Misc. Gwent Guides to... [THINNING]

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Well, the devs simply dont bother with balance regarding seasonal modes, since even if there's a super powerful strategy that comes up, next month the seasonal mode shifts, problem solved.

But this particular seasonal mode, wolf seasonal, its definitely not balanced, which doesnt mean it cant be fun.
The NR and SK are very favoured, due to their ability to spam a ton of points with witcher students, but like you said, it gets boring very fast, even if you're winning all the time.

I definitely misspoke in my reply to you. We're playing different faction decks but our boards end up looking similar, with all those witchers.

I'm finding this season playable, more so since the reward trees require you to play this mode. If the seasonal wasn't playable, I wouldn't be playing though. E.g. that seasonal last year, I think, where DLT was constantly spammed. I was too scared to try this deck in that mode, even though I crafted DLT for that purpose. I was just thinking that I'd mess up how you do that spamming. Hopefully that one won't make a comeback. It was pretty much insta-quit for anyone not playing that deck.

Today I played someone, maybe with a Sco deck, and I went a card behind to win R2. I thought that i'd be certain to lose the next round. But no, my Nor witcher deck won, maybe even quite comfortably with maybe my final Geralt play.

Just to complete those stupid seasonal reward trees or tree nodes has made me sometimes even just make sure I win one round even if I lose the match, as you progress for the round win. Nothing worse than wasting your time losing 2-0. Maybe surprisingly, I might complete that Vesemir tree, with some unexpected contracts being completed for a good amount of keys. I thought that I only might complete that node for Geralt which gives you the cardback. I haven't touched the other seasonal reward tree as there's nothing that I really want in it. I seem to be a cardback person.
 
I had a really good run of the seasonal with a non-Lippy SK deck. I didn't see too many other SK decks using my card choices, so I thought I'd share them in case someone wants a different strategy...

- Defender + Sukrus + Arnaghad is just as deadly in this seasonal as it is in normal play. It MUST be combined with Patricidal Fury, though. Both your Defender and Arnaghad will drop at 11 points, making them a prime Igni target. Arnolf will spawn at 13 points as a sacrificial play. You can often just play those three cards and pass the round. IF your opponent manages to negate the defender and destroy Arnaghad, they've usually gone a few cards down and used their most potent removals. A good trade, especially in R1 or R2.

- Dire Bear + Yrden are also very useful. There's little to no removal in this mode outside Igni and the odd Heatwave, as everyone focusses on reset cards instead, so the Dire Bear can be played safely and early for the most part. Since people are always on the lookout for Yrden, they're splitting rows from the start. The opposite strategy applies here - quickly get 6 boosted cards on a single row (Quartermaster / Armor Up) and then drop the Dire Bear beside them. You'll have taken advantage of that row to drop boosted cards while your opponent (hopefully) has only played one card on the opposite row. That forces them to line everything else up on a single row for the Yrden or play damaged / unboosted cards.
 

DRK3

Forum veteran
I had a really good run of the seasonal with a non-Lippy SK deck. I didn't see too many other SK decks using my card choices, so I thought I'd share them in case someone wants a different strategy...

- Defender + Sukrus + Arnaghad is just as deadly in this seasonal as it is in normal play. It MUST be combined with Patricidal Fury, though. Both your Defender and Arnaghad will drop at 11 points, making them a prime Igni target. Arnolf will spawn at 13 points as a sacrificial play. You can often just play those three cards and pass the round. IF your opponent manages to negate the defender and destroy Arnaghad, they've usually gone a few cards down and used their most potent removals. A good trade, especially in R1 or R2.

- Dire Bear + Yrden are also very useful. There's little to no removal in this mode outside Igni and the odd Heatwave, as everyone focusses on reset cards instead, so the Dire Bear can be played safely and early for the most part. Since people are always on the lookout for Yrden, they're splitting rows from the start. The opposite strategy applies here - quickly get 6 boosted cards on a single row (Quartermaster / Armor Up) and then drop the Dire Bear beside them. You'll have taken advantage of that row to drop boosted cards while your opponent (hopefully) has only played one card on the opposite row. That forces them to line everything else up on a single row for the Yrden or play damaged / unboosted cards.

I've definitely seen a surge of those SK strategies in seasonal on the past couple of days.
Based on my matches (over 100), i can also say now SK is clearly the most used faction on seasonal, like i predicted on day one.

I can definitely see value on the sukrus+arnachad play, specially versus NR, and the suggestion to use leader PF as Igni bait is good, i always include Igni baits when im using things that line up many points on a row.

But i disagree with the Dire Bear+ Yrden suggestion, at least for this seasonal mode (its a great combo on standard).
Ive seen a few players try it and it does absolutely nothing since it also forces them to rowstack. You say you need to play something boosted on that row before the DireBear - this is for mirror matches, exactly the same, and yeah, in there direbear can be the deciding factor and make you win by a little...

Or you can use Movement like Nivellen, like ive said on my guides, and win everytime on mirror matches. Because Direbear punishes both players, Nivellen only punishes your opponent.
 

DRK3

Forum veteran
Hello everyone. Hope you're having a good time with the new patch.
Since there werent many changes to standard, i will be focusing mostly on this brand new seasonal mode, which is very exciting.

Today its April's fools, but i promise this guide has no lies!
I will update it if needed, since doing a guide on day one might seem reckless, but i'd rather be early than late, as now its when players most need guidance.

-GUIDE TO RNG SEASONAL MODE-

Mode: "Patience is a virtue"

At the beginning of every TURN, all cards in hand transform into cards with 1 provision more.

This mode is very chaotic, and the most RNG-heavy mode Gwent has ever seen!
At first sight, it might seem its completely luck dependent, and deck building doesnt matter, but that is not true, and there are quite a few strategies.

1. Only cards in hand are transformed, so you still have control over whats in your deck, graveyard and through leader ability.

2. Cards have provisions between 4 and 15 provisions, with tokens being 0 provisions. The only card at 15 is Masquerade Ball, next turn it turns into a 4 provision card. Tokens also transform into 4p cards next turn.

3. There are too many cards on the 4-12 provisions range for you to guess what you'll get, but not on the 13,14 and 15 provision. At the end of this guide, i will share a small list with these cards, to help with strategies.

4. At least on this seasonal mode, no faction is significantly favoured. Yes, there are leaders better than others, and a very few strategies only possible with certain factions, but in general all factions are viable.

5. Deckbuilding for this mode, the big question is - should we go for polarization, with plenty of 4p cards and high p golds, or should we go for a more balanced distribution of provisions?
To be honest, i can't answer yet, this mode is way more complex than it may seem, and to get an accurate answer it would require extensive statistical analysis of the entire cardpool.

6. The cards you put in your deck dont matter much, what matters is their provision, so you can build a deck with the most terrible cards and still do great, as they will be transformed into others. But you can still include cards you know you can summon from deck or tutor, and also some nice 4p units in the lucky chance you get portal.

7. Scenarios and greed. Its very easy to get scenarios in this mode, and at least for now the players are programmed to take it every chance they get. The problem is an unprocced scenario is just a 4pt card, taking 2 slots, worse than even most of 4p cards! Someone on reddit, a few months ago did a countdown of how many cards for each scenario of the entire cardpool, if i can find it, i will link it, but i think its the ST (elves) one that has the biggest chance. Otherwise, i would suggest to avoid playing scenarios unless its one of your faction and you have higher chances of proccing it through tutoring/leader.

8. Limited rowspace. The leader im using is Patricidal Fury, i selected it for the 8pt pointslam (11-3), but it has proven effective because it clutters the enemy board, and with the previous point (scenario greed), at least in this initial phase of this mode, its possible to clutter the enemy board and then they might have to discard (there are way more units than specials or artefacts overall)

9. Singleton deckbuilding (no duplicates) is advised, so Shupe and Radeyah will work properly. This isnt much of a downside in this mode, as you're likely not gonna play your initial deck cards anyway. Also, playing for Ciri Nova condition (all cards below 10 provisions) is a possibility, although statistically you're way less likely to get her than Shupe or Radeyah
NOTE: credit to @OneWhoCravesSouls for this information

10. Evolving cards arent that good, since they keep transforming they will always be played on stage 1 (unless you have one in your deck and tutor it on later rounds), so they will usually only play for 8/9 pts, even some bronzes can do better than that, specially since in this mode there is less control than standard modes (due to the unit-special-artefact ratio)

-----------------------------------------------------------

High provision cards:

15pr (1) - NG Scenario
14pr (5) - NR, MO, SY and ST Scenarios, Viy
13pr (8) - Shupe, Oneiro, SK Scenario, AA, Keltullis, Draug, Regis, Great Oak

Scenario triggers:
53 Elves (ST)
23 Deathwish (MO)
18 Siege engines (NR)
17 Blindeyes (SY)
16 Aristocrats (NG)
11 Druids (SK)

Hope this guide was helpful and pushes more players to try this seasonal mode. If needed, i will update this post with more information.
And feel free to share your opinions and strategies. :cool:
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UPDATE 1:

- This mode is better suited for veterans, the ones that know every card by heart, without having to read the description. Ironically, its also more frustrating for those players, as they spend less to make a decision, while more inexperienced players will be reading a LOT of cards.

But its not just that about the time spent, experienced players will evaluate better the instant value of a card, while others will see a powerful card of the meta, and play it, but out of context of the deck/leader, it will play for poor value.
Example: the multiple scenario attempts by many players, or playing a Cleaver, that is super valuable in Lined Pockets, but outside of his deck just plays for 5 if you dont have more coin generating, which is worse than most bronzes.

- It seems this mode is starting to shape up a meta already, one which favours carryover.
I've seen more Shupes today than in the previous 3 months. But also many Ciri Novas and Dashes. So it might be a good idea to pack purifies or resilient units yourself, in case you get a card that is able to tutor them.

-Considerations:
1. Devotion - a few cards benefit if you have this, but i cant say its worth it yet
2. Locks or Movement (to try and tutor when needed) - i've seen many of these dangerous units, like Damien, Maraal, Gaunter, Ciri Dash, Saessenthessis Blaze, etc, that are dangerous and you should try to counter at all costs.
 
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Lexor

Forum veteran
[ad 4] Nilfgaard IS a favored faction because of: Ball (guaranteed) and assimilation (chance).
[ad 6] The cards you are using to build the deck still matter. For example, as NG you will need tactics (even if you don't play tactic leader because there is a possibility to steal one), aristocrats, 1+ bronze spy/spies and cards with assimilation. Even if they will probably be transformed there are some chances to get them by tutor. My deck has only NG below 10 provision single cards to fill the most needs.
[ad 10] If you get any valuable card in hand (like NG evolving one) there are still some options to put it back into deck and tutor it later.
 
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who has the biggest Erland of them all?
1.jpg

I would seriously consider this Deck to be one of the stronger more reliable ones in this seasonal mode even if it has a bit of a slow Start in round 1 (starting Deck only runs low provision Cards apart from Erland because you want a huge Deck going way above the usual 25 Card's as much as possible) and also is heavily vulnerable to Ihuarraquax or a lucky Canta, Tibor or Vilge play.
 
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I have been having reasonably good luck Using no duplicates for shupe and no cards over 9p for Ciri. Adding anything over that to your starting deck is likey going to either languish in your deck or roll back over into a 4 or 5p by the time you play it anyway. I also throw in devotion for good measure. As long as your starting deck is devotion friendly, all devotion abilities from any faction will work, so it's worth throwing in there, imo.
Fun mode. My only suggestion would be to change the cards at the end of your turn. Mainly just to speed it up a little... Give players a chance to plan their next play. It is incredibly slow in this mode with the cards changing at the start of the turn.. Almost as bad as HC.
 
As long as your starting deck is devotion friendly, all devotion abilities from any faction will work, so it's worth throwing in there, imo.
But with Devotion you can't have Roach and Knickers, who have been a huge benefit for me with my Shupe-friendly Nova deck.
Especially when my last card in R3 was Lippy. :D
 

Lexor

Forum veteran
But with Devotion you can't have Roach and Knickers, who have been a huge benefit for me with my Shupe-friendly Nova deck.
Especially when my last card in R3 was Lippy. :D
I prefer, for example, Unseen Elder's deviotion chaos over Roach and Knickers - once I had 3 of them on the table and my enemy had empty board at the end of R3. :D
 
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who has the biggest Erland of them all?
View attachment 11205112
I would seriously consider this Deck to be one of the stronger more reliable ones in this seasonal mode even if it has a bit of a slow Start in round 1 (starting Deck only runs low provision Cards apart from Erland because you want a huge Deck going way above the usual 25 Card's as much as possible) and also is heavily vulnerable to Ihuarraquax or a lucky Canta, Tibor or Vilge play.
Like i said in The other topic, for me your deck is The Best.

Win 11 times in a row and didnt win more because i stoped play.

Also, i have a biggest erland hehehe
Screenshot_20210402-020952_Gwent.jpg
Screenshot_20210402-140840_Chrome.jpg
 
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DRK3

Forum veteran
But with Devotion you can't have Roach and Knickers, who have been a huge benefit for me with my Shupe-friendly Nova deck.
Especially when my last card in R3 was Lippy. :D

I am actually using a Lippy deck, so ofc i have Roach and Knickers, and my main goal on R3 is to get a tutor to play Lippy.

Since most other players are also using Roach and Knickers, i try to steal them as often as i can, when i get sweers or amnesty, or copy one with Letho KS, one time i had 3 Roaches after i Lippyed on R3!

But my deck is a mulligan nightmare - there are 4 cards i never wanna see on hand - Roach, Knickers, Lippy and Morkvarg, but i keep getting Lippy when i play things like Dandelion Poet (happened like 3 times yesterday!) or other cards that make you draw...
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Adding anything over that to your starting deck is likey going to either languish in your deck or roll back over into a 4 or 5p by the time you play it anyway.

Actually i think that's one of the biggest mistakes most players are doing: they panic when they reach 13-15 provisions and play the scenarios before they turn into 4p cards, but if you plan ahead, if its on the beginning of a long round, its better to wait and by the end it will be a 10-12provision which is the sweet spot for the best cards.
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Mirror, mirror on the wall, who has the biggest Erland of them all?
View attachment 11205112
I would seriously consider this Deck to be one of the stronger more reliable ones in this seasonal mode even if it has a bit of a slow Start in round 1 (starting Deck only runs low provision Cards apart from Erland because you want a huge Deck going way above the usual 25 Card's as much as possible) and also is heavily vulnerable to Ihuarraquax or a lucky Canta, Tibor or Vilge play.

Your strategy of Erland, and another player i faced yesterday, have inspired me to try my next seasonal deck.
Since in this mode its OK to have much bigger decks than 25 cards, and have more low provisions, i think i will try the first ever enslave 8 or 9 deck (not even sure what the max is, actually!), should be fun! :shrug:
 
I am actually using a Lippy deck, so ofc i have Roach and Knickers, and my main goal on R3 is to get a tutor to play Lippy.

Since most other players are also using Roach and Knickers, i try to steal them as often as i can, when i get sweers or amnesty, or copy one with Letho KS, one time i had 3 Roaches after i Lippyed on R3!

But my deck is a mulligan nightmare - there are 4 cards i never wanna see on hand - Roach, Knickers, Lippy and Morkvarg, but i keep getting Lippy when i play things like Dandelion Poet (happened like 3 times yesterday!) or other cards that make you draw...
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Actually i think that's one of the biggest mistakes most players are doing: they panic when they reach 13-15 provisions and play the scenarios before they turn into 4p cards, but if you plan ahead, if its on the beginning of a long round, its better to wait and by the end it will be a 10-12provision which is the sweet spot for the best cards.
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Your strategy of Erland, and another player i faced yesterday, have inspired me to try my next seasonal deck.
Since in this mode its OK to have much bigger decks than 25 cards, and have more low provisions, i think i will try the first ever enslave 8 or 9 deck (not even sure what the max is, actually!), should be fun! :shrug:
I tried one yesterday and I think 7 is the maximum for Nilfgaard tactic Card's not sure how much neutral tactics are available to boost it further since I went for devotion.
 
But my deck is a mulligan nightmare - there are 4 cards i never wanna see on hand
Mine is too; in addition to Roach and Knickers I run the witcher trio (because I want to be able to use the copies I often get) and never want any of them in hand of course. :D
Best case scenario (I got a Lambert, or maybe this was the double Oneiro match since Vesemir has armour... can't remember):
2021-04-02_1331_1.png
 

DRK3

Forum veteran
I tried one yesterday and I think 7 is the maximum for Nilfgaard tactic Card's not sure how much neutral tactics are available to boost it further since I went for devotion.

Yeah, i just tried it and was disappointed, Enslave 8 is still impossible, so of course 9 is too.

I selected all of the cheapest tactics, you need 20 for enslave 8, then i filled the rest with 4p bronze units to satisfy the unit minimum but it ended 3 provisions short to get the 13th unit for the condition to be satisfied...

Oh well, next time we get a new bronze tactic, it will become possible, then we just have to wait for this mode to return to play it in all its glory!
 
I am actually using a Lippy deck, so ofc i have Roach and Knickers, and my main goal on R3 is to get a tutor to play Lippy.

Since most other players are also using Roach and Knickers, i try to steal them as often as i can, when i get sweers or amnesty, or copy one with Letho KS, one time i had 3 Roaches after i Lippyed on R3!

But my deck is a mulligan nightmare - there are 4 cards i never wanna see on hand - Roach, Knickers, Lippy and Morkvarg, but i keep getting Lippy when i play things like Dandelion Poet (happened like 3 times yesterday!) or other cards that make you draw...
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Actually i think that's one of the biggest mistakes most players are doing: they panic when they reach 13-15 provisions and play the scenarios before they turn into 4p cards, but if you plan ahead, if its on the beginning of a long round, its better to wait and by the end it will be a 10-12provision which is the sweet spot for the best cards.
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Your strategy of Erland, and another player i faced yesterday, have inspired me to try my next seasonal deck.
Since in this mode its OK to have much bigger decks than 25 cards, and have more low provisions, i think i will try the first ever enslave 8 or 9 deck (not even sure what the max is, actually!), should be fun! :shrug:
Yesterday i faced a lot of enslave 7 and those are The most dificult deck i faced because almost all The time The leader its a 14 points value.

And, of course, in One of the first matches i made The mistake tô boost One important card tô 7, thinking it was save from The leader and when my opponent steals it i realyzed it was enslave 7
 
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who has the biggest Erland of them all?
I would seriously consider this Deck to be one of the stronger more reliable ones in this seasonal mode even if it has a bit of a slow Start in round 1 (starting Deck only runs low provision Cards apart from Erland because you want a huge Deck going way above the usual 25 Card's as much as possible) and also is heavily vulnerable to Ihuarraquax or a lucky Canta, Tibor or Vilge play.
i remembered this post and just now faced a NR deck with this leader and around 30 cards in deck. At first round, since you said you use only low provision units apart from Erland, I used Quax even if that meant get rid of my Ciri Nova with no deploy. The Quax summoned his Erland and he autoforfeited. I though he'd stay tbh because he could still have had some random Erland created by rng.
 
i remembered this post and just now faced a NR deck with this leader and around 30 cards in deck. At first round, since you said you use only low provision units apart from Erland, I used Quax even if that meant get rid of my Ciri Nova with no deploy. The Quax summoned his Erland and he autoforfeited. I though he'd stay tbh because he could still have had some random Erland created by rng.
Yeah I had a Ihuarraquax used against me too and I don't think it's a reason to instant forfait since you don't really know what Card's both players end up getting, in that match-up I did put a created NR Phillipa back in to my Deck and played her with Pincer Maneuver with Dagur and Syanna ( double Phillipa) on Board, still lost that match up by 1 point or so, but I guess the more popular this Deck gets people will learn to tech against it, because if you can't successfully bleed out Erland in Round 2 against this Deck you will most likely (apart from having somehow access to a Yrden, Gigni while having last say) lose against it.
 
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Tips for Patience is Virtue seasonal mode:
- use sequential deck build up, e.g. 3 cards with 4 provisions, 3 cards of 5 provisions and so on. As you will be getting to high provision cards, use 2 or 1. Basically, the logic is this: you need to have a couple of high provision cards in your hand to play and let other cards grow gradually during the round. It doesn't matter much which cards exactly you include in the deck as they will all be changed anyway. That said, see a few suggestions below - there are a few cards you better include.
- do not use two versions of the same cards. it will prevent you to use Shupe and Radeyah that quite often appear at random. And it is useful because you can get 8 point resilience with Shupe.
- include roach and knickers, they will help you a little bit in the first round.
- do not use many high provision cards in your deck but include one high power high provision card and one powerful artefact (there are cards that will let you pull it from the deck). Also include 1-2 bronze specials to be played when you get Triss.
- use the leader that pulls a lot of value on his own (Blaze of Glory, Force of Nature, Enslave, etc) or provides control like Guerilla Tactics or White Frost. You need a leader that will not rely on your cards in hand and on the board.
- because Masquerade Ball is the only card with 15 provisions, it is very easy to play with NG - just time a few cards to play them when they reach provision 15 and then use Morvran, pull an aristocrat and hope for 1-2 more aristocrats in the remaining turns. Easy win, that's why you will encounter an army of NG players who think they are smart to use this tactic.
- another super cheesy win strategy is to use Pincer Manoeuvre + Erland + tons of 4 provision units in a deck. You will see more of those too, because that combo is just too consistent and very easy to achieve.
 
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DRK3

Forum veteran
Also, forget to mention this in my guide, but its important:

I've never seen a mode, seasonal or not, where my opponents are playing so non-aggressively, as in, reluctant to push R2.
This is understandable - in most other seasonal modes, players flock to a powerful deck, hard to counter, and so they feel they always have the upper hand and know what cards to play, also because better players told them how to do so.

In this one, there's none of that, a bit like old arena mode, but with even more RNG, and so there's no safety of netdecking to enable bad players to succeed. This leads to the greatest irony: even though this mode is filled with luck, it still requires more skill in piloting than standard modes :giveup:
 

DRK3

Forum veteran
This time i come with a "small" guide, pretty different from my typical guides, way more subjective.

Perhaps nobody is interested, but i've had this idea for weeks, and seems the only way to get rid of it is to actually execute it, so lets do this:

GUIDE TO GWENT MIND GAMES

Throughout the years, i've taken a look at plenty of Gwent articles, posts, guides and the meta reports i loathe so much.
Most are very objective, and focus on what you should play, but that's only half (ok, maybe more than half...) of the game, the other half is HOW you play! That's what i'll attempt to do now.

NOTE: this is not a 'dirty player's handbook' of any kind. Behaviours like spamming taunts or roping to annoy and possible make opponents forfeit, BM'ing (playing cards when you already won on R3) are not endorsed here in any form.

NOTE2: i've seen 'good guy' guides, on trying to avoid "tilt" (getting mad, basically) or anxiety, with sensible advice like taking regular breaks after losing streaks, trying not to take individual matches too seriously and look at the bigger picture, being rational and respectful, etc.
This is also NOT that type of thing, i'm going to delve more into the 'dark side', while still being ethical hopefully.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Gwent is an online game, so you dont see your opponent. Also, there is no voice/text chat available. You have very little interaction with your opponents. Most players might say the main form of interaction are the taunts. I say otherwise, i say its... time.

When you start playing Gwent, or any other CCG, you only look at the cards that are played. After a few hundred hours, you know the cards, you start noticing other details, even if subconsciously, like how long it takes for your opponent to play their turn.

Players have different playstyles, but in general, a confident, experienced player will take less time to play, inexperienced players always take long to play because they need to read the cards of the opponent (you can see if an opponent is hovering over a card, another form of interaction), netdeckers with tier 0/1 decks play relatively fast, while a player struggling in a situation will always take longer.

I love the mindgames that can be played with this, all sorts of bluffing possible, but unfortunately they often fall flat, in the face of metadeck aggressive playstyle of never passing and always going for 2-0, its quite sad, as if the opponent doesnt acknowledge you as another human player and just cares about the win.

But nevermind that, this post is not meant as a pit to wallow in misery, but to actually help players, do better and even get more enjoyment from playing Gwent!

1. Analyze the speed of the opponent. It doesnt matter if he's fast or slow, what matters is if he is going faster or slower than before.
If he's speeding up, it probably means its going well for him, knows what cards he will play next and you're playing into his gameplan.
If he's speeding down, it might indicate he's feeling loss of control over the round, or playing unusual cards which make him feel suspicious.

2. Control your own speed. I advise this but rarely apply it. Im lightning fast in +90% of my turns, as i play too much and unfortunately that means knowing the metadecks by heart, so i usually know whats coming next, when i take more time, its because i found a conundrum or dilemma, where each of my options is pretty bad, which the opponent can easily read.

3. Time mindgames dont work everywhere. At high level play, like tournaments, which use open decklist format, they dont work, mostly because all players take long in all turns, due to the high stakes of the situation. However, they still play other mindgames, like the standard bluffing, which is always enjoyable to watch (i.e. playing a poison card without having a 2nd poison to force a pass or less value purify).

4. Unpredictabilty is a weapon. You can play original decks, filled with cards your opponent wont see coming. But even with this advantage, sometimes its hard to beat metadecks. Sometimes just changing 1 or 2 cards is enough, specially if they're finishers. If all your cards are weird, your opponent will expect weird next, but you can trick into a false sense of security then strike hard when it counts.
I love doing this, like playing 2 tall removals, the 1st is the meta one, they assume i dont have another, then hit with the unusual one.
Or using Yrden in SK, they never see it comin! (gonna get hate for this :ohstopit:)

5. Take advantage of the aggressive playstyle. This is one of my favourite tricks, specially in blue coin R1. This round is fought very intensely, and its rare to see an early pass from the red coin. I play very fast, which makes it look like im an aggressive player, but if i get a decent lead, i frequently pass at 5, i've won so many games because my opponent wasnt really looking at the numbers and needs to go down a card or use leader to take R1.

6. NEVER drypass on R2 with more than 7 cards. Best for last eh? Seriously, this is my best hint, im 100% sure of it.
This is kind of a continuation of the last point, but it deserves its own spot.
Ive seen a few arguments whether you should get more mulligans or thin your bad cards on R2, after you win R1 and are at 8-9 cards. Personally i prefer thinning, unless after mulligans i have the perfect hand, which is very rare.

But you SHOULD play these, for the sole possibility it might make your opponent think you're going to bleed R2 and immediately commit an important card. I thought only bad players did this mistake, but ive seen it so often its unbelievable. Ive seen Masquerade balls being dropped on R2 after i play a terrible bronze on the wrong row, so i was quite clearly signaling i wasnt going to bleed... i always taunt and pass in these situations.
This is another situation where being fast is important, playing it fast gives the impression you're going for the push R2. If you want to take this into the next level, you might even wanna commit an expendable gold to pretend you're pushing, i do this sometimes and it has worked well for me... And of course, you can also play the card to 'test the waters' and then actually push R2 if it the conditions are favourable. :ok:

I hope this guide has been helpful or at least entertaining to those who read it. Its more dedicated to advanced players, but it might also help beginners and intermediate level players, in understanding how other opponents might be thinking.
POST #100!!!
 
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