📚The Unofficial Gwent Glossary [17.7.2021]

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I have compiled the following guide and glossary for all players of Gwent, both new and returning, to help explain and navigate the game's terms and mechanics.

This guide attempts to cover the major points, systems, and terms which may not be immediately self-explanatory. It is intended as a convenient reference resource, however, it is not exhaustive in scope, and remains an unofficial glossary. It is not intended as a comprehensive tutorial for Gwent. If players have suggestions, proposed additions, critiques, or other feedback, please, PM me. In the event of significant changes to Gwent, I will update entries accordingly.

Have a good game!
~Riven-Twain.
Addendum: Information and the link to the official Gwent Library, a resource for building and sharing decks, may be found here.

INDEX
I. BASICS

 
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I. BASICS
Cards are divided into three major categories: Units, Artifacts, and Special Cards. Special Cards include Alchemy, Organic, Row Effects (unlabelled), Spells, and Tactics, however, not all Special Cards fall into these subcategories. Special Cards can be identified by the flame icon.
Special b.jpg


The Battlefield: The game board, upon which Gwent is played. Each side contains two rows: Melee and Ranged.

Melee Row: Identified by the sword symbol.
Rows.jpg

Ranged Row: Identified by the bow symbol.

Row Effect: Conditions, such as weather or fire, resulting from a card’s ability, which affects a selected row. Note: If there is a Row Effect on the Battlefield, highlighting the effected row’s symbol provides detailed information on the condition.

Coin Toss: Determines which player goes first. The Player who wins the toss gains an additional redraw, and their chosen Stratagem, a single-use Immune Artifact. The Stratagem can only be used in the first round, and is Banished from the game upon use, or if it is unused at the end of the first round.
Coin win-lose.jpg

Win (interwoven squares) Lose (monster face)

Redrawing Cards, 'Mulligan': Opportunity to replace cards in Hand with others from deck. Each round, players can redraw up to two cards. The player who wins the initial coin toss gains an additional redraw for the first round. Players draw a maximum of 3 cards at the start of rounds 2 and 3, up to the hand limit. For each card not drawn which would exceed the hand limit of 10, players receive +1 mulligan/redraw for that round.

Drawing Additional Cards: At the start of each round, players draw additional cards to their Hands. As above, if the Hand is already full (10 cards), players receive an extra mulligan/redraw 'charge' for each new card which was not drawn that round.

Taunts: These are comments, which players can use to communicate with their opponents during a match, spoken by the Leader. The Taunts Wheel may be accessed by clicking the small speech bubble above the player’s username, below the Leader.

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II. CARD RARITY AND CARD TYPES

Card Colour and Rarity:

Card Colours
: There are only two colours of cards, Gold and Bronze. However, within these, there are rarity colours.

Card Rarity: Rarity is used to determine how common a card is when opening kegs, and its crafting cost. Rarity is indicated by the small coloured triangle in the upper left of the card.

Bronze Cards:
Grey
– Common
Blue - Rare
Gold Cards:
Violet
– Epic
Yellow - Legendary
Rarity long.jpg


Card Types:
Standard: The normal, unanimated version of a card. Pre-existing owned copies identified in keg openings by a red card icon.
Stand and Prem.jpg

Premium: The animated version of a card. Pre-existing owned copies identified in keg openings by a green card icon. With some exceptions, Standard cards can be Transmuted into Premiums by spending Meteorite Powder.

Base Cards: Cards which cannot be transmuted into Premiums. Premium Base Cards can be earned as rewards, however.

Thronebreaker.PNG

Expansion Cards (specifically, Thronebreaker)
: Cards which can be obtained by purchasing and playing Thronebreaker. As of Update 4.1 Thronebreaker cards no longer cost extra to craft. Premium versions can still only be unlocked through playing Thronebreaker's campaign.

Craft: Using Scraps and Meteorite Power (see Resources and Rewards), you can add new cards to your collection. The hammer icon Deck Builder indicates whether a card can be crafted.
Craft.jpg


Card Sets: Selections of cards released in various expansions, identified by unique icons.
Card Set.jpg


Transmute: Converts a Standard card into a Premium card using Meteorite Powder in the Deck Builder. Note: Only Standard cards owned by the player can be transmuted.

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III. RESOURCES AND REWARDS
Resources current.jpg

Reward Points: Special points obtained by winning matches, levelling up, completing contracts, and completing some quests. May be used to unlock entries in the Reward Book.

Ore: In-game currency, obtained by winning matches, completing quests, receiving GG bonuses, and from unlocking entries in the Reward Book. May be used to purchase card kegs in the Shop.

Scraps: Obtained by winning matches, receiving GG bonuses, milling cards in Deck Builder, and from unlocking entries in the Reward Book. May be used to craft cards in Deck Builder.

Meteorite Powder: Obtained by winning matches, milling Premium cards in Deck Builder, and unlocking entries in the Reward Book. Meteorite powder can be used to transmute standard cards into their animated, premium version. It's also used to purchase some of the ornaments - available in different shop sections.

Keg: A barrel, usually containing 5 cards from the base set of Gwent, 4 of which are at least Common, while the fifth is guaranteed to be at least Rare. There are special variants of Kegs, including Faction Kegs (wherein the cards are from only one faction), Premium Kegs (which contain only animated cards), and Expansion Kegs (which contain cards from a specific expansion only).


Quests: Goals which offer Ore or Reward Point rewards. One quest can be swapped or rerolled daily.

Reward Book: Intricate collection of branching paths for each faction, and special seasonal trees, unlocked with Reward Points. Unlocking entries grants rewards including Ore, Scraps, Meteorite Powder, Kegs, Leaders, Leader Skins, and Avatars, as well as lore about each faction, characters, and leaders.

Contracts: Special achievements which offer Reward Points for the Reward Book. A summary of the many Contracts may be found by clicking the player profile (the upper left, where the avatar, username, level, and rank are displayed).

Prestige: System which grants the player permanent bonuses upon surpassing the maximum level (60) multiple times. Note: Technically, this means reaching level 61 each time, after which the player's level will reset to 1. Overview:
Prestige.jpg

In April 2020 the Prestige system rewards were changed:
Prestige 1-3: No changes.
Prestige 4: Increased GG reward (+2 to Prestige 3).
Prestige 5: No changes.
Prestige 6: +1 Reward Point to Daily quests.
Prestige 7: +1 Reward Point to Daily quests.
Prestige 8: Chance for Reward Points in GG rewards.
Prestige 9-10: No changes.

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IV. RANKED MATCHES AND RANKED SCORE

Ranked Play: Inverted progression system which begins at 30 (New Player), and ends at 0 (Professional). A player’s Rank is improved by winning ranked matches. Each rank has a five-piece stained-glass avatar, which is assembled by winning matches, but crumbles piece-by piece with losses. Overview:
Ranked b.jpg
For Ranks 30 - 25, dropping down a rank isn’t possible.
For Ranks 25 - 15, two consecutive losses result in dropping down a rank.
Starting at Rank 14, losses result in one lost piece of the stained-glass avatar.

For Rank 7-1, win streaks no longer give you two pieces of the avatar. (Note: Winning Streaks occur when three consecutive matches are won in a day.)

Once you reach level 25, fMMR becomes available and matches start affecting your Ranked score.

As of the Season of Love, players do not lose ranks during a season, although the pieces of the avatar can be lost with defeats. Players can only continue up the rank ladder. However, at the start of each new season, players drop down 4 ranks from the rank achieved in the previous season. Note: Players who finish a season with ranks 26 - 30, and players in the top 500 with a Pro Rank will not be reduced in rank.

Starting from the Season of the Bear players will begin to lose less ranks at the start of a new season: 0 ranks from ranks 25 - 30, 1 rank from ranks 23 - 14, and 2 ranks from ranks 14 - 1. Pro Rank players who are not in the top 500 will lose 3 ranks.

Ranked Score (see individual in-game Profile for reference):

MMR: Matchmaking Rating. Increases with wins, and decreases with losses. Score used in matchmaking, and calculating position in leaderboards.

fMMR: Faction Matchmaking Rating. Score based upon the current faction played.

Peak Faction MMR: The Highest Faction MMR achieved with a faction during the current season.

Match Progress: This value is multiplied by the matching Peak Faction MMR to obtain that faction’s Faction Score. Match Progress reaches its maximum of 100% at 40 matches played.

Total Ranked Score: This represents the sum of the player’s four best Faction Scores, and determines position in leaderboards.

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V. GLOSSARY OF TERMS AND KEYWORDS
Most entries are based on the texts found on the actual cards. Where necessary, however, definitions have been reworded for clarity
They are listed in alphabetical order.

(A - R)

Adjacent
: Position to the immediate right and/or left of another card.

Adrenaline: Trigger the ability if you have the specified amount or less cards in your hand. (Note: If the number of cards in your hand will become the required amount by playing an Adrenaline card on the board, then that card's ability will trigger when played.)

Allied Unit: A unit from player’s hand, deck, or a Unit on player’s side of the Battlefield (this includes Spying Units on the player’s side).

Ambush: Card which is played face-down, then flips over when its ability’s condition is met, or is triggered manually.

Armor: Protects the Unit from damage equal to the Armor value. Armor does not count towards scores or Units' powers.


Artifact: A non-unit, ‘item’ card, which has no Power of its own, but does have Order abilities. Note: Artifacts are not Special Cards. Identified by the chalice icon.
Artifact b.jpg


Assimilate: Unit Boosts self by 1 whenever the players play a card not in their starting deck. Note: The starting deck is not the same as the faction. Cards which are created during the match will trigger Assimilate, regardless of their parent faction, so long as they were not in the player's selected deck.

Banish: Removes a card from the game. Note: Banishing a Unit from the Battlefield does not trigger its Deathwish abilities. Banished cards cannot be restored to play for the duration of the match.

Base Copy: A normal version of a card, neither Boosted, Damaged, nor with additional Charges, or Status tokens.

Base Power: The original, starting power of a Unit (displayed in the details of the card.)

Berserk: Ability triggered whenever the Unit's Base Power is half or less.

Bleeding: Status which Damages a Unit by 1 on its turn end. Note: Bleeding turns can be accumulated. Also, 1 turn of Bleeding cancels out 1 turn of Vitality.

Bloodthirst: The number of damaged Enemy Units on the Battlefield required to trigger a card’s ability. Note: Enemy Units must be damaged before playing cards with Bloodthirst in order for their abilities to trigger. (Currently unique to Skellige.)

Bonded: Ability triggered if a player controls a copy of a card.

Boost: Increase the Power of a Unit.

Cataclysm: At the start of the owner's turn, split 3 damage randomly between units in this row.

Charge: The number of times an Order ability can be used. Only cards (both Units and Artifacts) with Charge can gain additional Charges.
Charge.jpg


Conspiracy: Trigger this ability if the target Unit has Spying status.

Consume: Eats a Unit and boosts the consuming Unit by its Power. If the Consumed Unit is on the Battlefield, it is Destroyed. If in Hand or deck, it is moved to the Graveyard. If in the Graveyard, it is removed from the game (Banished).

Cooldown: The number of turns before an Order ability can be reused. Cooldown is represented by the hourglass icon.

Create: Spawn one of three randomly chosen cards from a specified faction and from neutral cards, unless otherwise specified.

Crew: Triggers unit's ability if it is placed between two Soldiers.

Deathblow: Cards with this ability trigger it if they Destroy a Unit.

Deathwish: Triggers a Unit’s ability when it is moved from the Battlefield to the Graveyard (usually when Destroyed). Note: Units that are Banished are not sent to the Graveyard, and their abilities do not trigger.

Deck Ability: Formerly abilities tied to Leaders, each Deck Ability is unique and offers a set number of extra Provisions for the deck. Represented on the battlefield, to the left of the Leaders, by their icons.

Defender: A Unit with the Defender status prevents the opponent from manually targetting other cards on the row. Identified by the red "target" token. Since it is a status, Defender is not affected by Lock.


Deploy: Card’s Ability is triggered when played on Battlefield, or correct row, if applicable.

Destroy: Remove a card from the Battlefield to the Graveyard.

Devotion: Trigger this ability if your starting deck has no neutral cards.

Discard: Move a card from the Hand to the Graveyard. Note: Units’ abilities are not triggered when discarding manually.

Disloyal: Cards with this keyword are played on the opposite side of the battlefield.

Dominance: Ability triggered if the player controls the Unit with the highest Power on the Battlefield.

Doomed: Status that removes (Banishes) the Unit from the game immediately after it leaves the Battlefield (does not go to the Graveyard first). Note: Some Units with Doomed on the Battlefield may still trigger Deathwish abilities when Destroyed. Identified by the blue pentagram token.
Doomed b.jpg


Dragon's Dream: At the start of the owner's turn, when timer expires, damage all units in this row by 3.

Drain: Deals damage and Boosts the card inflicting the damage by the same amount.

Duel: Units take turns dealing damage equal to their Power until one of them is Destroyed.

Echo: At the beginning of the round, move this card from the Graveyard to the top of its owner's deck and give the card Doomed.

Enemy Unit: Unit on opponent’s side of the Battlefield. This includes Spying Units on Opponent’s side.

Fog: At the start of the owner's turn, damage the lowest power unit in this row by 2.

Formation: Units with this ability gain Zeal when played on the Melee Row, and Boost self by 1 when played on the Ranged.

Frost: At the start of the owner's turn, damage the highest power unit in this row by 2.

GG: ‘Good Game’, an optional resource bonus sent by players to their opponents after a game. The option is available in the Victory/Defeat score overview screen, following the end of a game. GG cannot be sent from the ensuing rewards screen.
GG.jpg


Graveyard: Often temporary destination for cards played in the previous round, as well as Discarded and Destroyed cards. Located to the Right of the Leader, and identified by the skull card-back.
Graveyard.jpg


Harmony (specific to Scoia’tael): Boost self by 1 or the specified amount whenever you play a Scoia'tael Unit on this row, whose primary category is unique among all of your Units.

Hand: The currently drawn cards which have not yet been played on the Battlefield.

Heal: If a Unit’s current Power is lower than its Base Power, restores it either to Base Power, or by a specified amount.

Immune: Cannot be targeted manually. Note: Immune units can still be Damaged or Destroyed by cards which do not target a specific Unit, or which affect the entire Battlefield or row. Identified by the green mutagen token.
Immune b.jpg


Initiative: Trigger a card's ability if using the card is the first action during the turn.

Inspired: Triggers a Unit's ability if its current Power is higher than its Base Power.

Leader: Animated character on the Battlefield. Leaders do not count as cards. Leaders represent Deck Abilities, which, when not passive, can be triggered manually by clicking the Leader model.

Lock: Status that disables a card’s abilities (including Deathwishes). Locks are removed upon entering the Graveyard. Identified by the padlock token.
Locked.jpg


Melee: Abilities which can only be used when a Unit is on the Melee Row.

Order: An ability triggered manually by the player. Cards with Orders cannot be triggered for 1 turn after being placed on the Battlefield, unless they have, or are given, Zeal.
1578735056041.png


Patience (unique to Northern Realms faction): At the end of player's turn, if the Unit's Order is not used, the specified value of the card is increased permanently by 1 (for example, the value of the card it can Create or Draw).

Poison: A Unit with two Poison statuses is Destroyed.


Power: A unit's current numerical strength, resulting from Boosts or Damage.

Primary Category: The main classification on a Unit’s card. For example: Human, Dwarf, Elf, Witcher, Wild Hunt, and the various Monster classes. Secondary categories include Warrior, Soldier, Agent, etc.

Provision/Recruit Cost: Card cost value represented by bread-and-bottle symbol in the Deck Builder. Each card has a set Provision Cost. The base provision cap for a deck is 150. However, each Deck Ability grants a specific bonus which increases the maximum recruit cap. (See the Deck Abilities in the Deck Builder for details.)
provision.png


Purify: Effect which removes all statuses.

Rain: At the start of the owner's turn, damage 2 random units in this row by 1.

Ranged: Abilities which can only be used while a Unit is on the Ranged Row.

Resilience: Status that allows a Unit to remain on the Battlefield until the next round, unless renewed, and is restored it to Base Power if Boosted. If damaged below its Base, this lower Power will carry over. Armor is not carried over, however, Bleeding and Vitality may be. Identified by the white tower token.
Resilience b.jpg


Resupply: Triggers an ability whenever the player plays a Warfare card. Note: Warfare is a card category unique to the Northern Realms faction.

Reveal: Shows a card to both players, then hides it back in the hand or deck.

[Continued below.]

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[Continued from above.]

Rupture: At the end of owner's turn, damage this Unit equal to its base power, then remove this status.
Rupture.jpg

(S - Z)

Sabbath (Unique to Monsters faction): This ability triggers at the end of your turn if one of your rows has a total of 25 power or more.

Scenario: A faction-specific Artifact card that has three different "stages". See the cards (Masquerade Ball, Siege, Haunt, Gedyneith, Feign Death, and Passiflora) in the Deck Builder for more information.

Seize: Moves an Enemy Unit to the opposite row of the Battlefield.

Shield: Status which blocks or protects the next instance of Damage dealt to a Unit.
1578735336659.png


Spawn: Adds a card to the game.

Spying: Status given to a Unit Spawned, played or moved to the opposite side of the Battlefield. Identified by the eye token.
1578735348634.png


Storm: At the start of the owner's turn, damage all units in this row by 1.

Stratagem: A single-use Immune card, which only spawns for the player who goes first, can only be used in the first round, and is Banished from the game upon use, or if it is unused at the end of the first round. Each faction has its own Stratagem, and there are also neutral Stratagems usable in any faction.
1578735361403.png


Summon: Moves a Unit automatically to the Battlefield. Note: Summoned Units are not considered as played, and thus their abilities do not trigger when they appear.

Symbiosis: Whenever you play a Nature card, Spawn a Wandering Treant in a random allied row and set its power equal to the number of Units with Symbiosis you control.

Thrive: Boosts a Unit by 1 whenever an ally with higher Power is played. (Currently unique to Monsters.)

Trap: Artifact card which is played face-down on the Battlefield, with special conditions which trigger its ability. Note: Most traps have an alternative Order ability which can be triggered manually.

Unit: A card with Power of its own.

Veil: Status that prevents the Unit from gaining other statuses. The Unit can still be targeted with statuses, but they will not be applied.

Veteran: (Skellige only) At the start of the second and third round, increase the base power of this Unit by 1.

Vitality: Status which boosts a Unit by 1 on its turn end. Note: Vitality turns can be accumulated, and Bleeding turns cancel out turns of Vitality.
1578735375667.png


Zeal: Allows an Order ability can be used on the same turn the card is placed on the Battlefield. (Similar to Deploy.) Note: Zeal can only be given to Units with Orders.

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VI. SEASONS, SEASONAL REWARDS, SEASON CALENDAR, AND SEASONAL EVENTS

Seasons
are special themed gameplay events which last approximately a month. There are seasonal Contracts, which can only be completed during the corresponding season. Reward trees specific to the seasons may be found in the Reward Book: These can be unlocked with Reward Points, and by completing seasonal quests listed there. In order to progress to other branches of the seasonal tree, the terms of the quests need to be completed. Quests are identified by the trophy cup icon.
Season Cup.jpg


At the end of a season, players receive Reward Points, based on the Rank attained during that season, after which the Rank is reduced by 4 (see note in RANKED MATCHES AND RANKED SCORE).

Reward overview:
ranked_rewards.jpg


Calendar for the 12 seasons:
  • January – Season of the Wolf
  • February – Season of Love
  • March – Season of the Bear
  • April – Season of the Elves
  • May – Season of the Viper
  • June – Season of Magic
  • July – Season of the Griffin
  • August – Season of the Draconid
  • September – Season of the Dryad
  • October – Season of the Cat
  • November – Season of Mahakam
  • December – Season of the Wild Hunt
Each season ends at 10 AM CE(S)T, and the next commences at 12 PM CE(S)T of the same day.

Seasonal Events' rulesets:
Special Seasonal Events, alternatives to Standard or Draft mode, rotate weekly throughout each Season. These Events have unique rulesets, as follow:
  • Trial of the Grasses - Whenever a unit appears on the battlefield, damage it by 2, then boost it by 4. If it is a Witcher, boost it by 4 instead.
  • Irresistible Attraction - Whenever you play a non-Spying unit, move a random enemy unit with the same power to the opposite side.
  • Banished - After the mulligan phase Banish both players' decks. Whenever a card appears in any deck, Banish it.
  • Double Down - All cards in your deck will be duplicated when you enter the game. Whenever you play a unit from your hand, you will also play a unit with the same Provision Cost from your deck.
  • Momentum [possibly outdated] - Whenever a unit is damaged by another unit or itself, give the damaged unit Bleeding with a duration equal to the damage amount. Whenever a unit is boosted by another unit or itself, give the boosted unit Vitality with a duration equal to the boost amount.
  • Dual Casting - Once per turn, when you play a special card, spawn and play a copy of it immediately after.
  • Power Shift - At the start of the match, set the power of every unit in your starting deck to its Provision Cost.
  • Battle Rush - Both players have just 8 seconds to complete their turn and 15 seconds to complete the redrawing phrase.
  • Seesaw - On the end of the player's turn: Damage player's odd power units by 1, and boost player's even power units by 1.
  • Switcheroo - Players swap hands every 2 turns.
  • Entrench - All units gain Resilience when played.
  • Plus One - Whenever you play a unit, spawn a 1-power copy of it at the end of its row.
  • Patience is a virtue: At the start of your turn, transform all cards in your hand into random ones that cost 1 provision more

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VII. SYNDICATE KEYWORDS AND CROSS-FACTION CARDS

The following keywords are unique to cards introduced in the Novigrad Expansion.

Bounty: Status which may be placed upon a Unit (identified by the parchment icon). Allows certain cards to Destroy Units marked with this Status. When a Unit with this Status is Destroyed or Banished, the player who placed the Status gains Coins equal to that Unit's Base Power. There can be only one Unit with Bounty Status on each side of the battlefield at a given time.
Bounty.jpg

Coin(s):The Novigradian underworld's currency of choice for paying Fees and Tributes. They may be gained through Profit, and Hoarded for special abilities. Players may possess a maximum of 9 Coins at a time. The Coin-count is reduced by half (rounded down), when carried into the next round.
Coins.jpg

Crime: Class of Special cards, identified by this title.

Fee: Abilities with this label may be triggered by spending the specified number of Coins. (Note: Similar to Charge abilities, Fee abilities are triggered manually.)
Fee.png


Hoard: Abilities with this label will trigger if the player possesses the specified number of Coins or more.

Insanity: If the player has insufficient Coins, an Insanity Unit may Damage itself by its Fee amount, ignoring its Armor, to trigger its ability.
Insanity.png


Intimidate: Unit will Boost self by 1, or the specified amount of Coins, whenever the player plays a Crime card.

Profit: The player gains a specified number of Coins when a Unit with this ability is played.

Tribute: On Deploy, the player may choose to spend the specified amount of Coins to trigger the card's ability. (Note: Unlike Fee abilities, Hoard can only be triggered upon Deploy.)
Tribute.jpg

Left, pay Tribute. Right, Decline.

Novigrad also introduced Cross-faction cards, which may be played in two different factions. These cards may be identified in-game by the split faction colours on their cards, however, here is the specific list:

Skellige: Sukrus, Tidecloak Hideaway, Hammond

Northern Realms: Temple Guard, Prophet Lebioda, Nathaniel Pastodi

Scoia'tael: Cleaver's Muscle, Novigradian Justice, Harald Gord
Example of dual-colouring:
Cross-faction.png


Monsters: Tatterwing, Kikimore Warrior, Pugo Boom-Breaker

Nilfgaard: Doadrick Leumaerts, Rico Meiersdorf, Courier

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Thank you to @Riven-Twain for all his hard work on this project!

I have now updated the Glossary with Iron Judgment and Merchants of Ofir content, plus included information regarding the upcoming season end rank drop system update. A few other updates were also made. Any feedback or suggestions can be sent via PM.

Please note that section V now consists of two parts, due to a significantly increased amount of terminology. The Index has been updated accordingly.
 
Expansion release, and a notable update.

Master Mirror terminology has been added, along with some other changes from update 7.0.
Since several row effects are now keywords instead of just written in card descriptions I have added them on the list of terms as well.
 
Updated section VI to list the seasonal mode rulesets.

A few modes have only been live once so far, and because a couple modes this year changed from 2019 the list may very well receive updates.
Once a full list of seasonal mode names (Battle Rush, Seesaw) is known -- July 2021 will reveal the final one -- it will be added in section VI.


Also, finally remembered to look into Prestige 4, and updated its reward description in section III.
 
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