[GUIDE TO TYPES OF PASSES]
Heads-up: this small(er) guide is more directioned to be entertaining than actually instructive. It likely wont help you play Gwent better, but may help you understand some unusual situations.
Passing in Gwent is very important. This guide won't cover the normal cases of passing a round, but only the passes that actually got an unofficial name, used by the playerbase.
DRY-PASS - This is the most common of the passes i'll cover. It happens when a player passes before playing any card in a round.
Its a common situation, one player wins the round, passes R2 to go for a long R3, while the opponent still has to play some card to win R2.
More uncommon is drypassing R1. This is almost always a bad idea, but again certain decks it might actually be good, like against clog or sihil to avoid giving targets to your opponent to build their strategy, or against arachas queen + sabbath shenanigans, which doesnt work in later rounds if you dont have units on your graveyard.
TEMPO PASS - this is an advanced strategy that can be executed on R1 or 2. It consists of a pass done by a player who put a lot of points (tempo) on their own side of the board quickly, so the opponent is in a bad situation, whether he tries to win that round or is forced to pass.
A good example is SK, which can put a lot of points in R1 in a cheap way with the discard package, then pass at 7, forcing some really expensive plays or losing on even. This works even better when you notice the opponent is committing very little into that round.
HERO PASS - this is the most risky of the passes, only for daredevils. This occurs when a player lost R1, is being bled R2, gets ahead by many points, but at one point gambles that the opponent cant beat his current score so passes in order to be in a better position for R3.
This pass becomes less risky with the dominance of netdecking, and with reasonable math skills, as you can calculate the best possible cards your opponent has left, if that isnt enough to beat you, its safe to do a hero pass as long as the opponent doesnt carry a card that you were not counting on.
PITY PASS - unlike the previous ones, this pass isn't talked about by the players, i came up with the term (if not the concept) myself.
I do this type of pass often, but i rarely see anyone else doing it, which says a lot about the empathy (or lack thereof) the average gwent player has for their opponents...
It is when a player is winning a round almost guaranteedly, but decides to give a chance to the opponent and passes before commiting all he has. This is especially important when facing newer opponents, with limited resources and subpar cards, but it could also be applied when a super strong deck is clearly facing a more humble deck, or when the opponent clearly had a bad draw.
I understand this not happening in ranked, where everyone is very interested in winning, but in casual, draft or seasonal, it would be nice if this happened more often...
HUMILIATION PASS - this is the opposite of the 'pity pass', with a sprinkle of the 'hero pass'.
It happens on R2 or R3, and like the hero pass, the wining player predicts his adversary cant beat his current points and passes.
Its almost the same as pity pass, the big difference are the actual feelings of the winning player, so whenever i do this one - always against meta decks who think they had it and other decks cant beat them - i make sure to throw in an emote or two to deliver the message.
That's it. If i missed any, even if its one that doesnt have a proper name but its familiar to most players, feel free to share it.
Heads-up: this small(er) guide is more directioned to be entertaining than actually instructive. It likely wont help you play Gwent better, but may help you understand some unusual situations.
Passing in Gwent is very important. This guide won't cover the normal cases of passing a round, but only the passes that actually got an unofficial name, used by the playerbase.
DRY-PASS - This is the most common of the passes i'll cover. It happens when a player passes before playing any card in a round.
Its a common situation, one player wins the round, passes R2 to go for a long R3, while the opponent still has to play some card to win R2.
More uncommon is drypassing R1. This is almost always a bad idea, but again certain decks it might actually be good, like against clog or sihil to avoid giving targets to your opponent to build their strategy, or against arachas queen + sabbath shenanigans, which doesnt work in later rounds if you dont have units on your graveyard.
TEMPO PASS - this is an advanced strategy that can be executed on R1 or 2. It consists of a pass done by a player who put a lot of points (tempo) on their own side of the board quickly, so the opponent is in a bad situation, whether he tries to win that round or is forced to pass.
A good example is SK, which can put a lot of points in R1 in a cheap way with the discard package, then pass at 7, forcing some really expensive plays or losing on even. This works even better when you notice the opponent is committing very little into that round.
HERO PASS - this is the most risky of the passes, only for daredevils. This occurs when a player lost R1, is being bled R2, gets ahead by many points, but at one point gambles that the opponent cant beat his current score so passes in order to be in a better position for R3.
This pass becomes less risky with the dominance of netdecking, and with reasonable math skills, as you can calculate the best possible cards your opponent has left, if that isnt enough to beat you, its safe to do a hero pass as long as the opponent doesnt carry a card that you were not counting on.
PITY PASS - unlike the previous ones, this pass isn't talked about by the players, i came up with the term (if not the concept) myself.
I do this type of pass often, but i rarely see anyone else doing it, which says a lot about the empathy (or lack thereof) the average gwent player has for their opponents...
It is when a player is winning a round almost guaranteedly, but decides to give a chance to the opponent and passes before commiting all he has. This is especially important when facing newer opponents, with limited resources and subpar cards, but it could also be applied when a super strong deck is clearly facing a more humble deck, or when the opponent clearly had a bad draw.
I understand this not happening in ranked, where everyone is very interested in winning, but in casual, draft or seasonal, it would be nice if this happened more often...
HUMILIATION PASS - this is the opposite of the 'pity pass', with a sprinkle of the 'hero pass'.
It happens on R2 or R3, and like the hero pass, the wining player predicts his adversary cant beat his current points and passes.
Its almost the same as pity pass, the big difference are the actual feelings of the winning player, so whenever i do this one - always against meta decks who think they had it and other decks cant beat them - i make sure to throw in an emote or two to deliver the message.
That's it. If i missed any, even if its one that doesnt have a proper name but its familiar to most players, feel free to share it.
