Let's talk about GWENT - general tactics

[Keymaker7]

Let's talk about GWENT - general tactics

Hello everyone!

As there was no new information related to Gwent in last days, and there is “a couple” days to September, I decided to fill this time with discussion with people as excited by Gwent as me . I would like to start discussion, exchange with experiences about games against living opponent and get to know pros and cons about presented tactics. In general I would like to fill in time what has left to BETA start. So the word admission.

In this topic I wish to talk about general tactics used in games with present version of Gwent (it is possible, that a couple of them will be useful in new version of Gwent!). I will start with the most versatile card in Gwent – The DECOY! I will try to present my findings regarding this card and tactic possibilities, which brings application of the Decoy. Let’s begin!

The Decoy is a special card, available for every fraction. There can be max 3 cards of this type in deck. The card allows to pick up (change) any card from player's active game area, except for special cards (like for example weather cards) and except for hero cards. As the result we get rid of decoy from our hand, which is placed on game area, and we take to our hand chosen unit card. Using of the decoy is possible only when there is unit (units) on the our game area, which can be picked up by decoy.

Before I will move to tactics, there are a couple general advices. Application of movements described below depends on 4 important factors, beginning with the most significant:

1. what cards we have in our hand
2. what is the opponent’s deck
3. what is our deck
4. what tactics are used by our opponent

Those factors always need to be taken into consideration when choosing the proper tactic.

[size=+2]General advices:[/size]

1. generally speaking there are two types of action in Gwent, whose influence on number of cards in our hand: PLAY a card (or cards) and PASS (for the purpose of this text lets skip using of leader ability or playing a spy card). In case of the first action we get rid of card (cards) and we continue the game. In case of the second action we keep number of cards in our hand but we pass our game and we give the opponent free hand to act.
   The Decoy card introduces the third possible action: WAIT. It allows to continue the game and in the same time keeps number of cards in hand from before the performance of WAIT action. The WAIT action is performed always when we use decoy, sometimes it is the purpose of itself, and sometimes it is only the addition to another tactic action. Every WAIT action allows to get advantage of one card in relation to number of opponent’s cards (in the assumption that both players have the same quantity of cards at the beginning of turn and opponents decided to PLAY a card). In brief: we do our move using the decoy and we can continue the game without decreasing quantity of cards in our hand, when opponent plays the card and decreases number of own cards.
   
2. if we play Monster/Scoia'tael deck (especially them, but also the others) against Northern Kingdom/Nilfgard, then due to composition of these decks it is worth to save decoy (decoys) in case of usage of spy card by the opponent. Picking up and then playing the spy card in the later stage of the game often changes the fate of theoretically already decided battles
   
3. every usage of the decoy on the card with additional ability (spy, scorch, medic etc.) gives the opportunity to use this additional ability again in any moment of the game. I prepared subjective list of the most usable those type actions:

• picking up spies. The most obvious possibility and bringing the biggest benefits. It is applied in 98% cases (I will not speak here about exceptions). Especially useful when playing decks with shortage of spy cards – Monsters and Scoia'tael.
• picking cards with “Scorch” ability. Repeated usage of this skill allows to greatly weaken the enemy lines, even if they are secured against such possibility by varying values of cards in a row. Especially useful when playing Scoia'tael against Monsters, it works great with Scoia'tael’s leader “Scorch” ability.
• picking up medics. It allows even with only one medic card to bring a couple of unit cards from graveyard (including non-heroes spies). Especially useful with Northern Kingdom deck, because in this deck there is only one non-hero medic card, which can be picked up by decoy and used again.
• picking up cards with “Agile” ability (Scoia'tael deck, Olgierd and Olaf). Retreating these cards from battlefield and playing them to another row allows us to avoid weather effects played by opponent, if we do not have “Clear sky” card.
• picking up card with “Commander’s Horn” ability. It is quite specific move. It is used to tempt opponent to use own strong cards (like 10 points). Then, after picking up card with “Commander’s Horn” ability, we can send them to the graveyard using “Scorch” card. The procedure looks as follows. On our side of the battlefield we have card with “Commander’s Horn” ability plus card with 6 points. It gives us 12 points, which is the highest value on the board. Opponent noticed that and plays more willingly cards with for example 10 points, because they are protected against scorch. And if he/she does it, we remove card with “Commander’s Horn” ability and then in next move scorch opponent’s cards. Using card with “Commander’s Horn” ability at the beginning of the round and then picking it up has another tactical possibility. It informs opponent that we suppose to play hard, so the enemy does not spare strong cards (if he/she want to win the first round). In such case we picking up card with “Commander’s Horn” ability to use it in next rounds (for example because we do not have possibility to medic it out) and pass the round, when the opponent gets rid of a couple of strong cards.
• picking up card with “Morale Boost” ability (Olgierd and Olaf). It allows to better manage power of our army on the battlefield, when opponent attacks for example with weather card or scorch card. We pull off the card from affected row and put it to different one, where it serves us better.

Enough with general advices, now let’s talk about some tactics, whose I developed/observed during games with living opponents. Every single one seems to be very useful, everything depends on situation (look for mentioned earlier 4 important factors). I let myself to give names for those tactics, to make discussion more transparent

[size=+2]Tactics:[/size]

• [size=+1]„Empty your pockets”[/size]
  What: delaying game in second round, to make opponent to lose as many cards as possible
  How: we win the first round, saving decoys, then in the second round we play some unit card (the weaker the better) and then we pick up this card with decoy. We repeat this action until run out of decoys, then we pass the round. During such type of movements opponent has to use cards, probably stronger and stronger, when we operate with one insignificant unit card and bunch of decoys. After such round our opponent is weakened before the deciding round
  When: tactics is useful with every deck, but I think it is the most effective with Monster deck, where there is a unit card on the battlefield after every round, which can be picked up by decoy. The second pros of this tactic combined with Monster deck is the fact, that we can easy generate even 21 points only with one card, what is very useful in last round when both players often run on fumes
  
• [size=+1]„Discouragement”[/size]
  What: using of decoy at the beginning of the first round, to discourage opponent for playing
  How: we put some unit card, then we pick it up with decoy, then again. Opponent sees that we want make him/she to use more cards, so he/she pass. In such case we easily win the first round, in addition having advantage in quantity of cards because of using WAIT actions (wining easily I mean to win with minimal quantity of cards after pass of opponent)
  When: utility of tactic depends on opponent’s deck. It is more useful against Monster/Scoia'tael decks, less useful against Northern Kingdom/Nilfgard, mainly because the first two decks do not contain non-hero spies, whose are the main reason to save decoys
  
• [size=+1]„Bluff”[/size]
  What:planned giving back the first round for the opponent and in the same time making him/her to pay high price in cards for this won round
  How: we start with strong unit (non-heroes) cards (8, 10, 12 points), but without ability “Brotherhood”. Opponents sees rough game and he/she also use strong cards (if he/she decides to fight, what we counting for). After a while we pick up our units with decoys and pass
  When: it is good to have a medic card during usage of this tactic, because playing strong cards at the beginning of the round can tempt opponent to use “Scorch”, what is additional pros of this tactic. It is pros because we pull out from opponent cards, whose can bring us very unpleasant surprise in later stages of the game. Tactic is effective when combined with Scoia'tael/Nilfgard decks
  
• [size=+1]„An ace in the hole”[/size]
  What: waiting with usage of decoy for spy card
  How: like above, picking up and using spies is very effective, so it is good move to save decoy for later, counting for spy from opponent
  When:tactic is especially recommended when we play Monster/Scoia'tael decks against Northern Kingdom/Nilfgard, because those first two decks have only one hero spy, in opposite to the second two decs
  
• [size=+1]„Full control”[/size]
  What: controlling of point advantage over the opponent
  How: when we have large/secure point advantage over our opponent and we do not want to pass or lose next cards, we use decoy to pick up some unit card to decrease our advantage, but not to lose it. This move should decrease our advantage, but keeps us on leader position
  When: tactic is especially useful when playing Monster deck, because with this deck we can easily fill in battlefield with many cards and many points. Thanks to this tactic we can spare our card with “Brotherhood” ability for later stages of game
  
• [size=+1]„The best for the end”[/size]
  What:: typical waiting/delaying the game to gain advantage in card sequence
  How:card sequence has in Gwent significant meaning. Often we lose not because the opponent has stronger cards, but because he/she uses card as the last. That’s why with the most critical cards we wait for the end and we try to achieve card advantage over opponent, the bigger the better. Such effect can be achieved thanks to doing action WAIT. It does not add points to our score (if action WAIT is the purpose itself) but it allows us to wait out the opponent and let him/her to use cards, whose can be very unpleasant for our “aces”
  When: tactic is very helpful when we are using cards susceptible for “Scorch”, like cards with “Brotherhood” or “Tight Bond” ability, whose we are keeping for the end. Those types of cards (like weather cards) can change fate of the battle, if they are used in the very end, without letting the opponent the opportunity to counter them

It is all for now. I hope there are people who reaches this point There are not of course all possible tactics, because there is much more of them. I only hope that I manage to mention and describe the most useful and the most often used ones. I count on discussion and your ideas! I know that there are many people on this forum as involved in GWENT as I am!
:geraltfeelgood:

 

[ShifuoftheCards]

The decoy, for me, was one of my most important cards. You really did a good job in showcasing the ways it can be utilized. This single card is an example of why this game is easy to play, yet hard to master. You have to have a tactical knowledge of the situation, and a plan for the future. This is no RNG based game, this is a tactical battle of wills and resources.
I have designed some decks on Gwent database around decoy, and graveyard manipulation. Check them out, and some of the awesome other decks. There is a great resource for advance planning until September.
A well done post sir!

 

[Mythic_Pilot]

Decoy is without a doubt the most important tool in gwent .. especially in the new game where you can spawn other cards out of the one you decoyed .. e.g. Prize Winning Cow and Golems.

Because in doing so you spawn new cards on the battlefield while getting the original card back to your hand . We can waste 6 turns if we have three decoys and keep up with the opponent at the same time.

 

[Keymaker7]

That is why in present version of Gwent I always has 3 decoys in my deck, in every fraction. Of course it all depends on what cards we get at the beginning of the game, but in the most of the cases I keep them in hand.

This is no RNG based game, this is a tactical battle of wills and resources.

This is what I very like in Gwent. It is neither RNG based game, but also nor RNG devoided game, like chess. We need to plan and create strategy based on our resources, but in the same time we do not know resources of the opponent. It is one little element of suprise, the second are spies. We can only predict with some level of accurancy what card we can get with spy card. And it is awsome! I feel that I have control on the game, not only counting on blind luck and RNG.

 

[theyanger]

Decoy is incredibly versatile, but as you pointed out MOST of the time you're just using it for spy acquisition or stalling, I didn't feel like I got significantly more advanced with Decoy after the first...I dunno 10 hours of playing. I think it's undeniable how important it is, however.

I'd like to take this thread to mention a card (from base TW3) that I didn't have great appreciation for initially, but that ended up being a strategic juggernaut many times for me: Vesemir. At first a mere 6 power melee character seemed so bad, I kept wanting to remove him but not having anything better while playing through the game. Then when I finally took him out, the first gmae I played ended up with 3 scorched cards that I actually wanted. It was then that I realized that Vesemir was ilterally the perfect power level to absorb any number of scorches and protect my heavy hitting cards like Blue Stripe Commandos, or combined with dandelion to protect my entire siege row. Olgierd also fills this role exceptionally well, but Vese is special because he's such a plain, bad looking card, that serves so much more purpose than you initially might realize.

 

[Keymaker7]

but as you pointed out MOST of the time you're just using it for spy acquisition or stalling, I didn't feel like I got significantly more advanced with Decoy after the first..

I only said that:

It is applied in 98% cases

not GAMES. It means that IF there is a spy on the board, it is the best way to spend the decoy. But there is a big "IF". There is no certainty that the opponent has a spy (even if he/she plays Northern Kingdom/Nilfgard), and when there is a fight between Monsters and Scoia'tael, there is 100%, that there will be no reusable spy on the board. That is why other techniques are important and useful, and they are great example of "easy to learn, hard to master"

I have played numerous hours in Gwent with colleges (and I still play) and all mentioned tactics are usable, not so rarely as you think. It all depends on situation.

I'd like to take this thread to mention a card (from base TW3)

I am of course opened to discus other general tactics and moves in this topic I only would like to start with The Decoy. But if there will be no more to say about decoy and there will be interest of other Gwent maniacs I will gladly describe and discuss other general tactics not involving decoys.

 

[KristineSteimer]

Nice, this is an awesome outline of Decoy uses! Admittedly, I originally didn't appreciate decoys, but after playing around with them a bit more I changed my tune