Introduction
In this article I’d review Gwent: The Witcher Card Game Community Patch February 2026 generated by democratic voting via Balance Council tool. I’d sketch the situation before the patch, analyze the changes one-by-one and then provide summary and a general review.
Check out the discussion of balance changes on Reddit.
It was the 20th council we formed Coalition with Shinmiri and published our balance suggestions on Reddit. I also welcome you to check out ‘Balance Council‘ page on leriohub if you haven’t yet – there is a lot of practical information and my Council philosophy.
Before Patch
I played 600+ Gwent games, brought all factions to 2.6k+ fMMR and won the season with 10.604 total mmr. This way I got the best experience of high Gwent Pro Ladder in January 2026.
Ladder experience was better for me than I expected in January patch review. Guerilla Harmony with Dana 1st form opener and Pavko and Gezras as strong threats was the staple of the season. Quite often I’ve encountered players with fMMR higher than skill level on this deck. Nevertheless, deck didn’t really feel that oppressive but for binary Dana 1st form part, which made life harder for archetypes not running instant removal or simply missing answer in R1 hand.
Variety and sanity of faced decks was fine. Binary decks were rare, stuff like Cultists or Kikimore Queen Sabbath weren’t met at all for me. Also carryover abuse Soldiers were less frequent than Henry decks in my matchups. Sadly still there are very few decks met with cards buffed in the balance patch which I’d respect.
Highest pro ladder has always been about playing against the same opponents, but in January 2026 these opponents are of different type than in the competitive seasons of Gwent Masters. I rarely met overall strong players (nobody challenged Top1), but mainly single deck enjoyers. These reoccuring matchups would be KronoSex with Elves Scenario / Jackpot Yago; SexMachine with Enslave 5 Henry; YsmirsBeard with Zeal Temple; Geralt1k/vornii with Guerilla Harmony; Amelyan with Invigorate 4xHarvest; Carversan with Pirates, Pale999 with Dwarves.
MO | seldom, Tatterwing Lara most popular at high mmrs by a bit
NR | more often than MO, but also not very popular; Zeal Temple, Shieldwall Midrange
NG | Henry Double Cross / Enslave, different Enslave 6 decks, sometimes Formation Shupe, Soldiers
SK | Patricidal Fury Warriors, Onslaught Pirates, Reckless Flurry Lippy, sometimes Battle Trance Sigvald Svalblod, Crowmandos
ST | Guerilla Harmony, lots of other popular decks: Mahakam Forge Dwarves Swarm, non-Devo Gift, Elves, Devo Guerilla Schirru…
SY | OtB Midrange, Jackpot Yago, earlier in the season Fallen Rayla OtB Midrange and Bounty Nekker with Rayla.
Balance Council Results
(++) great change
(+) good
(/) acceptable
(-) bad
(–) very bad
Nerf Brackets
-1 Power Decreased
Dana Méadbh: Provider (6 -> 5)
(++) First form Dana used as R1 opener in Guerilla Harmony proven too binary. When unanswered Dana wins games on the spot thanks to giant handbuff carryover. Lower power would be easier to answer and if opponent uses leader charges to protect her, the effective carryover is lower.
Telianyn aep Collen (8 -> 7)
(++) Good nerf, Telianyn was relatively hard to answer and sometimes Telianyn into Simlas is such a huge pointswing that a short round is won no matter the card advantage.
Angus Bri Cri (5 -> 4)
(++) Explanations
Radeyah (9 -> 8)
(+) This nerf looks more sensible when the intention is known, which is buffing Radeyah by provision next at some point (perhaps after one more power nerf), so that highlander (“There can be only one”) Golden Nekker decks are unleashed.
In reality probably none of those would have a competitive edge – for example it is hard to imagine running Radeyah with Urn of Shadows stratagem rather than huge ceiling Necromancer’s Tome (unless you want to play Tome without duplicates…). Nevertheless it is a nice variety touch for mad deckbuilders.
Eskel: Pathfinder (4 -> 3)
(/) While Eskel: Pathfinder was one of the better neutral control cards and popular inclusion in decks like Dwarves or Midrange Fruits, I’m not sure if the nerf was really deserved at this point. At 3 power Eskel would no longer be a real payoff for non-Human decks, out of which none was top level. Plausible change, but hard to say if the impact would be good or bad; also unfortunately Eskel: Pathfinder now would play into buffed Coup de Grace.
Gezras of Leyda (6 -> 5)
(++) A welcomed nerf as Gezras became pretty much a universal win condition to be included in any Scoia’tael deck with a bit of swarming.
Fallen Rayla (6 -> 5)
(/) Towards the end of the season the number of Fallen Raylas I’ve faced on ladder decreased, which made me unsure whether the nerf was needed yet. It is sometimes nice to have a card in a strong state, so that deckbuilding is really incentivized and optimal lists are found before nerf. Nevertheless, a plausible one balancewise.
Iris von Everec (2 -> 1)
(/) Last use of this placeholder, harmless change.
Redanian Secret Service (2 -> 1)
(++) Explanations
Kikimore Worker (6 -> 5)
(++) Explanations
+1 Provision Increased
👑 Overwhelming Hunger (15 -> 16)
(-) Overwhelming Hunger is a leader ability which supports mainly Deathwish cards and gets value from activation of those. The evaluation of leader value is tricky and pretty much depends on the quality of Deathwish units. For example if after activation the Deathwish units play exactly on the power vs provision curve, then OH leader ability is net worth ~6 points.
But when the cards start to play above the curve, the net value of OH grows. Let’s say the deck already plays Succubi + Giant Toads + Haunt, so that Succubi value is intrinsically on the curve. OH leader ability may then add raw 16 points from consuming Succubi two extra times.
OH already has its own well figured out netdeck with Dagon, Giant Toads and Succubi. Also Viy decks would directly benefit. In my opinion this change without simultaneous GT nerf just makes already strong decks stronger.
OH buff with GT simulnerf would have made sense because Toads are abused with Fruits of Ysgith in Golden Nekker decks with Necromancer’s Tome (old link), which is an example of very ugly deckbuilding (and I say it as the author of the deck). Alternatively just Fruits leader can be nerfed.
Tainted Ale (16 -> 17)
(++) Good placeholder. Armor Exploit with Heymaey Protectors is not something Gwent shall be advertised by.
Lara Dorren (13 -> 14)
(++) Absolutely justified change, Lara is a 72 points ceiling card; even if plays only for a half of these points it is still an outstanding number. At 3 power Lara can be conveniently played outside Tatterwing decks now, where just Apiarian Phantom is enough to activate her for the second time.
Filavandrel aén Fidháil (11 -> 12)
(++) Explanations
Sigvald (10 -> 11)
(++) Explanations
Igor the Hook (9 -> 10)
(++) Explanations
Cantarella (7 -> 8)
(/) Cantarella is used with Gorthur Gvaed and optionally Joachim de Wett as well as played straight up in Mill. Nevertheless, Gorthur Gvaed netdeckers tend to play random Cantarella with Coup in Round 1… who dislike extra win condition?
Extra context of this nerf is Coup de Grace provision buff, which is also balanced by Joachim de Wett power nerf.
Plausible nerf both from balance and gameplay experience perspective, better not to follow up though.
Abordage (5 -> 6)
(++) After power buff to Dimun Pirate Captain, Abordage became even better than before – now it can be used to very efficiently and instantly remove any 5-power unit in Patricidal Fury decks. Therefore Warriors Raids became even more popular and successful on Gwent Pro Ladder in January 2026. Abordage combines thinning with raw value and removal capabilities. Nerf is fully deserved balancewise and for ladder variety.
As Abordage is more stable in Patricidal Fury than in Onslaught, Pirates players may (wrongly) perceive this as an overnerf. For this reason we proposed Dimun Smuggler -1 cost as a compensation.
Doppler (4 -> 5)
(-) While I wasn’t a fan of Doppler provision buff because it supported mainly Renfri Nilfgaard, in practice the change proven less harmful than expected to me. I barely met any Renfri NG with Dopplers at high mmrs, neither other decks making use of this card. Doppler deckbuilding restrictions mattered more than I thought.
A nerf is still plausible if Renfri NG is more popular at lower mmrs, but power direction makes more sense in my opinion. With 5-cost we are just back to unplayed state.
It is possible that Doppler would be buffed to 3 power later, which has upsides and downsides. 3-power Doppler would be 12 points tempo, even more abusive from red coin. On the other hand, the penalty for topdecking Doppler in shorter rounds as well as using it as Quarixis trigger would be lower. Relitcts GN may try to force 3 power Doppler into the deck in spite of antisynergy with Necromancer’s Tome and probably the card would be better there than in the 1-power 4-cost scenario.
Kaedweni Sergeant (4 -> 5)
(-) Very similar situation to Doppler: change which I wasn’t sure about, didn’t prove troublesome at high mmrs (NR was relatively seldom there but for YsmirsBeard with Zeal Temple), gets nerfed into a state where would be unplayed unless some broken Coen deck is found, or maybe in some variants of Mutagenerator decks.
Side open question: is Zong’s community harsh nerfs to two cards from last MetallicDanny BC an accident?
Buff Brackets
+1 Power Increased
Svalblod (6 -> 7)
(- -) Why to rebuff a card from a good enough archetype? Battle Trance Svalblod Sigvald was met often enough on the ladder and reached fine scores. Moreover Svalblod Sigvald decks are relatively binary – lack of removal tools for Sigvald and Knut or swarming too much leads to too many autolose scenarios.
Lippy Gudmund (3 -> 4)
(- -) Hard to make sense of this buff, Lippy decks are popular and successful enough on the ladder already. If anything, power nerf combined with provision buff would have been interesting with the possibility of double Lippy via Fucusya and more deckbuilding freedom – Lippy decks are quite rigid.
Joachim de Wett (2 -> 3)
(++) Explanations
Vypper (7 -> 8)
(++) Explanations
Barnabas Beckenbauer (5 -> 6)
(++) Barnabas already looks pretty good on paper, but in practice often ends up underwhelming and isn’t included in non-Nekker Harmony decks. Barnabas can support both Harmony and midrange Scoia’tael decks which use all necessary categories for both R1 and R3. Plausible buff.
Sirssa (4 -> 5)
(+) Wholesome buff. Wouldn’t still be played without provision buff.
Firesworn Scribe (4 -> 5)
(/) As I said in the previous patch (January 2026) review, I’m afraid that Scribe power buff would be relevant mainly to engine overload decks with Hemmelfart, not necessarily to classic Firesworn with cards like Dies Irae. Nevertheless, it’s worth testing out and good that the final step came immediately.
Nauzicaa Brigade (1 -> 2)
(-) We were the coalition which proposed the first Nauzicaa Brigade power buff, but since then my opinion on this card changed.
Nauzicaa Brigade essentially adds +2 points of value to R2/R3 at the expense of 1 excess provision cost. Compared with card like Bountiful Harvest which can do the same for the same cost, with Nauzicaa Brigade we play a deckbuilder chosen Soldier rather than rolled Elf. On average the value is higher. Also 2xBrigade = 2x Harvest is autoplayed, there is no need to draw it, no risk in use from blue coin.
The downside is clogging of the deck and limited mulligans. But when draws are highrolled, 2-power Nauzicaa Brigade is unironically the best Nilfgaard bronze. A long round? With Brigade you play 7 for 6-cost rather 5 for 5-cost Alba Armored Cavalry. Short round? Pretty sure nothing changes for your pointslam core of ~4 cards due to -2 prov in deckbuilder, but +4 points are there.
Nazuciaa Brigade value demonstrates itself most in Allgod Soldiers where deckbuff carryover can autowin short rounds, but I think the issue with this card is intrinsic too.
Iron Falcon Infantry (3 -> 4)
(++) An essential buff to all-in Bonded/Bandits decks with Gascon. At 4 power IFI would be more playable and harder to deal with by cheap removal. Still IFI would have many counterplays, for example spawning a unit in its row (Nilfgaard) or movement (Scoia’tael).
Redanian Agent (4 -> 5)
(/) Redanian Agent isn’t played outside of one copy in Erland Shupe decks. The reason is not that the card is bad – it isn’t, the ceiling is pretty good. The limitation is that NR in general values round control more than carryover. Also playing Redanian agent from blue coin was often impossible in practice due to loss on even risk unless the deck was all on carryover abuse and didn’t care about going card down. The same card would have been considered pretty sure in Nilfgaard which does well in long rounds going second or in Scoia’tael especially with Schirru.
At 5-power Agent is a strong bronze of midrange character. Would be played in decks not that reliant on round control, fine with being bled when going second. Note that Agent can be combined with Stockpile leader, Siege Masters or Rivian Pikemen to lower cooldown for extra carryover.
-1 Provsion Decreased
The Heist (14 -> 13)
(/) No comment
Wild Boar of the Sea (11 -> 10)
(++) Wild Boar of the Sea is already a little bit underrated card and after the buff should see some play. Also at 10-cost it becomes replayable with Fucusya. Cards of this type struggle in the late Homecoming and in Gwentfinity because the game is greatly about directly answering threats and slamming points in short periods. Welcomed change.
Erland of Larvik (11 -> 10)
(+) Erland is a card used in R1 for carryover in Witchers and other decks (mainly also Uprising) or as an immune win condition which collects buff from all units in the deck in builds like Shupe Mutagenerator, Ship Ballistas Abuse or Archgriffin Defender. There is also an unusual deck from Imagawa with which he had a good score in the previous season.
After multiple nerfs to Temple and Mutagenerator, the Shupe deck is not that strong and can easily take a small buff. In Ship Ballistas and Archgriffin, the toxic parts are respectively Ballistas and Defender rather than Erland. Also luckily these see little play.
Finally carryover Erland would greatly support Uprising decks, especially Witchers in which he wasn’t played in the main netdeck.
Okay buff, but may prove troublesome if some good carryover abuse is found.
Lilit’s Omen (10 -> 9)
(-) Lilit’s Omen is mainly a surprise value card with Gernichora + Mammuna one turn powerplay. Other known uses are point burst in tempo pass Deathwish and one turn Koshchey + Kikimore Queen in Force of Nature decks.
I think less abusive options for MO were more interesting for a buff.
Coup de Grâce (10 -> 9)
(/) Explanations (more of Shin’s idea than mine, but supported)
Caretaker (9 -> 8)
(++) Explanations
Miruna (8 -> 7)
(/) Miruna is a Deathwish themed control card along with Imperial Manticore. Combined with Cyclops can also be used to seize units at power higher than 4.
While Miruna gets into Penitent range, it is not clear to me if that’s a benefit or not. Penitent is usually played in R1 for thinning and summoning Miruna often is less optimal than an engine like The Beast or Apiarian Phantom.
For sure the card becomes stronger now, borderline winning on the spot when a 4-power engine is seized (14 + 2* value engine would get this round for 3- excessive cost), but highly variant as always.
Adriano the Mink (8 -> 7)
(++) Explanations
Giantslayer (6 -> 5)
(+) Finish of the 2-step change started in the last patch. At 3-power 5-cost the Giantslayer would become a cheap midrange resilience card, very considerable for early rounds, but underwhelming in R3. Would be played in decks which have access to damage tools, especially small pings. Preferably also an option to rearmor Giantslayer would be of use. The most fitting of currently played decks would be Precision Strike Dwarves Swarm.
Dimun Smuggler (5 -> 4)
(++) Explanations
Summary
All changes ordered by number of votes and attributed to factions and voting coalitions could be found in the BALANCE COUNCIL RESULTS SHEET.
Our coalition with Shinmiri got visible impact again – only Brokvar Hunter power buff didn’t get through. Thanks for your support! The coalitions with the most power right now are Zong and MetallicDanny as can be seen in the number of votes order. Independent Coaltion on the other hand didn’t get through any recommendation not supported by the others.
The overall shape of the patch is fine and not a single surprise change happened. Scoia’tael got deserved nerfs. Northern Realms avoided overnerfs as Redanian Secret Service and Kaedweni Sergeant got through, but Dandelion and Meve not. My biggest concern is the return to carryover abusive Soldiers variants as Nauzicaa Sergeant avoided ping-pong, while Nauzicaa Brigade is reverted to 2-power.
If these dominate the ladder again, interesting changes won’t have a chance to shine against sophisticated turn 1 Battle Stations into two +2 per turn engines play followed by a win on even cards into R2 push and win in R3 by location and deckbuff carryover.
What New To Try?
MO | Non-Tome Lilit’s Omen Golden Nekker Deathwish, Deathwish/Relicts with Caretaker
NG | Coup de Grace Golden Nekker, Vypper w/wout Vilgefortz: Renegade, Bonded Hyperthin with Iron Falcon Infantry
NR | Midrange decks with Redanian Agents, Witchers with Erland, Coen Swarm with Agents for deckbuff, Erland Shupe Mutagenerator
SK | Patricidal Fury and Pirates with Wild Boar of the Sea finisher, Otkell Smuggler Pirates with Scorch
ST | Harmony Nekker with Barnabas, Dwarves Swarm with Giantslayers
SY | Passiflora with Adriano, Engines Firesworn with Scribes
Closure
February Gwent Balance Patch overall didn’t disappoint and Gwentfinity 2026 keeps a good shape. Now everything depends on players: would the ladder meta be interesting or not?
See you on ladder!