Usurper Balance Suggestion

[Lexor]

Usurper is strong, especially with all the locks and (tall) removal in his deck, and recently some OP Dragon's Dream nonsense.

"all the locks" - current meta Usurper decks are not full of locks
"(tall) removal" - I do not even remember last time when I saw Leo played by Usurper

Usurper goes against Gwent's basic principle of having leaders supporting their decks.

But he supports his own deck - he is so low on provisions that he needs to disable enemy ability for his deck to survive.

 

[Archan6el]

"all the locks" - current meta Usurper decks are not full of locks
"(tall) removal" - I do not even remember last time when I saw Leo played by Usurper


But he supports his own deck - he is so low on provisions that he needs to disable enemy ability for his deck to survive.

What are you saying, the meta is stale, all Usurpers are the same? They're not all the same, but all the same unfun.

Usurper is not low on provisions. A couple of provision points is nothing in this game where card draw already gives high variance in the provisions you can actually play. On top of that, there is no way that the few provisions he lacks are a proper representation of the value of the opponent leader ability in combination with their deck, especially for decks that have a lot of leader synergy. His ability does not affect his own deck but the opponent's (with leaders having different provisions based on their ability) and this makes Usurper impossible to properly balance. Usurper's leader ability is such a bad idea, it's just mind boggling how it got in the game.

 

[rrc]

What are you saying, the meta is stale, all Usurpers are the same? They're not all the same, but all the same unfun.

Usurper is not low on provisions. A couple of provision points is nothing in this game where card draw already gives high variance in the provisions you can actually play. On top of that, there is no way that the few provisions he lacks are a proper representation of the value of the opponent leader ability in combination with their deck, especially for decks that have a lot of leader synergy. His ability does not affect his own deck but the opponent's (with leaders having different provisions based on their ability) and this makes Usurper impossible to properly balance. Usurper's leader ability is such a bad idea, it's just mind boggling how it got in the game.

The moment you said "A couple of provision points is nothing" you argument becomes moot. A couple of provision points is HUGE HUGE deal. But I would imagine that you were so disgusted, angry and frustrated about Usurper that you made such a point.

I wanted to get my overall mmr high and I chose NG as my last faction to do so (because of the 50% more experience and because I have already finished ST). NG actually sucks. When we face NG and when couple of our cards get discarded or banished we feel NG is too OP, but in reality, NG is the hardest for me to play with (may be my playstyle doesn't fit NG's theme). I tried to create a Moorvan deck with soldiers and spies, lost 3 or so games straight with absolutely no chance of winning. There was not even "damn it, if it had happened, I would have won" feeling. It was just a disaster. Then I tried Anna assimilate. I just couldn't win at all. Only with tall monsters deck I was able to win, but the lost % was still hell. I didn't want to play Calveit as IMHO, he is blunt. Didn't want to try Emhyr too, as he is also opponent dependent and draw dependent.

I had no other option, but to try Usurper. Not that I like him. I hate him. But at least IMO he is the only playable NG leader. I personally loathe Dragon Dream and I don't have DD in my deck. There are only two packages worthy for Usuper which can try to make him win. The Letho and co and Slave Infantry and Co and Dodrick. When you add such good cards, you have very low provisions that 30+% of your deck is 4P cards.

I don't have good winrate, but I get by. Playing Usurper doesn't win you the game. It is the opposite. On BlueCoin, it is near guaranteed lose since everyone and their grandmother knows to bleed Ususper in R2. I faced a Crach. You think Crach can't win because he can't get BT? NO, good players bring cards that will enable the BT cards anyhow. I lost terribly to Demavand. Demavand with out the leader charge should lose right? No, he got Cintrian Envoy, Pricilla, Adept. May be against some leaders he has an advantage (like AQ or Gerni or Francesca), but with plenty of leaders he is straight out at a disadvantage; leaders with 16+ provisions.

I am not saying Usurper is good for the game. But if your deck has cards that support your archetype one top of the leader, you can easily beat Usurper.

 

[Archan6el]

The moment you said "A couple of provision points is nothing" you argument becomes moot. A couple of provision points is HUGE HUGE deal. But I would imagine that you were so disgusted, angry and frustrated about Usurper that you made such a point.

A couple of provision points should be a big deal, but isn't as card draw creates large variance in the amount of provisions you actually get to play. Usurper's small amount of less provisions is therefore insignificant in the large variance of card draw. Usurper's provisions are unbalanced in the first place. Some examples: Brouver provides 14p, Usurper 10p. Usurper denies Brouver's direct 6 points of boosts/damage and his synergy with moving or boosting units, losing at least an additional 6 points if taking Vrihedd Brigade as example, but this could be even more if looking at points from moving or boosting engines or a row damage combination. Gernichora provides 11p and is denied the use and thrive of fruits, for 1p difference. Then add a bunch of control and a neutral OP combo like Dragon's Dream to Usurper's deck. Fair, balanced and fun? Not at all.

As I mentioned above, Usurper cannot be properly balanced because his ability's value depends on the opponent's leader. It's simply a badly designed, unfun ability that goes directly against Gwent's principle of promoting fun and interesting leader-deck synergies, as ElricVIII said: "choking away variation".

 

[GiveYourBest]

Just bring back a few playable NG archetypes and almost nobody would bother to play Usurper. Asap NG needs good bronze cards with synergies supported by gold cards and leader abilities. Right now Usurper in tier 2 decks is the last man defending NG faction. Midrange Emhyr is playing similar cards setups but with much worse outcome.