Would Like Opinions on My Nilf Deck

[shard777]

Would Like Opinions on My Nilf Deck

I've been playing Gwent since the open beta started and have had the most success with Nilfgaard. As I've developed the deck, I've done quite well in casual play - only so-so in ranked (Of which I have not played a lot). I run what I call a reveal/rotter deck - focusing on cards that gain bonuses or do damage based on revealed cards while also using rotters to do damage and engineers to carry over cards from round to round. Last night I picked up Tibor and substitued him for Cahir (Which kind of works against the whole "reveal" concept.

Anyway, I'd like to get some thoughts and suggestions on the deck as a whole and ways to improve it. Thanks!

 

[IAxiiYourMother]

Cool deck, it's good to see people developing original decks. I'm going to focus on the negative because I feel like it is easier to fix a deck by looking at what doesn't work well together.

• Scorch is going to be a dead card a lot of times in that deck. Big units + ambassador + keeping them round to round.
• Need Canterella
• Prize Cow, Serrit, Albrich are underwhelming silvers. Albrich gives away a card advantage (Your net cards stay the same while the enemy gains a card), and the reveal proc it gives is not worth it.
• Ciri is great with Nilf because you can switch her out with the passive, but there are better options for the other golds.
• All the revealing you are taking for only 3 cards that benefit from it seems a little much unless you spec more in that direction. Otherwise the play a card from deck leader is way better.
• Mergabrakkmoogoogaga dragon is awesome with the tossers, and decoy has a lot of uses with Rot Tosser and the dragon.

I'd chose either the control rout, or reveal rout. Mixing the two just dilutes both strategies in my mind. I like wine and I like beer, but mixing them doesn't make a better drink.

But what do I know, I'm just a scumbag SC player. Good luck!

 

[Ugralitan]

Prize Cow, Serrit, Albrich are underwhelming silvers. Albrich gives away a card advantage (Your net cards stay the same while the enemy gains a card), and the reveal proc it gives is not worth it.

Actually Albrich does not give Card Advantage, he just increases amount of cards both players have. Especially if you know what your opponent will draw (by Xarthisius) or you set up a card to draw with Stefan Skellen Albrich can provide good value. His base strength also is at a good spot.

Anyway, I'd like to get some thoughts and suggestions on the deck as a whole and ways to improve it. Thanks!

You seem to be mixing NG control themes with reveal. That is cool to see original attempts. Now my opinion on things. Normally Mangonels (when allowed to run free) can damage the other side to a degree which could turn into control with good timing. But one Mangonel alone stands really too weak in the deck while you have 3 Combat Engineers whereas knocking one of them in favor of a Mangonel or Spotter would provide a better reveal synergy (3 Combat Engineers are waste considering they can be pulled by Emissaries). Furthermore your reveal capabilities are low. Instead of Tibor Eggebracht you could run Vattier de Rideaux for more reveal options. Also Vattier would free one more bronze spot for you where you could insert another Spotter or Mangonel after lowering Alchemists to 2. Yennefer Conjurer is not a bad choice...alternatively you could consider Xarthisius (for deck control) or Regis (considering from your eagerness towards Combat Engineers he would enhance such tactics by providing 10 strength to next turn most of the time)

Now for Serrit, I really liked the card at the beginning but it requires a good amount of revealed cards to reach its full potential. Once I was close to falconpunch a NG Knight sadly there was only 10 revealed cards. Currently for more versatility I would suggest Decoy. You could replay any card on the field for extra chance, let it be Albrich, Cynthia, Rot Tosser or Combat Engineer.

 

[IAxiiYourMother]

Actually Albrich does not give Card Advantage, he just increases amount of cards both players have. Especially if you know what your opponent will draw (by Xarthisius) or you set up a card to draw with Stefan Skellen Albrich can provide good value. His base strength also is at a good spot.

You and the opponent each have 10 cards, you play one and draw another so you still have 10 cards. The opponent draws a card so they have 11.

So the net result after the round is being down 1 CA. Am I missing something?

Most bronze cards are worth 8 STR, so giving CA for 1 STR more than the average bronze doesn't feel good to me. Feel free to run him if you think it is worth it though.

 

[Ugralitan]

You and the opponent each have 10 cards, you play one and draw another so you still have 10 cards. The opponent draws a card so they have 11.
So the net result after the round is being down 1 CA. Am I missing something?

Most bronze cards are worth 8 STR, so giving CA for 1 STR more than the average bronze doesn't feel good to me. Feel free to run him if you think it is worth it though.

Consider we are playing a normal card. You and opponent each have 10 cards, you play one and draw none so you have 9 cards. Opponent draws no card so they have 10 cards. Again consider you and opponent each have 10 cards, you play Albrich and draw one card so you are at 10 cards. Opponent draws one card so opponent is at 11 cards. Again there is 1 card difference.

Albrich is no different then playing a normal card. He actually sacrifices 1 strength for the reveal synergy and could benefit you more if used in conjunction with Stefan Skellen and Xarthisius.

- You see that opponent will draw Foglet with Xarthisius. You play Albrich next turn.
- You set up a necessary combo card on top of your deck with Stefan Skellen. You play Albrich next turn.

In any case you never lose card advantage.

 

[IAxiiYourMother]

You and opponent each have 10 cards, you play one and draw none so you have 9 cards. Opponent draws no card so they have 10 cards.

Albrich is no different then playing a normal card.

Makes sense, so it comes down to if it worth the silver slot for the effect. I still don't feel he is the best option, but maybe he is the next Ciri: Trash who will take over the meta next week.

 

[Ugralitan]

Makes sense, so it comes down to if it worth the silver slot for the effect. I still don't feel he is the best option, but maybe he is the next Ciri: Trash who will take over the meta next week.

Nah, Albrich is for those who likes to reveal or control flow of decks...nothing ladder crushing. But I edited my prior message to reflect a few cases on how he could provide more strategical benefits.

 

[shard777]

Thank you both for you comments and suggestions. Some of your comments are quite interesting because, as I was playing this afternoon (Before reading your replies), I started adjusting my deck and made some of the suggestions you guys comment on. I removed Scorch because I often seem to have the highest level card so it was a waste and I removed an engineer because I always seemed to draw 2-3 in my initial drop and am always replacing 1 or 2. I will work on getting Cantarella and the dragon. I don't have a decoy yet, nor do I have the scraps to make one. I think I read somewhere that you get one as a reward around level 20 so I was going to wait for that. I was actually thinking about replacing Serritt because the timing never seems to work out for me - whenever I draw him, I don't have a lot of cards revealed on the opposing side. I've only got one Mangonel in my deck and have been loathe to use up 80 scraps to make another one - but I see your point about having one kind of being a waste.

What do you guys run for damage cards (eg. Scorch, dim bomb, dim shackles, lacerate, etc)? I haven't been using a lot of slots on these types of cards, but find myself wishing I had when I run up against NR (Super Buffed Units) or Monsters (Muliple Units on one row).

Thoughts on adding more emissaries and/or ambassadors? How about the medic?

I'm tempted to switch from Emreis to Voorhis, but am reluctant to give up the ability to see the other player's cards - it's really helped me in a lot of games to plan my strategy.

Anyway, thank you again for the helpful suggestions and, if you're willing, I'd love to see what kind of deck you guys are running.