He's probably complaining about Second Wind deck, with Dagur+Wild Boar of the Sea finisher for huge point swings.
My advice is to:
1) try really hard to win R1 so you have last say on R3 (you obviously have to do this without losing CA or you wont have last say). That way you can reset or tall removal his big Dagur/GS
2) for that finisher combo, one of his pieces needs to be on his graveyard - Dagur or wild boar of the sea (or a GS). So when he uses one of those, either banish it or seize it (or banish it when they're on the graveyard, there's a neutral gold and NG bronze that do that)
My advice is to:
1) try really hard to win R1 so you have last say on R3 (you obviously have to do this without losing CA or you wont have last say). That way you can reset or tall removal his big Dagur/GS
2) for that finisher combo, one of his pieces needs to be on his graveyard - Dagur or wild boar of the sea (or a GS). So when he uses one of those, either banish it or seize it (or banish it when they're on the graveyard, there's a neutral gold and NG bronze that do that)
1) Insanely hard to do against SK. Especially when they decide to spend Morg or Wild Boar.
2) It doesn't really work. SK has enough power even without GS and Dagur.
The only way to beat SK is to 2:0 them. Or force short R3 and get lucky draws.
SK is insanely broken right now. It is basically balanced around RNG - if they get good draws, there isn't much you can do; if they get bad draws and you get good draws, you might have a chance.
I dont know, i havent really had much problem facing SK lately. Maybe its just my playstyle, i tend to have movement which does really well right now vs SK (all their ships are row locked, so is that bleeding pirate), better than locks that will just be purified by Gremist (i try to make them use Gremist R1, so they cant purify locks on R3).
I also plan ahead to deal with a GS or Dagur out of Thunder's reach, because of Avallach weather - i prepare coins for a philippa seize if im SY or have enough elves on a row for Yaevinn to remove him, if ST, etc.
I don't use movement or locks in any of my decks (except those ST eagles). The second i see SK i start to plan how to deal with Dagur, GS and ships; but it is impossible to deal with everything and every SK engine does SO MUCH.
Ships don't just deal 1 dmg to everything you play, they make it easier to kill, boost GS if they stick, enable Bloodthirst and increase Wild Boar dmg.
GS and Dagur generate insane amount of points and are hard to deal with, unless you have multiple locks or tall punish cards.
Svablod Priests and Drakkars generate up to 3 points per turn and are hard to deal with, just like GS and Dagur.
Killing units doesn't really solve the problem, because of the endless barage of resurects.
And don't forget about all that removal, your engines are very likely to die before they do anything.
On top of that SK can generate a lot of points in R1 with bronzes alone, and not just that, they can spend some big card like Morg and leader it in R3.
But in the end, it's about RNG - SK can get very awkward draws. So if you're unlucky and your SK opponent gets a good hand, you will have very hard time just trying to keep up.
It feels like it is OP, but it`s not.
It`s all about certain combos, that depend a lot on a few cards.
I admit it - a well executed Boar of the Sea + Dagur, or Morkvarg + Dagur (graveyard+hand play) can lead to an enormous power swing.
But it was only post second patch before, it`s already well known play.
It`s easy to act against - the setup is obvious. Just get some tall removal, movement, lock, graveyard banish.
Got 6->4 in last season mainly with this + Harmony.
But it`s struggling now.
It`s all about certain combos, that depend a lot on a few cards.
I admit it - a well executed Boar of the Sea + Dagur, or Morkvarg + Dagur (graveyard+hand play) can lead to an enormous power swing.
But it was only post second patch before, it`s already well known play.
It`s easy to act against - the setup is obvious. Just get some tall removal, movement, lock, graveyard banish.
Got 6->4 in last season mainly with this + Harmony.
But it`s struggling now.
"Morkvarg heart of terror" card is just broken. Just played against SK - this card damaged my boosted unit for 34 points. Is it ok, CDPR? #burzadosomething
You do realize that there are plenty of cards that can destroy (or otherwise reset) enemy units, right? Morkvarg isn't the only one. Actually, he usually doesn't even kill the unit, but just removes the buffs + 1, which is situational. Where he really shines is if you can pair him with Craiteswords. Regardless, Morkvarg is not broken.
Morkvarg may not be broken, but unlike those "plenty of cards" that reset and/or destroy, it potentially swings double, triple, or even (in a crazy scenario) quadruple amount of points, because of his individual pings. Poison can destroy a 30-point tall unit, but it won't ALSO put 90 on YOUR side of the board while doing it.
Which is kind of the case with SK. It's not "super" broken, or anything, and individually the cards are OK, but some of these combos are definitely overtuned, with insane potential for point swings, and the same deck can effectively swing BOTH, tall units with Mork and swarm with the Boar, not requiring different setups, because damage is damage.
Not really sure how to fix "those" cards, anyway. To me, a good start would be:
-remove the extra point from Stunning Blow, because one-shotting a 9p defender whose entire purpose is to "defend" is not OK for a 5p special card;
-make it so the priest doesn't get boosted off the armor damage.
-do something to Craiteswords to prevent them from immediately climbing out of removal range, before a counter can be executed, like adding "starting from the second turn" disclaimer or something.
Cards that destroy are broken as well. What would you call such a huge variance in value otherwise? Is this strategy or match-up-based gambling? Also taking the synergy of Morkvarg into account with Greatswords and Dagur, this card is obviously ridiculously broken. Balance around provision points they said with HC, lol. This game is full of broken cards.
Like I have mentioned, with Craiteswords it becomes threatening. But even then there are various ways to shut down Craiteswords and there is a reason they haven't been tier 1 in a long time. I am still conflicted, though. Because if the combo goes off, it goes wild. However, it's important to note that winning by 1 point or by 100 points doesn't actually matter. What I am trying to say is that you have to invest a lot into the combo and rarely does it go the extra mile needed to win, instead of running more reliable cards that gives a smaller, but more consistent, point swing and, by extension, better win-rate.
Craiteswords are more akin to an all-in deck. When they work, they can be terrifying. However, it usually doesn't come to this.
There will always be decks that straight up counter other decks. There is even a meta call to include "anti-meta" cards (or whole decks even). For example, if the whole meta is about buffs, then you will see Geralt: Yrden a lot more. This isn't limited to Gwent either; most CCG have this issue.
Destroy cards are broken, but cards that can buff units to 20+ strength (and beyond) are not? Double standards. Without destroy/reset, buff would run rampart. It's a risk-reward assessment.
If it works, which it doesn't often do. There is a reason the combo hasn't been tier 1 in a long time. See my post above for more details.
There are a lot of broken concepts in the game, but Morkvarg isn't even in the top of that list, which could be considered troublesome by some, just like Covenant of Steel + Sukrus meme combo.
As for the balance around provision costs, that's a subject deserving a threat of its own. In short, you do not want a fixed strength value for a set of provisions because that would make the game incredible boring. You add combos to increase the strength per provision and, at the same time, the risk of the combo failing.
Where the balance becomes warped is with "all-in" decks. Those that wreck the opponent, if (s)he doesn't have an answer. But, at the same time, when the opponent does have one, it's immediately game over for the other player. Beta had a lot of these decks, like Nekkers, Handbuff and Imlerith.
Where did I write that? Engines that keep on buffing are indeed broken. A 10 provision 10 point buff is not. The opposite of a buff is damage, not a reset or "destroy". Destroy and Reset are both broken, the former more than the latter.
I agree. Cards should be balanced by creating a limited value variance around their provision cost and so that the most value can be obtained by playing these cards optimally and/or with the best combo. This requires strategic play. The current problem with the game is that most big point swings are one-card easy stuff and broken on top of that. Big point swings for dummies.