Knut the Callous + Olaf combo OP?

[jmoyano92]

What do you think?
Is this overpowered?

You can play Olaf (safe play because your opponent will not hurt it. 8 base power) and then you play Knut (6 base power card by the way) then you hurt Olaf with Knut (you will kill any important engine/card with 4 base power) and after that Olaf is boosted to 12.

Is not this combo too strong? It has damage and a lot of value... and by the way Skellige is already quite powerful (as always) to have access to this kind of movements.

and on top of that, you can raise even more that value if you play Olaf near Svalblod Totem... to 14.

Is this op or not? because even if you see this combo come you can't do nothing: Olaf is like an inmune unit when he has not been hurt and I'm facing some players who do this and then they play Jutta an Dimun with Sigrdrifa's Rite. So all this is a lot of value in only three moves... (14 + 6 + 12 = 32 points + 4 dmg points to your opponent...)

and you can raise even more that value if you play Svalblod, but my opponent was playing a Coral deck with Bran and I think he is already too good to have access to these combos...

 

[OG.laloquaint]

I've been seeing those cards you mentioned quite a lot on the ladder, even on relatively low ranks and I think it's balanced with the exception of Coral. She is way too strong at the moment.

As for Olaf + Knut, if you have tall removal then it really backfires at your opponent. Knut is more flexible but he doesn't synergize that well with a lot of cards and some people just use him as a value play. So I think Knut and Olaf are fine.

Jutta and Sigrdifa's Rite is pretty strong, but I think only Jutta should be nerfed. I actually use her myself in a warrior deck but I use Bekker's on her. She can easily be 12 points and has good synergy with a lot of healing/resetting cards. Maybe she should be 10/5 for 8 provisions.

Unrelated but I was actually able to beat this deck with Arachas Queen lol.

 

[Pounc3e]

So you see a couple of opponents play Olaf + Knut combo in Skellige then automatically call out "OP" ??

Use your initiative and counter either by removing/locking Olaf or if you have not got any type of removal in the last round just FORFEIT, as you have lost anyway. NEVER call out something "OP" when you do not know what you are talking about.

Listen why not NERF the whole card pool in the collection and have Gwent the most tedious card game EVER!
- In life you either win or lose, you cannot always win and have things YOUR way.

P.S Moderators and originator of this post, this is not a rude comment rather clarification on the matter.

 

[4RM3D]

People are really too quick with labeling things OP. First of all, you need to have this combo in hand, at the right time, with a valid target, which isn't always the case, even with the thinning in Skellige. Next, the combo can be countered, although there aren't many cards capable of doing that, but still.

When you do manage to execute the combo, what do you get? 22 points including removal for 19 provisions. That's a good deal, but combos should always have a higher points to provisions ratio. Hym, for example, can get to 24 points with (only) 18 provisions. This combo has been around a long time and isn't OP either. The key difference is the extra removal, but with all the other (and sometimes better) removal cards out there, like Hjalmar, those 4 damage isn't all that special.

 

[Pounc3e]

People are really too quick with labeling things OP. First of all, you need to have this combo in hand, at the right time, with a valid target, which isn't always the case, even with the thinning in Skellige. Next, the combo can be countered, although there aren't many cards capable of doing that, but still.

When you do manage to execute the combo, what do you get? 22 points with removal for 19 provisions. That's a good deal, but combos should always have a higher points to provisions ratio. Hym, for example, can get to 24 points with (only) 18 provisions. This combo has been around a long time and isn't OP either. The key difference is the extra removal, but with all the other (and sometimes better) removal cards out there, like Hjalmar, those 4 damage isn't all that special.

Good points made, and better to what I previously written. I agree with Hjalmar point, as Hjalmer should be "OP" too since he can get a much higher damage and value than what Knut can do with Olaf which is only 4 points of damage with a slight increased of value from Olaf boost.

P.S As well, if you view how many removals there are in the card pool that is enough to counter such cards like Knut + Olaf combo even cards which is not a complete removal but is still a removal that needs a set up whereas to remove such a card from the board.

 

[jmoyano92]

I've been seeing those cards you mentioned quite a lot on the ladder, even on relatively low ranks and I think it's balanced with the exception of Coral. She is way too strong at the moment.

As for Olaf + Knut, if you have tall removal then it really backfires at your opponent. Knut is more flexible but he doesn't synergize that well with a lot of cards and some people just use him as a value play. So I think Knut and Olaf are fine.

Jutta and Sigrdifa's Rite is pretty strong, but I think only Jutta should be nerfed. I actually use her myself in a warrior deck but I use Bekker's on her. She can easily be 12 points and has good synergy with a lot of healing/resetting cards. Maybe she should be 10/5 for 8 provisions.

Unrelated but I was actually able to beat this deck with Arachas Queen lol.

The thing is that Olaf and Knut is way better than Jutta and Sigdrifa's Rite. Jutta is fine, but my problem is that with the other combo you have much more value and you can kill important cards in the other side of the board... that's why I call it Op.

Post automatically merged: Apr 22, 2019

People are really too quick with labeling things OP. First of all, you need to have this combo in hand, at the right time, with a valid target, which isn't always the case, even with the thinning in Skellige. Next, the combo can be countered, although there aren't many cards capable of doing that, but still.

When you do manage to execute the combo, what do you get? 22 points including removal for 19 provisions. That's a good deal, but combos should always have a higher points to provisions ratio. Hym, for example, can get to 24 points with (only) 18 provisions. This combo has been around a long time and isn't OP either. The key difference is the extra removal, but with all the other (and sometimes better) removal cards out there, like Hjalmar, those 4 damage isn't all that special.

Yes but the opponent was playing Bran, so he always will have access to this combo in round three. He was playing a control deck (killing all my units) with a huge amount of value. That's was unbeteable even with tall removal. I know it because I had it.

Post automatically merged: Apr 22, 2019

So you see a couple of opponents play Olaf + Knut combo in Skellige then automatically call out "OP" ??

Use your initiative and counter either by removing/locking Olaf or if you have not got any type of removal in the last round just FORFEIT, as you have lost anyway. NEVER call out something "OP" when you do not know what you are talking about.

Listen why not NERF the whole card pool in the collection and have Gwent the most tedious card game EVER!
- In life you either win or lose, you cannot always win and have things YOUR way.

P.S Moderators and originator of this post, this is not a rude comment rather clarification on the matter.

Is not only Olaf + Knut. The problem is that my opponent was playing Bran control (killing all my units, literally) with huge amount of value on his board. Is not only Olaf+Knut, is that along with Jutta+Sigdrifa, Regis, Svalblod Totem, Hjalmar, Coral, the perfect thinning to 0 with Bran and so on...

This faction is always extremely op in general. Their decks and their cards are always tier 1.

And on top of that right now is even better try to play Big Boys with an Skellige deck instead of a Woodland Spirit deck. Psé.

 

[rrc]

You can play Olaf (safe play because your opponent will not hurt it. 8 base power) and then you play Knut (6 base power card by the way) then you hurt Olaf with Knut (you will kill any important engine/card with 4 base power) and after that Olaf is boosted to 12.

Is not this combo too strong?

Olaf is on order ability and gets taller than 8 so, he is vulnerable in so many ways. Also, Olaf+Knut is 22 points in two rounds. This is a very good combo (I can't believe that I am supporting a discussion involving SK, but this is totally acceptable for me, an avid SK hater). There are far more OP combos available in the game (for example Syanna+Roache can give you way WAY more points and thinning and can win the game, Dana->Fauve+WoB, Gabor in one turn and the next turn Treant Boar 22 points with 2 engines on the board, Zoltan Scoundrel + Vivian is [too hard me to do the math], ArachasNest+AQCharges+Glusty is HUGE). Any combo involving an Order card is vulnerable and if it involves one card going to huge value, it is vulnerable in so many ways. So this combo is absolutely fine and a very good synergy/archetype example.

First of all, you need to have this combo in hand, at the right time, with a valid target, which isn't always the case, even with the thinning in Skellige.

4RM3D, while I accept everything else you had mentioned in this post, this particular point is absolutely wrong. SK can pretty much do any combo they want in R3. I have never faced a Bran deck which failed to pull this off (or have these two cards in hand and I lock Olaf) or play Hjalmar, Jutta-Pulled-From-GY, The Giant Wolf who does half damage, etc. Never. Not Once. They always get to play all the cards they want, in the order the want, whenever they want in R3.

 

[4RM3D]

Is not only Olaf+Knut, is that along with Jutta+Sigdrifa, Regis, Svalblod Totem, Hjalmar, Coral, the perfect thinning to 0 with Bran and so on...

But you've made this thread specifically for the Knut + Olaf combo, which in itself isn't OP. It also puts things out of context, by omitting the quoted part from the OP (OP, hehe). When you're talking about the Bran duo + Coral and the rest of the lot, it's a different story.

SK can pretty much do any combo they want in R3.

With Bran? Almost always. With other leaders? Usually. I don't dispute that. But I did mention something specific:

First of all, you need to have this combo in hand, at the right time, with a valid target, which isn't always the case, even with the thinning in Skellige.

At the right time, meaning you do not always have the luxury to wait until to pull the combo (in round 3). I've faced the deck many times where the opponent needed to blow either Olaf or Knut early, without having access to the combo.