mli_dragon;n10952915 said:
Alchemy never had over 50% winrate on Gwent meta report. That means despite its popularity, it's never been tier 1. People just don't like slave drivers because of what they can potentially do which doesn't mean they consistently do what ppl assume they do. Thus, comes the nerf. It got nerfed cuz the community in general doesn't like it.
I am so disappointed GS will be the same. And I predict that GS + Vesmir + Mandrake will be the next big meta and most popular since Swim is working on a way to abuse Sabbath + Olgier. That's sadder than the meta we have right now.
Exactly the opposite my friend. It ALWAYS had an over 50% winrate in the Gwent meta report. See here:
https://gwentup.com/report/18/18
That's the latest. Go to Calveit and the bronzes (like Ointments, Viper Witchers and Novices) and look at the deck's winrate in the highest tier. Older reports are also archived if you want to cross reference.
The funny thing is, I expect Spies to make a comeback, but this will depend on how prevalent greatswords will be. Their winrate has already gone up to 49. something % with Emhyr, and with Usurper, they even have a greater than 50% winrate in the highest tier, effectively making them Tier 1 again. Goes to show that this deck, when unexpected, can be VERY dominant. Similar to axemen
To talk about the changes themselves, I am glad you are taking care of the abusive mechanics of Brouver and ST but leave the overall power of Elven Swap mostly unchanged. Come to think of it, an Elven scout will add extra swaps to the swap/Nova deck, potentially searching for better cards and triggering the vanguards more, while the overall effect is not that different than the Vrihedd Officer (Officer into Vanguard is 11 + 1 for every other elf on the board, Scout is 10 + 1 for every other elf on the board). I think swapping dopplers for First Light cards in the Swap deck is can be a pretty effective change too or Dol Blathanna Archers or another high strength elf.All things considered, it might be worth to go for 28 cards and add extra elves AND first light cards, since now the deck will be thinning even more. You just have to watch out not to play Wardancers from the deck, which is not a bad thing to have to do some deck maneuvering, Alchemy has to watch out with novices in order to avoid seeing a double bricked ointment early on for example.
Alchemy I think also took a light hit. The potential workarounds I see are either using Slave infantry instead of drivers (Alchemy is already control heavy), OR, not using Ales, but instead Petri's Philter/ Swallow potions.
Henselt, I am glad of this change if I am honest. Even with 2 machines, Henselt is worth 13 + 11 + 3 = 27 points. Not shabby at all.
Greatswords fortunately have their counters. Aside from Nilfgaard and their Vicovaros/Assire, there's Also Monsters with Ozzrel and Caretaker. I do predict a surge of decks containing these.
Overall, I get a positive vibe from those changes. I never had much of a problem with greatswords aside from how effectively they destroy weather decks, which is something that eventually needs to be addressed. But in the current meta, in context, in this place and time, you are addressing certain things that were flawed, and that's good.
Quick question though, you did not mention Hym or Triss: Telekinesis, or Aguara: True form, or Kiyan. Are we to assume these will remain the same? you did say you are addressing the entirety of Create.