I've come to the realisation that without any influence on the initial spread of cards, it is 100% a pure game of chance.
Example - I try a deck with Caranthir, Ruehin, Phoenix with obvious connetations. Click play game and we're off.
R1 the ST opponent plays....Witcher Trio. Next play is Call of Forest, so witcher disappears and Ciri appears. Call of Forest played again via leader in the same play, another witcher trio disappears and Lambert then appears. My hand at this starting point has no Phoenix, no Canthir, no Ruehin. I've got two Archespores and some other bronze "filler". I've got some bronze synergy with Forktail/Arachas/Vran but I've only got a Forktail, Vran's nowhere to be seen.
No chance in the round. Next round oppo goes for it. Why? He has two dwarves with mega boost in his hand. I play some big cards - Frightener/Kayran combo - and OF COURSE Geralt Igni appears. I've now played Phoenix, but there's not going to be a R3 so I've got Caranthir (brick), Phoenix x 2 (bricks).
The oppo seems to have every card they need, at the right time, and it happens repeatedly. The kicker is of course I go away, build the exact same deck, click "play" and naturally Call of the Forest, Witcher Trio are nowhere to be seen!!!!!!!!
I think the game needs a complete overhaul. As it stands, thanks to smaller hands, it's VERY hard to get the synergy you're looking for. It strikes me that CDPR have built a game here that tries to put archetypes together, but in limiting both hands and mulligans have crapped on the concept to make it ALL about the RNGsus initial deal.
They have to do one of three things to at least try and save this game:
1) Even the deal. I've been crying it for it since Gwent Beta, but if the provision deal in my first example was EVEN, I would have had Phoenix, Ruehin and whatever else to combat the fact the opponent had his best R1 cards in hand. With my deal being so markedly worse than theirs, I've lost before we even play a hand and I've quit twice recently before even laying a card down, knowing my hand won't make it through.
2) Build some kind of pre-deal strategy into it. Perhaps add 3 x "bankers" that you DEFINITELY get in that Round. It's a layer of strategy that allows you to at least have some sense of control over what happens at the start. It's also about making it fairer, and as the hand is smaller it's a better way of securing the cards you absolutely have to have, and encourages better deck build synergies.
3) Just put the bloody hand count and mulligans back to what they were. There was nothing wrong with 13 cards (including leader), I still don't know why the feck they would change it.
Example - I try a deck with Caranthir, Ruehin, Phoenix with obvious connetations. Click play game and we're off.
R1 the ST opponent plays....Witcher Trio. Next play is Call of Forest, so witcher disappears and Ciri appears. Call of Forest played again via leader in the same play, another witcher trio disappears and Lambert then appears. My hand at this starting point has no Phoenix, no Canthir, no Ruehin. I've got two Archespores and some other bronze "filler". I've got some bronze synergy with Forktail/Arachas/Vran but I've only got a Forktail, Vran's nowhere to be seen.
No chance in the round. Next round oppo goes for it. Why? He has two dwarves with mega boost in his hand. I play some big cards - Frightener/Kayran combo - and OF COURSE Geralt Igni appears. I've now played Phoenix, but there's not going to be a R3 so I've got Caranthir (brick), Phoenix x 2 (bricks).
The oppo seems to have every card they need, at the right time, and it happens repeatedly. The kicker is of course I go away, build the exact same deck, click "play" and naturally Call of the Forest, Witcher Trio are nowhere to be seen!!!!!!!!
I think the game needs a complete overhaul. As it stands, thanks to smaller hands, it's VERY hard to get the synergy you're looking for. It strikes me that CDPR have built a game here that tries to put archetypes together, but in limiting both hands and mulligans have crapped on the concept to make it ALL about the RNGsus initial deal.
They have to do one of three things to at least try and save this game:
1) Even the deal. I've been crying it for it since Gwent Beta, but if the provision deal in my first example was EVEN, I would have had Phoenix, Ruehin and whatever else to combat the fact the opponent had his best R1 cards in hand. With my deal being so markedly worse than theirs, I've lost before we even play a hand and I've quit twice recently before even laying a card down, knowing my hand won't make it through.
2) Build some kind of pre-deal strategy into it. Perhaps add 3 x "bankers" that you DEFINITELY get in that Round. It's a layer of strategy that allows you to at least have some sense of control over what happens at the start. It's also about making it fairer, and as the hand is smaller it's a better way of securing the cards you absolutely have to have, and encourages better deck build synergies.
3) Just put the bloody hand count and mulligans back to what they were. There was nothing wrong with 13 cards (including leader), I still don't know why the feck they would change it.