Misc. Gwent Guides to... [WOLF SEASONAL MODE 2021]

[BartonFink]

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.

 

[Lokiat0r]

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]

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.