Orders are GWENT's Number One Issue

[Witcher3point0]

So if the issue is humored, what is the solution?

Would having units with orders being harder to kill be a solution? (How do they become harder to kill? Extra Points?) If so do they in turn cost more provisions? And if so do we scale down other cards and lower their provisions cost? Or do we just collectively give Leaders more base provisions to build with?

Alternatively do we keep them the same or perhaps even weaken them, but shield them for 2 turns? Giving the card player an opportunity to use the orders, and the opponent an opportunity to play around it so doom is not imminent.
And if that works, then it should only apply when an opponent has 2 or more cards as to provide a chance for removal afterwards or before the match concludes.

Another approuch all together is limiting the amount of deploy cards a deck can have, or spells etc. This is an interesting way of tackling it as well.

The conclusion I draw is that there are several things that can be done, but the reality remains the same we all have the same card pool to work with and the game favors well pieced together decks. Now if that means having some cannon fodder so be it, you can try to build around it to have perks to your opponent killing a good card.

Personally I feel at some point an opponents removal has to run low otherwise their deck just isn't effectively building points. But an opponent having removal to begin with is part of the excitement of this game, and what keeps me on edge.

 

[InkognitoXI]

So if the issue is humored, what is the solution?
[...]
Personally I feel at some point an opponents removal has to run low otherwise their deck just isn't effectively building points. But an opponent having removal to begin with is part of the excitement of this game, and what keeps me on edge.

I build a Gernichora deck specifically under the premise of running as much removal as possible, Wild Hunt Hounds, Enraged Ifrit, Crones, Strigga, Chironex, Cleaver, Geralt of Rivia etc.
Of course the deck struggles against non-engine decks, however the reaction of an NR player assuming to get an easy win and then losing to as much stacked removal as possible is hilarious.
Trust me, it does not necessarily run out that easily.
You asked what a solution would be.
Giving them 1-2 turns of surviving for free would undermine their risk reward aspect and require one to tone down their power.
In case of keeping them alive and allowing them to shoot 1 turn in any case Hubert would be beyond broken adn would have to be completely reworked.

My personal favourite however would be to leave old Order cards as risk vs reward options and focus the design around cards like Vincent Meis, which are weaker than usual Order cards, have Zeal, so they can fire their load right away in case you are afraid of answers and can use the Order mechanic to allow more complex operations, rather than just a selection of X targets for a deploy effect.
Of course they have to be massively toned down version of current engines, however be honest, would you not trade power for something like Formation, giving you options on how to use them ?
Which reminds me that NR WILL in fact get Formation in the next expansion and likely after that as well.
So a solution is actually already implemented, only that only a few Formation cards alone will do the trick.
There have to be quite a few Formation cards to solve the issue.
And quite honestly Formation is an incredibly well designed keyword.
(i) It gives the option of not risking anything and just sinking the Order ability.
(ii) Adding 1 point to min-max points in case you suspect removal, however have to risk something to still take the round.
(which is somewhat of a "I need every point I can get, so I am willingly risking it")
(iii) You know your opponent cannot use removal high enough to remove the Order card as easily (e.g. the magical number
4, being reachable by a ridiculous amount of removal tools, while 5 is relatively safe and 6 is (outside of Crones) safe).

Zeal is the natural cure, however CDPR as still hesitant to simply make weaker cards and make them more reliable.
One example is Coral, she used to be just a meme, she was massively nerfed in terms of her power and turned into a completely reliable card (maybe her provision cost should be increased, I actually kind of like her and I am not even an SK player).

 

[Witcher3point0]

I build a Gernichora deck specifically under the premise of running as much removal as possible, Wild Hunt Hounds, Enraged Ifrit, Crones, Strigga, Chironex, Cleaver, Geralt of Rivia etc.

I've got no qualms with this whatsoever. In fact that is just it, you've got to pick a side, learn the ins and outs or come up with something new altogether that combos well without relying 2-3 main engines. In your case heaps of removal piggybacking the thrive engine etc.

Personally I run a fair share of removal in about 80% of my decks. And some are ridiculously engine oriented but tied together tightly as to avoid being crippled by removal. I run misleading cards that give value but are not staple that bait removals as well.

In the end CDPR know what they are doing, and I like the current game.

 

[Restlessdingo32]

I should have said "competitive", sorry. I'm at 5 and giving it a go, but face very little variety.

Competitive = viable. Last season on pro rank I probably saw at least two dozen different decks. The recent balance patch didn't really change a whole lot so it's difficult to see how much would have changed in this regard, barring a few notable exceptions. As I said, I haven't played in over a week because I had an epiphany after about 50 games and couldn't stomach the same monotonous meta for another second, even if it changed slightly. Over those 50 games not much was different, however.

It would be true to say there is limited variety at a conceptual level. Most decks flock to the same key concepts, combos, interactions, etc. This is due to the aforementioned balance statements. So even with a plethora of different decks the play still feels largely the same. It's quite a stretch to insinuate you must play one of five decks to be "competitive" though. There are a lot of decks you can choose to play. Hell, there are probably a lot of available options outside the norms. They just tend to require going a bit beyond plucking a net deck from a stream or deck list website and/or blindly following a guide. And since 95% of the players just do that....

I tweak my deck to change things every couple of games, whether winning or losing, but what I find really odd/suspicious is I had a MO deck and had Yrden. Couple of games went by and Yrden was proving useless, it was either NG or NR Kaedweni, so nothing to reset. Took him out, popped Niv/DD in, immediately faced Eredin/Slyzard and the oppo was relentlessly taunting as if they KNEW I could do nothing! So swapped around and went for Scorch as I'd also been getting stung by Old Speartip. As soon as I did that, was up against ST and NR engine again!!!

Yes, I'm confident more goes into the MM beyond rank, level, fMMR, etc. I wouldn't go so far to say it's rigged to force a certain result though.

It shouldn't matter anyway. Strong decks are not only strong because they employ the strongest concepts available but because they do not need to constantly tech cards in or out to win in the majority of match-ups. Teching for such decks isn't about winning but about becoming stronger against specific match-ups. Most match-ups can be won by playing the match-up correctly. If you feel a constant need to tech in the perfect counter to beat a certain deck it indicates you're doing something incorrectly or playing a sub-par deck. Emphasizing hard-tech cards so heavily is often a bad idea anyway, as there is no guarantee you will see the match-up you're looking to punish (as your post clearly demonstrates).

My personal favourite however would be to leave old Order cards as risk vs reward options and focus the design around cards like Vincent Meis, which are weaker than usual Order cards, have Zeal, so they can fire their load right away in case you are afraid of answers and can use the Order mechanic to allow more complex operations, rather than just a selection of X targets for a deploy effect.

Your personal favorite could probably be expanded to the entire game.

In the end CDPR know what they are doing, and I like the current game.

Good joke . Glad you enjoy the current game.