So...need some help with Broover

[EmilyWoW]

Hey there. I'm hunting these sweet ST border, that needs to have won 100 matches with each of the base set leaders. Fransesca and Eithne weren't hard to get, but i'm quite stuck with Broover.

I try different archetypes with him - first the dwarf/ragnarok one (yes I like theme decks) but it just happened to be too weak and not enought synergies. Finally my current deck is quite close to the one I use with Filavandrel with some small differences. Here is the deck:

Golds

-Great Oak
Kinda mandatory in any ST deck so far. Have a small synergy with Broover pings, usually a 16 points play
-Dragon Dream
One of my win condition card. Used with the leader ability it often gets met 18-21 points
-Waters of Brokylon
Because Harmony and two bodies for the oak.
-Novigrad Justice
For 10 shielded points and a bit of thinning. No real synergy through, just adds two bodies for the oak.
-Call of the forest
To pick cards that I can't draw, or to draw a buffed Mahakam Defender

All these golds are really expensive, and kinda cripple the rest of my choices

Other golds

-Milaen
4 points removal
-Pavko Gale
I use only ST cards, and he's post patch capacity is just great, a sorta mini ragnarok. Also trigger the Human Harmony if can't draw Milva
-Ciaran
To move and lock
-Trent Boar
I like this card, and it triggers Treant Harmony on the first round if I have it hand (I keep the Oak for R3). Also has a mini-synergy with the leader.
-Milva
Just because she's good

Bronze

-1x Half elf hunter
2 bodies for the oak and Harmony
-2x Vrihedd Dragons
To get rid of a lot of row dependent cards without using leader pings
-1x Clever Muscle
Just for Novigrad Justice
-2 x Mahakam Defender
May be quite useful as the opponent use his locks on other cards. I activate their buff with the leader ability or the Call of the forest if I have everything that I need in hand.
-2x Panther
Not very useful so far, but trigger the Beast Harmony
-1x Dryad Caress
To unock often locked cards (Pavko, Trent Boar, Defenders)
-2x Dryad fledgeling
Because Harmony, and I didn't knew what to take at 4 provision
-2x Blue Mountain Elite
Same as above
-2x Drarven Skirmisher
A good 5 value, or 3 point removal

So this is my deck so far, but I really struggle past rank 5 with it. It plays good against Meve and the new Vampires, is Meh against SK, and the worst match ups are tactic-NG (no units for dragon dream) and MO Consume ( Dragon Dream backfire against me)

Any ideas how to improve it?

 

[SkiZophreniC]

I used to play Dragon's dream with Brouver, but I think it's not that good. Indeed it bricks in a lot of situations, and nowadays Brouver tend to be bled in 2nd round.

I would replace DD with a simple trap, almost as effective and only 6 prov. I think the Skagg package is still good, at least on red coin. Plus Skagg works with Call of the Forest I think.

To use the movement archetype I would suggest Geralt Igni. It will be good this month because of SK big boys, so limited risk of bricking.

A very good addition is the Vrihedd card pinging 2 damages each time it is moved. Can be used as finisher in short rounds.

Brouver is still a very good leader, even if he is not very popular right now. He is quite difficult to pilot as he lacks tempo.

 

[rrc]

Hey there. I'm hunting these sweet ST border, that needs to have won 100 matches with each of the base set leaders. Fransesca and Eithne weren't hard to get, but i'm quite stuck with Broover.
...
Any ideas how to improve it?

You could "Share Deck" from the deckbuilder and give the playgwent.com/decks link. It will be more useful to see the list graphically.

That said, you are trying to do various different things in one deck, which makes every aspect of it weaker. Replace Dragon's Dream with Crushing Trap. DD is useless in R1 and if anyone bleeds you (which mostly everyone does) it is one of the costliest brick in the game. Too risky and the returns is not worth it. May be one in 10 or 15 games it may surprise an opponent and win you the game.

I would remove Oak and replace it with GIGNI. GIGNI is the default card in any of my Brouver list, no matter what it tries to do. GI almost never bricks. I would also add G:Aard. With Crushing Trap, G:Ard can be worth 15 points max (use one package in R1 and another in R3 based on your draw). If you want to go Harmony way, Francesca may be the right Leader (double Water) or even Dana. My typical Brouver list would contain Smuggler x 2, Sentry x 2, Matreon x 2, CrushingTrap x 2, G:Igni, G:Aard, Brigade x 2, Malena, Treant Boar and some valid fillers (CoF, Milean, Ciaran). I am tried of adding Skaggs package and losing half the game because I don't draw Skaggs in R1 or his supporting cards.

 

[SkiZophreniC]

I would remove Oak and replace it with GIGNI. GIGNI is the default card in any of my Brouver list, no matter what it tries to do. GI almost never bricks. I would also add G:Aard.

Disagree here. Oak is still incredibly good, I would not replace it; I like G:Igni too but adding Aard is kind of overkill.

I prefer to use only 1 trap as you want to mulligan it in a short R3.

Skagg can be discussed, maybe going towards more engines as the OP proposed is better now that removal is costlier. Trent boar is good with the movement archetype and Pavko Gale is worth it since the last patch. To keep the spirit of the proposed deck, I would get rid of DD and Waters of Brokilone, focus more on the movement archetype with Sentries, Matreon, Brigade and Malena instead of Mahakam Defender, add one trap and Geralt Igni as a tall removal.

 

[EmilyWoW]

Yes, I know about the deck builder, but I wanted to explain why I put each card in the deck.

I tried before with the Skagg package, but I don't feel it's worth it, too draw depend, and totally breaks your tempo due to agitators. You're already quite slow, so it oftens forces you one card down R1.

I tried today with the whole move archetype - Removing DD, Novigrad Justice and the Harmony thing, adding Igni, Sentries, Matrons, and thing to help to setting igni (tainted ale and bowmens)

Well, I'm not sure if that was an improvement. The move package works well only with 3 engines on the board (sentry + 2 matrons or brigad+malena+matron) All this engines are quite fragile, especially Malena that tend to be locked, seized or removed each time she is played.

Same for Igni over DD - it works better against some decks (Foltest revenants and sometimes Svalblod), and worse against others (Ardal, Fran)

I still have the feeling that DD is fitting better then Igni in this deck - you can't really set up the igni well, even with the tainted ale, and it has an anti synergy with the trap, that lowers the overall score of one row, and hitting units that you are going to kill anyway. I've lost some R3 that I could win if I had DD instead of Igni. I fell it's more an Eithne then Broover thing.

I'm gonna to try a middle solution tomorrow - DD, moving package and a tall removal (the thing I lacked a lot in this deck)

Overall playing Broover is a sorta painful experience, it took me the whole weekend to grind from rank 9 to 5, and I'm now totally locked here with a negative winrate against any metadeck. Still need about 40 wins with him to get the achievement, sigh.