Skellige Deck Strategies

[DRK3]

Its a shame to see these faction strategy threads abandoned...

Oh well, i just made a new Crach deck and im having tons of fun. Basically everyone is just using the same decks to the point you see a leader and pretty much already know whats coming, so people assume im a bloodthirst deck, and get destroyed.

It has 0 BT cards, and almost no damage, it uses spear and Crach, only to make more queensguards, because it actually is a swarm deck.

It runs the whole discard set, because it provides many bodies and great tempo, but i try to save Morkvarg and Skirmishers for R3, so after a full round, hopefully i have way more units than opponent, so whats my finisher?

Yennefer - boost, then Yrden on opponents row with most units/buffs. Its been great so far, even destroyed an Arachas plans to Glustyworp when suddenly i boosted all his spiders to 3, and also destroyed a Meve deck, where i let him boost all he wanted with Vysogotta and Anna Strenger, only to Yrden at last second (i thought he figured it out, but it was too late)

 

[idomyownstunts]

No one else think Bran sometimes sounds like the farmer from shaun the sheep?

 

[valkery]

Hey, @DRK3 I have been reading through your posts from the last few months and I'm really impressed with how you process the game. I haven't really been on these forums before, so I have a few questions if you don't mind answering them.

1. Why does everyone always focus on specific card combinations in order to finish with a big "boom"? I don't see many posts that describe basic strategies like "how to make a deck reliable" or "how to draw/mill/buff/ramp in xyz faction." Specific combos are awesome, but isn't the unique way you have to strategize a big part too?

2. On that note, how reliable are you with these decks? Do big combos go off very often, and do you have like a spreadsheet of statistics set up or something?

Thanks for your time if you get a chance to answer!

 

[DRK3]

@valkery Thanks for the kind words, but to be honest, i dont participate in this forum as many times as i wish, because it seems only the threads complaining about problems get attention, and sharing strategies and decks are dead topics, maybe because of netdeck sites where it's more straightforward, so i end up not bothering to do it several times.

1. Players like big finishers because it keeps the opponent from having opportunities to counter it, one of the reasons why winning R1 to get last say in R3 (if everything goes normally) is so important, but not all decks are like this, some are able to build pressure throughout a round.

To be honest, im not the best to talk about reliability, thats the metadecks specialty, i personally prefer "meme and theme" decks, that are more fun but less reliable. I usually start with a concept and build from there, trying to use cards who are less used.

2. I dont use any spreadsheets, nor any gwent add-on, nor do i look at my statistics and winrate. When you ask "how reliable i am with these decks", im not sure what decks you're refering to... The ones i described in this sekllige thread? I just try to adapt somewhat into the current meta, predicting the opponent's strategies is not hard at all, in the current climate...

 

[DRK3]

So, new update with hundreds of new cards, i feel the need to come here and give some hints on the new SK cards - which im very happy about, since i always liked self-damage more than damage.

1. Crach can no longer damage own units, so Svalblod is the only choice for self-damage, and with 5 charges + 1 extra bear abomination, i think he's quite good.

2. Queensguard and Shieldmaidens are the old bronzes that now belong in these decks. Most new bronzes are good too, specially svalblod priest which works EXACTLY like the longships in the infamous Greatswords decks that dominated the last meta in the Open Beta.

3. Flaminica and Yoana are great to heal all your damaged units. They'll probably be removed or locked, but they're cheap and worth the risk. And be careful not to heal damage you want to stick!

4. Svalblod Totem is the first SK artefact and its great. Instant 8pts (on 2 bodies) for 10 provisions, with the order next round to trigger the berserk and get them to 5pts each... or you can use the order later or on another unit you need to self damage.

5. Before, there was the Olaf+Hym combo, which was great but if you only got one of the cards you couldnt do much...
Now there's Vykaarl (cant spell his name, the one which turns to 12pt Champion of Svalblod) + Knut.
You want to transform Vykaarl immediately as you play it, so it doesnt get locked or removed.

The great part is these 4 cards can be interchanged, so even though these 2 pairs i mentioned provide the most value, Olaf+Knut or Champion of Svalblod+Hym work really well too, so you have multiple choices depending on the draw.
(Note: Having Houndsnout skulls for Champion of Svalblod to Order: heal is great)

6. The biggest danger now is the ever present Regis bloodlust, and other 4pt damaging units like Milaen, Ves,... since all the bronze cards you want to selfdamage are 4pts. Also locks are an issue, but its unlikely the opponent will be able to lock all your cards.

Good luck.

 

[DRK3]

I return to this beloved thread, to share more SK strategies.

I grew tired of using the same Svalblod decktype that most players are using, and i was trying a Bran Warriors deck where i tried to fit Queensguard but it didnt work as they require a lot of support...

So i combined those 2 things: i focused on making a Svalblod deck WITHOUT the 4 usual suspects: no Olaf, no Vidkaarl, no Knut, no Hym, and built an entire deck around Queensguards (which have been one of my favourite cards for over 2 years)

It works surprisingly well, but not against full removal, specially Bloodthirst Crach or Arnjolf.
It has some rarely used cards like Cerys, Olgierd, Giant Boar, and also has all the self damaging units, plenty of purifiies and revives (for the svalblod priests and queensguards, the cornerstones of the deck)

Even been able to give 2-0 to plenty of players, since when its uncountered, its deadly on a long R1 and got CA many times.

Post automatically merged: May 25, 2019

Now with pictures!

 

[DRK3]

Decided to try something "new", so i built a deck around a card i hadnt seen in over 6 months: Wolfsbane.

This forgotten card was once super popular on Crach decks, then it was nerfed into oblivion and never seen since.

Since Svalblod now has the self damage, decided to try the wolfsbane to both trigger bear abominations and also damage the opponent...

Man, it sucks so much... the card costs 9 provisions and yet its a struggle just to get it to give positive value. And there are so many simpler ways, and cheaper in provisions to do that, its definitely not worth it, now i know why absolutely no one uses it, even other unpopular cards like Merigolds Hailstorm are better.

 

[jed9653]

My main SK deck is a hybrid of discard and scenario.

 

[Koalifications]

I'm loving Battle Trance right now.

Use Oneiromancy to increase the odds of you landing the big kahuna, Gedyneith, but then basically use all the druids to trigger it. Add some Armored Drakkars to increase the benefit from Svalblod Priests. Clean up with Morkvarg: Heart of Terror as a defense against opponent's with an super boosted card.

 

[OuterSpaceDoggo]

This is my current SK deck: https://www.playgwent.com/it/decks/b134e451a606d1885a44054b24173741
It's a pirate deck with a focus on row damage. Leader is useful to contest a round and sinergies well with wild boar, Dagur and warmonger.
Any ideas on how I could improve it in a flavourful way?

 

[DRK3]

This is my current SK deck: https://www.playgwent.com/it/decks/b134e451a606d1885a44054b24173741
It's a pirate deck with a focus on row damage. Leader is useful to contest a round and sinergies well with wild boar, Dagur and warmonger.
Any ideas on how I could improve it in a flavourful way?

Props for using Ragnaroog, Tremors and Drummond Warmonger.

If you want to make it more flavourful, i would suggest to go heavier on the pirate-ship aspect of it, you already have plenty of Pirates, but you are not taking advantage of that - include tidecloak hideaway for that, the other damage ship, which synergizes well with GS/Dagur and wild boar; and raiding fleet to thin those boats out.

The problem with these is you would have to cut one of your high end cards to make these replacements, either Ragnaroog or Heatwave. Heatwave is definitely a great card to include, but if there's any faction that can survive without it its SK, in particular SK Warriors.

(EDIT) Terror of the seas is also another flavourful option, but it doesnt fit a dagur deck, its more of a pure pirate/ships deck kinda card, as then you would also have to include boatbuilders...

 

[OuterSpaceDoggo]

Props for using Ragnaroog, Tremors and Drummond Warmonger.

If you want to make it more flavourful, i would suggest to go heavier on the pirate-ship aspect of it, you already have plenty of Pirates, but you are not taking advantage of that - include tidecloak hideaway for that, the other damage ship, which synergizes well with GS/Dagur and wild boar; and raiding fleet to thin those boats out.

The problem with these is you would have to cut one of your high end cards to make these replacements, either Ragnaroog or Heatwave. Heatwave is definitely a great card to include, but if there's any faction that can survive without it its SK, in particular SK Warriors.

(EDIT) Terror of the seas is also another flavourful option, but it doesnt fit a dagur deck, its more of a pure pirate/ships deck kinda card, as then you would also have to include boatbuilders...

I think many sleeps on Warmonger, it can reliably hit an entire row and can be devasting paired with Wild Boar.
My original idea was to use Rage of the Sea but the provision was a problem. Removing Wave was a solution but I fear scenarios ahah. I will try a couple of tweaks with Wave removed, will post update when possible.
Another flavour card I was thinking of is Skellige Storm, better than Ragh nar Roog against full swarm rows and only costing 7 provision. I don't know, there are many thematic cards for SK!