Was Ciri: Nova a mistake?
I can't help but feel that Ciri: Nova being a neutral was a big error. It isn't necessarily that she's available to all decks that's the issue, it's that she's so powerful that she pushes out a lot of faction golds just by virtue of being so powerful. That gives us 45 pt SK bears on round 3, 50 point NG if they use Tibor, and all kinds of other potential craziness. Her raw power is so high, and two bronzes isn't much of a sacrifice to get it, that it's kind of hard to justify not including her now that decks are so reliable.
My feeling is that neutrals should never be power golds, but tech cards like the Geralt and other witcher character golds. They have powerful effects and they do interesting things (avallac'h as well, Villentretenmerth) so they're worth looking at, but not so powerful that you look at them and build your deck around them. Ciri: Nova feels kind of overwhelming, like you either run her or lose to her.
I could be wrong, but aside from Avallac'h and mill, I can't think of another neutral that people literally built their decks around. Villen was an auto-include sometimes due to gold immunity/double scorch, and gigni is an eternal presence because of his occasional ability to do monstrous things, but I feel like Ciri: Nova is something different, and not in a good way.
I can't help but feel that Ciri: Nova being a neutral was a big error. It isn't necessarily that she's available to all decks that's the issue, it's that she's so powerful that she pushes out a lot of faction golds just by virtue of being so powerful. That gives us 45 pt SK bears on round 3, 50 point NG if they use Tibor, and all kinds of other potential craziness. Her raw power is so high, and two bronzes isn't much of a sacrifice to get it, that it's kind of hard to justify not including her now that decks are so reliable.
My feeling is that neutrals should never be power golds, but tech cards like the Geralt and other witcher character golds. They have powerful effects and they do interesting things (avallac'h as well, Villentretenmerth) so they're worth looking at, but not so powerful that you look at them and build your deck around them. Ciri: Nova feels kind of overwhelming, like you either run her or lose to her.
I could be wrong, but aside from Avallac'h and mill, I can't think of another neutral that people literally built their decks around. Villen was an auto-include sometimes due to gold immunity/double scorch, and gigni is an eternal presence because of his occasional ability to do monstrous things, but I feel like Ciri: Nova is something different, and not in a good way.
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As others have pointed out, Ciri: Nova requires a sub-optimal deck, which offsets her strength, compared to a more consistent gold like Olaf. The problem isn't that Nova is strong, but rather that it's very limited in how you play her. 9 of out 10 times it's the last card being played in a round. This makes the card actually boring. The only fun part is creating a duo deck.
I don't see the 'crippled deck' argument. It might not be super consistent but it's not hard to create consistent, powerful decks using only two of each bronze. Ciri: Nova's ubitquitous on the ladder right now, thus proving it. The bear variant using her and Olaf is pretty brutal.
iamthedave;n10174382 said:
Ciri: Nova really isn't that popular on the ladder. So, it doesn't really prove anything. And even if that was the case, then that still doesn't mean there is something wrong with the card. More than 50% of the people playing dwarfs, is a better indication that something is... off.
iamthedave;n10174382 said:
That's about the only variant that can use her consistently.
To be honest, i have been using Ciri Nova quite regularly but havent decided myself if what she brings to the game is positive or negative.
However, i came to defend building a whole deck around a single card, since it's probably my favourite thing in Gwent. I have been doing it for over a year with Kambi decks, and there are a few other cards that deserved that honor, like Prize Winning Cow (the old version), Ciri Dash, Margarita (back on Closed Beta), etc.
And its still happening now - people building a deck around Shupe, around a strengthened NG knight, DBPs, beastmasters, and many others.
However, i came to defend building a whole deck around a single card, since it's probably my favourite thing in Gwent. I have been doing it for over a year with Kambi decks, and there are a few other cards that deserved that honor, like Prize Winning Cow (the old version), Ciri Dash, Margarita (back on Closed Beta), etc.
And its still happening now - people building a deck around Shupe, around a strengthened NG knight, DBPs, beastmasters, and many others.
I don't mind the power, it's her being neutral. I think it's extremely dangerous for power golds to be neutral cards. Ones as narrow as Shupe are okay because they're incredibly restrictive. Ciri: Nova isn't that restrictive in a game that uses so many different strategies to deck thin and make draws reliable. There's a reason that artifact creatures in magic were always overcosted for their power/toughness; they wanted colour cards to be more attractive, otherwise everyone would just use artifacts. Faction golds should - in my opinion - always be 'stronger' cards, with neutral golds given interesting and powerful utility abilities. Role-players, not deck-definers.
Something like Shupe is fine. It's a janky wacky card. Ciri: Nova doesn't strike me as all that restrictive for a massive power card. She's better than Tibor Eggebracht for sure.
Something like Shupe is fine. It's a janky wacky card. Ciri: Nova doesn't strike me as all that restrictive for a massive power card. She's better than Tibor Eggebracht for sure.
But NG doesn't use Nova. The inclusion rate is up to 5% in NG decks.SoSaHer;n10173502 said:What if if I tell you there are decks which can reliably pull out 23+ bronzes(looking at you broken nilfgaard emhyr combo, haha).
Nay, it`s a strong card but not OP.
Combos like Cahir -> Calveit + Roach -> anything or Reinfarn -> Joachim -> Nausicaa can pull the same or higher amount of str as Ciri: Nova, and NG has the ability to effectively thin through their deck to get the combo.
There could even be some crazy scenarios: Cahir -> Calveit + Roach -> Vilgefortz -> Reinfarn -> Joachim -> Nausicaa into 48 points on an empty table :F
Basically, Nova is used in SK and NR decks, sometimes in weather monster decks and ST control.
Why? Because all those decks lack a strong finisher (NR is the worst faction now, according to the latest GwentUP report above). Is this a problem with Ciri: Nova? No, this is a problem that some factions don't have strong proactive finishers.
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Pravicors;n10071811 said:
This, so much. At the moment I use her more to draw out Igni, before I start boosting my other cards.
Ciri: Nova is meant to be broken so net decking becomes a thing so buying kegs to build extraordinary decks to play her becomes a thing - money flows. Indirect way of P2W.
Ciri: Nova = People buying more kegs.
Yeah, I'm sure a lot of players saw that card and immediately thought: "Hey, I should buy kegs."
In all seriousness though, I don't hate Ciri: Nova but I've lost so many games to her that I decided to run Igni and Scorch in some of my decks just to destroy her.
Yeah, I'm sure a lot of players saw that card and immediately thought: "Hey, I should buy kegs."
In all seriousness though, I don't hate Ciri: Nova but I've lost so many games to her that I decided to run Igni and Scorch in some of my decks just to destroy her.