Introduction
In this article I’d review Gwent: The Witcher Card Game Community Patch April 2025 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 and for the influencers suggestions before patch check out Vote Map by A_Reveur here.
It was the 9th council we formed Coalition with Shinmiri and published our 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
(new Top10 fMMR panel added two months ago to GwentData, it brings lots of complementary insight to %wr data; i’m in every chart ;-)).
According to Top100 %wr stats Nilfgaard was the weakest faction in March 2025 season. In fMMR highscores chart Nilfgaard is also the lowest by an inch, with no 2650+ results. Nilfgaard didn’t have a single go-for deck on ladder, different builds were met; from usual Enslave 6 Ivo, Aristocrats, Soldiers and Renfri Tactical Decision lists, to various Clog / Abduction experiments making use of Sandor buffed to 9 provision, or decks which put together various powerplays with little synergy. In spite of stats, personally I don’t think NG is really the weakest faction; it rather suffers from no plug-and-play list to use at high fMMRs. In my opinion Monsters were more hopeless against top meta.
The 5th faction in stats is Scoia’tael. In Top10 fMMR chart its performance was comparable with Monsters, but overall winrate was lower. ST popular options included Artifacts Schirru Precision Strike / Guerilla Tactics lists, PS 5x Waylay Simlas (Dauren), Non-Devo Gift (bullet28) and below the top fMMR especially Elves.
The 4th faction was Monsters. In spite of 3rd overall winrate, Monsters weren’t great against top meta decks. MO 2650+ highscores from Pajabol and Dauren required a trip to the shadow realms in order to unleash the Viy, because other possibilties lacked the cutting edge. Otherwise Monsters needed a long sampling on ladder in order to get a streak of decent matchups.
The Top 3 factions were Syndicate, Northern Realms and Skellige. The order between these is arbitrary. Syndicate and Nothern Realms had the best overall winrate in Top100, while Skellige probably had the best deck: Self-wound Svalblod. Syndicate main options included Bounty Nekker and Classical Bounty, Northern Realms in the last days turned to almost exclusively Inspired Zeal Temple at high ladder.
I generally tried to play decks which weren’t used by players at the top so that the community gets a bit more variety. Overall I played a lot of different decks within each faction. Number of games roughly says how hard it was to climb with each one, although I didn’t really pick the most competitive options everytime. My peak decks:
– MO Wild Hunt Frost
– NG Damage Enslave
– NR Zeal Temple
– SK Renfri Beasts
– ST Nature Nekker (sic!)
– SY Cove Gangs
Balance Council Results
Nerf Brackets
-1 Power Decreased
Melitele (2 -> 1)
(+) Given Zeal Temple success in the late season, power nerf to Melitele doesn’t seem like a great call, but still it is a decent nerf to a strong deck. Think prolly no more nerfs are needed at this point.
King Demavend III (5 -> 4)
(++) Explanation
Svalblod (7 -> 6)
(++) Explanation
Lara Dorren (5 -> 4)
(–) Big buff to replay effect of Lara – it is enough to use Ge’els into Red Raiders now rather than Ard Gaeth for instant kill and trigger of Deathwish effect. As a result mainly Tatterwing netdecks get buffed as underwhelming Ard Gaeth (if opp plays into one row, then AG is worse value than RR) can be replaced with a better card.
Ignatius Hale (18 -> 17)
(++) Very good mild nerf to Bounty SY which was one of the strongest decks in March 2025. Ignatius floor remains the same, but ceiling is one point lower, which helps mainly the decks which were already unfavored vs Bounty.
Aelirenn (5 -> 4)
(++) Reasonable nerf; a little bit less tempo would make typical R1 abuse with Feign Death a bit less disgusting.
Menno Coehoorn (2 -> 1)
(/) Menno should remain playable at 1 power as utility tutor for cards like Battle Stations! or Abduction. Not my favorite change (I’d nerf power Natalis at higher priority amongst 7-cost tutors, also because of synergy with Revenants; also NG isn’t in great shape in the mainstream), but doesn’t do much harm.
Ferko the Sculptor (2 -> 1)
(/) Explanation
Alumni (5 -> 4)
(+) Explanation
Witch Hunter Executioner (5 -> 4)
(+) Unexpected change, not supported by any of the major coalitions. Solid blow to Bounty decks; probably we will see meta shift for SY. Executioner felt to have a bit too little downsides at 5-power, playing for points similar to other spenders while offering access to very efficient removal tools (Slander, Hysteria…)
+1 Provision Increased
Royal Inspiration (15 -> 16)
(-) Royal Inspiration Knights are less popular than Zeal Temple or Shieldwall Engine Overload on pro ladder, but still I meet a couple of them every season and they are considerable whenever picking a tournament lineup. This change is meant to improve the NR variety on ladder. In my opinion though it just slightly buffs already fine archetype without bringing anything new; increases the power gap between old and possible new.
Temple of Melitele: Congregation (15 -> 16)
(++) Explanation
The Heist (13 -> 14)
(-) To discourage Angus / Vanadain replay strategy. Outside of this interaction though The Heist is borderline playable right now. In my opinion The Heist is an interesting card with a rich effect, which after Angus power nerf to 5 two patches ago became less troublesome. I’d prefer Heist to stay at current cost for variety
Kaer Trolde (12 -> 13)
(++) Explanation
Hive Mind (11 -> 12)
(/) Nerfing Hive Mind effectively nerfs all Arachas Swarm non-Nekker decks, because the card is too good to not include it. Hive Mind plays easily for 20+ points, can setup two threats on board in one turn twice in an overload deck, spawned Stalker combined with Spont. Evo or Hideous Feast gives efficient control of low power units. In isolation that’s a good nerf, I’m not convinced about the power of MO with respect to other factions though. Arachas Swarm itself was unplayable until Hive Mind got released as a cheat card to improve exclusively this leader. Becuase of unexpected Lara Dorren provision buff in this patch which effectively gives +3 provisions to Tatterwing netdecks, this change temporarily feels well.
Aerondight (10 -> 11)
(/) Don’t love this change. It is caused more by Aerondight playstyle and bias for blue coin rather than purely balance considerations. Balancewise card felt fairly costed at 10-cost, now direct control tools would be preferred.
Vivaldi Bank (9 -> 10)
(/) Explanation.
Lord Riptide (9 -> 10)
(++) Explanation
Megascope (4 -> 5)
(+) Controversial nerf; personally I like 4-cost more for deckbuilding possibilities, but there are also reasons for 5-cost (Crow Messengers, Greatswords, Witch Apprentices…).
Illusionist (4 -> 5)
(+) Explanation
Buff Brackets
+1 Power Increased
Kraken (3 -> 4)
(++) Explanation
Vincent van Moorlehem (3 -> 4)
(/) Buff mainly to Aristocrats. Would be played.
Adda: Striga (6 -> 7)
(+) Explanation
Geralt: Aard (4 -> 5)
(++) Explanation
Cynthia (6 -> 7)
(++) I’m fine with this buff, although it wouldn’t be loved whenever Clog is encountered. Cynthia is not only Clog card though – you can combo her with Matta to make opponent draw Guardian or setup Guardian for Abduction in Constructs decks.
Fringilla Vigo (4 -> 5)
(++) Wholesome buff to unplayed card. Low impact; may still be hard to fit Fringilla in Constructs decks.
Vincent Meis (3 -> 4)
(+) Vincent wasn’t much played even though buffed by power in Gwentfinity. This card is high variance and supports Revenants decks which are already in a good shape, so not my personal priority, but fine.
Nauzicaa Sergeant (3 -> 4)
(/) Sergeant + Slave Driver will now reach the beefiest form in history – both cards are at 4-power. Fit some control, carryover from artifacts, maybe Ivo finisher and just copy Sergeants 
Boatbuilders (5 -> 6)
(++) Explanation
Miner (4 -> 5)
(/) I don’t love this change. Miner is already a decent card to be played in Armor Mahakam Forge decks with Marauders and Dennis Cranmer. After power buff it will become a good bronze Dwarf to play in general no matter leader use (Guerilla Tactics Schirru 2x Workshop where Miner can also sometimes provide +2 boost for burning, Precision Strike Renfri…) and far outstanding in Armor Dwarf decks.
-1 Provsion Decreased
Draug (13 -> 12)
(+) Draug is already a decent card. Provision buff would incentivize more exploration of stuff like Cursed NR, Draug Pavetta and others.
Baccalà (12 -> 11)
(/) In my opinion Baccala was already decent enough and played in Soldiers deck. It is worst case 11 for 11 now, with prepared topdeck 13 for 11, while ceiling in a long round is above 30. Baccala is one of artifacts used in quite unhealthy tempo abuse variants of Soldiers where R1 is forced with Battle Stations and then R2 is all about preparing multiple locations carryover for R3.
Regis (12 -> 11)
(++) Explanation
Munro Bruys (11 -> 10)
(+) In my opinion Munro is already a bit underrated card, but probably needs this buff to put him more in the focus. I like that this card benefits from Mahakam Forge leader ability via instant barricade and therefore is a bit weaker with other leaders. Munro decks also need to guarantee access to Rowdy Dwarves; going for blind push without Munro in hand would often end up as a bad decision.
Coup de Grâce (10 -> 9)
(/) Not sure if justified balancewise; for Assimilate maybe, but Coup into Joachim is already staple. Nevertheless, would be interesting to try Coup again in Nekker decks when Sandor is already at 9-cost.
Dragon’s Dream (10 -> 9)
(++) Explanation
Nivellen (8 -> 7)
(++) Explanation
Highland Warlord (6 -> 5)
(–) Warlord at 5-cost impedes balancing of raid cards themselves; for example it is impossible to buff Blood Eagle which is very overcosted outside Highland Warlords decks.
Dimun Smuggler (6 -> 5)
(++) Explanation
Eavesdrop (5 -> 4)
(++) Explanation
Summary
All changes ordered by number of votes and attributed to factions and voting coalitions could be found in the BALANCE COUNCIL RESULTS SHEET.
The April 2025 Gwent patch is a mix of everything. Each faction got at least one buff, but Nilfgaard clearly received most love, with 6 buffs in total and some of those impactful: Coup de Grace, Baccala, Vincent Van Moorlehem, Nauzicaa Sergeant. On the opposite pole is Syndicate, where especially Golden Nekker decks got hit by Vivaldi Bank provision nerf and the only buffed card to try is Eavesdrop for quality of life and better Vendor rolls.
This time with Shinmiri we focused on less played cards in provision buff bracket recommendations, which has upsides and downsides. In long term we go towards more variety, in short term little would change in ladder meta because of changes to cards like Nivellen or Dragon’s Dream. Instead changes from other coalitions and independent voters will probably shape the ladder landscape for April 2025.
Two unexpected guests in power nerf bracket: Lara Dorren and WH Executioner come from too much overlap between other coalitions in my opinion. Cards like Ignatius or Aelirenn got triple support and some slots were left uncovered. Both of these independent changes weren’t accounted for and change perception of the patch: SY Bounty may be treated as overnerfed and MO instead of being left with Adda: Striga experiments gets net +2 provision buff to Tatterwing netdecks.
Anyway, the patch seems decent enough to play another round of Gwent.
What New To Try?
MO | Carapace Artifacts with Adda: Striga, Deathwish Nekker with Adda: Striga (Harpy from Egg as safe target), Tatterwing without Ard Gaeth
NG | Aristocrats (Coup, Vincent), Soldiers (Baccala, Sergeant), Golden Nekker with Sandor, Abduction and Coup, All-in Constructs with Abduction (Cynthia, Fringilla), Regis Spies…
NR | Cursed NR with Draug and Vincent, Draug Pavetta Erland Pincer Maneuver / Mobilization, Knights (+1 prov to Royal Inspiration)
SK | Pirates with Boatbuilders, Patricidal Fury with Regis
ST | Armor Nekker Dwarves w/Miners, Classical Dwarves with Munro, Offensive Movement decks (Nivellen / Dragon’s Dream / or even Regis)
SY | Pockets Vice with Eavesdrops? No major new stuff to try.
Closure
In the March patch we witnessed a lot of cool changes, just to finish the month with Viy, Selfwound, Bounty Nekker and Temple Zeal.
April patch doesn’t seem that exciting, so we can expect the best See you on ladder!