Wild Hunt archetype suggestions

[1990BW]

Since I'm not interested in this Gwent meta lets do some suggestions for my favorite archetype:


The Wild Hunt

To kick off lets start with the fundamentals their faction identity is wrapped around: Dominance & Frost conditions.
While nothing is wrong about these conditions it's kind of hard to pilot when you compare it to something like SK warriors.
SK warriors only condition is bloodthirst to trigger their strongest possible variant of their cardpool: simple and not hard to trigger.
Meeting 2 conditions in the WH deck is harder but also forces all kind of choices in the deckbuilder that don't support the archetype.
So for the sake of simplicity the first fundamental change I would suggest for the WH is:

Condition for card abilities: Frost only

Next thing is how frost should work currently it damages the highest unit on a row by 2 for x turns.
The last couple of patches more cards have gained armor this obviously is a big nerf to all sorts of damage cards but more so for weather.
Weather effects stack value over multiple turns the problem armor causes is that you gain nothing making it very matchup dependent to get value.
This sort of unreliability basically means you don't want to play it competitively so to improve this aspect my suggestion would be:

Frost: Damage the highest unit on row by 2: ignore armor

Last fundamental change is devotion related to the leader ability which off course should be implemented factionwide.
When your deck does fullfill to the devotion requirements my suggestion would be:

Devotion: gain 1 extra leader charge


Let's move on to the Wild Hunt cards if the card is not mentioned here it remains unchanged.

Wild Hunt Warrior
4 Provisions
3 Strength / 1 Armor
Deploy melee row: damage a unit by 2 if the row is under frost damage it by 3

Wild Hunt Hount
4 strength
4 Provisions
When there is frost on a row boost by 1 at the end of each turn

Wild Hunt Navigator
5 Provisions
4 Strength / 1 Armor
Deploy ranged row: boost an Wild Hunt unit by 3
Bonded: spawn a Wild Hunt Hount

Naglfar's crew
3 Strength
5 provisions / 1 Armor
Deploy: spawn frost for 2 turns
Devotion: whenever a Wild Hunt unit is played boost it by 1

Wild Hunt Rider
4 Strength / 1 Armor
5 Provisions
Deploy: when frost is on board summon all copies from your deck to the board

Nithral
4 Strength / 1 Armor
7 Provisions
Deploy move 3 enemy units to the opposite row and damage them by 1.
If the row is under frost deal 2 damage instead.

Imlerith's Wrath
Special card
7 Provisions
Damage an enemy unit by 6 if Imlerith is on board destroy it instead

Caranthir
5 Strength / 1 Armor
10 Provisions
Deploy: Spawn a 1 strength base copy of a Wild Hunt unit from your hand
Devotion: Deploy a 1 strength base copy of a Wild Hunt unit from your hand

Imlerith
5 Strength / 6 Armor
10 Provisions
Deploy: Damage an enemy unit by 4 if the row is under frost Duel it instead

Eredin
6 Strength / 3 Armor
12 Provisions
Deploy: Spawn frost for 2 turns
Devotion: Gain Veil and deal 1 extra frost damage

Since a full WH unit deck isn't possible right now the deck could be filled with the following cards:

White Frost
Stratagem
Spawn frost for 3 turns on a row

Ice Troll
5 Strength
5 Provisions
Deploy: extend all frost row effects for 1 turn

Ice Giant
7 Strength
6 provisions
Deploy: no ability when there is frost on board boost by 1

Jotunn
7 Strength
6 Provisions
Deploy: move an unit to a different row if this row is under frost lock it.

 

[Messyr]

Meeting 2 conditions in the WH deck is harder but also forces all kind of choices in the deckbuilder that don't support the archetype.
So for the sake of simplicity the first fundamental change I would suggest for the WH is:

Condition for card abilities: Frost only

Agreed. Dominance for WH never made much sense, it is a a relict from the past before they became a standalone archetype. It simply needs to be removed.

Frost: Damage the highest unit on row by 2: ignore armor

Yes, this has been suggested multiple times on these forums. Weather effects in general should ignore armor.

Last fundamental change is devotion related to the leader ability which off course should be implemented factionwide.
When your deck does fullfill to the devotion requirements my suggestion would be:

Devotion: gain 1 extra leader charge

This sounds as an interesting concept (Leader abilities connected to Devotion) but in all fairness, it would be a bit too much for WH. It would translate into 12 potential dmg + 3 row moves. I would not change this.

Wild Hunt Warrior
4 Provisions
3 Strength / 1 Armor
Deploy melee row: damage a unit by 2 if the row is under frost damage it by 3

Good change, same goes for Wild Hunt Hound, Wild Hunt Riders and Ice Giant.

Wild Hunt Navigator
5 Provisions
4 Strength / 1 Armor
Deploy ranged row: boost an Wild Hunt unit by 3
Bonded: spawn a Wild Hunt Hount

I like this one, nice use of Bonded to a potentially powerful bonus.

Naglfar's crew
3 Strength
5 provisions / 1 Armor
Deploy: spawn frost for 2 turns
Devotion: whenever a Wild Hunt unit is played boost it by 1

I wouldn't change these, I believe their current effect already synergises well with the theme of the deck.

Nithral
4 Strength / 1 Armor
7 Provisions
Deploy move 3 enemy units to the opposite row and damage them by 1.
If the row is under frost deal 2 damage instead.

This would be extremely overpowered, literally a Geralt: Aard for 7 provisions and a better body.
Also, I think the current iteration of Nithral is OK, only the Dominance condition needs to be changed.

Imlerith's Wrath
Special card
7 Provisions
Damage an enemy unit by 6 if Imlerith is on board destroy it instead

A reasonable change.

Imlerith
5 Strength / 6 Armor
10 Provisions
Deploy: Damage an enemy unit by 4 if the row is under frost Duel it instead

Good in concept, overpowered in design. He would be an immediate 16 for 10, with the added removal of an important enemy unit. His power/armor needs to be toned down to be a bit less oppressing. I know, we are in a meta where Eist is a card, but I'm not cponsidering that a serious design.

Caranthir
5 Strength / 1 Armor
10 Provisions
Deploy: Spawn a 1 strength base copy of a Wild Hunt unit from your hand
Devotion: Deploy a 1 strength base copy of a Wild Hunt unit from your hand

The problem with this idea is that it would instantly ruin several other MO decks by removing Caranthir's effect from their arsenal.
I'd rather totally rework Caranthir with a new effect and add his current ability to one of the other MO units.

Eredin
6 Strength / 3 Armor
12 Provisions
Deploy: Spawn frost for 2 turns
Devotion: Gain Veil and deal 1 extra frost damage

The Veil would be overkill. As the whole concept behind these changes focuses on Devotion, he would always come down on the board a Velied, armored, hard to remove body, boosting all frost for the rest of the round to 3. That is too much in my opinion, the +1 Frost on Devotion is already a nice buff.

Jotunn
7 Strength
6 Provisions
Deploy: move an unit to a different row if this row is under frost lock it.

Already a bit too much row moves for this decktype, I don't think an additional source of move would be needed. I'd also not tie Jotunn to WH, he doesn't really have any connection (same for Ice Trolls).

 

[Markus_Wirth]

To my mind frost (damage the highest unit) and dominance (benefit if you control the highest unit) are positively connected. So I would appreciate both dominance and more frost support within in WH archetype (see suggestions below)

Having always the ability that frost ignores armour appears to strong for me.
I would add it to White frost as passive ability.

Regarding your cards:

Wild Hunt Warrior: Would still be a 6 for 4.
Actually the card would be worse after your change.
My Suggestion:
4 Provisions
3 Strength
Deploy: Damage an enemy unit by 1.
Dominance: Damage it by 3 instead.
If there is frost in the row of the target boost self by 1.

Wild Hunt Hount
To my mind still mediocre. I would buff him accordingly and additionally adjust his provision. He might then be the "cheaper" beast with lower body but bronze.
3 strength
6 Provisions
When there is frost on a row boost by 1 at the end of each turn
Dominance: At the end of your turn, boost self by 1.

Wild Hunt Navigator
The card is much worse after your change. When you have no allied wild hunt the deploy is worthless. Bonded would be not fitting to the new wild hunt (as he is 6 provisions). I liked the idea that he can boost units like Nithral or Eredin. Would change accordingly. Then he would be a conditional 7/8 for 4.
4 strength
3 provision
Deploy: Damage an enemy unit by 1.
Dominance: Damage it by 3 instead.
Deal 1 random damage on each opponent row affected by frost

Naglfar's crew
This unit is fine as it is. Would not change

Wild Hunt Rider
This unit is fine as it is. Would not change

Nithral
Every fraction have their conditional 2 damage each turn engine. Would not remove it and not change the card.
He´s awesome combined with carapace.

Imlerith's Wrath
8 provisions
My suggestion
Damage an enemy unit by the power of your highest unit.
If you control Imlerith, destroy an enemy unit instead.
If the target unit is one frost you may target every unit ignoring defender

Caranthir
He is used in many other MO decks (insectoides for Kiki Queen, Vampire for Unseen Elder and Orianna). Would not touch him. The devotion appears too strong.
You can add: If the target unit is a bronze wild hunt trigger its deploy activity after spawning.

Imlerith
Like your change. Old Imlerith isn´t great according to my mind.
Would add so that he stays a dominance enabler:
Barricade: After you play a wild hunt unit remove one armour and boost self by 1.

Eredin
His dominance is awesome. Would leave it as it is. Having the extra damage on devotion is too strong.

White Frost
Would not add an additional frost spawner

Ice Troll
Nice idea. Can be a conditional 9 for 5.

Ice Giant
Would make him stronger: At the end of your turn, if there is frost on board boost self by 1 and maybe reduce his body to 6.

Jotunn
Would not change him. He is currrently much fun in rat swarm.