificant and utterly useless change).
Vrihedd Officer: Doing 3 damage and getting break even is the norm in the current form of Gwent. And when boosting 3, you should have +1 PTP advantage, that is the norm of the current game. He was at 5 provisions when he was released, and due to artifact-Eithne-control, when whole ST was nerfed (rightfully so) he was also nerfed. But plenty of cards were buffed later and making them worth it, but most of the ST cards remained power crept. He is one such card. There is a flexibility I agree and hence let him never get more than his provision point, but having -1 PTP in the current state of Gwent is pathetic. He should have either 5 Provisions or should have 3 Point body. SK had a 'do 3 damage and synergize with GS' ship which had -1 PTP, and even that was buffed to break even and if possible synergize with GS. Why shouldn't ST cards do at least break even?
The reason I haven't mentioned other cards is because there is no way to improve them. They are bad by nature and they have no scope. For example, Vanguard can become 10 point card for 5 provisions, but that means you have gone all elf and your scope of winning the game is 0. Mahakan Guard, just junk and no scope to make him useful. Matron, looked promising, but unless you get two Matron or a Sentinel, the chances of her being useful and impactful is kind of 0 with all the row locks. Wardancer, extremely restrictive and useful only in Fila decks and if she gets drawn in R3, she is kind of a brick. Sage, what can do with him? Just junk. Half-Elf and Hawker Support synergizes with artifact which is kind of bad by nature. Dwarven Mercenary, one should either go all engines or no engines. Going with a few engines is useless as everyone has some control unit. He needs many dwarves to be played and there are not many dwarfs who are engines. So, inherently junk. Brigade, with three Brouver charges, he can potentially get you 17 points! But saving all Brouver charges for the last play means you are two cards down and hence he is useless. Etc.
When building a deck with ST, these bronzes feel awkward. There are all subpar and mediocre and heavily powercrept by all other factions. Playing with ST is painful with all the SK and MO domination, where they play very high tempo as well as heavy control and ST as a whole is awkward and needs a big change (I will come to that in another post). So, this is my desperate pledge to CDPR to do something about ST's powercrept low provision bronze cards.
Dol Blathana Bomber: I have never seen her getting played for.. like ever. Extremely restrictive, has RNG, least proactive and on top of that, at best, she can only break even. She should have 2 point body to be half-decent.
Dol Blathana Bow(wo)man: When a card can do 3 damage based on a condition, it usually gets +1 PTP advantage. There are plenty of cards I can give example of, but it is the fact. Bowman has a condition, easier than other conditions involved, I agree, but nether less, a condition. So, she should have 3 point body.
Forest Whisperers: When the devs explained this new ability they told as though this is a great boost to this card, but in fact, it is just as junk as it was before. Giving Poison on deploy or Giving Shield on Order takes -1 PTP. This is the case for even neutral cards. But for her, she has -2 PTP for both and she needs a leader's 1/3 of his charge to really be useful. It is like actually insulting ST players with Deploy and Order when every Poison-on-Deploy has -1 PTP and every Shield-on-Order is -1 PTP. Remove her Melee rowlock for Deploy. Or if you have to have that, make her have 4 point body. In her current state (and the current state of Poison as a mechanics), she is a pathetic card and her recent change is an just insult to ST players at best (more like, lets just add one bullet point as a buff for ST, when in fact, it is insignificant and utterly useless change).
Vrihedd Officer: Doing 3 damage and getting break even is the norm in the current form of Gwent. And when boosting 3, you should have +1 PTP advantage, that is the norm of the current game. He was at 5 provisions when he was released, and due to artifact-Eithne-control, when whole ST was nerfed (rightfully so) he was also nerfed. But plenty of cards were buffed later and making them worth it, but most of the ST cards remained power crept. He is one such card. There is a flexibility I agree and hence let him never get more than his provision point, but having -1 PTP in the current state of Gwent is pathetic. He should have either 5 Provisions or should have 3 Point body. SK had a 'do 3 damage and synergize with GS' ship which had -1 PTP, and even that was buffed to break even and if possible synergize with GS. Why shouldn't ST cards do at least break even?
The reason I haven't mentioned other cards is because there is no way to improve them. They are bad by nature and they have no scope. For example, Vanguard can become 10 point card for 5 provisions, but that means you have gone all elf and your scope of winning the game is 0. Mahakan Guard, just junk and no scope to make him useful. Matron, looked promising, but unless you get two Matron or a Sentinel, the chances of her being useful and impactful is kind of 0 with all the row locks. Wardancer, extremely restrictive and useful only in Fila decks and if she gets drawn in R3, she is kind of a brick. Sage, what can do with him? Just junk. Half-Elf and Hawker Support synergizes with artifact which is kind of bad by nature. Dwarven Mercenary, one should either go all engines or no engines. Going with a few engines is useless as everyone has some control unit. He needs many dwarves to be played and there are not many dwarfs who are engines. So, inherently junk. Brigade, with three Brouver charges, he can potentially get you 17 points! But saving all Brouver charges for the last play means you are two cards down and hence he is useless. Etc.
When building a deck with ST, these bronzes feel awkward. There are all subpar and mediocre and heavily powercrept by all other factions. Playing with ST is painful with all the SK and MO domination, where they play very high tempo as well as heavy control and ST as a whole is awkward and needs a big change (I will come to that in another post). So, this is my desperate pledge to CDPR to do something about ST's powercrept low provision bronze cards.
