Thoughts on drawing cards at the start of each turn.
At first I really disliked the addition that you draw new cards at the start of your turn. The fact, that you had to get along with your initial draw (unless you wanted to give your opponent points), was one of the things which sold me on Gwent in The Witcher 3. After I played a bit of the beta I now see the advantages of this change, and this thread is supposed to discuss the effects, pros and cons of it.
First of all I think that the addition made the winner of the first round considerably weaker in the second round than in the original. And I don't mean that he is inferior to his opponent, but that they have been leveled. This is because of the following reasons:
a)
Drawing two additional cards means in theory more possible combos in the third round, so as the winner of the first round you will potentially have less cards you want to use to pull from your opponent.
b)
As your opponent also draws two additional cards, he might be able to resist your pulling and keep a strong hand for the third round.
c)
The more cards you sacrifice from your third round to pull in the second, the stronger the additional card your opponent draws in the third round becomes, as it might tip the scales in his favor. Of course you also draw a card, but the risk of drawing a bad one becomes a greater threat.
Especially because of c), I think winning the first and second round is a much more viable option than it was in the original. I had several losses where I was pretty certain that my opponent drew his winning card in the third round.
The feature also gives us more to think of when building a deck and re-drawing cards at the start of the game. You might not want to go for the max strength combos in favor of making your deck more flexible. You also might want to keep cards which don't work well with your starting hand, but could be useful with the cards you might draw in the future. Given time, it might become a main difference between deck builds whether you go for max strength combos or flexibility.
In general I have the feeling that matches in the standalone tend to be decided in the third round, while matches in The Witcher 3 would often be effectively decided in the first round, where the player with the strongest "rest" won the third round.
Summing up, I would say that the addition gave the game a lot of depth and flexibility, while also being more appealing to new players. That all said, I am still a fan of not drawing cards each turn and would LOVE to see the addition of a game mode where automatically drawing new cards would be disabled. For us fans of the original mechanics.
Share your thoughts on this, and whether you think my theories are right or complete garbage.
At first I really disliked the addition that you draw new cards at the start of your turn. The fact, that you had to get along with your initial draw (unless you wanted to give your opponent points), was one of the things which sold me on Gwent in The Witcher 3. After I played a bit of the beta I now see the advantages of this change, and this thread is supposed to discuss the effects, pros and cons of it.
First of all I think that the addition made the winner of the first round considerably weaker in the second round than in the original. And I don't mean that he is inferior to his opponent, but that they have been leveled. This is because of the following reasons:
a)
Drawing two additional cards means in theory more possible combos in the third round, so as the winner of the first round you will potentially have less cards you want to use to pull from your opponent.
b)
As your opponent also draws two additional cards, he might be able to resist your pulling and keep a strong hand for the third round.
c)
The more cards you sacrifice from your third round to pull in the second, the stronger the additional card your opponent draws in the third round becomes, as it might tip the scales in his favor. Of course you also draw a card, but the risk of drawing a bad one becomes a greater threat.
Especially because of c), I think winning the first and second round is a much more viable option than it was in the original. I had several losses where I was pretty certain that my opponent drew his winning card in the third round.
The feature also gives us more to think of when building a deck and re-drawing cards at the start of the game. You might not want to go for the max strength combos in favor of making your deck more flexible. You also might want to keep cards which don't work well with your starting hand, but could be useful with the cards you might draw in the future. Given time, it might become a main difference between deck builds whether you go for max strength combos or flexibility.
In general I have the feeling that matches in the standalone tend to be decided in the third round, while matches in The Witcher 3 would often be effectively decided in the first round, where the player with the strongest "rest" won the third round.
Summing up, I would say that the addition gave the game a lot of depth and flexibility, while also being more appealing to new players. That all said, I am still a fan of not drawing cards each turn and would LOVE to see the addition of a game mode where automatically drawing new cards would be disabled. For us fans of the original mechanics.
Share your thoughts on this, and whether you think my theories are right or complete garbage.