Gwent Community Patch March 2024 – Review

Mahakam Forge (16 -> 17)

I advocated this change two seasons ago in Gwent Pro Ladder Report – October Season – Meta, Decks & Experience | leriohub.com, but then Forge Constructs deck became very successful for me (Gwent Community Patch 11.11 Review – The Empire Strikes Back! | leriohub.com), so Mahakam Forge provision buff was dropped from my to-do list. 

After double nerfs to Frenzied Dao and Dennis Cranmer, surely Constructs/Pure Dwarfs wouldn’t be stronger than before, so Forge provision buff makes at least technical sense. Maybe also Golden Nekker Spella’tael Pendant, but with the recently buffed Sorceress of Dol Blathanna would be interesting? (+)

Hidden Cache (15 -> 16)

In spite of hoard cards Saul de Navarette and Hvitr and Aelydia being played in Jackpot netdeck in February 2024, Hidden Cache saw little play and got a provision buff.

A bit compensating for Hvitr nerf and going in line with Passiflora provision buff. That being said, I’m not a fan of current HC playstyle, which is often tempo pass from blue coin and greedy engine overload. (-)

Off the Books (14 -> 15)

Off The Books is probably the most ‘midrange’ and ‘pointslam’ out of all Syndicate leader abilities. Due to these reasons and good synergy with Vice/Midrange Firesworn, OtB felt internally balanced in SY at 164 cap in 2023.

I don’t think this change will hurt in practice yet, but in the long term doesn’t seem right; apparently by boosting Syndicate leaders other than Jackpot we try to provide more variety. (/)

Pirate’s Cove (14 -> 15)

Pirate’s Cove is the leader of choice in Gangs archetype, but also may support decks generating loads of coins which lack spenders and consistency. It could provide a consistent alternative to King Of Beggars decks by securing spender for short rounds. (+)

Temple of Melitele: Congregation (14 -> 15)

Released as 12-cost, Temple Of Melitele becomes the only 15-cost card now. ToM catched no official nerfs because NR decks which included it didn’t have a distinctive winrate at the time.

While one could argue if this nerf is legit balancewise, making NR search for other pointslam cores is surely a good direction (+)

Magic Compass (10 -> 11)

Embrace your power Russian Lords, Magic Compass is safe from buff at 10 provision cost, no need to push it to 11 (-). 

Ihuarraquax (10 -> 11)

A nerf meant to remove one tool from circus employees arsenal. All that being said, after power nerf to Dana I’ve seen almost no Quax players on ladder. I’m not a fan of this change, it could have been used for example to nerf card like King Demavend. (-)

Tainted Ale (9 -> 10)

Removing Tainted Ale from one turn combo range in Golden Nekker armor abuse Pirates. While this change makes the card way too expensive for normal decks, it feels reasonable for practical reasons. Every week we see a hand recorded horror movie of Protectors + Tainted Ale ‘game breaking’ combo on Reddit (+).  

Philippe van Moorlehem (8 -> 9)

Philippe may win long rounds alone if unanswered and supported with statuses – that’s probably the reasoning behind the provision increase. That being said, Philippe has a pretty low floor and is relatively easy to answer compared with other meta cards. Aristocrats weren’t overpowered in the preceding season even with Dame at 5 cost. Dame revert was very likely to happen and this change feels as an overkill to thematic Aristocrats archetype, which was already short in provisions. (-)

Thirsty Dame (5 -> 6)

More cost to greedy engine in Statuses NG (/)