funny enough that pretty much a carbon copy of the deck I beat with Slave Robbers... although that was luck on my part
ser2440;n10746141 said:Guys, honestly, it might sound weird, but Harald is INSANE.
I've just been trying him out, and honestly, it's the most fun I've had forever!
Granted, he is possibly the hardest deck to play in Gwent not just now, but quite possibly ever.
But if you learn how to play, if you master this deck, there is no stopping you other than overteched opponents. Even in a format with a ton of removal like this, I just won against Alchemy.
His winrate in the highest ranks is almost 53%, only RIGHT behind the top tier decks. You just won't see him a lot in European/Chinese servers because what popularized him was the WH North American Tournament. The list and the guide this guy offers is very VERY interesting. And the best part? It's not a real Harald deckthat's why it's so good.
Harald is insane only because pretty much nobody plays him and, correspondingly, most people don't know how to counter him. I started playing axemen this season, and most people pass early round 1 when you play gold weather and are behind on points (and/or cards). "Ha-ha, this noob wins with -2 CA and I get to avoid the weather", they think. Not so funny for them when they have to play the 3rd round against the remaining weather.
Smarter opponents chose to have a longer round 1 (since they know they have no chance against Harald in a long round 3), but in this case they usually either win with a few cards down or lose on equal cards. And that means they face 30+ points value Axemen/Derran + Harald combo in round 3.
Alchemy is one of the easiest matchups for Harald. Unless their witchers deal 11 damage, your axemen are safe (skellige storm -> axemen). Derran will most likely be mandraked anyway.
Gremist is a very arguable inclusion in this deck since your opponent will always be able to create him with Hym. Sure, he is more versatile than Skellige Storm, but the risks are too high, I think.
Yup harald is in that sweet spot right now where he is not too popular and as such no one includes axemen hate in their decks. If he gets too popular the meta adapts to shut him down.
the best thing is that if you focus on dimun warships you can have a very good short round as well. Restore into pirate captain into corsair into dimun warship is a ciri nova spread in 3 cards that also empowers the X-Men
The only bad matchups are Spell'tael with weather clears (you can win without axemen by having weather deal max damage every turn with your whalers. But if both axemen and weather go down you are in a tight spot) and Imlerith:Sabbath, neither of which is prevalent at the top of the ladder. Greatswords are a bit tricky to navigate but you can fare decently even against them. Everything else and especially Alchemy gets resoundingly crushed if you play the right way.
The argument for the inclusion of Skellige Storm does not convince me. For lots of reasons. First, the Gremist is revivable via Restore. You can even kill him with your own dimun warship to resurrect him. Secondly because I run Decoy. Thirdly because Skellige storm deals too much damage and kills of units too quickly. While I do run Birna Bran, I usually have to commit Whalers to drag units in there. While rain boosts axemen by a fair amount (equal in most cases since it's rare that the opponent will constantly have 3 surviving units in the storm) and avoids killing off units too quickly, also allowing a juicy use of harald. Also, his Bloodcurdling Roar can unbrick potential corsairs in your hand. And lastly, he is useful if your opponent runs weather too
the best thing is that if you focus on dimun warships you can have a very good short round as well. Restore into pirate captain into corsair into dimun warship is a ciri nova spread in 3 cards that also empowers the X-Men
The only bad matchups are Spell'tael with weather clears (you can win without axemen by having weather deal max damage every turn with your whalers. But if both axemen and weather go down you are in a tight spot) and Imlerith:Sabbath, neither of which is prevalent at the top of the ladder. Greatswords are a bit tricky to navigate but you can fare decently even against them. Everything else and especially Alchemy gets resoundingly crushed if you play the right way.
The argument for the inclusion of Skellige Storm does not convince me. For lots of reasons. First, the Gremist is revivable via Restore. You can even kill him with your own dimun warship to resurrect him. Secondly because I run Decoy. Thirdly because Skellige storm deals too much damage and kills of units too quickly. While I do run Birna Bran, I usually have to commit Whalers to drag units in there. While rain boosts axemen by a fair amount (equal in most cases since it's rare that the opponent will constantly have 3 surviving units in the storm) and avoids killing off units too quickly, also allowing a juicy use of harald. Also, his Bloodcurdling Roar can unbrick potential corsairs in your hand. And lastly, he is useful if your opponent runs weather too
ser2440;n10754501 said:
Try using 1 corsair, 2 shieldmaidens and 3 pirate captains. Or 2 corsairs, 2 shieldmaidens and 2 captains. One of the issues of the deck is a lack of thinning. When you can't find all your weather, it's very bad. Hence the incusion of Skellige Storm - its purpose is to deal damage, buffing your axemen is a secondary effect.
I am also trying Coral instead of Hym as she's great against greatswords, Ronvid, and mirrors.
Sk is the weakest faction from start & now also. It requires too much setup so very low tempo indirect card disadvantage. Almost every Sk synergy got huge nerf like discard, self damage / warcry, Axeman etc.. Those who are saying Herald is only weak then tell me where is Bran?
Some Sk synergies are powerful like great sword but as i said it requires too much setup compare to other faction high tempo synergies & removal, movement, graveyard steal ends your game even before start specially against experienced players.
Other thing is Sk lock, spy cards are so bad that I really hate to use them. You can't use donar if there is no card in oop. graveyard & even if its there most of the time that card is totally useless so donar is plain 8 strength play where other faction lock cards are so good.
Same goes with spy that uldrek drawing gold or special cards are just pain in ass. Many times you end up with loosing 1 imp card.
So I am totally agree with OP here. Sk is far behind compare to the tools & variety other factions have.
Some Sk synergies are powerful like great sword but as i said it requires too much setup compare to other faction high tempo synergies & removal, movement, graveyard steal ends your game even before start specially against experienced players.
Other thing is Sk lock, spy cards are so bad that I really hate to use them. You can't use donar if there is no card in oop. graveyard & even if its there most of the time that card is totally useless so donar is plain 8 strength play where other faction lock cards are so good.
Same goes with spy that uldrek drawing gold or special cards are just pain in ass. Many times you end up with loosing 1 imp card.
So I am totally agree with OP here. Sk is far behind compare to the tools & variety other factions have.
I'm just not sure if me and the people claiming SK is weakest have been playing the same game. Almost every meta SK had a broken deck due to how the faction works. SK is pobably the second best faction this meta, right after Brouver coinflip. It's an autopilot deck with insane umbers of points it can vomit out. How exactly is SK weak?
gards;n10045951 said:
^ NR Pureist
I swear, even bears is defetable near the end of a round. Seriously, NR and Nilfgaard need to be severely looked over. Monsters are okISH, but again they are still inevitably stronger against skellige then other decks. Scoi'atel and Skellige have both suffered immense nerfs that prevent them from keeping up with other decks on ranked. I actually have given up Skellige entierly as of a month ago. Its still my favorite deck, its just worthless compared to other decks, even Scoi'atel now. I cant tell you how easy it was to notice the power difference between Scoi'atel and Skellige.
My advice, unfortunately your best bet is to convert to the enemy. In my case since I mill my Nilfgaard and NR decks for scrap (yeah I hate them that much) i converted to Elve's although I'm considering moving on to monsters as they seem to be doing better then elves.